Beacon Hotel - Taichung

As mentioned in my previous post, we took the free shuttle bus from airport straight to our hotel. The bus stop is located just right in front of our hotel. And our hotel is located just in the middle of the famous night market, Fengjia Night Market! :D Check-in time in Taichung hotels are normally 3pm. We were early so we left our luggage with the hotel and had brunch around the vicinity. There's a lot of food stalls around the area and all look delicious! There's this big store that sells almost everything (i.e. stationary, toiletries, masks, snacks, cosmetics, books, CDs, electronic stuffs, gadget casings etc..) and the prices are cheaper than stores outside!

We went to had food and walk around the area before heading back to the hotel. Just nice and we got to check-in into our room. The room is not exactly very spacious but everything is nice and clean.

And this is our HUGE bed! :D The bed is big and comfy and it is always the most important after a long day of walking/shopping.

And next, the toilet! It's not big but just enough space and equipped with the toiletries. 

And the shower head. You can choose to use either the one fixed to the ceiling which will look and feel like a waterfall when you're bathing or you can choose the normal one located at the side. Sometimes I'm soo tired after a whole day of shopping, I just love to stand in the bathroom and let the water run. This is also why I love shower heads that are installed in the ceiling. Hehe..

They provide all the essential items (shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothbrush, tooth paste, ear buds, shower cap etc).

 

This is the view from our room! Right below are all the shops and in the night, it'll be all packed with people and stores!

And the best thing about staying at this hotel is that it is located in a prime location! Just right opposite the hotel there is this bus stop (right outside Nike shop) where it has buses to most of the famous places like Yi Zhong street (一中街), Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) etc. The hotel has a list of popular places around Taichung and how you can get there by buses from this bus stop. We tried going to a few places (which I will be sharing in my next post) via the buses and it was pretty easy and fast. The buses would normally stop right outside the place we are going and another amazing thing we realized is that the bus rides are all free. I am not sure if it's a promotion or new campaign, but the buses are normally free if the location is within 8km. 

You can easily travel around with the buses by using the Taiwan Easy Go card (aka Easycard; 悠游卡). You can buy it at the train stations or at the convenience stores. You can easily top up the card at any of the convenience stores if it's running low in value. This card is very useful when travelling in Taiwan. You can use it for all of the transports (railway, MRT, bus, taxi) and also paying of items at selected stores. We normally use it to pay for our food/snacks at the convenience stores during midnight as we don't have to carry any cash out and it's simple and fast! :D

They also provide free breakfast daily from 7am - 10am. They also changes the menu everyday, so you need not be afraid of getting sick of their food. Took pictures of some of the food there!

Fried noodles

Pudding

Bread, butter and toaster.

And we normally have some light breakfast before we start our day hunting for more great food/ clothes outside.

If you're a sporty person, they also have a gym located within the hotel! We wanted to go take a look at the place but we were just to exhausted each day after the whole day of shopping. Will definitely take a look at the gym next time we're there! Do let me know if they have a good variety of equipment if any of you been there.

Would definitely recommend Beacon Hotel to our friends when travelling to Taichung! It's easy to find and even when you're lost, just tell anyone you're heading to Fengjia university and you'll be able to find your way home! The hotel is also surrounded by many stores (shopping and food) and you can just head down when the night market opens and shop till it closes. The hotel staffs are also very friendly and helpful, which made our trip and stay in Taichung much easier and enjoyable!!

BEACON HOTEL (碧根行馆)

No. 427 Fuxing Road, 

Xitun District, Taichung City, Taipei 407

407 台中市西屯區福星路427號

臺中市旅館014號

http://www.beacon-hotel.com.tw/

 

Will update more on our stay in Taichung! Do drop me a comment if there is anything you guys wants to know in particular!

Xoxo!

Tokyo Day 4

Woke up pretty early today to visit the Tsukiji Fish Market. Tsukiji Market (Tsukiji Shijo) is a large wholesale market for fish, fruits and vegetables in central Tokyo. It is the most famous wholesale market that handles the distribution of fish, meat and produce in metropolitan Tokyo. The market is also best konw as one of the world's largest fish markets as many have seen on news or travel variety shows.

We took the JR line and dropped off at Shimbashi and reached the market within 15 to 20 mins of walk from the station. The first sight of the market was overwhelming as it was really HUGE! People and trolleys were moving around and everyone was so busy. Kind of like our local Singapore wet market but 20 times the size of it with much more fish stocks and bigger in sizes too! The market is being sectioned into different areas, mainly the inner market (for whole sale business and tuna auctions which are restricted to authorized personnel only) and the outer market (where retail shops and restaurants are located and opened to the public). The whole market was so lively and busy and everywhere you turn you can see boxes and boxes of fishes. We wanted to try out at one of the restaurants for fresh sushi and sashimi, but the queue outside each shop was horrifying! Even so early in the morning, the place is already filled with tourists! We decided to walk around and buy some snacks along the way instead.

 Have no idea what this is called, but it's just a mixture of seafood grilled in a clam shell. The seafood was so fresh and it tasted so delicious!

 All seafood are freshly captured from the sea, prepared and grilled on the day itself!

 Steam egg! We bought one and finished within seconds and couldn't resist to get another one! The steam egg was so smooth and bouncy and it tasted just right, especially with it just freshly out from the steamer~

Fresh fish roe for sale!

