NerdFit Guam

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Showing posts with label Travel Blog. Show all posts

Japan 2018: Tokyo 2, Electric Boogaloo

We had so much fun in Manila and Boracay that we decided to take another trip together! We wanted to visit somewhere where it would be cold and we decided on Japan. Like the Philippines, this was going to be another first for one of our friends and we made sure it was memorable. This was not our (wife and I) first trip to Tokyo, visiting for the first time in 2014. It was awesome then and we were sure it was going to be a lot better with our friends.

Cell Phones

Our AirBnB had portable WiFi units so we did not pick up SIM cards. SIM cards are available for purchase at the arrivals terminal however. Some of the options are a bit pricey which is why we just stuck with our portable WiFi. With our Osaka trip, we really didn't need a SIM and the portable WiFi would have been sufficient. Also, our AirBnB came with two so our group was covered.

Transportation

Our AirBnb host recommended we take the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori station and use the subway from there. Previously we used the Narita Express but the next train was departing in an hour and the next Keisei train was departing in 15 minutes. The desks are not hard to find. English signs are visible in the arrivals area of the airport and the staff at the ticket counters speak English. We picked up a round trip ticket bundle that came with a 24 hour subway ticket.

At Nippori station we picked up PASMO IC card for subway and rail travel. PASMO and SUICA are the two popular smart cards for the subway and rail systems in Tokyo. It eliminates the need to purchase separate tickets and it's easy to purchase. The PASMO terminal has an English option which makes it a lot easier to understand. The deposit for the card is ¥500 which you can recover when you return it for a deposit. I believe every subway station, not JR station will be able to refund your yen and the remaining balance when you turn it in. I haven't done this since I kept mine as a souvenir. I would highly recommend getting either a PASMO or SUICA card. They make taking trains a lot easier. Also, you can purchase items from vending machines that accept it as a form of payment.

Accommodations

We were able to book an AirBnB for our stay. It was located on the west side of Shinjuku, one stop away from Shinjuku station. The listing was two apartments side by side but was not as big as I expected. The listing was accurate but I was thinking it would be bigger. The five of us were able to sleep comfortably and the location and price were worth it.

The Fun Stuff

I can't mention everything we did in Tokyo but I will mention some of our favorite places.

Harajuku

Harajuku is the place for shopping. Clothing and food shops are everywhere. Global brands like Nike and Adidas can be found on the main street as well as popular coffee shops like Starbucks. Smaller brands can be found here too. Street wear is popular here with stores like Supreme, Bape and the Neighborhood. The food was great as well. Pastries, candy and crepes were delicious.

Meiji Shrine

The Meiji shrine is located next to Harajuku station. We have been here before and is a great place to walk around. The path to the shrine leads through a forest and large Torii gates. The walk is not too long and it's very peaceful. We spent some time touring the grounds but did not see a traditional Japanese wedding like last time.

Robot Restaurant

The ROBOT RESTAURANT is one of the main attractions in Shinjuku. I watched a Parts Unknown episode with Anthony Bourdain and he called it the "greatest show on earth". After that review, we decided to check it out. The ticket is about $68 on VOYAGIN. A friend booked all our tick comes with two drinks you can get at the bar. The lounge is very bright and colorful and two lounge acts performed while we were waiting. The seating in the basement was very tight and cramped, getting in and out of the seats to use the restroom was a hassle. The show itself was great, a lot of lasers, flashing lights and "robots". The story they showed didn't make a lot of sense but it didn't matter. You're not at this show for the story. The final performance was a finale set to Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk. Overall, I enjoyed myself but probably wouldn't watch it again unless they changed the acts.

Tsukiji Fish Market

This was my first time here and I was a little disappointed. It was our fault since we didn't check the times when it would be open. We didn't get to walk through the seafood market but we did stop by a few stalls selling food. We ate some fresh scallops, calamari and fish. The mochi was also good. I wouldn't mind stopping by to see the fish market when it's open.

Harry Hedgehog Cafe

Japan is known for their animal cafes. We were not surprised when we walked by one for hedgehogs. None of us have seen a hedgehog before and we were excited to play with them. The wait for a seat can be long, 30 minutes - 1 hour, so you should plan for waiting. Reservations are accepted but you must pay for the 1 hour long visit. We visited the Harry Roppongi location but another one is also located in Harajuku.

