Weather conditions
Woke up to another hot and humid day in Hong Kong. Temps were about 34C during the day. In the morning, I went downstairs to the hotel lobby to get some complimentary coffee, but the staff still had not put it out at 7 am. So, I decided to go for a stroll up Queen's Rd just to check things out.
As I walked around the corner, the entrance to the Cosmo hotel appeared. This is the sister hotel of the Dorsett. There was a bit of construction on this side of the street. At the corner of Queens Rd and Stubbs Rd, there is a Sikh Temple from which one could hear singing and drums emanating from inside. More walking and I found myself at an overpass and inclined footpath to a college. I walked up to the college parking lot and then retraced my steps back to the hotel.
I did manage to get the free coffee around 8 am and had it with my buns from yesterday. Just before 10:00 am we took the hotel shuttle to Causeway Bay. A brief walk over the skybridge and then a right turn put us at Times Square.
At 10:30 am, my aunt and uncle showed up and made our way up to the 12th floor of Times Square to have dimsum but unfortunately it was a 45 min wait. We walked over to another plaza called royal one and had dimsum on the 6th floor. it had panoramic views of Kowloon side.
After lunch we parted ways and came back to our hotel to change our clothes. Decided to go find Toy street in Wan chai, so we walked along Queen's Road until we found Tai Yuen St (Toys Street).
There were about 6 to 8 shops selling toys, a lot of diecast and a few carrying Legos and Bela, Enlighten bricks, but sadly no Lepin. Walked thru Wanchai market before heading back to the hotel.
Locations
Meals
Pics
Sun Aug 13
Weather conditions
The morning started out with a slight drizzle as we went to McDonalds for breakfast around 9:30 am.
Temperature was comfortable around mid to high 20s. Surprisingly McDonalds wasn't all that busy this morning.
After breakfast, we waited for the Lau family at the Hilton shuttle bus stop #21 in front of Keio Shinjuku stn. Kelsie's ankle was swollen and pusing from her insect bite a couple of days earlier when we visited Meiji Shrine. She had trouble walking so needed to be helped by her mom and dad.
We took the JR Yamanote line to Shibuya, and got lost looking for Uobei sushi. Should have turned in the alley at the Mos Burger, right after Uniqlo. Uobei sushi wasn't too busy, and it was only a five minute wait. They had made a few changes, and it seemed a few items were no longer on the menu. Also the sushi pieces seemed to have shrunken in size. We got there about noon and finished at around 1:30 pm or so.
After lunch, we stopped at various drug stores looking for some remedies for Kelsie's ankle. Took some brief pictures at Shibuya crossing, then at the Hachiko statue before getting back on the train to go to Harajuku.
Was planning to see Yoyogi Park today, but due to Kelsie's condition, decided to skip and just go to Harajuku instead.
Takeshita Dori was packed with a sea of people, but managed to push our way to the Daiso store.
Did some 100 yen shopping here and afterwards, left the Laus to visit Line friends on their own.
Walked back to our hotel from Harajuku, took about 30 mins or so.
At around 6 pm, we went to Takeshimaya, and had dinner at a steak place, then visited Uniqlo until 8:30 pm. Stopped at Hokuo to look at the 20% off buns but the selection was pretty slim at 9 pm.
Locations
Shibuya
Harajuku
Daiso 100 yen shop
Meals
Uobei (Genki) Sushi in Shibuya
Steak at Dezee Diner Takashimaya
Steps / Flights of Stairs
12042 / 12
Pics
Sat Aug 12
Weather conditions
It was raining when we met the Lau family at the Nishi-Shinjuku blue bridge at noon. We went to the Hoshino cafe that they found the previous day. There was a variety of food like curry rice, pasta, lasagna, souffle pancake. Again Raymond insisted on paying for lunch. After lunch, it was still cool but had stopped raining.
We took the train from nishi-shinjuku to akebanebashi stn to get to Tokyo Tower (Oedo line). As soon as you come out of the exit, you see the Tokyo tower. Took pictures outside and then went in and paid for J/K admissions (500 yen for students). We waited for them in the food court while they were up in the observation deck for quite sometime.
We left Tokyo Tower around 3 pm or so, and walked to Daimon station. We found ourselves at Zozoji Temple and snapped some pics before heading to the station. Took the Asakusa line and saw the Tokyo Skytree. Did a quick walk by the sumida river but it was too early for the Lantern festival activities. Took pictures at the Kaminiron Gate (under renovation), walked up Nakamise street and saw the pagoda and Sensoji temple.
Ended up near Rox Asakusa shopping centre and had Ramen on one of the familiar shopping streets.
Then we walked back to Nakamise street by heading towards the Tokyo Skytree. By this time, Sumida river was quite crowded and we couldn't get down near the river's edge. Was Able to climb onto the railings by the park that overlooks the river and saw the boats launching lanterns into the river.
