Chillax with Nita

Its been for a while that I haven't updated my blog here. so here we go!

Time: Jan 18th~Jan 22nd (5 days)

Destination: Tokyo

Normally, I would find some time to travel during the year. However, this year has been tough for me...busy at work all the time so I only took a short trip to Tokyo back in January. I've always wanted to take a brithday trip to somewhere outside Taiwan like I could be disapeared from my daily life. 

Mike and I were both born in Jan so I thought it'd be nice if we could go somewhere together, not to mention, his birthday is only 2 days later than mine! Considering we only wanted to take a few days off and Mike had never been to Japan so Tokyo was our first choice!! After we booked the flight tickets and got the accomodation done just one week earlier, I was a bit nervous but felt soooo excited at the same time when the trip was coming!!

Day 1 Off to Tokyo 

GUDETAMA PLANE

We chose to fly with Eva air this time and we got lucky!! Its GUDETAMA (蛋黃哥)!!  Lots of kids got crazy when seeing this special livery jet and so did I haha!! There were full of Gudetama on the planeeee! so cutee! 

Hotel Gracery Shinjuku (The Godzilla Hotel)

We chose to stay in Shinjuku, one of the most hustle and bustle areas in Tokyo...hmm well probably in the world, it’s convenient to get around and also easy to find food and shops everywhere. The only downside was we got lost sometimes in the station for the first couple days! It’s just too big hahaha!!!

The hotel we stayed was Hotel Gracery Shinjuku aka The Godzilla Hotel. Once you are near Kabukicho entertainment district (歌舞伎町), you can easily see the Godzilla head which is the landmark of Shinjuku! The hotel opened in 2015 with a new and modern design. The room was a bit small but well you don't expect to have a big room in tokyo. With the impeccable location, I would still reccomond this hotel especially for Godzilla fans if your budget is not so tight!!  😎😎😎

Godzilla history wall (My bestie Oscar would be thrilled about this!) 

Godzilla head 

We took Narita Express to Shinjuku which was a comfy ride and they had wifi on the train. About 90mins passed, we arrived Shinjuku and got to the Godzilla hotel. Feeling exhausted after a long day, we picked a random restaurant and had our first meal. Yup! Sashimi was all I need and Highball to call it the night! We made it :) 

Day 2 Nita's birthday 

Tsukiji Shijo Fish Market/Imperial Palace(not open)/Ushigoro Ginza/Tokyo Station/Kabukicho Shinjuku

Tsukiji Shijo Fish Market (築地市場)

Our first day began with one of my favorite spots in Tokyo, Tsukiji Shijo, the biggest fish market in Japan. It's a must-see tourist attraction and rumor has it that its going to be closed in late 2018. Many tourists would come here at 5-6am to get fresh sashimi and see fishmen doing their daily routine work. 

After stepping out of subway and seeing the temple, I knew we were close to the market. The fastest way is following the crowd, and soon or later, you would see the thing you are looking for haha! (my best traveling tip and it never goes wrong ;) ) 

As we approached the market, the seafood smell swept over you right away. It's almost noon now and we were here a bit late. Being spontaneous tourists, we walked in a clean restaurant and ordered sashimi donburi (生魚片丼) and crab soup. Yummm, I loved it! After our big brunch, we wandered around and got some small bites like BBQ crab roe, tamagoyaki aka japanese omelette(玉子燒). So far, we were doing great, and my companion liked all the fooooood. 

Imperial Palace➔FAILED

My plan was going to Imperial Palace to take a walk after the fish market, but it turned out its closed today. I didn't notice it haha! So I guess I have to save somthing for next time. Imperial Palace is located in a business center close to tokyo station where is full of tall office buildings. As It's quite chilly still in Jan (the temperature was 5 degree), we decided to grab a coffee inside the building and discussed about our next move. There were some time left before the dinner, so I decided to go get things my friend asked for in department store. Shinjuku is totally a shopping paradise. I just wish I had more time to do shopping!  

Ushigoro Ginza（焼肉うしごろ 銀座店）

I asked my friend 閩隆桑 to book Ushigoro for my birthday dinner. According to him, the staff said "oh your friend is rich to make a reservation here!" Hello??!! excuse me? haha

Ushigoro has a good review on tabelog. In my opinion, its my No.1 restaurant during this trip!!!! Although we got language barrier, but everything went smooth with the body gesture. We ordered two sets and the staff helped us to do all the cooking. Everything was top-notch, the finest meat wagyu A5, and the great service. They even served us a cake after I mentioned its my birthday! What could I ask for more for my birthday! 

Of course it costed much money, but it was worth every penny! I'd love to come back again if I got a chance!!! 

The funny fact is that Black Buddha, an Asian metropolitan cities exploring blog I like, introduced Ushigoro on the same day after I visited!

Check out the video: https://zh-hant.black-buddha.com/eat/ushigoro

Kabukicho Shinjuku

Back to Kabukicho Shinjuku, I finally had a glimpse of this exciting area. The light was shining all along the way. The town would never bore you, the shops, the clubs, and the restaurants. I also saw pimps on the street were trying to get foreinger tourists hehe. It's a sleepless town.  

We went to a small basement bar to have a drink before going back to hotel. The drink was alright but they still got good business maybe becoz they put soccer games on to attract customers. 

Not sure if its true but it says sptiing on sidewalks would be fined wooooow!!!

I wanted to have a nice nightcap to end of my birthday. Therefore, we went back to hotel since there was a bar in the lobby and it looked nice with the godzillz head view! Sipping the drink and listening to live piano performance, I felt satisfied and happy.

The 1st day of my 29 years old :)