Departures at T3!
How I wish I was going to Italy instead... Haha nah it's okay, just glad enough to be going overseas. (:
We took an overnight flight, so towards the end of it we could watch the sunrise! It was really, really pretty. Simple yet beautiful, and it speaks so much about the wonders of nature. (:
I watched the sun rise as I descended upon the Land of the Rising Sun.
We took an Airport Limousine to our hotel in Shinjuku. Don't be deceived by the name - it's not a limousine at all, just a normal private bus haha.
There was a 7-11 store just two stores away from our hotel, so we popped by and bought some snacks as we set off our first day in Tokyo!
This was some red bean thing, quite nice haha.
Random restaurants near our hotel area.
We started by taking their Subway to the some station (I forgot the name) to visit their biggest shrine in the city - Meiji Shrine.
And this is a sign I thought was quite funny lol.
What I like about going to other countries on your own (like free and easy) is that you get to try their public transport! Simple things like buying the Subway tickets can fascinate me lol. Ok at least for the first time.
This is their Subway/metro map. They have many lines and the interchanges usually have more than three stations! Well, actually it's not that surprising considering that Tokyo has a larger population than Singapore.
Subway tickets!
As you can see, their trains (and train stations) are very much like Singapore's.
Tada! This is the huge entrance to the grounds of the Meiji Shrine! Looks so grand doesn't it?
Just to clarify, I did not intend to be dressed in all blue that day! Lol, I forgot that my jacket was blue like my jeans too...
The pretty shade of orange by the autumn leaves that has fallen. Signals the end of autumn and beginning of winter!
This is an area for you to 'clean yourself' before going to the shrine itself. It's for you to wash your hands and rinse your mouth as a sign of respect and to maintain a 'purity' I guess. There are even steps for you to go about doing it!
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| Special placards for people to pen their wishes and prayers. |
And next we went for lunch! Walked around the area near the subway station in search of our first meal in Japan! Turns out... We ate at a Japanese-Italian café instead LOL.
These are the yummy and tempting desserts on the counter!
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| Carbonara Aglio Olio |
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| Chicken and Mushroom Spaghetti |
The food was quite nice overall. And we sat right beside the window overlooking the streets so it really had that 'cafe' ambience and the holiday mood when you eat and people watch and chillax with some Christmas songs in the background! ^^
After lunch we walked along the streets cos there were some shops there like H&M and Forever 21. So it's like a mini shopping time haha.
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| A store selling crepes! |
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| Lovin' the autumn trees! |
Check out this hugeee apple that was going for close to S$2! It was sweet!
And now for dinner, we opted for 'real' Japanese food - ramen. Haha, I guess that's quite a common choice since ramen restaurants are pretty much all around the place. This small, cosy restaurant was at the vicinity of our hotel, so we just tried it.
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| Gyoza |
The Gyoza tasted quite like those in Singapore actually, though a bit oilier.
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| Chashu ramen |
My ramen was quite nice, but very salty heh. I think all ramens are very salty haha.
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| Us with our food! |
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| Exterior of restaurant |
After we walked back to our hotel but stopped by the 7-11 before that to buy breakfast. I'm very amused by their convenience stores! They sell a lot of pre-packed food and ready-to-eat meals like bentos, ramen, spaghetti, onigiri etc etc. It looks delicious and is cheap too! Hahaha good if you're on a budget and tight on time.
Check out the bread section! Hahaha, I get all excited when it comes to this.
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