Japan Tokyo Free and Easy: Tokyu Stay Shinjuku

Some of the important places and distance from Shinjuku Tokyu Stay. The walk to the JR station and bus terminal should be around 10-15 minutes. The Shinjuku Gyoen( Koen) is around 10 minutes walk away. A great place to catch cherry blossoms and autumn leaves . There is a bus stop before you cross the road to Isetan on your right. The bus takes around 15 minutes to Meiji shrine. much faster and less hassle compare to the trains.

First impression of the Tokyo Stay. Great. Everything looks so clean and new. 

I book two different kind of room, one is the small double room and the twin room. The bigger room for my parents.

The different between the small double room is that there is two big chairs with the table so it is a great place for the whole family to have dinner or have a small discussion. The twin room also have a extra small room where the makeup table, washing machine.washer, microwave, trousers press and clothes hanger are. The small double room have everything except the makeup table but is crammed into a narrow walkway.

Both rooms also comes with a humidifier, one packet of detergent, safe and one free use of the instant coffee and a kettle.

This is the twin room. 

Double room and the small table for gathering

This is the small double room.

Small double room. The bed is use beside the table The white part is the first photo is the bed. The room is quite narrow,

 Free coffee every morning

Why I would recommend Tokyu stay.
1. It is just located behind the Shinjuku-3-chrome station, 1 minute walk  and there is an escalator leading up to the exit, although no escalator down. There is a lift like 4 minutes walk away. If you bringing elderly. This is a great hotel to stay.
2. It is located not far from JR station, if you exit at the JR station near to platform 1 to 2, it is only a 10 minutes walk away and if you are lazy, The bus terminal which has buses to the airport and other places like Mount Fuji are located 10 minutes walk away too.
3. There are convenient stores, eateries, small supermarket, drugstores, Shinjuku park, malls and also 100 yen shop located nearby.
4. There is a microwave and washer/dryer. I would sometimes like to buy food back to eat at the apartment in the morning before I set off. Too lazy to go out for breakfast. The microwave is really useful. The washer and dryer means I do not need to bring too much clothes, it is very important especially during winter.
5. The staff speaks good English.
6. They have real windows.



Why I would not recommend Tokyu stay.
1. There is only room service once a week.
2. The small double room is a bit crammed.

Flight Review: Japan Airline JAL to Japan

This is my first flight by Japan Airlines. I was expecting quite good services and food as Japan is know to meticulous and of good quality. Moreover, my parents took a flight to Hokkaido via JAL and was full of praise for JAL.

The seats was comfortable to me. My mum complained the new design of chair seat is not really suitable for her back. I think it is just that the seat design is comfortable to most people but not  tio some. 

The food was the main problem of the flight. We took a midnight flight to Tokyo. No midnight snack /drink  was offered. The only meal offered was two hours before landing. Most flights I taken will at least offer a light snack.

Most airlines or all airlines I have taken offered two choices of food. JAL has only one option for breakfast which is soup with bread. Firstly, I was disappointed firstly with the lack of choices. As an Asian airline, I would expect something more Asian and if another choice is offered, something more to modern western taste buds.. My parents do not like the soup, therefore, they have to make do with cold bread and a hot drink.  I am not a fan of pumpkin soup too, but when you are hungry and tired, you have to make do with anything they offered.

On the flight back, which was an evening flight. We were hoping for a better meal.The only options available was either beef with something or a beef burger. The only options available on flight was beef. We were visibly upset as we did not realize beef is a special request. There was no special meal for no beef. The main reason is also we took quite a number of flights with various airlines and never encounter beef as a special request.  They will have a safe option like chicken or seafood. The second reason is a large number of Asians do not consume beef due to their religious beef and JAL do not seems to realise that. 

The saving grace of the day was one kind and helpful air stewardess, although one make some remarks on us being too troublesome. I did not manage to get the name of the helpful air stewardess, but  she manage to get one fish meal for my parents. She tried to remove the beef and serve as the side dishes as she was worried that we did not eat anything on the long flight. We tried to eat some food but the fragrance of the beef was too nauseous for us. 

I will not recommend JAL to people who are picky about flight food. If you are someone who has no interest in flight food. It was a great flight. 

