Scenes From Japan: Tokyo Skytree

So the night of our 4 cities in one day adventure, my coworker and I decided to head right straight to the Tokyo Skytree after checking in at the hotel. We were famished having skipped lunch so we can finish as many invoices as we can during our short stop at Gunma. We only had a piece of Onigiri each and a can of coffee to get us through our hunger. I guess we're also just too excited to rest that we both silently agreed to just directly attack the paper pile in front us till it was time to leave.

We left Kumagaya at around 4:30. Took the Shinkansen to Ueno and checked in at the hotel at around 6pm. We freshened up a bit and got ready for dinner at the Tokyo Skytree Town.

The Tokyo Skytree is a very popular landmark in Tokyo. It's a tall skyscraper currently ranking number 2 as the tallest structure in the world next to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. During my first trip to Tokyo, one of my coworkers pointed at the Skytree while we were on board the train to Kumagaya. It didn't really piqued my curiosity so when I came back it still wasn't on my must-see places. But my coworker convinced me it was really pretty in there at night so we decided to grab dinner there. It took us about 3 train transfers and less than 30 minutes to get to the Skytree from Ueno.

When we arrived at Oshiage station, we decided to explore Solamachi and the Skytree Town first. My co-worker being a frequent Japan visitor, has been here countless times but she was gracious enough to pretend as if it was her first. We considered trying out the tour but eventually decided not to push through. I was too cheap to pay for a the tour and I have not really gotten rid of my fear of heights yet. So after walking around for about 30 minutes, we decided to head up and eat. I couldn't remember now exactly which floor we decided to eat but it was definitely that part where set meals are served (hahaha). We were initially aiming to dine in one of those open kitchen restaurants but we didn't want to go home broke so we opted to remain within the range of practicality.

After dinner, we walked a little bit more but my coworker had to meet friends in Shibuya that night and I wanted to call home too so we headed back to Ueno at around 830. Is the Skytree a must-see even for people like me who avoid tourist-y places? I must say, yes. It still is. Go at night. I think it's beauty is really best appreciated at night.

(more photos after the jump)

Scenes From Japan: Four Cities in One Day

May 24

Tokyo, Japan

On the last day of our week during my travel last May to Niigata, my coworker and I was asked to help out the accounting staff in another site with some month-end invoices. That site is located in Gunma which is roughly about 2 and half hours by bullet train (Shinkansen) and bus from Nagaoka (the city we stayed in while we were in Niigata).

We woke up early to catch the 530 am train to Kumagaya so in turn we can catch the 8am bus to Gunma. I travel light but with a heavy laptop strapped to my back while walking and running around, my body was screaming tired already. But we gotta do what we were there to do and that is give assistance to anyone who needed our help so we shrugged off the exhaustion and pulled ourselves together to make our legendary four Japan cities in one day trip. As a headstart, we decided to skip breakfast at the hotel and just grab a quick one at the Kumagaya Station.

Early morning view of Japan from the Shinkansen

We arrived in Kumagaya around 730 and decided not to make a dash to catch the 755 bus anymore. We lingered a bit at Starbucks after grabbing breakfast and while waiting for the next bus at 810. I also took advantage of the rare treat to access wifi and spent about 15 minutes on Skype with my family back home. It felt good to finally see them after 5 days. 

After answering a few more emails, we headed to catch the bus and managed to get to the Gunma office at around 10am. We immediately attacked the tasked that was handed over to us hoping to finish and leave by 4pm. We wanted to get to Tokyo by 7-ish. And we did manage to do so.

Exhausted? Yes we were here. But the smile isn't faked because the following morning, we are heading home!

Next up, I'm going to share lots of photos and a short narrative of my first visit to the Tokyo Skytree. 

Hello September!

I am blogging from Baguio and while we await check in time I thought maybe I can squeeze in some time to do this hello post.

We're here for the weekend with the hubby's high school barkada and I can't help but nurse a slight stab of guilt leaving our little kid at home. But it's been literally ages since Tibs and I took a trip without the kid so I guess there's really no reason for me to let that guilt linger. We need this. For us. and to reconnect with friends as well.

Baguio is a memorable place for us because this is where we went on our first trip as a couple some 7 years ago. We like to travel but we try to avoid being touristy when we do that. For one, we are really budget travelers (read: kuripot because we have little budget) so we avoid the price-y tourist spots. We take public transportation (aka jeepneys, pedicabs and even motorcycles), we eat in carinderias, we stay in Inns/Pension Houses, we shop at the public market and cook our own food if the accommodation permits us to. But that was fun to do and we really enjoyed those travels. After getting married and having a kid though, we never took trips like that anymore and yes honestly it's something that I miss doing too. 

When this barkada trip invitation came up, Tibs didn't hesitate a bit. I guess he missed going on trips with me too. (Trips where we didn't have to worry about the kid and where we can pack light as light can be, that is). We looked forward to this and prepared the kid for it. Thankfully, our strategy worked and we didn't encounter any difficulty when we bid the kid goodbye last night. She in fact seemed like she was looking forward to taking a break from us too. (hahaha true i tell ya!) We just promised to call when we get to Baguio. I called earlier and she just asked if we're in Baguio already. She gave me a brief report of how her morning went (what she had for breakfast mostly) and told me to have fun and that was it. No crying fits, no lengthy goodbyes. Our baby is now a little lady indeed. (huhu)

Anyways, I am confident we are going to have a great weekend here. The mere sight of the facade of our wonderful villa is already giving me a high. The guys have a lot of activities planned for the day (yes, the guys take charge of everything and the wives are just here to enjoy. Lucky women, we are!) and I'm sure that will extend up to the wee hours of the morning. Sulitin na di ba? 

Sharing with you a photo of our beautiful villa here at the Camp John Hay compound and wishing you a wonderful September ahead! 

such a beauty right? i didn't have photos of the interiors but this is a 3-br place with 3 T&Bs.
big enough to house a large group like ours (10 pax)