Budget Trip to Tokyo Japan for 7 Days @ $1400 SGD/pax Part 4

Day 3 of the trip, My friend and I went to Harajuku for breakfast because we made a reservation to Owl Cafe online. Here is the link to their website. We were excited. When I reached Harajuku, I was surprised that there were many students. I was thinking "They do not have class? Or is it Friday so they end class early? But it's 9am only!!.". Hmmm..

We went to Hand Drip Cafe to have our breakfast. The french Toast was delicious, it melt in your mouth. OMG!! 😍😍 I had Soy Latte too but it taste average. Total cost of the breakfast is around 800 Yen (SGD $6.40).

Vintage Design

Vintage Design

Exquisite french toast with hard-boiled egg and salad.
The french toast melt in your mouth. I still can remember the feeling.

Soy Latte. It taste average because i am unable to taste the coffee.

We arrived at the owl cafe. We paid 1500 Yen (SGD $12) for 1hr course with drinks, souvenir and 35 minutes play time with the owls. I think it worth it.

Say "Hi!" to Bob and Wasabi

Small owl

Haku and Canon

The cafe allows customer to hold the owl with assistance from the staff.

Sorry ladies behind. Beautiful eyes owl. So cute right?

Selfie with Bob.

We imitate Wasabi's "small eyes".

This is still baby owl so we are unable to touch it. Look how beautiful is her eyes.

The staff will introduce all the owls to us and tell us what does the owl likes to be touch so we will not piss the owl.  The staff is also very friendly to answer all questions. 

Thereafter, we went to a foodcourt to have lunch. However, their food court is not like food court in Singapore. The floor and stairs are very colourful. There is photo booth where people able to walk in and take picture with the soft toys, on the sofa provided in the photo booth and etc. There is also stage for celebrities and other performances. 

We ate the kebab stall, Kebab king. I ordered Kebab sushi and My friend ordered Kebabyaki at 500 Yen (SGD $4) each.

Chicken, kebab sauce, rice and wrap with seaweed for sushi Kebab.

So big for 500 Yen only. Can you imagine?

Kebabyaki

Cabbage, kebab chicken, egg and takoyaki sauce.

Just opposite there is a shop,  Zaku Zaku by BAKE, with very long queue. We saw the people standing
outside and eating Chou-Croquant. We went to queue. I don't regret queuing up.
It was crispy on the outside and the custard is smooth and soft.

As we walked down Harajuku street, we saw another owl cafe with Bengal Cat cafe. The owl's forest is cheaper than the previous one we saw. It cost 786 Yen (SGD $6.30) and has unlimited time. The bengal forest cost the same.

We went to bengal cat forest to check it out. We bought ticket for both attractions for 1386 Yen (SGD $11.10). The cats were running around and staying on top of the pole. When you want to touch the cat, the cat will dodge away. I thought WOW the cat is so clever. In my opinion, you have to depend on your luck to play, pat and carry the cats.

Bengal cat on the top self.

On the pillar

We tried to stay longer but it was so difficult to get the cat to even sit on our lap. Hence, we went to visit the owl forest. When we entered, the friendly staff greeted us and told us the dos and don't s.
Following are pictures of the owls in the owl forest.

Wink

The owl's forest was cheap but there is no introductory of us to the owls so we do not know the name of the owl. We were unable to get the owl to stand on our arms. Most of the time we are trying our luck to pat the owl and not to piss the owl. Therefore, do not be "cheated" by the price.

 There is Tourist Information Center in Harajuku. We saw that it is selling tickets to Hedgehog cafe for 1300 Yen (SGD $10.40) and robot restaurant at 6800 Yen (SGD $54.40), which is 1200 Yen (SGD $9.60) cheaper than booking from their website. We went in and bought 2 of the attractions. 

Then we decided to go and see Rainbow Bridge. Rainbow Bridge is an enormous suspension bridge that connects Tokyo with the man-made island of Odaiba. I do not know how do I google and iIgoogled that we alight at Tamachi Station. 😂😂 When we reached then i realized Shibarafuto station is nearer. I told my friend and she still decided to walk. It was damn cold night about 8 degree and windy. We walked all the way to the bridge. Along the way, there was a lot of restaurants and high-rise buildings. Many business men and office ladies walking to the station. I think it is their CBD area. There were many of stores which look like 7-11 within walking distance but not all sell cigarette. Hmmm... As we walked nearer to the destination, it get more quiet and dark. I was worried. We saw a sign written in Japanese and we do not understand. My friend told me to take photo and upload to Google Translate to translate. I don't know even know that. Do you guys know about it? Google translate "Rainbow Bridge", we were jumping in joy!!

When we saw the colorful thingy from far, my friend and i was so excited, we thought we have found the bridge. In the end, it is not the bridge, it is the ferries wheel in Odaiba. The bridge did not light up but we were amazed by the view from where we are. The sea and Odaiba island. Sorry i did not take picture because my handphone died and my camera resolution is not very good. :(

I would go there again and this time I will alight from Shibarafuto station. Do note that the bridge only light up during special occasion which i just found out. I shall check if the rainbow bridge in Korea is also the same before i go. LOL

Rainbow Bridge and Odaiba Island

Entrance of Rainbow Bridge.

My handphone died and we walked back to Tamachi Station from our memory. Walking through the cold and windy night.

