Happy Chap Goh Mei!

Happy Chap Goh Mei!

I am fortunate to be able to celebrate the last day of Chinese New Year in a land where CNY is the biggest festival/event for the year, China!

I was even served the much missed 'Yee Sang' which is an annual thing that is done primarily in Singapore/Malaysia. Thanks Singapore Airlines!

 

Arrived the day before and red lanterns and banners are everywhere with festive wishes/sayings written on them. I went about looking for one of my favourite food, 汤圆！

I was taken by a recently became local for some home made Shanghainese food for lunch and my favourite restaurant for dinner. I am so stuffed I seriously need to squeeze some gym time in. The restaurants also gave complimentary 汤圆 when requested. Review here.

Managed to cover some local tourist highlights as well including getting some tailoring done. Think shirts, trousers, qi pao, cashmere coats. Review here.

It's back to work tomorrow now but hope everyone celebrated well.

Tokyo Day 6

Went to check out a flea market. Anyone interested in a fridge?

Did some shopping at the Apple store (apple fan) and Muji before heading off to our next scheduled iron chef restaurant located in Ginza, Rokusaburo Michiba!

Continued sightseeing around Ginza and went into 虎 which is quite a famous dessert shop. Unfortunately they were fully booked with queues, the same goes for the Shiseido Parlour!

Saw a wedding procession when we headed to the meiji shrine and a bride in traditional wedding costume having her photos taken. Beautiful!

Next up, a themed dinner which concludes the Tokyo trip!

Tokyo Day 5

Woke up and was greeted by really serene surroundings and scenery. This is the view that we get when we wake up. Had another fabulous breakfast and off we went exploring the place. The Gassho-style houses are just lovely and with the rays of sunshine on our backs and faces warming us up, we had a good time. Check out the pictures!

Left to head back to Tokyo but not without stopping at Echigo-Yuzawa for a round of onsen with a twist! The onsen is made of sake!

Tokyo Day 4

We checked out of our hotel in Shibuya and decided to try a different kind of novelty, capsule inns!

There are not that many that welcome females and this was one of the few close to central Tokyo that does. I was quite impressed with the capsule. It isn’t as tiny as expected.

Had a good night’s sleep and we are on our way to Sendai and Kanazawa to view the Kenroku-en gardens, castles and for our next food adventure!

Next up was to Nagamachi Bukeyashiki-ato. This residential area still lies the remnants of the traditional residences of middle- and low-class samurais.

Thereafter, we boarded a bus heading to Shirakawago. This is a world heritage site and we were going to stay the night in a Gassho style house which was the traditional dwellings in the old days. By the time we arrived, it was pitch black and it wasn’t easy trying to cross the bridge and finding our accommodation.

We finally found it and just love the place. Was told to freshen up and that dinner will be ready soon. Little did we know what a huge feast it was going to be!

Tokyo Day 3

Woke up to a hazy day, the plan was to go to the tower at Ropponggi Hills to take in the sights of Tokyo. Not sure if this was a good idea on a drizzling hazy day. The Japanese are so efficient, the guard lead us to an area where there are stands to lock your umbrella.

Spied a Tiffany’s store that is men’s only!

In the end, we left as was told the view will not be good today and we decided to head to our next destination, Asakusa shrine.

Was fascinated by a lot of the food stalls leading to the entrance of the Asakusa shrine. Later, we headed to Chen Kenichi’s restaurant for dinner, please see here for the post.