Curiously Carmen

Travel: Tokyo DisneySea Resort Review

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I actually started writing this draft in April, but never ended up finishing it! Back in November 2018, the fiance and I went on our much anticipated trip to Tokyo. One of the places we wanted to check out was Tokyo DisneySea.

Tokyo DisneySea is the only DisneySea resort in the world! Next door to Tokyo DisneySea is Tokyo Disneyland. Since we have been to Disneyland in the past and had limited time, we decided to only check out DisneySea.

The weather was quite cold for Tokyo standards that day! Also, the Disney resorts are located on the outskirts of Tokyo, closer to Tokyo Bay which also made it colder.

There were also some drizzly periods, but that didn’t stop us from having fun! You can tell from my photos that it was also cloudy that day. I thought about editing them to make it brighter but wanted to show potential visitors what the weather is like in November.

Tokyo DisneySea did sell some rain ponchos and portable sticky heat pads as well.

Getting there: Both Disney resorts are easily accessible from Tokyo, and is approximately 1-1.5 hours each way, depending on the method of transportation.

The cheapest option is to take the subway from Tokyo, but you’ll have to transfer a few times. Since we were meeting with our friends early, we purchased shuttle bus tickets on the same morning that departed from the Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal. It was a great decision because I was able to nap the whole way and not worry about transferring trains or keeping our friends waiting from getting lost in Tokyo’s vast subway system.

American Waterfront at night

Just like Disneyland, DisneySea was divided into different themed areas – Mediterranean Harbour, Mysterious Island, American Waterfront, Port Discovery, Arabian Coast, Mermaid Lagoon, and Lost River Delta!

The park was huge, and we were so glad to have our experienced Japanese friends guide us around. If it was just the two of us, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to explore as much as we did that day.

Toy Story Mania, one of the most popular rides! We didn’t have time to go on it though. 🙁

There was also an app that they used, which told you the wait times for each ride. I don’t remember if it was only in Japanese or not though… Clearly that day, we were useless and trusted our friends LOL!

Mediterranean Harbour: The first area of the park!

As the name suggests, Mediterranean is named after a seaside Mediterranean town. This is also where the nightly water show is held too.

For lunch, we went to Miguel’s El Dorado Cantina, the Mexican themed restaurant. The food was delicious!

Also, I brought in some onigiri from 7-11 just incase, as I was still dealing with my stomach issues during the trip and didn’t want to upset my stomach/in case I couldn’t eat anything at the park.

There wasn’t a problem with bringing in my own food, so you could also stock up if you have strict dietary requirements or want to save money on food.

Stella Lou is one of the exclusive DisneySea characters. I fell in love with this adorable, soft purple bunny! Other exclusive DisneySea characters include Shellie May and Duffy.

All the cute Stella Lou’s!

Another Tokyo food exclusive was Toy Story’s alien mochi! I knew we had to get these.

They were cute and also delicious, with either a chocolate, strawberry or vanilla filling. You can find these at a trolley in American Harbour. Just a heads up that there will probably be a line up because they are very popular!

Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets! I forgot which place my friend got these though. They tasted like regular chicken nuggets, except they were Mickey Mouse shaped.

Mermaid Lagoon: This indoor area of the park was dedicated to Ariel and ocean life. It was a huge building with some different rides and a gift shop.

More Mermaid Lagoon

Arabian Coast

Found Stitch at Arabian Coast!

Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage, Disneysea’s version of the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride. We were on a boat which slowly transported you to different themes.

Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage

Gondolas at Mediterranean Harbour

At the end of a fun day, we watched the night show at Mediterranean Harbour. The show was in Japanese so I couldn’t understand what they were saying. It was still fun to watch though!

We had a very fun day at DisneySea! If you are staying in the Tokyo area for more than 4 days (anything less I would recommend only checking out the neighbourhoods in Tokyo), I would recommend reserving a day for DisneySea.

Travel: An afternoon in Kamakura, Japan

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On one of our days in Tokyo, we wandered out of the hustling city center and visited the small seaside city of Kamakura for the day. We actually weren’t planning on coming here, nor have we even heard of Kamakura, but our friend offered to take us around since he grew up near here!

Kamakura is about 1.5 hour away from Tokyo via the subway. We arrived around 12pm and spent about 5 hours there. It was a good amount of time for us to check out the main sights.

Here is an itinerary of our afternoon spent! Hopefully this will help you plan an afternoon there too.

Lunch: Even though Kamakura is a smaller city, there were plenty of restaurants to pick from. For lunch, I would recommend eating shirasu don- tiny, sardine like fish. They are a Kamakura speciality and are caught locally, so it is super fresh!