Later, we took the Ginza line train to Kanda and switched over to the rapid Chou line bound for Shinjuku.
Locations
Nishi-ShinjukuTokyo Tower
Zozoji Temple
Asakusa
Sensoji Temple
Sumida River
Meals
Curry Rice at Hoshino CafeRamen at Rox Asakusa
Steps / Flights of Stairs
12949 / 19
Pics
Fri Aug 11
Weather conditions
It was cool and rainy at 1 am when i went to the family mart to grab some sandwiches. It continued to lightly drizzle through the morning so we borrowed an umbrella from the hotel. For the rest of the day, it continued to be cool and overcast with a slight breeze which was refreshing. Never did rain though. Here's the weather forecast for the remainder of the trip.
Went out around 9 am and added another 1000 yen to our Pasmo cards and had some coffee and pastries at the Boulange bakery in Shinjuku Terrace. Went across the street and bought some more pastries and brought them back to the hotel.
Met up with the Lau family around 11 am at the Hilton courtesy shuttle drop off point at Shinjuku stn west side. After loading their pasmo cards at Keio Shinjuku stn, we then made our way to JR lines platform 1 to take the Saikyo/Rinkai line train to Odaiba Tokyo Teleport station. It was really crowded, perhaps due to the Mountain day holiday, so we really had to push to get onto the train.
It was about 25 minute ride to Tokyo Teleport station. We walked under the covered walkway to Diver City, through the mall to the food court so the Laus could get something to eat. The ramen there wasn't too bad. The laus had ramen, udon, hot plate spaghetti and the takoyaki balls. Also tried some lemony donuts from Krispy Kreme.
After lunch, we went outside and took pictures of the new Gundam under construction. An amusement park was set up near the giant needle, so we went to check it out. Pictures were taken with minions and we got some plastic fans.
Took pictures with statue of liberty, then walked over to the Fuji TV building where they were having some kind of anime exhibition. Stopped off at the McDonalds and Daiso in Diver City sixth floor before going to Venus Fort for Megaweb. took pictures at the fountain.
The laus had fun trying the different Toyota simulations and by the time they were done it was close to 6 pm. On the third floor of Venus Fort, they have a number of restaurants and fast food establishments. We all ordered pasta dishes. The sets came with french fries, salad, half a boiled egg, and consomme soup.
Following dinner, walked back to take some pictures of the rainbow bridge at night, and by the time we got to Tokyo Teleport stn it was nearly 9 pm. We got back to the hotel and into bed around 10 pm. We did a lot of walking.
Locations
Odaiba - Diver City, Venus Fort, MegawebMeals
RamenPasta
Krispy Kreme donuts
Steps / Flights of Stairs
19418 / 17Exchange Rates
Due to it being Mountain Day Holiday the local exchange rate of USD/JPY will stay at 107.19 until Monday.Pics
Thu Aug 10
Weather conditions
The plan was to visit Yokohama today, but rescheduled it to coincide with the Pikachu parade on Mon Aug 14.
It was overcast in the early morning with predictions of rain for later in the day. Temperature was in the high 20s but was comfortable with a breeze with no direct sun. It continued to be overcast and not overly hot throughout the day, but a bit humid.
Locations
Went to the Metro station to load more money onto the PASMO cards, then had sandwiches from Family Mart and coffee at Mcds. The Lau family were going to be late this morning, so we strolled around the new bus terminal and some side streets in Shinjuku.The Laus hadn't eaten yet, so they ordered pastries from the bakery in Shinjuku terrace. After that, they loaded more money onto their PASMO cards. Inside Shinjuku station, we bought half a dozen french custard pastries before getting onto the Yamanote train bound for Harajuku. Didn't want them to melt so ate them on the Harajuku train platform.
Exited to takeshita dori at noon time and walked through to the Line Friends store. Spent some time here and also went to the Kiddyland in Omotesando. We had lunch at a Tendon tempura restaurant, some had rice and others had udon with their tempura combos. Raymond insisted on paying. After lunch, we had a snack at a Kiwi dessert place right across the street from Kiddyland. Strolled into the Omotesando Hills mall and took some pictures with the giant bear displays.
Walked back to the Harajuku entrance to Yoyogi park and took pictures at Meiji Shrine. We exited from the Yoyogi stn side and walked all the way back to Shinjuku. Across from Yoyogi station, Kelsie tried the takoyaki.
For dinner we tried a conveyor belt sushi restaurant which wasn't that good, and again Raymond insisted on paying.