Handling the hedgehogs is not difficult but you need to get over the fear of handling them. They will shake and curl up but it's not hard to get them to wake up. They also sell hegehogs as pets and you can purchase a lot of supplies in the shop as well.

Tokyo Disney Sea

Tokyo Disney Sea was awesome. It's not a typical Disneyland park but it does have a few Disney IPs. Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Finding Nemo. However, all the rides are in Japanese (like Universal Osaka). The Indiana Jones ride was not in service which was a bummer but the other rides were still fun even if we didn't understand the story. We had a great time and tried a lot of great treats. If you're a fan of Disney and want to see something other than Disneyland, you should stop here.

Trick Eye Museum

We love trick eye museums and we found one in Odaiba. They had a lot of scenes and it was fun going through one with friends.

Food

We ate a lot! We tried a lot of great sushi, ramen, meat and dessert places. It's hard to list everyone so I'll just put our favorites.

Sushi - Genki Sushi

Ramen - Ichiran Ramen

Meat - Yamano

Bar - Brew Dog

Dessert - Pie Holic

Shopping

Like any big city, stores are everywhere, you just have to know where to look. Our primary neighborhood for shopping was the Harajuku. From shoe stores like Adidas and Nike, to "Hypebeast" clothing stores such as Bape and Supreme, you can find it in Harajuku. If you want to find a particular store, search it on Google maps.

Thoughts on Tokyo

This was my second time to this city and it was better than the first. Our friends made it a better experience since we got to share new adventures. We tried a lot of new food and went to a few new places. After visiting twice, their is still a few places I didn't get to see but I'll save it for the next trip. Visiting Japan is always a great time!

Lift Heavy and Level Up!

Diniwid Beach

Philippines 2017: Boracay & Manila

We traveled to Boracay and Manila over the Thanksgiving holiday. This was our first trip with friends and it was a great one. My wife was the only one that spoke the main native language dialect (Tagalog) which helped us out immensely.

Cell Phones

Getting a SIM card for your phone is easy and free. Globe Telecom and Smart are the two carriers that we found outside the airport terminal. If you travel with Philippine Airlines they give you a voucher for some free data and minutes. I have used Globe before so I went with them. We spent about ₱1000 for 8 gb of data and about 15 minutes of call time. We were going to be using WhatsApp as our main communication app and decided to go with more data instead of call time.

Transportation

We had to take multiple airlines to get to Boracay. We flew into the Philippines on Philippine Air, purchased a one way from Manila to Boracay (Caticlan Airport) on Cebu Pacific Airlines and purchased another one way from Boracay (Caticlan Airport) to Manila on Air Asia. All airlines were great and we had no issues.

Getting to your hotel or villa in Boracay can be difficult especially if you do not speak the language. The company that we used to transport us was Southwest Tours. Cebu Pacific Airlines had a promo for ₱ 500 for drop off and another ₱ 500 for pick up. This covered your ferry ticket as well. The employees walked you through the whole process making this part of the trip easy. If you want to book with them, they have a small kiosk office outside of the Caticlan Airport. Travel time from airport to our villa was about two hours.

Getting around Boracay is not bad. Their are no taxi cars, instead they had tricycles. They were everywhere and not hard to hail one. It's very inexpensive about ₱ 60 a trip. If you're in a large group try to get one of the electrical tricycles. These seat six to seven fairly comfortably.

In Manila we used the Grab Car/Grab Taxi app to find rides. Uber is also available in Manila but it was a bit more expensive and didn't use it.

Accommodations

View from Mosaic Towers

Our Boracay home was the Hayahay Villa on Diniwid Beach Road. It was a nice place with a lot of room for our group of seven. It was very quiet at all times of the day. It is not on the famous White Beach but it is a short commute to any of the stations. Also Diniwid Beach is a short walk away, about five minutes.

Our Manila home was a flat in Mosaic Towers. The location was great (Makati) and our host was very quick with responses to our questions. This area felt very safe and even had a small coffee shop on the first floor.

The Fun Stuff in Boracay

White Beach

White Beach is the most famous beach in Boracay, with a length of about two miles. This beach has very fine sand and clear blue water. You can find some sand sculpture artists and a bunch of tourists walking the beach. Their are a lot of restaurants lining the beach and a lot of small food vendors as well. At night the beach changes and becomes a party scene.

The downside of this beach are very few. Their are a lot of people trying to sell you something everywhere. You can't walk 10 ft. without someone trying to sell you hats, sunglasses or a tour. The other downside is how crowded it can be.