You can have shirasu cooked or raw. Our friend prefers it cooked, so we listened to his expert local advice and loved it! It is a plain and simple dish but full of savoury flavour. There is a bit of egg and onion as well. 

Many restaurants offer shirasu-don since it is a Kamakura specialty. There are usually picture stands posted outside restaurants, so just pop in and try it. 

Elevated walkway to 
the Tsurugaoka HachimangÅ«, with traffic on both sides

After lunch, start making your way slowly to the Tsurugaoka HachimangÅ« shrine. There is a nice, elevated pathway to walk along leading directly to the shrine.

Our friend told us that it’s really beautiful during the cherry blossom season!

Tsurugaoka HachimangÅ«: This is the main shrine in Kamakura and probably the reason why you’d like to visit! Spend some time walking around the shrine, there is also a pond and other small areas to check out. 

Hōkoku-ji bamboo forest: This is about a 15-20, non-uphill walk from the shrine. The sidewalks are a bit narrow so you will have to walk single file, but traffic is very calm and reserved. There is also a small entrance fee of about 300 yen, or 500 yen for green tea & a cookie. 

I really enjoyed the bamboo forest. There are different pathways and also other greenery in the forest.

It was calm, quiet and a nice nature break from the city landscape of Tokyo (which I loved btw). 

After spending about a hour here, we took the bus to Kamakura station (or you can also walk but our feet were sore) and then the train to Yuigahama station, the coastal part of Kamakura next to the Pacific Ocean.   

Kamakura Matsubaraan: This is a quaint little restaurant specializing in fresh soba noodles. It gets quite popular and usually you need a reservation. Since we were still full from lunch, we went to their cafe instead. Our friend ordered delicious scones, the boyfriend had a coffee, and I enjoyed some apple juice. 

Yuigihama Beach: A quick, five minute walk and you will see Yuguihama Beach. Since it was their winter season, there weren’t many people but apparently in the summer, it gets quite busy here. 

We came at the perfect time: sunset (about 4 pm). It was so beautiful and the waves were so calming. I wish we could have stayed longer and walked along the beach more, but the Big Buddha park closes at 5 so we were on our way.

Big Buddha: This is probably the second most popular attraction in Kamakura, next to the temple. The Big Buddha is probably about a 7 minute walk from the beach. There is a small entrance fee for this as well. They close at 5pm so be sure to get there by 4:30pm!

So, there was our few hours in Kamakura! I really enjoyed Kamakura and thought 5 hours was a suitable amount of time. It was a nice change of pace and we got to enjoy some cultural and historic aspects of Japan. 

Travel: Tokyo Eats – Part 1/3

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After 5.5 years of talking about our dream trip to Tokyo, the boyfriend and I finally brought our dream to fruition this past week! It was surreal being back in Tokyo for the second time and I can easily say that it is my favourite city in the world. We stayed a total of 8 full days, plus 2 half days for travelling.

In these 8 days, we ate a lot and did not come across a single meal that we didn’t like! Here are some of the restaurants/chains that we visited, and I would recommend giving a try. I’m not going to list every single restaurant we ate at because the post would be way too long!
7-11: Our trip started with 7-11 food – yes, you heard that right! The 7-11 convenience stores in Japan are nothing like the greasy junk food served in Canada/USA. They have everything ranging from onigiri, salad, udon bowls, curry rice bowls, steamed dumplings, ice cream…. and more!

The go-to was the onigiri, which was approximately $1-2 CAD each depending on flavour. These are great to store in your bag for the day, and I bought a couple to snack on before going to Tokyo Disneysea as well.

Sukiya: Sukiya is a major quick meal chain in Tokyo. I saw a Sukiya every few blocks or so in Shinjuku! They specialize in beef rice bowls, aka gyudon. I came in here not knowing what to expect, but I actually really enjoyed it.

It is a very filling rice bowl, with lots of sweet, seasoned beef, and mayo. They also added some small pieces of sour, preserved veggies to balance it out.

The total cost was about $7 CAD for a delicious and super big meal. It is very popular during the lunch rush, where you can see lots of salarymen enjoying a quick lunch before going back to work.

A Happy Pancake: I have more of a savoury tooth than a sweet tooth, but A Happy Pancake was definitely on our radar! We went to the Harujuku location and waited for about 20 minutes around 2pm. They are known for their incredibly fluffy and thick Japanese pancakes!

