Airbnb Tokyo, Japan #1: stylin' in our Japanese studio

Ugh...hotels were expensive, hostels were even more expensive it seemed but yet again, Airbnb to the rescue!! Luckily we had our friends Ross and Cheryl with us so finding our own private apartment near Shingawa, only a few metro stops from the famous Shibuya crosswalk, was easy.

For only $120 (including fees) a night, we found Keita's apartment. His cozy place is conveniently located near Gotanda station and a plethora of eateries, stores, a few karaoke bars, etc. And by "cozy" I mean cozyyyy! It was a studio with a bed, futon, small dining table, tiny kitchen and bathroom, and a washing machine. I mean this was Tokyo after all, so we weren't shocked by the size.

The best thing about the apartment was Keita himself! Keita was sweet and beyond friendly, brought us a bag of Japanese snacks and sweets and introduced us to his sweet (sleepy) baby boy.

The apartment may have been small but we fried up noodles and beef each night in the kitchen. And the price was cheaper than any hostel dorm rooms we could find anywhere in Tokyo. 

You can't beat it! Listing is here. Thanks Keita :).

Songkran in Bangkok

There were a few items on our 6-month Asian backpacking itinerary that were just unnegotiable. One of them was spending Christmas and New Year's in Thailand. The other was visiting South Korea. We never even considered beginning our trip anywhere else other than Nepal--we wanted to dive right into this magical country headfirst, and we loved it.

Possibly the most unnegotiable item on our list was spending Songkran (Thai New Year) in Thailand.

Songkran is a 3-day party extravaganza of water fights and cheap beer...AND SO MUCH FUN.

Ever since we threw tomatoes at Tomatina in Spain a few years back, we vowed to also make it to Songkran one year.

After a lengthy flight from Tokyo, we were back in Bangkok ::siiiigh:: it felt great to be in a familiar place. We were reunited with our favorite street cafe, our favorite pad thai stand and our favorite fruit stand again. 

Only this time, the walk to these places was like a total warzone! The first morning I ventured out to get coffee. I was worried I would get soaked already but Christian 'assured' me that it was too early for the festivities to begin...and then I walked back 30 min later soaking wet (but with coffee!). 

Oh IT IS ON. Slurp, finish our coffee, change into bathing suit and "get wet" clothes, find some water guns and we were right smack dab in the middle of Thai New Year craziness on Khao San Road.

It was amazing.

I felt like a kid!

I giggled like a kid!

It was too much fun.

And just like that, Songkran became some of our most favorite days of our ENTIRE trip.

Planning on going next year? Songkran is every year from April 13th-15th for complete water fighting madness...get that waterproof camera ready ;)

Street scenes around Tokyo

No trip to Japan can be complete without a trip to Tokyo! It's amazing how such a bustling city can have the most polite people...I mean even the taxi drivers are polite! Standing near Shibuya crossing and you'd think you would hear the usual city sounds like taxi horns and such...nope! Practically not a sound....

Tokyo was alive and colorful at night, which is when I enjoyed Tokyo most.

Some of the places we were able to tick off our list during our few days in Tokyo: 

*Shibuya crosswalk - it really is amazing to see!!

*Harajuku - I couldn't leave without doing a little bit of shopping Japanese-style ;)

*More and more arcade halls for our little-boys-at-heart Christian and Ross - ok we played too

*Yebisu - Japanese beer brewery

*Lots of spicy Ramen

*Akihibara "Electric" City - really cool neighborhood, especially for the technie nerds ;)

*Aaaaand karaoke...because what else should we do at 2AM after a night out near Shibuya?

Nikko, Japan

At about 2ish hours away from Tokyo, Nikko is the perfect day or overnight trip. Up in the forest, the air was a bit crisp and the snowy mountains were in view. Nikko has tons of shrines and quite possibly one of the coolest hostel owners ever (and I mean EVER!).

His name was Hiro. 

Hiro single-handedly manages Nikkorisou Backpackers and is probably the coolest guy we met in all of Japan, and possibly in all of Asia. He gave us a ride to the store, to the train station, to the ATM and prepared a tabletop hotplate for us so we could cook our delicious Japanese beef and noodles in the common room at the hostel--teppanyaki-style!

Even though the hostel clearly states the common room closes at 11PM, Hiro (and quite a few other backpackers who had just returned back from the hot springs--which yes ofcourse Hiro gave them a free ride to) joined us to play Catchphrase for the entire night. 