Airline Review: Emirates Airlines and Delta airlines

I have tried various airlines throughout my years of travel, more than 20.

One of the reason think is fun to experience different airlines.  The other reason is definitely the price, if it is on promotion, we are getting it. However, there are some airlines I avoid but some I look forward to taking.

I heard rumors of American airlines not being up to par and how Emirates is one of the best airlines around.

I was hesitant about taking Delta airlines last year to Japan, but it was almost $200 cheaper than Japan Airlines. However, the flight turn out to be much pleasant than I expected. They provide cheap earplugs and eye mask so you can have a better sleep. They also provide bottles of mineral water so that if you can keep yourself hydrated throughout the flight without having to ask for it. and bottles are definitely easier to store than cups. The flight entertainment was good and so was the leg space.

This May/June, I took Emirates to Melbourne. I was looking so forward to it as I have heard of it good reputation. I did not have a chance to take it throughout my years of travel, usually due to pricing.

I posted a photo on my instagram when I boarded my flight, good leg space and good selection of movies.

It was an overnight flight which departs at 1040pm and will reach melbourne around 740am ( Melbourne timing). Around one plus after the plane took off, supper was served. Then the lights were dimmed, which is time for us to sleep. It is important to sleep on overnight flight so when we reached Melbourne, we can start on our trip. And I believe most people do not have the luxury to catch up on their sleep immediately when they reach Melbourne. The flight was around half full as a lot of people were taking up 2 to 3 seats so they can have a good sleep. Emirates decided they need around 3 hours to serve breakfast, they woke up around 440am ( Melbourne time) and 240am ( Singapore time).
It was frustrating to be woken up and it was so hard to go back to sleep. We have two hours left after breakfast. I wrote to Emirates inquiring about this but they say they have no rules or schedules for the staff to follow, they can serve anytime they want. What a cool airline, staff are allowed to do what they want.

For the return flight, we had this interesting air stewardess. When she was serving drinks, she just push it roughly to us. The drink almost spilled and startled  us and the air stewardess, she just move on with her job with no apology.

During dinner time, the person in front of one of us had her seat inclined all the way down. We thought just wait for the air stewardess because some people get agitated if you speak to them directly. The tray was those folded in two, but as the chair was inclined all the way down, there was no way we can put the tray down. The air stewardess came to serve dinner, she took no notice and shoved the tray at my friend. She was frustrated with my friend when her tray was not down. Then she finally realize that she need to ask the person to sit upright. My dinner has been a small corner open up, and my sauce was somewhat dried up. I only realized that mine was wrong as my friends had their meal served 5-10 minutes later.

During the snack time before we reach Singapore around 2 hours which is around 10 pm Sg time, they started distributing food on small little plates. On the menu, it wrote beef or cheese/vegetarian pie. Who will remember when you just woke up? They started passing it to any passengers who make eye contact with them. My pie was overturned, I thought they changed to serving pancakes as it does look like a pie. They were busy just passing pies on little plates, not serving.You put out your hand and you get a pie.They decide not to wake passengers up by not switching on the light.  As they did not switch on the light initially , you can hear the air stewardess shrieking that she cant see the marking on the pie.After passing the pies around, they decided to do it professionally with the trolley. They started to offer choices to passengers. We knew that as they were offering it to the passengers right in front of us. We were upset because we choose to take the pie first, we were not give a choice or told what was the food.  I do not want to eat beef but the pie was just shoved to me because I looked at the air stewardess.

We decided not to make a scene as the air stewardess was busy.

We decide to just write an email asking Emirates how and why. Emirates' reply was great. They say they have no rules to when food was served, how it was served, seats having to be upright during meal times. In other words, the air stewardess are just trained to serve food and operate whatever things. They told me I was given beef pie due to pies running out and I did not indicate my choice. I told them in the email, there were cheese/vegetarian pies but I was not offered it. They do not read the email. I do not mind if there is no cheese/vegetarian pie. If I did not indicate, I don't mind not eating as it was my fault. They were ample cheese pies but they just choose not to offer it. Moreover, t hey encourage me to make a fuss on the plane or if not, it is too late. To them, the air stewardess and staff need nothing much wrong.

If you want to work with an airlines, choose Emirates. They are so easy going with their staff.
If you want to enjoy your flights, choose anything but Emirates.