Each pancake is freshly made and there is a window where you can see them making it. The pancakes definitely did not disappoint. I have yet to see something like this in Vancouver, so you should definitely give them a try while in Tokyo.:

Matsunoya: Matsunoya is another chain restaurant, although I did not see it around as much as Sukiya. We passed by one of the Matsunoya locations every day on the way to the subway, and decided to finally try it. They serve gyudon as well, but seem to specialize in katsu aka fried meat.

We ordered both the pork and chicken katsu to compare, and they were both delicious! Very crispy and the curry sauce was delicious as well. Matsunoya was also pretty cheap!

Kaisen Misakiko: We visited this sushi conveyor belt restaurant in Tokyo Dome City for lunch! It was reasonably priced and our favourite nigiri were the different types of tuna.

There are two layers of conveyor belts. The bottom belt offers the standard nigiri. The top belt has the nigiri that you specially order on the iPad and comes delivered on a shinkansen style plate, how cute! The colour of the plate corresponds to the price – usually, there are about 5 different plate colours at a restaurant.

Well, there’s part 1! Stay tuned for part 2!

 

 

 

New York City: 5 Day Itinerary

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I have been itching to travel, as I have not gone on a plane since 2017! I also miss writing travel posts, so I recently dug out my New York City itinerary from my files. I realized I never shared my itinerary, although there were quite a few posts on specific attractions and restaurants (which I will link)!

I created this itinerary based on a first timer’s experience, so it covers most of the quintessential, must visit New York City tourist spots.

The takeaway from this post is how to spend your time efficiently so that you can make the most out of your 5 days! When planning, I decided to focus on specific neighbourhoods each day, so that my mom and I would not be wasting time going across the city after each attraction.

Day 1
Neighborhood: Time’s Square (ish)
Attractions visited: Time’s Square, Grand Central Station, Hershey’s Store, M&M’s store, The Morgan Library, TKTS ticket booth
Food: Ippudo Westside Ramen

Tired after a red eye flight…. zzz

After my mom and I landed, we took the subway from JFK and stopped at Grand Central Station before checking in at our Airbnb. We had a red eye flight so took a must-needed nap before heading out in the late afternoon.

We started off with a visit to The Morgan Library, which I would recommend if you’re a history/classical lover. Then, we had a delicious dinner at Ippudo Ramen and headed off to Times Square, which is worth visiting at least once. It is a overwhelming spectacle of bright lights and consumer culture at its finest.

We also checked out the flagship Hershey’s and M&M stores there.

Tip: I would highly recommend lining up at the TKTS ticket booth for discounted Broadway shows. We waited about 45 minutes in line in Times Square, but it was so lively and full of sights that the wait was not bad at all. We ended up getting Broadway tickets to the Matilda show for 50% off!

Day 2
Neighbourhoods: Lower Manhattan, Chelsea, Broadway Show
Attractions visited: Staten Island Ferry (free view of the Statue of Liberty), Battery Park, 9/11 Memorial, Century 21, Chelsea Market, Highland Park, Broadway show
Food: Chelsea Market

We started the day by riding the free Staten Island ferry roundtrip, which gives you a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty! Then, we walked around Battery Park where the pace was slower and quieter. We then walked up to the 9/11 Memorial site and visited the museum, which was very somber and saddening. From there, we walked a few blocks into the Financial District/Wall Street and shopped around Century 21, a department store with great prices!

Then, we took the subway to Chelsea Market and walked to High Line Park. I really enjoyed High Line Park, it was peaceful and quiet but you were still able to see the sights of the city. It was a great place to people watch.

We walked along the whole path and ended up in the Broadway district, where we ended the night watching Matilda on Broadway! It was one of my favourite movies growing up and the show did not disappoint at all!

Day 3
Neighbourhoods: Midtown, Upper East Side
Attractions: Central Park, The Met Museum, Empire State Building
Food: Blue Dog Cafe, Candle 79, Five Senses Korean Restaurant

For our third day, we started off bright and early with the Empire State Building to avoid line ups. After taking in the views, we went to Central Park and spent a couple of hours strolling around and taking photos and stopped at Blue Dog Cafe for lunch.

Then, we went to the Upper East Side for the Met museum and Candle 21, a delicious vegan restaurant. We walked around Upper East Side after, marveling at the apartments and went into a few shops.

Since we had the cityPASS which came with a day and night visit of the Empire State building, we topped off the night with Korean food nearby and then a night view from the Empire State Building.

