Reset search
East AsiaEast Asia
SatelliteEdit route

East Asia

March - April 2024
Divya and Aushim’s month long adventures across various parts of East Asia Read more
  • 70footprints
  • 8countries
  • 29days
  • 591photos
  • 0videos
  • 37.7kkilometers
  • 34.5kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date descending
  • East Asia
    Day 29

    Trip of a lifetime

    April 6 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

  • East Asia
    Day 29

    Arigato Gozaimashita

    April 6 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
    Day 28

    Last (but one) meal

    April 5 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
    Day 28

    Meguro River

    April 5 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
    Day 28

    Sakura, sushi and shopping

    April 5 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
    Day 27

    Tokyo DisneySea

    April 4 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
    Day 26

    Sakura at its best

    April 3 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
    Day 26

    Chicken ramen dinner

    April 3 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
    Day 26

    Miraikan

    April 3 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
    Day 26

    Chidorigafuchi moat

    April 3 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

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English