Bupphesanniwat (Love Destiny)

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Watched in 2020.

First Thai drama I have watched. A Thai historical drama series which was first aired in 2018 in Thailand, but shown in my country during the start of the Covid period. Watching it on TV had been one of the things to look forward to each weekend!

Really like the pairing ‎Belle and Pope. Highly recommended. Got me interested in the history of Thailand as well.

Imoya いもや

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Address: 1-chōme-32 Kanda Jinbōchō, Chiyoda City, Tōkyō-to 101-0051, Japan (jimbocho station exit 3A)

Tel: +81 3-3292-0575

Pricing: below 1000 yen for me

Food: tempura

No pictures as I have not been able to go there for a while. But my favorite tempura place for the “feel”. Definitely value for money. Better call to check if it’s open before going.

Meatman

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Address: 4-8-8 Roppongi, Minato Tokyo Prefecture (Roppongi station exit 6)

Tel:+81-3-3479-9818

Pricing: About 3000 yen for me

Definitely my favorite. A place I revisit each time I’m back in Japan. I love yakitori but this place it is more than yakitori. I regard it as having more kushiyaki. There’s chicken, pork, beef and vegetables. I love it for the atmosphere, a small place in Roppongi with great food and vibe. The secret is I fell in love with the place many years back as they were playing final fantasy as their background music. I don’t think they do that now.

The menu changed over the years, so I will always go for some of the specials, along with the various bacon rolls. Oh and the umeshu. Always call and make a reservation first. It’s fairly crowded even on weekdays. Pictures from my latest trip in April 2019 are below!

Comment: Many friends have asked me for food recommendations in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I never quite kept a list that was easily shareable. (And I was not quite the food connoisseur.) So I’ve decided to use my website as a place to keep track of my favourite places.

Day trip in Mie prefecture from Nagoya

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To Ise Shrine, I would recommend staying at Nagoya if you have lots of luggage and using the JR pass. If you can afford just bringing a small piece of luggage, perhaps you could explore other lodging options in Mie Prefecture. 三重県

  • 8:05 am Took the JR tokkyu line from Nagoya station 名古屋駅 this had another 810 yen per person even with the JR pass. Or you could take the 8:37 am train which is the JR kaisoku mie no. 1 JR快速みえ1号 鳥羽行, which reaches at 10:18 am but you don’t have to worry about changing trains. You will still have to pay an extra 500 yen (collected on the train as well) as part of the track is owned by another company. Whichever train you take, go for the unreserved seats. (I love Japanese trains, they all have toilets lol)

  • 9:56 am Reached Iseshi. This station brings you close to the geku of the ise shrine. 外宮 伊勢神宮 the walk is fast and pretty straightforward.

  • Map taken from the shrine. You can’t take pictures of the shrine itself. But it’s unlike most other shrines you have seen. It has a long history dating as far back as 4 BC and is of the most important shrines in Japan. It is where the imperial family visits. Happen so that the imperial family visited the day before I did. The Ise Jingu consists of 125 jinjas. The Geku, my first stop, is dedicated to Toyo’uke-no-Omikami 豊受大神 or goddess for agriculture and industry. For more information you can visit the site.
  • While I couldn’t take pictures of the shrine, I took pictures of the massive trees they have.
  • 11:34 am After a walk round Geku, we proceeded to take the bus to Naiku 内宮.

  • 11:47 am We alighted at the last stop, iseji busstop. Or you can alight one stop earlier and head to the old town first. But I’ve decided to head to the shrine first before lunch at the old town.
  • Lovely walk in. The shrine is dedicated to Amaterasu and considered one of the most important shrines in Japan. You will not be able to take pictures of the shrine.
  • After the shrine, have a nice walk down the old town. Okageyokocho おかげ横丁 Try the matsusaka beef 松坂牛丼 or udon. Abalone too.

  • 1:51 pm Took the CAN bus to meoto Iwa. 夫婦岩 This was to maximize my time in Mie prefecture. You could choose a later time for the bus and stay in the ancient street longer.