Dried squid to go with beer~

Beef parts sold in one big chunk! :O

 Decided to stop by one of the shops outside the market to have Ebi Tempura Udon! You can choose what ingredients you want and also if you wanted udon or soba. We were lucky to get seats at the counter as some people after us had to stand to have their food. But I guess it's part of the local culture as it seems quite common for the locals to stand and have their food.

After which, we then took the subway down to Shibuya to shop around the big departmental stores.

 And a little break in between to rest our feet and enjoy the scenery from the tall building!

 

The view from the toilet inside Takashimaya building!

By far the best ramen I had throughout the trip!! I finished the whole bowl of ramen, even every single drop of the soup!! We stumbled upon this shop as the pictures got our attention, turns out it is my favorite ramen place now!

 

 

The shop is rather small so during peak hours do prepare to share table with others or have to eat separately with your friends. As usual, you choose and pay for your food from the vending machine and the prices of the ramen ranges from 770 yen to 990 yen. The noodles are freshly made and the soup is filled with pork flavour but not the porky smell in it. The broth is so rich and delicious especially matched together with the soft and bouncy noodles, I just can't get enough of it!

And of course gyozas to go with the noodles! The gyozas tasted quite good too, it was crispy in the outer and juicy meat in the inside!

Kindenmaru Ramen Restaurant 金伝丸

Shibuya 2-9-2 Dogenzaka 

It is located less than 100m from the Shibuya crossing, proximately 5 mins walk from the station.

Definitely would recommend my friends to go visit this shop if they are within the area! By far the best ramen soup base that I had! Too bad I only chanced upon this store on my last night in Tokyo, if not I would visit this place at least 2-3 times. Haha!

After dinner, we continued to shop around the area before taking the subway back to hotel and back our luggage.

Will do a short update on my last day in Tokyo before flying back home. Stay tune! (:

Tokyo Day 3

Woke up early and took the subway down to Asakusa to visit the Sensō-ji Temple, also known as Asakusa Kannon Temple. It is one of Tokyo's most colourful and popular temple. It is also Tokyo's oldest temple, and one of its most significant.

Kaminarimon Gate

When approaching the temple, you'll be able to see the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate), which is decorated with a big lantern in the middle and statues by the side. It is the outer gate of Sensoji Temple and also the symbol of Asakusa.

Symbol of Asakusa

Nakamise Shopping Street

 Between the first and second entrance gate before the temple, there is a 200m shopping street called Nakamise which sells a lot of souvenirs and local traditional snacks. The price of the items sold there are quite pricey as it is mainly targeted at tourist.

The second entrance gate

After walking through the 200m shopping street and passing these two entrance gate, you'll be able to see the temple.

After walking through the gate, you'll be able to see the temple's main hall and this five storey pagoda.

Tying my bad lot for remediation

Around the temple you can pray and draw divination sticks. All you have to do is drop 100 Yen and make a wish before drawing a divination stick. There are explanations for each lot beside and all lots are written in Japanese, English and Chinese. As we were roaming around, we saw some people tying their lots on this board and we were curious about their actions. Luckily we managed to meet a primary school teacher there and he explained to us that if we were to get a bad lot (不吉/下签) then you can tie your lot on this board so that it will not come true. If you got a good lot then you should keep it so that you can bring the good luck back!

Skytree Tower

 If you have the time or wants to enjoy the whole Tokyo scenery, you can visit the Tokyo Skytree which is just a short walk from the temple. We had plans for other programs hence we gave it a miss. (Do leave a comment and let me know how was the experience if you guys have been there before!)

We randomly stopped by a restaurant that serves sushi on a conveyer belt which apparently is a form of fast food sushi and is very common in Japan. We had a few plates of sushi and sashimi before resuming our shopping.

A picture speaks a thousand words

 After leaving Asakusa, we then took the subway down to Ueno to visit the Ameya-Yokochō market. Ameya-Yokocho is an open-air market next to Ueno station which sells fresh fruits, dried food, clothes, bags, cosmetics etc. It is a long stretch of shopping street and is very packed with people even on a normal day.

Look how huge their fruits are!!

And huge fresh seafood!

 There's many stores along the street that sells delicious food! We couldn't resist temptations and sat down at one of the stores and had some fresh seafood.

Octopus Balls

 After finishing eating and shopping at Ameya-Yokochō, we then head down to Akihabara where it is an area famous for its many electronic malls. Once you walk out of the station, you'll be surrounded by many tall shopping malls and all kinds of gadgets and electronic items. We started walking around to search for cheap deals and accessories for our gadgets and finally stopped for dinner after 3 hours in the malls.

At the top floor of Yodobashi-Akiba, it is filled with lots of restaurants and food stalls. Unfortunately we clashed into their rush hours where people just ended their work and are out for dinner. Hence everywhere was soo packed and waiting time is super long. We managed to get seats at Chabuton and quickly sat down and ordered our food.

Extra Spicy Seafood Tomyum Ramen

Gyozas!

Was pretty satisfied with the food as it really tasted quite nice and is very affordable! After filling our stomach, we then finally ended our day and took the subway back to hotel and had a good onsen in the hotel before crashing into bed!