East Asia (2024)

A month through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, Singapore and Japan. First, two weeks just Divya and me, then a week in Japan with Dad, Mom, Nishu, Purva and Purva’s mom, before Divya and I finished around Fuji and Tokyo. もっと詳しく

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East Asia (2024)
Omurice
2024年3月30日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
One of the biggest attractions of Japan for Purva was having omurice at a specific restaurant called Kichi Kichi Omurice in Kyoto. She had been following its chef on Instagram for a while. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed for our dates in Kyoto. But she found an omurice place called Taimeiken, close to where we were after visiting the Pokémon Center. We went there for lunch and ordered several omurice dishes. It’s a Japanese soft omelette on top of rice and looks really elegant when you pierce open the omelette with a knife. We had it and it was good. We decided to split up after lunch. Divya went to the National Museum within Ueno Park. Purva and the moms went to get some uniquely flavoured KitKats. Dad, Nishu and I went back to the hotel for a nap. After a poor night’s sleep, I really needed it.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Tokyo National Museum
2024年3月30日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Divya visited the Tokyo National Museum, which is situated within Ueno Park. On her way, she noticed that while the sakura trees had blossomed more than our previous visit, it was still nowhere close to full bloom. The park was still very crowded though. She spent around three hours in the museum, which had art from across East Asia, with entire sections on Japanese history and the spread of Buddhism in Asia. She met us later for dinner and told us how impressed she was by the museum. Meanwhile, Nishu and Purva left to catch their flight back to the US. We sent them off and I started looking for an Indian place for our last meal with Dad and Mom on this Japan trip, before they caught their flights to India the next morning.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Tokyo Tower
2024年3月30日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
I found an Indian place after researching a fair bit. I realised Tokyo was far inferior to London when it comes to Indian food options. After settling on a restaurant and failing to reserve it online (because it asked for my name in Japanese characters), we headed to a place called Annam Indian Restaurant. Divya met us there directly. The food was okay, nothing great. We had some nice conversations and went on to see the Tokyo Tower, Tokyo’s famous landmark. It was stunningly lit up at night. We were wondering whether it was taller than the Eiffel Tower or not (they look very similar to each other). It turned out that Tokyo Tower was taller, but by less than ten metres. We walked through the nearby park, admired the tower from a distance and took a few photos before returning to our hotel.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Until we meet again
2024年3月31日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
The week-long excursion with the family came to an end. Dad, Mom and Purva’s mom had their return flights on Sunday morning. Nishu and Purva had already left the previous evening. Divya and I split up. She went with Dad and Mom to Haneda Airport and I went with Purva’s mom to Narita Airport. We made sure they were properly checked in and then returned to our hotel to get started for our next stop, Fujikawaguchiko. Meanwhile, everyone sent us their selfies after boarding, which was amusing. Nishu and Purva had already reached home by the time Dad and Mom were boarding their flight. They had reunited with their dog Koko and sent a cute photo of her. Everyone came away with fond memories and a few lessons for future visits to the country.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Impromptu karaoke
2024年3月31日, 日本 ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
We got some breakfast and found a place to store all our suitcases because we would only need our backpack for the two days in Fujikawaguchiko. We initially checked with our hotel if they could store them as we were returning to the same hotel later but they refused. So we went to a place near Ueno, stored the bags and then went to Shinjuku to catch our bus. Unfortunately, all buses to Fujikawaguchiko were sold out until 6pm, something we had not anticipated. So, we got the 6pm ticket and realised we had lots of time to kill. We unsuccessfully tried getting into the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, but it had a ticketed entry for the day which was sold out. We checked out a movie theatre but all English-subtitled films (and even a Japanese anime film which we were okay with) were sold out. We roamed around the district, saw the popular Godzilla head on top of one of the buildings and eventually chanced upon a karaoke bar. This looked interesting so we went in. And it was great. For the next one hour, Divya and I had a karaoke room with unlimited drinks (we got hot sake, a cocktail and some oolong tea) while we sang songs by ABBA, Queen, Adele, Coldplay and others. It was a fun experience and helped make up for the time we had lost by not getting an earlier bus. We caught the 6pm bus and reached Kawaguchiko Station around 8pm. After a short but eerie uphill walk in the dark, we checked in to our hotel.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Fuji-san