Then, halfway through the game, Hiro offered to take my friend Ross to the liquor store in the next town to get more sake and Asahi.

We really enjoyed Nikko...but we loved Hiro and his hostel!

Sometimes people make the best experiences, don't you think?

Food of Southeast Asia

As our trip is slowly coming to an end, and we are back in The Netherlands for a quick visit before moving across the pond, friends and family have asked if we are just plain sick of Asian food.

And the answer is a very strong: NO WAY! 

Actually we both lost some pounds (probably also due to carting around backpacks every few days!)...yet we ate like pigs. It's not even that we shed some weight (Christian can't fit into his old pants anymore lol), we just felt healthier. Even with all of the rice, the noodles and salty sauces...we felt better eating Asian food than we did eating Western food back home.

A friend of mine living in Bangkok explained why this could be so: cooks visit the food markets every morning for their daily ingredients because they usually don't have the means to store food in refrigerators, etc. At the same time, fruits and vegetables are locally bought and free of preservatives, sugars, etc. 

Food is so fresh and simply made in Asia, it makes me completely rethink how I'll prepare food in the future.

The dishes aren't only delicious but very colorful and pretty to look at :)...even if it comes straight from a food cart on the side of the road.

We had so many favorite dishes. Nepalese momos, potatoes aloo, noodle soups basically everywhere. But during almost every meal in Thailand we ordered Chicken or Pork with Holy Basil and Chilis or Pad Thai. Christian's all-time favorite while on the road was Singapore's Wonton Mee.

Here are some of our favorite dishes we had in Asia!

From left to right:

Top row: Nasi Campur (Indonesia), Bowl of chilis and garlic (Thailand), Momos (Nepal)

Second row: Noodle Soup (Laos), Pad Thai (Thailand), Shrimp with basil and chilis (Thailand)

Third row: Curry chicken noodles (Malaysia), Green Curry (Thailand), Ramen with Pork (Japan)

Last Row: Wonton Mee (Singapore), Grilled Prawns with Garlic Rice (Philippines), Chicken Laap (Laos)

We must make some honorable mentions outside of SE Asia to our feast of falafel, fuul, hummus and pita at Hashem Restaurant in Amman, Jordan. And Korean BBQ everywhere in Seoul. Just delicious!!

Mount Koyasan, Japan

We planned Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Takayama (but we nixed Takayama after a heavy night of too much hanami) and Nikko. All pretty touristy we thought. After a bit of searching we found Mount Koyasan, a magical little place in the mountains which is the center of Shingon Buddhism, and a bit off the tourist trail. This mountain town is covered with temples, some 50+ temples cover the area around Mount Koya! Spread out between the temples is one of the oldest cemeteries in Japan.

We had 2 days to kill before we met friends in Osaka and Koyasan was the perfect 1-2 day getaway. Koyasan is located in Wakayama Prefecture and is about 2.5 hours from Osaka Namba station. 

If you do find yourself in the Koyasan area, check out Kokuu Guesthouse for a great stay. It feels more like a boutique hostel. It's a wee bit pricier than any other hostel you'll stay in but the Japanese owners make a delicious breakfast and Indian food from scratch (they backpacked around India so it's the real deal!).

 

Hanami Parties in Kyoto

By far one of the best decisions we made during our 6 month backpacking trip was to visit Japan during cherry blossom season. During the few weeks in which 'sakura' paint Japan in colors of pink and white, the Japanese practice that art of 'hanami' which basically means enjoying the cherry blossoms. The Japanese get some food, some sake and find a nice spot under the many cherry blossom trees. There are tons of places around Japan with cherry blossoms--even from the train the countryside is covered in cherry blossom beautifulness.

We got our 'hanami' on in Kyoto...twice! And both times were more than a success. The first one we found by mistake (and was our favorite). Down the street from the Golden Pavilion, we found ourselves walking through a park completely covered with cherry blossom trees. There was sake, there was sushi, there was gyoza and potato salad, and there were lots and lots of laughs. The fact that our friends Ross and Cheryl flew from California to meet us in Japan for 2 weeks made the experience even better.

The hanami parties were some of our favorite memories in all of Asia. And then we ordered more sake ;).

HANAMI TIPS

*Head to the nearest grocery store and BYO food and wine

*It seems that the city sets out mats on the grass for anyone to use freely, find a spot and mingle ;)

*We arrived late in the afternoon and didn't leave until after dark. The cherry blossoms are beautiful during the day, at sunset and at night when the lanterns are lit up at night