  • 2:28 pm journey was shorter than I had expected but good to reach early. Did some shopping at the 水族館. Small shrine with two rocks by the sea. I suppose the best time would be either sunrise or sunset, but nonetheless, we came and we saw. Then we did a slow walk to the futamino ura station 二見浦. One of the most remote stations I have seen. No one manning! And no gantry.
  • 4.02 pm I think the walk was a good 20 mins for me. I wanted to take it slow and yet not miss the 4.02 pm kaisoku mie 20 line 快速みえ 20. Reaches Nagoya at 6.06 pm and you don’t have to transfer trains. You will need to pay an extra 500 yen per person as you did coming from Nagoya to Ise. It started with two cars at futami no ura station and joined up with other cars at iseshi. Quite cool.
  • 6.06 pm Back in Nagoya. Here you are free to roam and grab dinner. I highly recommend chicken wings or hitsumabushi. ひつまぶし I really looked forward to chicken wings.

Day trip to Mount Hiei from Kyoto

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(Decided to post this as I had difficulty finding a nice itinerary)

• 9 am – had breakfast at Hoshino coffee at Kyoto station 京都駅 600 yen for toast with coffee. It’s near the 八条東口

• 9:48am – took JR Tokaido-Sanyo line 東海道・山陽線 from Kyoto 京都

• 10:03am – reached Hieizan-Sakamoto 比叡山坂本 station.

• 10:10am – I used the toilet and missed the bus which departed at 10:08 am. So I took a taxi which cost 690 yen to cable Sakamoto Eki busstop ケーブル坂本駅 That’s still manageable especially if you have 3 or more people. If you take bus, the bus ride would be about 10 mins (but the next one would be at 10:38 am). Bus stop is really easy to locate.

• 10:30am – Hieizan-Sakamoto cable car to cable enryakuji station ケーブル延暦寺駅 which is the other end of the cable. Cable car departs every 30 minutes. Cost 1620 yen for a 2 way return ticket. This is the longest cable rope way.

• Ride up was about 10 minutes. Mom and I took a really slow walk – stopping to take pictures of random trees – to enryakuji. 延暦寺

• once you arrive, you could hear the temple bell ring from a distance. You know you are in the right area. Since the temple is a sprawling one, we decided to take it slow and stay in the east side where the main hall Konpon Chu do 根本中堂 was. It’s under major refurbishment. There’s entry fee. I forgot how much.

• 11:30am – we were hungry so went to the kaikan 延暦寺会館 that is nearby to have a vegetarian meal. Cost was 2,200 yen per person. Tel: 077 579 4180. Hall was big so we didn’t have to make any reservation. View of biwako 琵琶湖 was great but cherry blossoms not yet in bloom.

• In the todo area 東堂 we saw a few places including the daikodo 大講堂 where you could ring the bell. Also went to see the todo 東堂 and amidado 阿弥陀堂

• 12:43 pm Next, we took bus from enryakuji bus centre 延暦寺バースセンターto the summit 比叡山頂. Using your pasmo or suica card, you can tap in and tap out. It’s 160 yen per person.

• Went into the garden. 1,200 yen per person. I think we came too early, give it another 2 weeks the sakuras at the temple will bloom and the garden will have prettier scenes. Nevertheless, you can enjoy the view of biwako and kyoto.

• 2:30 pm – took bus back to todo area 東堂

• 3 pm – took cable car back from the same cable enryakuji station ケーブル延暦寺駅 to cable sakamoto station ケーブル坂本駅

• 3:20 pm – bus to Hieizan-Sakamoto 比叡山坂本 station

• 3:42 pm – train to sannomiya station 三ノ宮 (JR湖西線新快速 姫路行)

• 4:52 pm – Teppanyaki Dinner with Kobe beef

• 6:22 pm – train to Kyoto 京都 (JR神戸線新快速 草津行)

~ End of day ~

Comments: This was a pretty relaxed itinerary. If you like something more, you could try the eizen ropeway or visit the other areas on hiei or take the boat rides in the lake. For me this let me fully utilize my jr pass!