2024年4月1日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
We were in Fujikawaguchiko, a small hilly town right next to Mt. Fuji (referred to as Fuji-san by the locals) and also Lake Kawaguchiko, one of the Fuji Five Lakes. Our main activity here was going to be admiring Mt. Fuji from different viewpoints and that was what we did. We started early and went for a walk around Lake Kawaguchiko. After grabbing breakfast at our hotel, we took the cable car to the Fuji Panoramic platform and spent time looking at the stunning views of the mountain. We also did a short hike from the panoramic platform to a shrine, which was around 300 metres further uphill. The day was a bit cloudy, so while the location was great, the views of Mt. Fuji still left a bit to be desired. We went back via the cable car and headed towards the bridge over Lake Kawaguchiko. By now, the sky had cleared up and we got some amazing views and pictures. Happy with the views, we stopped for lunch before returning to our hotel.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Onsen
2024年4月1日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Our hotel in Fujikawaguchiko, called Rakuyu, had a lot of amenities to give its guests a traditional ryokan experience. Our room had an area with the tatami mats (with futon beds provided if we wanted to sleep there). We had yukata (traditional Japanese robes) and the hotel encouraged all guests to wear them in the common spaces. And last but not least, there was a public and a private onsen (hot spring bath). We tried the public onsen early in the morning. The male and female baths were separated so Divya and I went our separate ways. It was an interesting experience. I had never been fully naked in a public bath before, so I was a bit iffy. But there was nobody in the bath at the time so I had the whole onsen to myself. The view was amazing facing Lake Kawaguchiko. The water was almost 40°C, a bit too hot for my liking. After a while, the heat made me uncomfortable enough that I left. Divya had a much more pleasant experience. The heat did not bother her and she came back very relaxed. Later in the day, we tried the private onsen, where we could both go in together. Again, the lake view was great. After the bath, we had the complimentary cocktail and snacks in the hotel restaurant. Later, we rewatched “Lost in Translation”, keen to see its depiction of Japan and its unique culture again.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Chureito Pagoda
2024年4月2日, 日本 ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C
We got up early and headed to one of the most popular spots for viewing Fuji-san, the Chureito Pagoda. The sky was completely clear, so we were excited to get there and see what the best view of Mt. Fuji looked like. After a train ride and an uphill hike, we reached the Pagoda. The views were glorious and completely worth the lost sleep. We clicked lots of pictures and sat there for some time admiring Fuji-san, before heading back to the hotel to grab some well-deserved breakfast. On our way back, we also managed to get our return bus to Tokyo brought forward, by talking to the staff at the Kawaguchiko Station. This was great because it meant we could get to Tokyo earlier and start hitting the sakura spots sooner.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
2024年4月2日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Finally, it was time for the headline event of this entire trip. We heard from Shashank and Sadhvi that some of the sakura trees in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden were in full bloom. So after getting back to Tokyo via our bus and then checking in to our hotel, we headed straight to Shinjuku. We ate some quick lunch and got into the park. As we got deeper and deeper, we witnessed the gorgeous sakura trees. Enough of them had fully bloomed and the park was full of people clicking pictures left, right and centre. We did the same and walked around the park. While some areas only had a few blossomed trees, others had an entire row and spread of sakura trees in full bloom. It was beautiful and we finally felt lucky to be able to witness this usually elusive event. We decided we would visit again over the next few days as we would get to see the park blossom even more. We stayed in the park till 6pm, until it closed and then headed onwards to Ueno Park to see it in the night.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Ueno at night
2024年4月2日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
We had already visited Ueno Park previously, but now went there to see the sakura illumination at night. We strolled along the Sakura-dori, which had sakura trees lit up with lanterns. The trees here had blossomed much more compared to our previous visit. From there, we went towards the pond, which also had a line of sakura trees illuminated by lights. The reflection of the pagoda in the water next to the illuminated sakura trees was absolutely gorgeous. Tired by then, we went for dinner and back to our hotel for some much-needed sleep.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Chidorigafuchi Moat
