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East Asia
  • Aushim Krishan
  • Divya Deepankar
Mar – Apr 2024

East Asia

Divya and Aushim’s month long adventures across various parts of East Asia Read more
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  • East Asia

    Omurice

    March 30, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 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 Pokemon centre. We went there for lunch and ordered multiple Omurice. It’s a Japanese soft omelet on top of rice and looks really elegant when you pierce open the omelet 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 to nap a little. I had not slept well the previous night, and so was in desperate need of some sleep.Read more

  • East Asia

    Tokyo National Museum

    March 30, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Divya visited the Tokyo National Museum, which is situated within the 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 boasted art from entire East Asia and 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 parents in this Japan trip, before they catch their flights to India the next morning.Read more

  • East Asia

    Tokyo Tower

    March 30, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    I found an Indian place after researching a fair bit. I realised Tokyo is far inferior to London when it comes to Indian food options. After narrowing down on a restaurant and failing to reserve it online (because it asked for my name in Japanese native scripts), 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 then went onwards to see the Tokyo Tower, Tokyo’s famous landmark. It was stunningly lit up at night. We were wondering if it’s taller than the Eiffel Tower or not (they look very similar to each other). Spoiler alert - the Tokyo Tower is taller but by less than ten metres. We walked in the nearby park, admired the tower from a distance, clicked a few pictures and then went back to our hotel.Read more

  • East Asia

    Until we meet again

    March 31, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The week-long excursion with the family came to an end. Parents 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 Parents to the Haneda airport and I went with Purva’s mom to Narita airport. We made sure they were properly checked in and then returned back 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 parents were boarding their flight. They had re-united with their dog Koko and sent a cute photo of her. Everyone had an amazing time in Japan, lots of fond memories and also lessons learnt for future visits to the country.Read more

  • East Asia

    Impromtu Karaoke

    March 31, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 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 eventually boarded our bus at 6pm, reached Kawaguchiko station around 8pm, and checked-in to our hotel after a short but eery uphill walk in the dark towards the hotel.Read more

  • East Asia

    Fuji-san

    April 1, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 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 the Kawaguchiko lake, one of the Fuji Five Lakes. Our main activity here was going to be admiring Mt. Fuji from different view points and that is what we did. We started early and went for a walk around the Kawaguchiko lake. 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 300m 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 great bridge over the Kawaguchiko lake. By now, the sky had cleared up and we got some amazing views and pictures. Fully satisfied, we got some lunch and then headed back to our hotel.Read more

  • East Asia

    Onsen

    April 1, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 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 Yukatas (traditional Japanese robes) and the hotel encouraged all guests to wear them in the common spaces. And last but not the 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 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 the Kawaguchiko lake. The water was almost 40 degrees celsius, 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 got the complimentary cocktail and snacks in the hotel restaurant and then ended the day by watching “Lost In Translation”, a movie both of us had already seen but we were keen to watch it again because of its depiction of Japan and its unique culture.Read more

  • East Asia

    Chureito Pagoda

    April 2, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C

    We got up early and headed to the most popular spot 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 looks 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 sometime 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 pre-poned, 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.Read more

  • East Asia

    Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

    April 2, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 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 reaching 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 full bloom Sakura trees. It was beautiful and we finally felt lucky to be able to witness this usually elusive event. We decided we will 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.Read more

  • East Asia

    Ueno at night

    April 2, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 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 avenue, which had Sakura trees lit up with lanterns. The trees here had blossomed much more compared to our previous visit. We then 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. We were tired for the day, so decided to grab some dinner and then head back to our hotel for some much needed sleep.Read more

  • East Asia

    Chidorigafuchi moat

    April 3, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We woke up and headed towards Tokyo’s most sought after Sakura spot - Chidorigafuchi, a moat of water around Tokyo’s Imperial palace and gardens. It features cherry trees on both sides of the water and allows people to rent and go around boating 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 will be cancelled if it rains heavily. It was a tough call but we tried our luck, waited for around 45 minutes and managed to get a row boat 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 fully blossomed cherry trees. 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.Read more

  • East Asia

    Miraikan

    April 3, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Since it was going to rain all afternoon and evening, we headed to Miraikan, a museum dedicated to emerging sciences 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 2 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 aging, how the internet works, future of civilisation on Earth and many other topics. Overall, we found the museum okay - worth our time because it was raining outside anyway. Divya found a place for dinner and we headed there after the museum closed.Read more

  • East Asia

    Chicken ramen dinner

    April 3, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 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 wall facing counters 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 - at par, if not better than the ramen we had had in the Izakaya in Shinjuku. Both Divya and I prefer 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.Read more

  • East Asia

    Sakura at its best

    April 3, 2024 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    We went back to Chidorigafuchi Moat, to witness its well 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 atleast) 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 you 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 that we are not going to see a better Sakura view than this. After soaking our eyes in it properly, we headed back to our hotel.Read more

  • East Asia

    Tokyo DisneySea

    April 4, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    On the penultimate day of our trip, we spent the day in Tokyo DisneySea, the only such Disney theme park in the world (all others being Disneyland). We were joined by Shashank and Sadhvi. We reached the park early, around 7.30am and were still met with long queues. We strategised on which rides we are going to run towards, and which ones we’ll book via the different passes on the app. We had researched via Reddit on how to make the best of the day at the park. Sharp at 9.00am 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 to strategy 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 centre 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.Read more

  • East Asia

    Sakura, sushi and shopping

    April 5, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 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 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 for the 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 some 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 which turned out to have bits of prawns and triggered her allergy. Thankfully, she had not fully consumed any prawns and the allergy subsided relatively easily. We headed to our hotel for some rest and layering up properly before heading out for the evening.Read more

  • East Asia

    Meguro River

    April 5, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 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 view points. The trees were also illuminated with lamps on both sides of the river. The stretch was almost 2km long. We walked almost the entire stretch, clicked a few more pictures and found a ramen place for our final meal of the trip.Read more

  • East Asia

    Last (but one) meal

    April 5, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    For our final meal 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 a great spicy ramen before this. 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 place for young people to hang around. We then headed back to our hotel and were tired enough that we decided to wake up earlier the next day to finish our packing.Read more

  • East Asia

    Arigato Gozaimashita

    April 6, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Our four week long 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 makes the experience for tourists like us so much more enjoyable. Divya was sure she wants 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 in future. 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 again! Until then, to Japan, we said, “Arigato Gozaimashita!”Read more

  • East Asia

    Trip of a lifetime

    April 6, 2024 in England ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    After a super long (14 hours) but pleasant 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 meeting 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 Khichdi with curry leaves Aloo fry with lots of Ghee. We rejoiced in the homely feels, went to sleep in the comfort of our own bed after almost a month, happy after successfully completing an amazing trip of a lifetime.Read more

    Trip end
    April 6, 2024
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