Yokohama is a port city only about 1.5 hours away from Tokyo by train, and has shopping, sightseeing, amusement parks, and museums. One of our favorite attractions was the Cup Noodle Museum. On a weekend, there were a bunch of tourists – Japanese and foreigners alike. Whether you’re a kid, a kid at heart, or just a plain ol’ adult, you’ll enjoy it.
This past trip to Japan was full of One Piece-related activities. If you are not a follower of the manga or anime, feel free to completely ignore this fangirling post. Actually, Tie’s friend got me into the series. He insisted I watched at least 10 episodes to try it out. Needless to say, those 10 episodes eventually became close to 800 episodes… Anyhow, our first stop was at Sanji’s restaurant, the Baratie.
As a kid, I had always heard of Ocean Park in Hong Kong and assumed it was just like SeaWorld (although oddly enough, I had been to neither). But a few weeks prior to going to Hong Kong, we had just returned from DisneyWorld. I thought we were going to suffer from amusement park overload. But fortunately, not only was the weather nicer in Hong Kong than in Orlando, but Ocean Park was also a lot nicer than I had originally envisioned.
N Seoul Tower can be seen pretty much anywhere in the downtown area, and it’s actually not that difficult to get to. Close to Myeongdong, there is a tram that goes up to the cable car station. From there, you can either hike or take the cable car up the mountain. We wanted to save our legs from tiring out too early, so we took the shortcut. It’s a nice view going up – if you can see anything at all. Most of the time, there will probably be too many heads in the way.
I almost talked us out of visiting Seoul Forest because I thought it might’ve been too far – so glad Tie changed my mind. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. Seoul was full of beautiful fall foliage when we visited, and Seoul Forest was the epitome of it. Just check out the photos.
When we first visited Gyeongbokgung Palace, we realized that it’s closed on Tuesdays. So please don’t make the same mistake! I should’ve checked beforehand. Newbie mistake ^^;; We took either the 402 or 405 bus there. It’s very accessible and close to Insadong and Bukchon Village as well. Admission price is only ₩3,000 for adults. The palace opens at 9am, but closing time varies according to when you visit. Double check the web site to make sure.
While Tie is working on a post about our First Class Korean Air flight experience, let’s start blogging about our latest trip to Korea before I forget everything. The first leg of our Asia trip was in Seoul. When people think of Seoul, they probably imagine tall buildings and a very metropolitan area. True, but if you want to take a break from the city, Bokchon Village is within walking distance from Gyeongbokgung Palace. There you can find some beautiful hanok (traditional Korean houses). Just remember to keep your voices down, as this is also a residential area. There are signs reminding you of that everywhere. The paths are pretty well-marked – just be on the lookout for maps. There’s an observatory as well as several small shops. At the very end there is also some street food and places you can pick up souvenirs.
When we first arrived in Shinjuku, it was really late at night. Originally we were planning on having a late dinner at Omoide Yokocho (aka “Piss Alley”), which is known for their yakitori (grilled chicken skewers). But all the stores were closing down so we opted for Coco Curry instead. Japanese curry isn’t like the yellow curry you might be thinking of. I feel it tastes more like mildly spicy beef sauce. And it tastes great with a meat patty, eggs, and rice. Coco Curry is a chain restaurant in Japan, so I’m not too sure how the quality is compared to regular restaurants. We’ll be back for more curry this time so I’ll let you know then! Japanese curry is actually something that’s less common here in New York, but you can definitely find it in the East Village.
The delicious dry fish broth ramen we had at Ramen Nagi.
Usually when we’re finding a place to eat in New York, we would use Yelp for recommendations. But since it’s not very popular in Japan, we had to kind of wing it and do some research online beforehand. We’re lucky that there’s good Japanese food in our city, but there’s still definitely a distinction between ramen here and ramen there. In NYC, we usually just order a specific ramen from the menu. In Tokyo, at least from what we’ve experienced, many places specialize in one type of ramen. And you get to select the firmness of the noodles, the amount of oil, and how strong you want the broth flavor to be. Best part is, oftentimes you can order from a vending machine first. There’s no tipping in Japan, so basically you’re paying for your meal in the beginning. Once you’re done eating, you can just get up and leave. Saves so much time!
When in Japan, you gotta check out an onsen (hot spring). We bought 2-day Hakone Freepasses and took a Romance Car to Hakone, which is close by to Tokyo. Romance, in this sense, means “adventure.” It’s an additional surcharge on top of the cost of the pass, but it’s an express train and has spacious seats, food + drinks on board, and large windows. We got a bunch of nice views of the areas outside the city. Remember to reserve your seats early so you can sit in the front or rear observation decks of the train.