This is upside down pie, how professional Emirates is.

Japan Free and EAsy: Yokohama Monterey Hotel

There is not a lot of option for airbnb at Yokohoma so we decided to stay in hotel.

The location was great.

Location: 5-10 minutes walk from Motomachi Chukagai train station.

Motomachi Train station is just beside Chinatown.

Then to walk to the Red Brick House is around 15 minutes. And to the cup noodle museum is around 20 minutes. It is also 5 minutes to the Yokohama Marine Tower and 10 minutes from Motomachi shopping trip.  There are convenient stores and cafes nearby.  I consider the location great. 

We took a bus and then the train from Tokyo airport. The train station is the last stop, so it is great as we manage to get good seats for the long train journey from Yokohama to Tokyo. 

We went during the end of December, it is a nice weather to stroll around, then take the train.

First impression. Clean and new although furnishing looked dated.

It comes with 3 proper beds. A small TV, a soft and a small chair and a big desk. 

The room is considered quite spacious as hotel room are quite small in Tokyo.

Comes with a kettle. and 3 cups. Triple sharing room usually have 2 sets of toiletries and cups. This is one of the good hotel that provide 3 sets of everything.

We booked a room with harbour view as the price difference is not high and we were celebrating Christmas. The view was really good. There is no obstruction and there is just a small park just in front. 

The view from the hotel room

 The park near the hotel. Nice a stroll and great scenery too.

I will recommend this hotel as I like that it is accessible to most places. Taking the train is sometimes a bit troublesome as we have to walk to the train station, walk down the flight of stairs. Wait for the train and go up the stairs again and is not free. 

If you want a funky hotel, then this not it. 

The wifi is free and fast. No limit to the number of devices that can connected.

The only negative point is that their customer service is a it weird. I left an empty bag at the hotel. I check out of the hotel around 11 am and left my luggage at the hotel till 3 pm. They did not notify me I left my bag. When I email them a few days later, they mention they have the bag in their procession and ask me to pay for postage if I want the bag back. They say it is not their policy to check with customers if they still want the bag. They will just wait patiently us to contact them.

Save on travel with ShopBack: Expedia promo codes and cashback

As a frequent traveller, saving money on trips is very important to me.


More savings in air tickets and accomodations means more money for shopping and good food.


And don't we all love the feeling of being smart and accomplished because you get a better deal then anyone else?


I have been using Shopback for around a year. When my friend told me about it, I rolled my eyes and have my doubts. It is too good to be true - are there any hidden terms and conditions like administrative fees and etc? However, the savings was too tempting for me to resist and I thought there was no harm giving it a try. That wass how I start using Shopback.


Using it was a breeze, it can use for a lot of online merchants and the list keep increasing. Some of the merchants that I tried using Shopback on are Zalora, Lazada. Zuji, Expedia, Hotels.com, Asos, Taobao and a lot more. I have unknowingly accumulated more than $200 of cashback credits!

Reasons why I recommend Shopback

It is very easy to use. Just click on the link to the online shop to make your purchases and you can start accumulating your savings.
There are no hidden administrative charges, and terms and conditions.
There is a summary of workable discount codes. (you know the hassle of googling for discount code but to realise most of them are fake or expired)
The Shopback credits can be transferred to your bank account with no hidden charges
Shopback can be used concurrently with discount codes.
They are really organised and nice, they will send you an email once your Shopback is credited to your account.




I will be making a trip to Melbourne in 1 Month.


The airtickets cost:

Flight Booking Price including Taxes, Charges, Payment and Service fees (SGD)$1,950.60
Emirates Airline Airfare from Singapore to Melbourne (Tullamarine)
3 Adult Airfare(s)$1,548.00
Taxes & Surcharges$402.60
 Booking Fee$90.00
Discount: By Applying Coupon LUNCHTIME20$(20.00)
Booking Price including Taxes, Charges, Payment and Credit Card Fees (SGD)$2,020.60


Rebate $16.33. And I am still allow to use the discount code. Double savings!!!




















Rebate of $29.36 and still allow to use discount code!!!


So for my trip $45.69 not including discount code. Cant help feeling so smart. Not just feeling. I am really smart.