Day 4:
Neighbourhoods: Midtown, Upper West Side, Hudson River
Attractions: Rockefeller Center, American Museum of Natural History, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruise
Food: Del Frisco Steakhouse, Totto Ramen

Can you tell I like views? We had an early start to beat the lines at Top of the Rock although tbh, either Empire State/Top of the Rock would have been fine, no need to have gone to both. After that, my mom and I splurged a little and went to Del Friso Steakhouse where we felt slightly out of place with all the fancy corporate people in their suits.

Then, we walked around the American Museum of Natural History, which was not as boring as I thought it would be. We walked around Upper West Side for a bit and then walked over to the piers along the Hudson River for our sightseeing cruise! This was the only professional tour we did on the trip, and it was really enjoyable!

The round trip boat cruise did a U shape around the lower part of NYC, passing the Statue of Liberty, and going under all 3 bridges and then came back to the pier. After this, we went to Totto Ramen for a late night dinner which was sooo delicious.

Day 5:
Neighbourhoods: East Village, Chinatown, Brooklyn
Attractions: Brooklyn Bridge
Food: Tasty Handpulled Noodles

For the last full day, we checked off the Brooklyn Bridge on our list! We slowly made our way there, discovering a delicious hole-in-the-wall noodle joint in Chinatown, Tasty Handpulled Noodle in the process.
By the time we made it to the Brooklyn Bridge, it was packed and so busy! We were originally going to walk across the whole bridge, but it was so full of people and noisy from the roaring traffic below, that we decided not to. We just walked around the area, and slowly wound up in East Village. It was a nice, slower paced day compared to all the sightseeing we did in the past 3 days.
We did stay an additional day, but we just mainly walked around Times Square, bought souvenirs, and checked out Ripley’s Believe it or not museum before taking the subway to the airport in the late afternoon. It was a fun filled 5 days and NYC has left a positive impression on me!

Check out the hyperlinks in the post to read detailed reviews on the restaurants or attractions!

Travel: Hyatt House Bellevue Review

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In February, I went on a double date weekend trip to Seattle! One of the main reasons why I agreed to go on this double date was because my house was lately facing a ton of issues. After reading this post by sewer cleanup in dallas, I understood that the entire process of fixing it would take time and thus left my home with the repairmen and my trustworthy neighbour to head out for the weekend date getaway. We stayed one night at the Hyatt House Bellevue, which was about a 20 minute drive to downtown Seattle.

We chose Bellevue over Seattle because the hotels were significantly cheaper (like half of the price cheaper!). Hyatt House also came with free parking, free wifi, and free breakfast buffet! All three things won us over.

Even though it was only one night, I really enjoyed my stay at this hotel.

One thing I really liked about the Hyatt House was how quiet it was. Even in the hallways, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Even though the hotel was facing a highway, you could not tell because of how greatly soundproofed it was.

Here is a shot of our room when you first walk in! We had the standard room with king size bed.

Right beside the entrance, was the small kitchen. I don’t want to call it a kitchenette because it came with a full sized fridge, a stove top, dishwasher, and all cooking utensils (pots, spatulas). If we stayed longer than one night, I definitely would have utilized it! There was no stink from kitchen sink, so plumbing must be perfect there. Visit this website if you are struggling to find a reputable plumbing contractor, as I believe this issue should be fixed asap.

The bed was extremely comfortable. I loved the super soft pillows and power outlets were conveniently placed on the lamp holders. I slept really well and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore Seattle!

View of the room from the bed. It’s not very big, but it was comfortable enough and super quiet. With the windows closed, all the highway noise was completely blocked out.

The washroom was separated with the sink outside, and the toliet/bathtub inside. I was telling my boyfriend how I prefer this efficient set up and it is the style in Japan too. This way, two people are able to get ready at the same time rather than one person having to wait.

The toiletries were pretty average, nothing special about it.

In the morning, we woke up and went straight to the breakfast buffet downstairs! The breakfast buffet was really delicious and a lot higher quality than I expected it would be. There was a plethora of delicious breakfast foods, including waffles, scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, toast, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, and fresh fruit.

It was really clean and the staff did a good job in ensuring that nothing ever went empty. Definitely a great way to start the morning and fuel ourselves for the day.

As for cons, there honestly wasn’t much to complain about. Maki noticed afterwards that she was charged an ‘authorization for incidentals’ despite not making any phone calls, eating the minibar snacks, etc. But that was easily fixed after calling the hotel and they refunded her.

The cost of our hotel visit at Hyatt House Bellevue was $147.00 CAD, which was very reasonable considering the quality, comfort, and free amenities.

If you’re planning on heading down to the Seattle area, the Hyatt House is a great choice.

Hotel stay purchased by myself. Opinions are own.