Thursday, August 20, 2020

Tokyo ’19, Day 2 – Wandering Around Shinjuku


The plane drove to the gate and people started to gather their things. As always, my mom and I took their time and as I wanted to check our chairs' surrounding really well, we were pretty much the last people to leave the plane. But finally, we set foot in Japan!

First selfie on Japanese grounds!

My mom and I started in the direction of customs. The hallways of the airport were very quiet: everyone had probably already raced on. XD But then they still have to wait in line, so what’s the difference? We took our time, which gave us the time to take good pictures of the various welcome signs we passed, including one giant and bright red Mario and Luigi one!

Mario and Luigi welcoming us into Japan.

We entered customs and stood in line for quite a while. It’s always pretty warm there and I was already feeling hot from the plane and the excitement, so I wasn’t too thrilled about that. Luckily it didn’t take super long and soon my mom and I found ourselves in the luggage hall. We headed for the belt where our suitcases would (hopefully) appear, which they not long after did. I am always very relieved to see our suitcases again.

Reunited with our suitcases.

We went through one final check and then entered Narita airport. As last time we were there we had found a very convenient, quiet ATM, we headed there again and got ourselves some money. Then we headed for the Airport Limousine desk. During our previous trips, we didn’t know it was possible to take this bus to Shinjuku actually (don’t ask me why), but now we did! So we got ourselves two tickets and went outside to wait for the bus, which arrived not long after. We handed over our suitcases and entered the bus. Sadly it was already pretty full, so my mom and I had to sit separated, but it was fine.

Ready to head for Tokyo!

Soon the bus started driving and we enjoyed the ride. I don’t know what it is, but I just love buses. I find them so relaxing!
At some point, a mother with a small child suddenly pulled a child’s seat from under one of the bus’s seats, out of nowhere it seemed! It made it easier for the mother to relax while the child had its own seat. It was brilliant!
The ride took about one and a half hours and then we arrived in Shinjuku! We got of the bus, took our suitcases back and headed for our favourite hotel. ♥
It wasn’t check in time at all yet, but we could leave our suitcases in the lobby until then. My mom and I rested for a few minutes and then went out into Shinjuku.
When we passed some vending machines, we decided to get some drinks as it was quite warm. To my great joy I spotted my favourite drink: Milk Tea by Kirin! I had longed for that drink so much! Naturally I chose that one and my mom went for something lemon-y.

I was so happy I could have Milk Tea again!

We then walked into the direction of MyLord, the big shopping centre nearby. The weather was lovely, albeit it very warm, and the sounds and smells so nostalgic, I was so happy to be back!
We walked up the stairs leading to the bridge that leads to MyLord, when suddenly I spotted a new café which name made me laugh throughout our whole trip: Boul’ange Eggslut. I don’t know, it just sounded so freaking funny to me! I thought it was one of those Japanglish things, but it turns out Eggslut is an actual American chain!? So in hindsight, it was probably two cafés, one of them being an international chain.
Still, it makes me laugh until this day. XD

Peak humor, in my opinion. XD

We then went on to MyLord. From the bridge over the road you have a really nice view over the oncoming traffic, both during the day and at night. It’s a place that holds dear memories of mine. ♥

Shopping centre MyLord and the views from the bridge.

As we know MyLord fairly well by now, we walked into an arts and crafts shop we really like, which has everything you can imagine for making jewelry. My mom loves looking at all the beads there, I looked at the resin products (which I didn’t buy).
We then just took the escalators up and walked into stores we liked, some brand names which we knew, like Axes Femme, others we didn’t. I took a picture of the Ank Rouge clothing display near the escalators, as I love their clothes so much! Their clothing was very cute again this season…

Ank Rouge outfits on display.

When we finally got tired, we left MyLord and got us some bread rolls at bakery Hokuo. My mom got a croissant-resembling pastry while I treated myself to some long-awaited Melon pan. ♥
We took our snacks to the hotel, where it was time to check in, and took everything with us upstairs to our room. For the first time our room was located at the other side of the hotel, so not facing the Shinjuku sky scrapers. We had a bit of a small room this time, but we chose that deliberately and we didn’t mind at all. ^^ However, apparently neither my mom nor I has taken any pictures of our room whatsoever though, sorry. We had our snacks, set an alarm clock and had some long-awaited sleep.
After a few hours the alarm clock went off and we headed out to have something to eat. Shinjuku by night is one of my favourite things in the world, so I was quite happy. ^^
We decided to have dinner at our favourite restaurant in MyLord: Obon de Gohan. My dad and I had our first ever meal in Japan there and we have been coming back to it ever since! It was a busy night, as we had to wait to write our name on the waiting list. I wrote our surname in katakana, which was fun, and soon we were called and were seated. We put our bags in the convenient bag basket next to the table and had a look at the menu, although we knew from experience what we wanted to order anyway: the fried chicken set!

Dinner at Obon de Gohan.

As expected, the food was delicious! Ah, it was so good… I’m getting hungry now. ;0;
On our way back to the hotel, we walked into a conbini and got some desserts. We had made it our goal to try more conbini food and there were both a FamilyMart and a 7/11 near our hotel, so that was nice. This time, I chose a matcha dessert while my mom went with a flan-like pudding. They were so good!

Desserts of the day. ^^

Thank you for reading! ~☆~

2 comments:

  1. Omg I remember seeing the Eggslut place when I went to Las Vegas one year XD It got me too lolol
    That food at that restaurant looks so good! And mom is so pretty! <3

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    1. Isn't it just the best thing?? XD
      Thank you so much! (she says)

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