Japan trip 2014

It's my children's first time to travel abroad! They enjoyed experiencing different types of transport. airplane, ropeway, ship, bus, taxi and many kinds of trains during the 2 weeks. Felix liked to speak English to buy ice cream, borrow something, etc. Besides, we all got tan.

Japan is clean and people are friendly and well-mannered. It's easy to get travel information and go around for foreigners with kids. Interesting Japanese young ladies like to wear high heels even walking in a temple garden with stairs and hiking in the mountains!

passport: adult $1300, child $900
flight +tax: Vanilla Air (Taiwan→Tokyo) $3600 (group discount 10%)

                  Jetstar (Osaka→Taiwan) $4752 (15 kg checked baggage), $4185

Aug. 3, Sun.

Taiwan (11:05)→Narita Airport (15:25), get Kinugawa Theme Park Pass (¥6180) and Hakone Freepass (¥5140)→Shinjuku (新宿) by N'EX (¥1500), get PASMO cards→東新宿 Exit A1

accommodation: Toyoko Inn Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho (¥9072, breakfast)+membership card (¥1500)

Aug. 4, Mon.

visit Yoko in 川崎 by 東急田園都市線(涉谷→Tama Plaza)→明治神宮→Tokyu Plaza (表參道原宿)
accommodation: Toyoko Inn Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho (¥10473 with ECO Plan, breakfast)

Today, 17 years later, I was excited to see my Japanese pen pal for the 2nd time! We hadn’t seen each other since she visited Taiwan in summer 1997. Both she and I were students then. Today both of us are mothers of 2 already. Even though these kids speak different languages, they still had a great time. Amazing, isn’t it?!

Considerate Yoko gave my kids toys, mosquito stickers and spray, which were useful on our trip. My kids played with the toys everyday!



Aug. 5, Tue.

Disneyland (1 day passport adult ¥6400, child ¥4200)
accommodation: Toyoko Inn Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho (¥10473 with ECO Plan, breakfast)

Aug. 6, Wed.

Asakusa (淺草)(9:10)→Nikko (日光)(11:21) by Tobu Railway→東照宮(¥1300)→Kegon Waterfall(¥550)

accommodation: Nikko Park Lodge Tobu Station (¥9481)
I enjoyed staying in the quiet and relaxing town Nikko. Stores and most of the restaurants  close at around 18:00 except supermarkets. And, it's cool in the evening.

Aug. 7, Thu.
Edo Wonderland in Kinugawa (鬼怒川)→Asakusa
accommodation: Khaosan World Asakusa Hostel ($2510 + ¥2200)

Aug. 8, Fri.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center (¥1700, ¥3000 for 1 adult+1 child) in Odaiba (台場)→Tokyo Tower

accommodation: Khaosan World Asakusa Hostel ($2510)
It's fun my almost 3 year old kept speaking Chinese to foreign kids when playing with toys at Decks Tokyo Beach. My children wanted ice cream. I gave them ¥100 for McDonald ice cream to encourage them to get one themselves at Tokyo Tower. They made it!

Aug. 9, Sat.

Asakusa→Tokyo Sky Tree Area
accommodation: Khaosan World Asakusa Hostel ($2510)
My hubby went to the supermarket to buy some bananas, meat and eggs and prepared breakfast. I made almond oat cereal. After breakfast, we walked to Senso-ji and then to Tokyo Sky Tree. a lot of walking; a lot of people! It's cloudy and sometimes rainy, so we decided to went up only to floor 350.  We came back to Asakusa for dinner by Tobu train.

Aug. 10, Sun.

Shinjuku (9:30)→Hakone Yumoto (箱根湯本)(10:54)→強羅 by tozan train→早雲山 by tozan cable car
accommodation: Kinreisou (¥16200 + ¥2000, dinner and breakfast)

Due to typhoon Halong, too bad the ship and ropeway were suspended. After dinner in the Japanese style hotel, we enjoyed hot spring, classical music on TV and my kids also played with the toys. What a wonderful night! Cool and peaceful.

Aug. 11, Mon.

大涌谷→桃源台 by ropeway→元箱根 by sightseeing cruise→Odawara (小田原)→Kyoto by Shinkansen (¥11560)

accommodation: Toyoko Inn Kyoto Gojo-karasuma (¥9541, breakfast)

We’re too excited to notice the time and the number of runs of scheduled trains. 5 min earlier, we got on a wrong train, stops at each before arriving at 名古屋! In the end, we arrived at Kyoto later than we expected.

Aug. 12, Tue.
get JR 1 Day Pass (¥2060) for Aug. 16→Nara Park (奈良公園) by Miyakoji Rapid Service (¥710)

accommodation: Toyoko Inn Kyoto Gojo-karasuma (¥9241 with ECO Plan, breakfast)

Aug. 13, Wed.
清水寺
accommodation: Toyoko Inn Kyoto Gojo-karasuma (¥9241 with ECO Plan, breakfast)

Many stores offer visitors free green tea and sweets. My kids enjoyed tasting!

Aug. 14, Thu.  (1 Day Bus Pass ¥500)
金閣寺 (¥400)→Kyoto International Manga Museum (紙芝居)→錦市場
accommodation: Toyoko Inn Kyoto Gojo-karasuma (¥10773, breakfast)

Aug. 15, Fri.
嵯峨嵐山 (take Sagano Sightseeing Tram, ¥1240)→嵐山
accommodation: Toyoko Inn Kyoto Shijo-omiya (¥9234, breakfast)

We met the enthusiastic and cheerful lady with her two grandsons on the Sagano Sightseeing Tram. She can't speak English. We can't speak Japanese. She still kept speaking Japanese to us. It's fun!

Aug. 16, Sat.
Kansai-airport by Express Haruka→Sky View by free shuttle bus→Kansai International Airport (17:15)→Taiwan (19:05) 

the last day before flight

Before leaving for Japan, we celebrated our sons’ birthdays at 陶板屋. I'm happy to have you as my children. You're the loves of my life. I wish you a life full of happiness, love, and joy!

typhoon day

No school or work. My father in law has stayed with us since Monday. My sons showed off again. They made green bean bread with raisins for their grandpa. After eating the bread, we decided to hang out at the department stores. We had lunch at Verythai and read at King Stone Bookstore at  Mega City and then played with cars at Far Eastern Department Store.

go away for the summer in Taichung

We went down to Taichung last Sat. afternoon and came back to sultry Taipei this morning. We enjoyed having lunch at 水舞饌 with free wifi on Sunday. I like the playground with big windows and colorful wall.

After lunch, my kids had fun playing with water in front of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi.

We went to Maple Garden and had dinner with my mom at 幸福小水舞 yesterday.

fairytale castle