Diniwid Beach

Diniwid Beach is a small beach north of White Beach. It's the closest beach to our villa so we decided to check it out. This beach is a bit more secluded and less crowded than white beach. A few restaurants are in the area as well as a few bars. This is a great beach if you want to get away from the crowd.

Boracay PubCrawl

The Boracay PubCrawl introduced us to the the Boracay night life. The tour costs ₱ 1000 and consists of five stops at five bars and five shots on the beach. You also get a shirt, a rubber bracelet and a shot glass attached to a necklace. The group of participants are separated into teams and go through some bonding games. The tour lasts from 7:30 pm to 1:30 am so bring your energy, it's going to be a long night!

Food

The great part about food in the Philippines is that it's very inexpensive when compared to the US. We tried a bunch of stuff but my favorite restaurant in Boracay was Gerry's Grill. It's a Filipino restaurant with others spread throughout the Philippines. We tried a variety of dishes. My favorite dish was the crispy pata.

Our spread at Gerry's Grill

We also tried a few other places like Wokeria and McDonald's. We would get small snacks and desserts that are along the beach. My wife and friends would stop by Starbucks every day to get some coffee and we stopped by a fruit shake stand called Jonah's. The fruit shakes were awesome and they have a huge variety of fruit drinks available.

Mango shake from Jonah's

If you're looking for alcohol, just pop into a bar or a local market. Most drinks are very cheap about ₱ 50 for a bottle of San Miguel or Red Horse. Some bars even offer happy hour specials. We drank a lot during this trip.

The Fun Stuff in Manila

The Malls

Their is no shortage of shopping malls in Manila. We were only able to visit a few. We stayed across Greenbelt Mall and Glorietta Mall in Makti. These malls would take a few days to walk through with each being three to four stories each. Other malls fairly close by were Uptown Mall, Mall of Asia and the Venice Grand Canal Mall. All these malls have the same stores and are quite large. The Venice Grand Canal Mall also has an Italian gondola ride!

Main entrance to Mall of Asia

Food

Their was so much food on this trip, I'm pretty sure I gained 10 lb. We drank a lot of Starbucks and ate plenty of doughnuts from Krispy Kreme and J. CO. Manila also has a lot of choices if you're willing to brave the crazy traffic.

Tim Ho Wan

We stayed near Glorietta and had to try out Tim Ho Wan, a famous Dim Sum restaurant from Hong Kong. It has been called "the cheapest Michelin-starred" restaurant in the world and it did not disappoint. The menu is printed on paper that also acts as your place mat. Most items have a picture and you order by writing down the menu numbers on a pad next to your table. We tried a bunch of items on the menu and loved everything. We would have ordered more but we were stuffed. There are five other restaurants in the city if you're not near Glorietta.

Wildflour

Cronut

Bacon Steak

Wildflour cafe and bakery was a top suggestion by friends who frequently go to Manila. They recommended their pastries, especially the Cronuts. I'm not a huge pastry person but I was interested in their other breakfast options. Everything tasted great. The bacon steak, fried potatoes and eggs were tasty. The pastries were delicious as well.

CrossFit and Games Stores

CrossFit 1229 was around the corner from our AirBnB. They were out of t-shirts in my size but I was able to pick up a shirt for my wife. It's a small box but it looks like it had everything you would need to train. Next time I'm in Makati, I'll do a workout.

Neutral Grounds window display

Neutral Grounds was also near our AirBnB in Makati. Located in Glorietta 4, this was a hard place to find. The mall is huge and we had to ask a few people where it was exactly. They had a few board games, some wargaming supplies and Games Workshop times. They had a good supply of MTG stuff as well.

Thoughts on Boracay and Manila

Boracay was a blast and had a great time. We enjoyed walking down white beach (except for the street vendors), eating at the various restaurants and drinking by the beach. It's not a shopping island so don't expect to find large retailers here. The biggest mall is an outdoor style area and the indoor mall doesn't have a lot of stores. Since traveling to the island is long ordeal, I do not think we'll be returning for a second visit.

This was also my second trip to Manila. We had a great time walking through Makati and Bonifacio Global City. Manila can be a sketchy place but we felt safe in those areas. It was relatively easy to get around and the restaurants were great. If we have the time (and money) we will definitely be coming back.

Lift Heavy and Level Up!