Tokyo Day 7 Feb 19th 2009

Day 7, last day in Tokyo before we head off to Hong Kong. Our initial plan was to cover Roppongi/Harajuku and Shinjuku. However as we need to head off to the airport at 4pm to catch our flight at 8pm, we decided to just walk around Shinjuku.

After waking up and packing our items, we checked out,left our luggage over at the conceige and head of to the Shinjuku Tokyo Metropolitant Government building. It provides free of charge observation deck where you would be able to view the panoramic skyline of Tokyo.


Pic 1 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building


Pic 2 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 3 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 4 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 5 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 6 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 7 : Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building model

Pic 8 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 9 : Restaurant at the top deck of Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 10 : View from Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

Pic 11 : Walking toward Sumitomo building for lunch

Pic 12 :Tokyo Metropolitant Government Building

After that we walk towards Sumitomo building ( not too far away from Century Hytaa hotel ) for lunch. The top 4-5 floor of the building are filled with restaurant and it offers a great view of Tokyo. We decided to eat at the shop below and prices for the mean was quite reasonable.

Pic 13 : View of Tokyo from Sumitomo Building

Pic 14 : Salmon Teriyaki

Pic 15 : Restaurant at Sumitomo Building

After lunch, we did some last minute shopping at Odakyu shopping mall. I manage to grab my camera LCD protector. Also check out the canon camera but find that the prices are quite comparable back home due to the high exchange rate then.

We headed back to the hotel at 4pm to collect the luggage and took the Hilton Free Shuttle Bus to Shinjuku and subsequent board the metro to Haneda airport. The terminal 2 ( where we got off from the metro ) is modernly design unlike terminal 3 ( which we were suppose to board our plane ). We should have spend more time in terminal 2 but then again we were quite tired and decided to head to the lounge to rest before the flight.

Pic 16 : Haneda Airport

Pic 17 : Haneda Airport

Pic 18 : Haneda Airport

A friend of mine recomended me to try Royce chocolate. This chocolate is very unique whereby it is kept at a control temperature and customers are advice to immediately eat the chocolate. The chocolate melts as you put it in the mouth.....

We felt sad that we were leaving but we mentioned that we will definately come back for Osaka,Kyoto and Hokkaido in near future...

Pic 19 : Royce chocolate

I will post my other side trips from previous trip soon.... If you are reading this and are heading to Japan soon, I wish you alll the best and enjoy your trip!!! .....

Tokyo Day 6 Feb 18th 2009

it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
theres so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all

CHORUS:

its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small, small world

There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small small world

Yes, Tokyo Disneyland here we come. By staying at the Tokyo Disneyland affiliated hotel, we could actually go in the park 1 hour earlier than the other walk in visitors but due to the tiring trip to Hakone and Gotemba, we overslept and end up entering the park 1 hour later than the rest of the crowd.

Unfortunately, Tokyo Disneyland is pretty crowded and the queues for the rides are really long. We queue up to 1 hour for the haunted mansion and 1/2 for Space mountain. Nevertheless, we spend the whole day at the part until it the Night Disney Parade. There's always this magical feeling whenever I enter Disneyland.. No worries, no stress ... just felt like a kid again. In fact, Disneyland Tokyo was the first Disneyland I ever came when it open not too long ago( back in 1985 ) with my family while in transit to the Disneyland in Anaheim LA and I can still remember the Haunted house vividly. Time flies... I was just a 7 years old then and my cousin ( 2 years my junior ) was with me and he was unable to ride most of the ride due to height requirement. I was lucky to have barely pass the minimum height requirement for the rides. The other most memorable ride back them was riding the log.

We left the park at 10pm to collect our luggage from Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay and heads off back to Shinjuku. After dropping our bags at Hilton Shinjuku, we decided to go out for midnight snack. As there is nothing much around Hilton Shinjuku, we went back to the shops in front of Odakyu Center and came across this shop. After dinner we head back to the hotel and called it a day.