-
#fbf Kyoto
Did you have to cancel summer travel plans due to the pandemic? I was supposed to go to Ireland in July and had to cancel that, unfortunately. I was literally supposed to leave next week – on the 3rd or 4th I believe. I’m hoping to at least do a weekend trip somewhere, maybe in the New England area since it’s driving distance from me. If you haven’t heard, New Jersey (where I live), New York, and Connecticut announced a joint travel advisory. Anyone traveling to one of these 3 neighboring states from a state with high COVID rates has to quarantine for 14 days. So if I were to…
-
#fbf Kiyomizu-dera Wind Chimes
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Flashback Friday or #fbf post so I thought I’d do one today! As I scrolled through my camera roll to find a photo that would jump out at me as one I would want to share today, I came across my videos of the beautiful wind chimes at Kiyomizu-dera – a temple in Kyoto, Japan that I visited in summer 2018. The temple is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I though this photo and more specifically, the sound of the chimes, was especially fitting given that for many people this week has been particularly emotionally draining. I don’t know why the…
-
Japan & Hong Kong Vacation Recap
I changed the theme on my blog last night. What do you think of the new layout and look? I’m really liking the change! I do have some little kinks to work out, but other than that I’m loving it. Now that I’ve been back from my Asian vacation for 2 weeks, I thought I’d do a quick recap, highlight some of my favorite things, and share what I didn’t get to do that I want to do in the future. Japan My flight to Japan was a smooth 12-13 hour flight from Newark, NJ to Tokyo, Japan. Japan was amazing! The people are super nice, polite, and helpful. It’s…
-
Foodie Diary: Japan
One of my favorite parts of traveling is eating – trying out different restaurants and cuisines. Today, as promised, I’m sharing most of my Japan eats from this trip. I’m not sharing every little thing, because honestly not everything is worth sharing like my eggs at breakfast and little random things. But here are all the things I ate that I thought were worth sharing! Junisoh An included tofu amuse bouche, tuna roll, and garlic fried rice.Vanilla ice cream with sweet bean paste for dessert. Kyushu Jangara Ramen with pork broth, chunks of pork, seasoned cod roe, and a hard boiled egg. Metropolitan Grill Included lamb amuse bouche, house marinated…
-
Last Day in Japan
I’m almost halfway through my trip to Hong Kong and I’m just getting to writing about my last day in Japan! As mentioned yesterday, my last day in Japan was pretty rainy. A typhoon was headed in the direction of Tokyo so most of Saturday was pretty wet. The hotel lent out umbrellas to guests and I also bought a $5 rain jacket in the convenience store. The jacket is actually really well made and a thick plastic so it’s reuseable. It has a hood and buttons up! It really did the trick on my last day in Japan and I’ve used it in Hong Kong too! Best $5 ever!…
-
Mt. Fuji & Shinjuku at Night
As I write this it is Wednesday evening and I’m relaxing in my hotel room in Tokyo hiding from the rain and having just woken up from a nap. I haven’t been feeling well the past day and a half and I think I caught a cold. So the rainy weather caused by a typhoon on its way was the perfect excuse to spend the latter part of the day indoors. Plus, I have to be up at 4am tomorrow for my flight which I hope still takes off! But this post isn’t about the weather or my cold – well okay, it’s a little about the weather because it…
-
Tsukiji Fish Market, Making Sushi, & Asakusa
When this post goes live I should be at the airport flying out of Japan and to Hong Kong. I say should because as I write this there is a typhoon on its way and they’re not sure if it will make landfall/hit Tokyo or not between Wednesday and Thursday. I’m hoping it stays out at sea because I don’t want it to ruin my travel plans! Today’s post is about what I did on Monday which was take a tour through the Tsukiji Fish Market, take a sushi class, and walk around Asakusa – a large open-air market. We were supposed to meet our guide from ABC Cooking Studio at…
-
Kyoto Day 2
As promised yesterday, I’m back with day 2 of my weekend trip to Kyoto while I vacation in Japan. Day 1 was very tiring because of the extreme heat and lack of air conditioning on the bus, but the sights in Nara were worth it. I’m pleased to say that Day 2 was filled with other beautiful and awe inspiring sights and included buses with air conditioning! This will also be another picture heavy post because we saw so many beautiful sights. There also may be a picture or two that are mislabeled because when I was going through them I lost track of the order and some of the places…
-
Kyoto – Day 1
I have to preface this post by telling you that this is going to be a picture heavy post! I took so many photos during day 1 of Kyoto and these are just a handful (large handful) of them! If you’ve been keeping up with my Instastories then you know I spent the weekend in Kyoto. My family and I packed overnight bags (shout out to the amazing foldable Eddie Bauer bags that zip up in to a pouch that we also took with us to Alaska a few summers ago!), took the bullet train from Tokyo and arrived in Kyoto a little over 2 hours later. We booked a 2…
-
Shinjuku, Harajuku, & Meiji Shrine
After passing out around 10:45 on Thursday night, I woke up wide awake at 3:30am. Luckily, I was able to fall back asleep around 4:30 until 7am and then had a very busy first full day in Tokyo. I had heard that summers in Japan and Hong Kong are very humid, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for how much I would sweat. It is so hot! So just be prepared for me to look progressively more like a hot mess in photos each day. You’ll notice my hair down and straight at the beginning of the day and up and a sweaty mess by the end!…