How to join Shopback


1. Click this https://www.shopback.sg/?raf=8rcCtc

2. Create an account. $10 bonus for signing up. :D

3. Search for the online shop, click on it. Scroll down for promotion code.

4. Click on shop now and you can start shopping and saving.

5. There will be an email sent to inform you of your savings after you make payment.


6. Just wait for the money to be credit to your account and you can transferred it to your own bank account.


If you find my instructions unclear, take a look at Shopback Tutorialvideo for a step by step instructions


Therefore for the best deals, do your online shopping at ShopBack.


And for those travellers like me here is the link to find the list of travel merchants!

Here is the link to more offers on travel bookings from online travel merchants such as Expedia and Agoda.

And for those who are not into travelling but just love food and cooking, you can try getting the ingredients with cashback at Honestbee!


I was invited to do this review by ShopBack

However, the information is personal and true. Extracted from my own accounts. Do not copy and use them without permission.

10 Delicious Food You must try in Hong Kong

Here are some of the recommendations

1. Dim Sum

Dim sum are traditional chinese snacks or refreshment.

I consider this a must eat whenever I am in Hong kong. This is suited for the whole family as there are steamed and fried items, savory and sweet items. There is something for everybody. And the Dim Sum is better quality than most Singapore resturants

There are available at all sort of price to suit different budget and preferences

Tim Ho Wan. The cheapest Michelin restaurant, most people will visit it as it is also wallet friendly.

Lin Heung Tea House, which is in a more traditional settings. You may have to share tables, and you see Hongkongers reading the papers and enjoying their breakfast or tea. The dim sum are serve in trolleys and it gets a bit challenging to order as the staff speaks cantonese and are really fast in showing or explaining to you about the items

For more on Lin Heung Tea house,

http://mizztoee.blogspot.sg/2012/12/hongkong-food-lin-heung-tea-house-keung.html

Luk Yu Teahouse 陸羽茶室, the oldest tea house in Hongkong. It is also a traditional dim sum place with pushcarts. Compare to Lin Heung Tea House, the food are more expensive but you can a quieter and organised environment. There is no sharing of table. 

地址：香港島中環士丹利街24-26號

交通：中環站D2出口

2. Mango Desserts

There are  a lot of shops selling mango desserts in Hongkong and several of them opened branches in Singapore. For example, Lucky Dessert and Honeymoon Desserts. I feel that they just taste better in Hong Kong.

The reason of its popularity is its generous servings of mango and also the mango are sweet and not sour.  The Durian desserts are also quite popular.

Lucky Desserts

Great place to eat after shopping at Mongkok.

許留山Hui Lau Shan

Lots of branches especially at Mongkok .

One of the most famous branch.

Best for summer, a refreshing mango drink on the go

Cong Sao Dessert 聰嫂私房甜品

My latest finding. This place is quite small and cramped. Expect to queue and share tables.

To me, the desserts are on par or better than the Xu Liu Xiang. The mango ice has a strong mango flavour, must try for mango lover. The durian pancakes was creamy and delicious.

I will definitely visit this place again. 

11 Yiu Wa St Causeway Bay

Walking distance from Times Square at Causeway Bay MTR

Hours: 1230pm to 12am.

3. Wanton Noodles

The differences between Singapore and Hongkong WAnton Noodles.

 Wanton is Hongkong wanton are big and filled with prawns and meat, Singapore one is small and compact with pork only.

Hongkong Noodles are not more chewy and tougher.

More efforts are put into the soup base for Hongkong Wanton Noodles as it is usually eaten with soup.

Singapore Wanton Noodles have Char Siew (pork slices) and vegetables, Hongkong ones only have Wanton and spring onions.

My vote definitely goes to Hongkong WAnton Noodles, even though is pricey than Singapore Hawker Version. I like the fat juicy Wanton with the springy and chewy noodles. 

A Must try.

4. Milk Tea/ Yuen Yang/Toast ( Food at Cha Chan Ting)

Cha Chan Ting is the Hongkong Traditional cafe. For cafe hoppers, you can try Cha Chan Ting hopping. There are some Cha Chan Ting with very nice interiors.

Different Cha Chan Ting are famous for different food items.  

The famous food at Cha Chan Ting includes their milk tea, Yuen Yang (coffee+ milk tea), egg tarts, polo buns. Not one Cha Chan Ting serves everything so you do have to make a few visits to different places to enjoy all the delicious foods.

