Tokyo Travels: Day 1 (Part 2)

So after we arrived in Shinjuku via Narita Express on the morning of Day 1, we had 4 hours to kill because check-in was strictly at 3.00pm! If there's one thing I don't like about our hotel in Tokyo, it was the fact that they were crazy strict about their check-in and check-out times. Meh.

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel first then walked around the Shinjuku area to familiarize ourselves and ended up at Takashimaya (behind our hotel) because we wanted to tapao food back to the hotel. Pergi jauh jauh, end up kat Takashimaya jugak kita dua ni hahahaha. Padahal Takashimaya kat Singapore nak jejak pun jarang.

Bought our drinks from the vending machine near our hotel (sebab jakun) and picked up pastries from Gontran Cherrier Tokyo! I read online recommendations on the bakery before our trip but didn't expect to come across an outlet so easily - it's conveniently located beside Shinjuku Station (Southern Terrace exit).

Their bread and other pastries sedap gila, please. I highly recommend the humble but delicious plain croissant! We had their pastries again on days when we didn't have time to sit down for breakfast. Also, if you see a stack of chocolate cookies packaged in a cylindrical plastic container near the cashiers, I recommend those too - they crumble and melt perfectly in your mouth and you won't stop at 1 (I had 3 containers to myself. Because #pbg)

Checked in to the hotel at 3.00pm, had late lunch and agreed on a 20-minute power nap. Of course I woke up at 6.00pm la kan lol power nap habis. Quickly washed up and took a train out to Shibuya Crossing! It was frustrating to navigate the train lines and figure out the prices for the tickets to buy at first, because: 

(1) We realized there was no English text on the board at Shibuya Station (Southern Terrace exit). Ya, I know, wtf. Eventually, we saw a crumbly A4 print-out of the map with English text next to one of the ticketing machines, tried to match the two maps, paid the correct fare and figured out which stop to hop off at.

Ada evidence eh from my Snapchat!!! This screenshot is grainy but you can see that the board is in Japanese.

[Note: I should probably mention that most train stations in Tokyo have English text on their boards, especially the newer ones. But for a few that don't, you can either ask the staff or locals, or look around the ticketing machines for a print-out with English text. Alternatively, pick up the train station map which has both Japanese and English text if you see it at any of the stations and play match the character with the text on the board. Saliheen and I had to do this twice hahahahaha pastu member eksyen ah "Fuhhh, I dah boleh jadi local ah gini" cisbedebah, setakat match match characters nenek aku pun boleh buat sak. // EDIT // A friend just told me it'd be easier to just buy a Suica card and tap tap tap your way around Tokyo! Will explain in a later post why we opted not to get one]

(2) We were lost in Shibuya Station for a good 20 minutes because we didn't know which one was the Hachiko exit lol. In the end, we chose a random exit and walked over to Hachiko/Shibuya Crossing.

HAHAHAHAHAHA LAWA TAK GAMBAR KITA?!?!?!?! MORE LIKE LOUSY RIGHT HAHAHAHA! Mintak ampun mintak maaf ok, kami budak baru belajar. My husband tried his absolute best, okay. But we couldn't get any decent stylo milo shot like this one here, no matter how hard we tried! Which only means one thing ah. Means we must return to Tokyo once we have the right photography skills ah #alasan

After failing miserably (understatement hahaha) to take stylo milo photos kat Shibuya Crossing, we got really hungry and started walking towards Gyumon for dinner. But as you know, kita sesat seh while looking for the shop because it is quite a distance away and the route ada construction hoarding segala. Which is why I decided to post directions to Gyumon here for those who intend to head there too!

We persevered through walaupun perut dah royal rumble and we eventually found the kedai after taking a few wrong turns and walking a very looooong route. Food was freaking worth it, though.

1 set is for 1 person so we went with 2 sets of the ¥4000 (SGD48) package because why barbecue chicken chunks when you can barbecue different types of beef seh?!?!?! #beefsnob The bbq and chilli sauces given with the meal were so-so but the salad was sedap... I really like its dressing! (As in the sauce, not its fashion choice) 

The beef jangan cakap la, so luscious and so lemak and will melt in your mouth while the angels sing in the background HAHAHAHA. Comes with rice and choice of drink too, I recommend the hot green tea because it goes so freaking well with the barbecued meat. 

Anyway, we almost rolled out of Gyumon because we sat on the 2nd level (where you had to sit on the floor, not on chairs like at the 1st level) and perut berat sangat sampai kita tak boleh bangun and get on our feet hahahahaha. But we made it back to our hotel room in the end and needless to say, we slept in bliss! 

Time to rest and charge up energy for Day 2 pulak :D