1) getting the JR pass vouchers exchanged into the JR passports,
2) buying Hakone Free Passes,
3) planning how to get to Hakone from Shinjuku (in the end we decided to tap onto our JR passes)
We had our breakfast located near our Tokyo Stay Shinjuku hotel. It was a 24-hour outlet selling Udon and and various rice bowls with very simple layout. Payment was done at the vending machine and there were barely only 8 to 9 seats available. One corner was designated for customers to eat while standing. I realised later that quite a number of locals took quick breakfasts there (standing at the corner table) and slurped the food in less than 10 minutes before they took off. Anyways, although it's a small establishment, the food was really good.
Thereafter, we headed towards the nearby shopping malls (Isetan, Muji, etc) and spent our morning browsing (didn't buy much then). I love their food halls and it was enough for me just by looking at the variety of stuff they displayed there.
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| such pretty broccoli on sale in Isetan! |
I only spent a fair bit of money getting the motion sickness medicine (with the help of Google Translator to Japanese words) from a drugstore. Turned out to be rather pricey - for 6 pills, it costs about $12 per box, and we bought 2 boxes (per dosage is 2 pills) as we have a few long distance train rides to go, plus our return flight back home. In Tokyo, it's hard to find English speaking staff in the shopping stores unless we dine at international oulets like Mcdonalds, Lotteria, etc.
We spent a long time at Shinjuku station asking questions about the JR East passes that we have booked (what can we use for, how long can we use, etc). We had reserved our JR passes and paid in SG before the trip, so we were given a voucher. We need to exchange these vouchers for the JR passports (card) at Shinjuku station along with your passports (we forgot to carry them out with us). Once you have exchanged for the JR pass, you will have 14 days to utilise five trips on the JR East line (either the local trains along the route or Shinkansen). The number of trips are capped to 5 only, so we decided to use the pass to travel to Hakone, and from Hakone to Nagano, and from Nagano back to Tokyo.
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| we spent such a long time at this counter |
Shinjuku station can be a big maze. We took a long time to find the booth selling Hakone Free Passes in Shinjuku station (it's located near Odakyu shopping mall). By the time we found it and bought our 2-day Free pass tickets, we were famished because it was passed 2pm! The crowd around Shinjuku station was huge on a Monday and so we decided to settle for Bento sets in Isetan and head back to our hotel rooms to rest our tired legs and eat after all the walking and getting lost in the station..
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| the trees along Shinjuku street is quite a sight |
After lunch, we left the kids ALONE in the hotel room playing their monopoly games and other games which they brought with them, while we went back to Shinjuku station with our passports getting the JR passes exchanged. Winnie and Brian went on to get their stuff in Shibuya and we chaperoned all the children out for a simple dinner nearby our hotel at Lotteria's.
After dinner, I was hoping to shop at the newly opened Beam's flagship store in Shinjuku but turned out that it closes at 8pm each day, so I missed it!
We decided to take some pictures as a result...
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| Taken when both of us were out without kids |
Back in hotel lobby
Obviously the boys enjoyed each other's company so much and Aidan and Elliot didn't seem to miss their parents :)
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