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Chidorigafuchi was our morning destination, a moat around Tokyo’s Imperial Palace and gardens and the city’s most sought-after sakura spot. It features cherry trees on both sides of the water and allows visitors to rent rowboats while enjoying magnificent sakura views. When we reached, there was already a queue and it was raining very mildly. We joined the queue and were informed that the boating would be cancelled if it rained heavily. It was a tough call but we tried our luck, waited for around 45 minutes and managed to get a rowboat just in time. It was the best sakura experience by a margin. The trees on either side looked beautiful. The boating was fun. It did start raining more heavily after a point but we had an umbrella and had covered most of the moat by then. We headed back, dropped off the boat and looked for a place to grab some brunch. We found a pan-Asian place, which had a predominantly Indian menu. The walk to the place, which was in the Chiyoda district, was really nice with many streets lined with cherry trees in full bloom. For the first time in our trip, it really felt like the city had changed colours. After being underwhelmed by Indian food in Japan multiple times, this place turned out to be pretty good. While the rainy weather was a bit of a disappointment, the food lifted our spirits and we decided to head to a museum for the afternoon.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Miraikan
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
Since it was going to rain all afternoon and evening, we headed to Miraikan, a museum dedicated to emerging science and what the future might look like. It was on one end of Tokyo, so it was a bit of a trek just to get there. We ended up exploring the museum for over two hours and also saw a short film called “Birthday” (about the birth of different parts of our universe) in its Dome Theatre. The highlight was the small cute robot dog, whom everyone was queuing to pet. It also had exhibitions on the science of ageing, how the internet works, the future of civilisation on Earth and many other topics. We found the museum okay overall, and a worthwhile way to spend a rainy afternoon. Divya had found a place for dinner, and we went there when the museum closed.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Chicken ramen dinner
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
Divya specifically found a chicken ramen place which was well-reviewed. It was called Kagura-ya. We didn’t have a reservation and didn’t know whether the place would let us in, but we decided to give it a go. Upon reaching, we saw a super local place, with one of those curtain entrances. People were mostly sitting on the counters along the wall and deeply engrossed in their ramen and nothing else. We were told to order on a vending machine outside and bring the order ticket inside. We did that. I ordered a clear chicken ramen whereas Divya got a tomato broth one. The food was delicious, on a par with, if not better than, the ramen we had had in the izakaya in Shinjuku. Both Divya and I preferred chicken over other meats, so that made the experience even better. We finished our meals and were recharged enough that I suggested we go for some sakura illumination viewing next.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Sakura at its best
2024年4月3日, 日本 ⋅ 🌧 13 °C
We went back to Chidorigafuchi Moat, to witness its much-hyped evening illumination. We knew this was bound to be good, because we had seen many pictures of it before our trip. But we were pleasantly surprised. Honestly, pictures (taken on a phone at least) don’t do any justice to how beautiful it was standing there. We realised this while clicking the pictures and trying to capture its beauty. The entire moat was lit up on both sides, with different colours. The water was perfectly still, so we could see the unwavering reflection of the lit up cherry trees in the water. We walked along the moat and then stayed along the bridge for a while just admiring the gorgeous view. I told Divya, “We’re not going to see a better sakura view than this.” After taking it all in, we made our way back to the hotel.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Tokyo DisneySea
2024年4月4日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
On the penultimate day of our trip, we spent the day in Tokyo DisneySea, the only Disney park in the world themed to the myths and legends of the sea. We were joined by Shashank and Sadhvi. We reached the park early, around 7:30am and were still met with long queues. We planned which rides we would run towards and which ones we would book via the different passes on the app. We had researched on Reddit how to make the best of the day at the park. Sharp at 9am Divya and Sadhvi ran to queue for Tower of Terror while Shashank and I booked the first set of priority pass, premier access and the light show Believe successfully. Our plans for the day worked out and it was interesting to see how spending a couple of hours planning made so much difference to the experiences we could get through the day. We were able to go on all the popular rides with minimal wait time. We loved Soaring (the best ride of the day by a margin), Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror. We also liked the Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast. We ended up meeting Abu and singing the Aladdin theme song, which was special because Shashank and I used to watch Disney’s Aladdin on TV as kids. We were a bit disappointed by the shows, partly because they were all in Japanese and some (Believe and the final fireworks) because they were just underwhelming. All in all, a great day at a great theme park.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Sakura, sushi and shopping