Stay tuned for part 5 to 7. 😉

Budget Trip to Tokyo Japan for 7 Days @ $1400 SGD/pax Part 3

We tried to wake up early on 2^nd day of our vacation because we are going to Tsukiji Market however we still overslept and reached there at 10 am.  We were told that it will close at 11 am however, when we arrived we realized that outer market does not close so early, it's inner market which will close at 11 am.

Outer market is where tourist able to eat lots of seafood bought from the inner market while inner market is where store owner will bid for the best fish to sell for the day. Only visitor with visitor pass able to go into inner market.

Crispy red bean cake from the stall shown on the left. It's 130 Yen  (SGD $1.04)

Corn fish cake and seafood and cheese fish cake. (300 Yen, SGD $2.40)
I don't really like fish cake but this two fish cakes were delicious.

Grill Scallop with sea urchin. (750 Yen, SGD $6)

My favourite Tamago (100 Yen, SGD $1.04). There are many Tamago shop there,
do not eat at the wrong stall. Go to the one as shown below.

Tamago Stall

A plate of seafood with scallop, sea urchin, fish and crab (1000 Yen, SGD $8)
and a plate of one leg of Alaska crab (1500 Yen, SGD $12).

Then it started to rain again and my friend was having headache so we went to convenient shop to look for panadol. We are unable to find it even we told the staff about it, they do not know what is it.

I got to ask my friend from Japan what do they eat when they were having headache. While waiting for my friend to reply, we went to the 12 storey Uniqlo around Shinjuku-Sanchome train station. Wow! 12 storey Uniqlo!! We went in and started shopping. We were comparing the price with Singapore. Most winter wear such as coat, heat tech and jacket was almost 50% cheaper than Singapore. I bought the latest wireless bra at 1990 Yen (SGD $15.92), seamless underwear at 590 Yen (SGD $4.40) and 1 extra warm heat tech pants at 990 Yen (SGD $7.92). A total of SGD $28.24. Guess how much it is selling in SG? Wireless bra at $29.90, seamless underwear at $9.90 and extra warm heat tech pants at $24.90 which cost a total of $64.70. 

After finished shopping, my friend from Japan replied to my message. They sent me a picture of the medicine (refer to the image below) which can only be purchased in drugstore such as Sugi drug store.

If you are having cold and headache, buy this from Sugi drugstore.

We had lunch a Coco Curry around Shinjuku-Sanchome train station.

I had half serving of hamburger curry rice with vegetable juice around 800 Yen (SGD $6.40)

Then we went to a cafe and have dessert.

Vanilla cream puff and Tiramisu Latte

As my friend was not feeling well, we went back to our apartment to rest. At around 9pm, we went to near by convenient store to buy dinner. I ate Cheese cup noodle and my friend ate spicy cup noodle and the following snacks for 1500 Yen (SGD $12).  

Peanut Mochi Ice-cream

Peanut ice-cream

There was brown sugar syrup (I think), and mochi inside. OMG~~

Chocolate Mousse

They have a packet to pour peanut onto the chocolate mousse.

Cream puff

Crispy crust and fragrance vanilla cream.

Stay tune people! :D

Budget Trip to Tokyo Japan for 7 Days @ $1400 SGD/pax Part 2

Hi guys! Day 1 of my budget trip to Tokyo Japan. Please remember to download myPAL Player before boarding Philippines Airlines because you are able to watch movies, TV series, read e-book and listen to music with the apps while on the plane. 😉

Many of my Filipino friends told me that Philippine Airlines is like Singapore Airlines. I was excited and my experience with Philippine Airlines was indeed superb. They provided newspaper to read, a meal, pillow to sleep, blanket to cover and free-flow of drinks. The flight attendants were very attentive to customer's need. They will asked if you need to throw the trash the moment you finish drinking or eating your food. They will on the light for you when you are reading.

I was not hungry during the flight from Singapore to Manila so i did not take any meal. Then i thought about it "It's included in my fare why i didn't take? I shall take in another flight.".

Had sea salt caramel ice-cream for dessert with a cup of coffee instead. Yum Yum

Japanese Bento while on the flight from Manila to Tokyo.

Arrived at Narita International Airport

Train Station

At the Narita train station, we went to the JR Skyliner counter and show her the train stations we will be going to in order to get to our apartment and she told us in detail that she only able to sell us train ticket to Komagome Station at around 2600 Yen (SGD$20.80). Remember that I mentioned in part 1 that there are different train companies operating, that's why they are only able to sell train tickets to Komagome Station. 

We spent another 1200 Yen (SGD$9.60) to buy a Suica with value of 1000 Yen (SGD$8) at Komagome Station so we are able to use it like ezlink card in SG to travel around.
 

Our bedroom

Decoration at the stairs

Bathroom, dinning room and Kitchen

Tokyo Tower 

I wanted to go up the observation tower to view the whole of Tokyo but it started to rain so we went to Shibuya as there are shopping centre and cafes to shelter us from the rain.

I did not expect it to be so cold.

Shibuya Crossing

Playing at Shibuya Crossing.

We did not do much but my friend bought an umbrella which everyone is carrying. I feel that we are "blending" well with them. keke.

On Day 1, we spent around SGD$30.40 on transportation.