By Chris
October 28, 2019 • 2 min read
10/14-10/22, 2019
Our week in Tokyo began with a cold virus sweeping through our ranks. As such, much of our week in Tokyo was at a more relaxed pace than in Kyoto. We were also just tired in general from walking so much.
We stayed at Onsen Ryokan Hotel in Shinjuku, which I loved since it had a rooftop onsen with gorgeous views over the city. However, the rooms were some of the most compact we’ve encountered. The view from our room more than made up for it though. It was also nicely located in Shinjuku, and very affordable.
We had a lot of good food in Tokyo. We were lucky enough to try two michelin restaurants: Ramen Tsuta and Kien. I enjoyed the truffle flavor at Ramen Tsuta, although the quick ramen at Ichiran in a booth was also delicious in a much spicier and thicker way (tonkatsu sauce).
The above is Ichiran ramen. I didn't snap photos at Tsuta due to a sign requesting no phones be used.
The above photo is an example of one of our courses at Kien, where we had Kaiseki (traditional multi-course Japanese cuisine). This lunch was many courses and around 60$ USD.
We also tried out the very popular sushi chain Midori, which happens to be my middle name, so my impression may be biased. However, we were all very pleased with this sushi and it was incredible quality at an affordable price point. Even the Inari had a little extra something to make its flavor unique and exciting. Loved this place, but we lucked out since lines can be brutal. I also discovered that I favor normal tuna, and I am not a fan of extra fatty tuna. At least in this regard, my taste buds are rather economical.
We also spent a day in the Odaiba area, visiting Teamlab Planets and Teamlab Borderless. These art places use amazing lights and effects to create gorgeous and interactive art. We especially enjoyed Planets, since it involved water experiences and really used tactile stimuli as well as visual effects. We also favored how it was linear and thus there were no hour long queues like in borderless.
Crystal forest at Teamlab Planets
Shinjuku at night, where we made daily treks to food, subway, and dancing. Marcus hooked us up and we were able to meet some great and friendly dancers (salsa and bachata) in Tokyo.
Brandon and I were very sad to see Marcus and Jr go at the end of the week. We had a lot of fun and it felt really weird to stay in Shinjuku after they left. The next day, we packed up and set off for Hakone. It felt like an “oh shit things got real” moment, since now we were alone and realized we were not going home like our friends.
Our home now truly is each other and that’s enough.
January 25th to February 20th After our brief stay in Singapore, we more or less spent the next month (from January 25th to February 20th) on various Thai islands. It was a blast and a really unique experience. Looking back on it I'm probably struck the most by how different the experience was on each of the islands. We also had some interesting experiences getting to and from the different…