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
On the final day of our trip, we decided to go to our favourite sakura spots one last time. We started with Ueno Park, which we had not properly visited during daytime since the trees had reached full bloom. The trees here had blossomed fully and we enjoyed a nice walk through the park and the pond. We realised once again that pictures don’t do justice to the beauty of sakura. We headed next to Chidorigafuchi, easily our favourite spot. We met Shashank and Sadhvi there who were queuing up for boating. It was very chilly and all of us were not adequately dressed for the surprisingly colder weather. We queued with them for more than an hour and when it was finally our turn, we got an earlier slot than them. We switched slots (because they had been queuing before us), waited in a nearby cafe with some hot drinks and cake, and then went boating. Divya took the oars this time and struggled a bit to find her rowing rhythm. We enjoyed the moat and the sakura views and then headed to Kinshicho Marui (recommended by our hotel reception) to buy some flavoured KitKats, Japanese sweets and matcha to bring back to London. Before all the shopping, we also got a nice sushi lunch. We enjoyed this sushi way more than the sushi dinner we had had earlier in the trip. However, Divya also got an egg custard that turned out to contain bits of prawn, triggering her allergy. Thankfully, she had not fully consumed any prawns and the allergy subsided relatively easily. Before going out again, we rested at the hotel and put on warmer clothes.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Meguro River
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Our final sakura spot of the trip was the Meguro River. This was on our list, and when Shashank and Sadhvi also recommended it, we decided to head there. We reached in the evening around 6pm, so it was already beginning to get dark. The river had beautiful cherry trees on either side with successive bridges offering nice viewpoints. The trees were also illuminated with lamps on both sides of the river. We walked almost the entire two-kilometre stretch, clicked a few more pictures and found a ramen place for our final dinner of the trip.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Penultimate meal
2024年4月5日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
For our final dinner of the trip, Divya found a well-reviewed ramen place called Afuri Nakameguro, very close to the Meguro River, where we were already walking. We reached and had to wait for around 20 minutes before getting in. The place was pretty good. They featured different yuzu-based ramen, with multiple options to customise the broth, meat and the noodles. Divya ordered a Yuzu Shio ramen with chicken, while I ordered the spicier Yuzu Ratan ramen with both chicken and pork. We took our seats at the counter with the cooks cooking and serving right in front of all the guests. The food was delicious. For Divya, this beat all the other ramen meals we had had previously on the trip. I was ecstatic too because I hadn’t found spicy ramen this good before. Divya finished her bowl completely (while I couldn’t) and was proud of it. We left the place and walked a little in the surrounding Meguro area, which seemed like a popular Friday-evening spot for young people to hang around. Back at the hotel, we were too tired to finish packing, so we decided to get up earlier the next morning.もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Arigato gozaimashita
2024年4月6日, 日本 ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
Our four-week trip came to an end. We woke up early, packed our bags and headed for the airport. As we were in the cab (we were a bit late to take the train), we reflected on our trip and especially the two weeks in Japan. An understated feature of our stay in Japan had been just experiencing the Japanese culture and the manners and behaviours of the Japanese people. We felt a sense of gratitude towards the country and the people for all the hospitality, order, cleanliness and just the innumerable tiny things they focus on, which made the experience for tourists like us so much more enjoyable. Divya was sure she wanted to visit again and maybe even live in Japan for a year if possible. I was less keen on living, but would definitely visit again. Before boarding the flight we relished our final Japanese meal at the airport which was a Kobe beef burger and a classic clear udon ramen. Hoping to be back one day! Until then, to Japan, we said, “Arigato Gozaimashita!”もっと詳しく
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East Asia (2024)
Trip of a lifetime
2024年4月6日, イングランド ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
After a long but pleasant 14-hour flight, we landed back in London. We were tired but also rejuvenated, excited to get back to work (starting a new job for me) and to seeing our friends. We had to wait for an hour and a half for our bags at Heathrow. After taking the Elizabeth line and the Overground, we reached our home late in the evening. Divya quickly prepared a nice homely meal of khichdi with curry leaves and aloo fry with lots of ghee. We enjoyed the homely feeling, went to sleep in the comfort of our own bed after almost a month, happy to have completed an amazing trip of a lifetime.もっと詳しく
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旅行の終了
2024年4月6日