[Page 5] 18 to 21 Jan 2011 - Tokyo City and a day trip to Kawagoe
18 Jan 2011 Ikaho Onsen - TokyoIt has been a very cold week in Japan, tempertures hit a low of about -12 C and lower. All five major Shinkansen lines were disrupted yesterday as tracks were covered with 1.5m of snow. Good thing our travel plans did not include Hokkaido as it was reported to be -28 C is some parts.
Luckily for us when it was snowing heavily, we were in some onsen resort. When we needed to travel, it was clear and sunny and no problems with the trains.
From Ikaho Onsen, we made our way to Tokyo
- Local bus from Ikaho Onsen to JR Shibukawa
- Local train from JR Shibukawa to JR Takasaki
- Shinkansen from JR Takasaki to JR Tokyo
- Keiyo Line from JR Tokyo to JR Hachichobori
As viewed from the Shinkansen ... Mount Fuji in the far, some rocket looking building ...
Dormy Inn Tokyo Hacchobori ドーミーイン東京八丁堀
This is one of the better Tokyo hotel I have stayed in for the price range. Rooms are still pretty small but clean with a very practical layout. It even has a plasma ion humidifier in each room. The hotel has an indoor and outdoor onsen (亀島川温泉新川の湯) and also offered free noodles on cold chilly winter nights.
Location wise, it is one stop away from Tokyo station, but I still found it quite cumbersome to change trains as the Keiyo line is more than 0.5km walk between the 2 train platforms, excluding an additional walk to the station exits. When not carrying luggages, we decided to walk back from Tokyo station itself which was quite an easy walk and not much further.
Asakusa
We skipped lunch and had all sorts of small bites along the way to Asakusa Kannon Temple. By this time, we were all having an overload of azuki beans, sweet potato and manjyu ...
Onokomi-yaki
Dinner at a "DIY" onokomiyaki place. Obviously we did not know what to do and the owner had to help us with it.
Also had the butter oysters and the mushrooms. In season are the dancing mushrooms which were very yummy.
After dinner, we dropped by Akihabara 秋叶原 hoping to buy an electronic dictionary.
Could not find a suitable one as all the models were designed with the native japanese speaker in mind.
19 Jan 2011 Kawagoe (川越)
Day trip from tokyo, it takes about 60mins via the limited express trains from JR Shinjuku Station to JR Kawagoe Station.
The tourist information booth at the JR Kawagoe station was very helpful and had all the necessary maps. We bought a 300 yen round trip bus ticket which allow us to hop-on and off the loop bus and other local buses.
喜多院 Kita-In
Then to the main streets where the preserved houses with the Edo period design
Then to "Penny Candy Lane" ... 22 stalls selling hand-made traditional japanese candies
Sweet potato ice cream .. mixed flavour of red sweet potato from Saitama and yellow sweet potato from Kyushu
Lunch at Eel shop ...
- Fried eel bones were so yummy especially with sake
- 白焼き shiro yaki was also a great way to cook the eel. Basically it is grilled without sauce and ate with wasabi.
Left Kawagoe at about 1700hrs. As we needed to transfer to another train line at Shinjuku Station ( to the Chou Line to get back to Tokyo Station), we decided to alight at Shinjuku for dinner and also a quick visit to Tokyu Hands and Takashimaya
Tempura dinner at Shinjuku Tsuna-Hachi 新宿 つな八
20 Jan 2011 Toyko
We took an easy leisure walk to the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace
Wanted to try one of the famous tokyo ramen but it was more than an hour's queue so we gave up and tried another ramen stall next door.
Kit Kat shopping ... 人気 No 1 - Almond Tofu Kit Kat , No 2 - Wasabi, No 3 - Nagano Apple
Had tea break at a Macha tea shop on the 10th floor of Tokyo Station Daimura ... a reminder of how much we missed macha and warabi in Kyoto.
Time to get back to hotel to pack up as we had to leave early the next morning.
Got bento sets, japanese strawberries, curry buns from the supermarket for a late dinner after packing.
We decided to splurge on the Wagyu Bento :P
It has been quite a trip and its time to go home
Checked-out of the hotel at 0600hrs, took a taxi to JR Tokyo station for the 0715 Narita Express to the Airport
Flight : NH111 Tokyo(Narita) - Singapore
DEP. 10:40 ARR.17:20
Flight time : 7 hours and 40 min.
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