Shopping Day : 8th July 2015

On our last day at Ubuya, Dear woke up pretty early that day and disturbed me from my sleep. The reason was there was clear sky in that morning and Mount Fuji was clearly visible at that very instant!! Thank goodness we finally got to see Fujisan on our last day!

A perfect end to our road trip!

Despite the sky being cloudy, the shape of Fujisan can be seen clearly with its reflection on the peaceful Lake Kawaguchiko. We had breakfast at the restaurant while enjoying this view. Now I understand why Japanese value Fujisan so much. The sight of it will just awe you with an immense satisfaction and respect for the mountain :)

Our elaborated Breakfast at Ubuya

Lobby at Ubuya

We really spent our time to the fullest at Ubuya before saying goodbye at the time of checkout (11am). We decided to drive back to the Toyota Kofu outlet to return our car and as there was still time, we decided to check out a really big Uniqlo store near to Kofu city... If you think the prices of Uniqlo products are affordable in Singapore, you will probably shop till you drop when you are in Japan, especially to less populated areas. We manage to find real good deals of good quality wear, be it casual or office wear at prices like 500 yen?!!! Totally unbelievable..you could easily spend a day there but we need to return our car, so we shopped to our best ability to the time limit...haha

After returning the car to Kofu branch, we dragged our real heavy luggages to the shinkansen, taking towards SHinjuku..It is about 1.5hour ride and we packed bento to have lunch on the train :)

Away from the peaceful and calm environment of Yamanashi prefecture, we returned back to the city life in Shinjuku. Weather was really bad that day with heavy rain. Fortunately, our hotel JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Shinjuku was found round the corner from the South Terrace Exit of Shinjuku station. Shinjuku station is a big maze if you haven't been there.You can lose your directions with so many exits and so many buildings above the ground, and also underground as there are so many passageways. Luckily, Dear was at Shinjuku the day he arrived, so he was pretty familiar with the whereabouts of the hotel haha

Raining the whole day

Walk, Shop, Eat at Shinjuku

All Walks of Life

Phew, what a long journey! so we rested our feet before heading out to Lumine EST to make our Zoff spectacles. Have heard a lot about Zoff specs from friends, known for its light and good quality specs, fast service and reasonable prices, so we decided to give it a try! Although little English could be used for communication, we managed fine first by choosing the design, did a free eye-test, and made the payment. In around 25mins, the specs were ready and we were really happy with the purchase that we wore them immediately as they were so light!

(taken from another good blogpost on Zoff specs)

We went ahead to have dinner, this time some pasta, as we had many many days of Japanese cuisine and decided to have a short break from it haha.. and after dinner, I wanna explore the Yodobashi and Bic Camera outlets in Shinjuku. But, I did not know Yodobashi Shinjuku is divided into many small outlets everywhere in Shinjuku, and the different type of items are sold at different areas, not under a single building! This is really confusing to me as at Osaka and Sapporo, all items can be found in a single building with no hassle of walking around in circles! 

After purchasing what we wanted, we couldnt help but feel the travel fatigue kicking in again. Gotta rest early today as the following day we would be meeting Nakano-san for our adventure in Nikko! 

Atami/Shinjuku/Kofu: 3rd July 2015

I woke up rather early today as this was the day I finally get to meet Dear! But, I have to make my way to Shinjuku, where he was staying. So I arranged to have my breakfast at an earlier timing in order to catch my train... And of course, the dinner was equally amazing as the dinner with elaborate dishes and yummy food!

With a very satisfied stomach, I thanked the staff(forgot to get his name) and I explored the rest of the ryokan while waiting for my cab to come to bring me to Atami station on that rainy day. Kai Atami is really great if you wanna find somewhere quiet and in peace with the greenery. Hearing the rain is also another type of relaxation in my opinion. There is also a small library with interesting books on Japanese culture where you can sit on the comfortable sofa, enjoy a cuppa while reading your book.

And then, as the cab came by, I felt a tinge of sadness as I left this wonderful ryokan. Thank you Hoshino for giving me this opportunity to experience two different yet both excellent accomodations at Atami :) 

While waiting for my train to Tokyo station, then making a transfer to Shinjuku station. It's quite a long way and challenging with my already-so-heavy luggage!

And there we were! Met Up finally at the busy Shinjuku station. I was glad we didnt lost our way haha..After purchasing our tickets to Kofu station, we explored around and I wanted to try the macarons at Laduree Shinjuku :) It took about an hour from Shinjuku station to Kofu station..so we were busy finding food to takeaway as our lunch on the train ride.

Macarons Galore!!

Our hotel at Kofu is a business hotel called Hotel Sunpark Naito. 

This is a reasonably-priced hotel but it is quite narrow. It is closest to the Kofu station and very near to the Toyota Car Rental Centre. We would be collecting the car the following day! Excited!!

Upon check-in, what did we do? We initially wanted to make our way to Matsumoto to see the castle...but...shopping became our focus after seeing so many sales ongoing at the nearby shopping centres at Kofu station. So haha..we decided to rest and relax and spend our time shopping instead..

We had dinner at the nearby Mos Burger outlet! I kinda missed eating Western food after so many days of Japanese Cuisine haha..after dinner, we checked out the supermarket to find fruits. It is a must when you visit Japan as the fruits which we usually see selling in Isetan (imported from Japan) are always priced at very high cost! Totally dont understand.. over here in Japan, you can get them at reasonable and cheap price for their Melon, small watermelons, peaches, apples and grapes! Not forgetting the Kyoho grapes. We would be visiting a peach farm the following day so stay tuned for more adventures ahead!