Shinjuku
Harajuku
Omotesando
Yoyogi Park
Meiji Shrine
Meals
Bakery and pastriesTempura
Kiwi dessert
Conveyor Belt sushi
Steps / Flights of Stairs
15,318 / 7
Exchange Rates
Pics
Wed Aug 9
Weather conditions
Extremely sunny and hot today. Left the hotel around 5:30 am to just to wander around. Explored the new bus station and walked to Shinjuku Gyoen park which was not open yet. No rain forecasted.We would meet up with the Laus at the Hilton hotel situated closeby to the Metro Govt Towers. Before that we stopped by McDonalds and had brekky there. The Hilton hotel has a courtesy shuttle that will take you to the west side of Shinjuku station. Raymond would subsequently use the shuttle to get around between his hotel and ours.
Our first stop was the Metro Tokyo Government buildings and we hit both North and South observation decks for viewing and pictures. We had to get security passes to go to the cafeteria on the 32nd floor. This was a new security procedure. At the cafeteria the Laus didn't find the food that interested them, we walked back to Shinjuku station and took a look around at the restaurants in the Keio department store. From there we went back to Shinjuku Electric town and settled on a soba noodle place where you ordered from a vending machine. Not the greatest food but filled the belly.
The Laus preferred to shop in Takashimaya over visiting Nakano Broadway so I went back to the bus terminal to take pictures of the rooftop garden which wasn't anything, so returned to the hotel for a nap. Due to jetlag, ended up skipping dinner. Also missed out on the Ueno summer festival.
Locations
ShinjukuMetro Tokyo Government Observation Decks
Shinjuku station
Takeshimaya
Meals
McDonaldsSoba Noodles
Steps / Flights of Stairs
19,181 / 9
Pics
Tue Aug 8
Arrival at Haneda
Our Air Canada flight to Haneda was marginally delayed because the plane was late flying in from Frankfurt. We landed at around 4 PM tokyo time, went thru immigration, retrieved baggage and finally customs all within 30 mins.Once you exit into the Haneda airport arrival floor, the tourist information booth is just off to the right hand side. Looking up at the ceiling, there are signs directing you to local transportation, the Tokyo monorail and the Keikyu train line.
Before getting on the train, we purchased PASMO cashless cards from the bank of machines. All the machines have English language menus, so it's superfast to get a card. Just select English, number of people (one), type of card (blank), initial denomination (2000 yen), insert 2000 yen cash, press the receipt button. In less than a minute you have your PASMO card.
Now we proceeded thru the Keikyu station gates with PASMO, and took the escalators down to the train platform. We were lucky because there was already a train at the platform and it was an Express train, which meant it would bypass a number of stations before heading to Shinagawa.
I would say we boarded the Keikyu train at around 5 PM, and we got to Shinagawa in about 15 to 20 minutes. At Shinagawa, it's a bit of a challenge negotiating all the stairs and escalators to get to the train platform. We caught the Yamanote train from Shinagawa to Shinjuku and the train was packed. We actually had to wait for the next train.
Weather conditions
When we arrived at Haneda it was sunny and humid. By the time we got out at Shinjuku station, it was starting to get a bit dark and we made our way to Century Southern hotel where we checked in.We took the south exit from Shinjuku station and walked towards Shinjuku terrace.
It took a bit longer because the room we were assigned 3549 was on the top floor with north views but it had a smoky smell to it, so we ended changing rooms to 2769.
Now we had to go to the Tokyu Stay hotel in Nishi-Shinjuku. As we came out of the Century Southern hotel it was raining lightly and we saw a rainbow over the NTT Docomo building. Initially we were going to walk 20 minutes to the Tokyu stay hotel, but because of the heat, humidity and rain, we went to the metro station next to the Sunroute Plaza hotel and from there it was a quick 3 minute ride to Nishi-Shinjuku Gochome station on the Oedo line (2 stops, 180 yen). We got out at the A1 exit.
It was a very short walk from Gochome station to the Tokyu Stay hotel, maybe a few minutes, would have been faster except, this was our first time in this neighbourhood so we had to get our bearings. Also it was dark now and it was only 7 pm. After check-in, we walked to a nearby Sukiya and reviewed the menu in great detail. Lots of unagi choices on the menu due to it being unagi season.
Everything meal we ordered was between 350 to 980 yen at Sukiya. After dinner we walked to the Shinjuku Pepe mall. We took our time and it was about 15 to 20 minutes and got there around 8:45 PM. Made our way to the 8th floor and spent the evening shopping at Cando 100 yen shop. It was still hot and humid by the time we walked back to Century Southern around 10 pm.
Locations
Haneda AirportShinagawa Station (transfer to Yamanote line)
Shinjuku Station
Century Southern Hotel
Tokyu Stay hotel Nishi-Shinjuku
Pepe Mall
Meals
Dinner at Sukiya, gyudon and unagi don.Steps / Flights of stairs
9,674 / 4
Pics
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