For example, Lan Fong Yuen for their milk tea but their food taste great too which is one of my favourite. 

KAh Wah Cafe for their polo baos which is my sister's favourite.

NOte: you may have to share tables at Cha Chan Ting and their menu seems a bit confusing at times.

Ding Ding mian means instant noodles. 

Yuen Yang (coffee+ milk tea)

The Famous Lan Fong Yuen

More on Lan Fong Yuen

More on Kah Wah cafe

More on Kam Kee cafe

5. Desserts (High tea)

Hongkong has a wonderful selection of Hotels providing high tea. After the Cha Chan Ting hopping, go for some small and delectable desserts.

I have not been to a lot of high tea in HongKong due to time constraints, but if you try googling. There are so recommendations of interesting and delicious hight tea in Hongkong. Sometimes they work together with brands like cath kidson or laudrees to create an more interesting concept and yummy food.

Agnes b cafe

6. Porridge

Hongkong is famous for their porridge too. Their porridge are thicker, full of flavour and lots of ingredients. It taste more like the Sin Heng Kee porridge and Hugange.

The photo does not do justice to the porridge and the ingredients (pork) is really a lot.

生記粥麵

7. Street Food

  Hongkong has its own unique version of street food.

The most famous or infamous will the stinky tofu. You can smell the distinctive smell even when you are steps away. Try it if you dare. I tried but it is not something to my liking

The one that kids will love will be the egg waffle or ji dan zan, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It is sweet and fragrant.

The other famous street food includes the curry fishball and the fried intestine. There are stalls selling them around Hongkong. You can find most of them at Mongkok..

The grilled squid is something I don't see around Hongkong but the one at Mongkok taste real good.Worth trying.

street food

8. Roast Duck, Roast Pigeon, Roast Goose, Roast Pork and Soup

 Hongkong is also famous for their roast delicacies. Definitely must try unless you are very health conscious, then just have the soup. I love the roast delicacies, I usually don't take too fatty roast pork as it has a weird taste but the roast pork here just taste too good to resist.

There are many shops selling the roast food items. The most famous is the Yung Kee at Lan kwai Fong, which is slightly pricier. I havebeen there, did not leave an impression.

There are a lot of shops in Hongkong selling at a reasonable price.

My favourite is Keung  Kee as they also serve delicious soups. The photo below is the hk$64 set meal, ordered 3 sets but is enough for 4 person.

Kueng Kee

9. Claypot Rice

Hongkong is famous for their claypot. The most famous one I know about is Hing Kee the temple street, it is moe like eating on the street.. The trick to eating claypot rice is to wait for no one, just add the sauce and stir. Don't add too much as the taste is irreversible  and if you wait too long to stir, the sides will be very burnt.

Hing kee

Random claypot place

10. Pastries/bread/cakes

Hongkong great bakeries too. The most famous will be for their Lao Po Bin and Po lo Bao.
However, that is not the only thing that is nice.
I like Maxim chiffon cake, a soft but not heavy texture.
Their cakes are pretty and delicious too, bought one random and not very expensive cake for a birthday celebration. Everyone enjoy the cake. 

Some random bakery at Sham shui Po

A cool and modern cafe which sells breads and cakes. 

Traditional pastries.

Other than Lao Po Bin, they do have other pastries at the local bakeries.

http://mizztoee.blogspot.sg/2012/12/hong-kong-desserts-maxim-bakery.html

If you are in Hongkong for a stopover and you can only eat at one place, I will recommend Sweet Dynasty.

There serve Dim sum, porridge, Wanton Noodles, desserts.

The standard may not be as good as places specializing in each of the food but is above average and you get to try almost everything. 

Sweet Dynasty

There are still a  lot of interesting food to try in Hong Kong, their milk desserts or their Bi Feng Tang crabs. The 10 items are just some of the delicious food that I will try to have every time I visit Hongkong. I may not go to the same shop for the food every time as I do want to try something new and explore new food. Even the Macdonalds, yoshinoya and KFC serve different food items that is worth trying.

Hong Kong is a food heaven, it is very difficult not to bring back extra weight.

Hope this help in planning a faboulous food trip in Hong King.