WORLD OF NADA

Last day in Tokyo, I spent it at the known as happiest place on earth, Disneyland. Based on my experience going to Disney Sea, I made a huge mistake by wearing boots. My feet were sore walking here and there in long distance. So that day, I wore my comfy shoes. The weather was also a lot better because there was no rain at all, even though we were freezing. The cold wind blast and made us frozen.



Entering the main area where there is the castle, I didn't expect much. However, I was quite surprise that it looked.. 'average' to me. Different from what I feel when entering Disney Sea for the first time, I was in so much awe. But here, I don't know but I didn't feel something special.

We were here to play, though. So as usual, we checked the map and plan our routes. The park consists of 7 areas: World Bazaar, Tomorrowland, Toontown, Fantasyland, Critter Country, Westernland, and Adventureland.

In Tomorrowland, first, we took Fast Pass ticket for 'Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters' because we saw the crazy long line and waiting time. While waiting, we joined the queue for 'Space Mountain', a high-speed roller coaster just like in HK Disneyland. Space Mountain is always fun to me because we don't know how the track goes while we could see pretty galaxy landscape.

We moved queueing for 'Star Tours: The Adventures Continue'. The waiting time was only 20 minutes so we went for it. This attraction is surprisingly fun! We board on spaceship and there is 3D screen as if to see outdoor view. The ride felt so real and we enjoyed it so much. This is a must-visit.

Using the Fast Pass, we entered 'Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters'. Again, it was actually like the one in Hong Kong where we shot target to collect points. Comparing between Toy Story games, I highly prefer Toy Story Mania in Disney Sea to this.

Last attraction we visited in Tomorrowland is 'Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek!'. We had been queueing for almost an hour then suddenly the staff informed the attraction would be closed for a while and would open again later. What?! I was almost pissed off but I knew they would do something. They gave us ticket like Fast Pass that could be used once for any attraction that day. Yeah! Okay, we would use it wisely.

Green Alien Dumplings. Didn't know what's inside at first, turns out it was three different flavour mousse: Chocolate, Strawberry, and one I couldn't identify. The strawberry one is the best, so good!

Melon Churros

We only passed the Toontown since the attractions are mostly for kids. In Fantasyland, I couldn't wait to visit 'Haunted Mansion' and I was immediately very disappointed knowing the attraction was closed :(. The wind made us hungry and we saw long line for Turkey Leg in Critter Country area. Dad sat on empty table while my brother and I bought the turkey. Dad thought it was the same chicken leg we bought in Disney Sea that he liked it so much. Turns out, he didn't like this turkey leg so after only a few bites, he offered us. My brother was full and I was starving so after finishing mine, I ate Dad's leftover, haha.

Turkey Leg. Let's eat like a boss!

After filling our tummy, we watched the parade. Watching the parade is just something that I couldn't miss while in Disneyland.



Because there was no more attraction we would like to visit that required Fast Pass, we used the complimentary ticket from Monsters, Inc. for riding 'Big Thunder Mountain' in Westernland. This roller-coaster ride is super fast!

Vanilla Churros

In Adventureland, we visited 'Pirates of The Caribbean' because it seemed interesting and the waiting time was only 15 minutes. We rode a boat and sailed through. It was creepy at first since it was dark and I couldn't see anything, the vibe was just thrilling. But not long then we were entertained by the character dolls. The Jack Sparrow looked so real, didn't look like a doll at all.

There was no attraction left that we wanted to see that much, but we wanted to make the most of our time while we were here. We went back to Fantasyland and decided to enter 'Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall'. This place made my childhood imagination comes to life. The decorations are very pretty too.

No wonder I haven't met my Prince Charming. The shoe doesn't fit! Haha

Chocolate and Sweet Potato.. what? I don't know what it's called

While we were still in that area, we were queueing for 'Snow White's Adventures' where we board a mine car through a dark forest. I knew this would be the most childish attraction we visited but then after experiencing the ride, I think this wasn't too childish. It was dark inside and there were some shocking moments when the picture and the sound of the witch came out that even made me scream a little. No wonder I saw many little kids crying. I could say the attraction literally scare them.

Then we went back to Monsters, Inc. ride. It was already opened again. We board a tram and there was flashlight for each person. I had no idea about the purpose of these flashlight. We were just basically riding the tram and looking at the monsters.


When evening came, I feel like it was the most freezing weather we experienced during the whole Japan trip. The wind was very cold that day! We just couldn't hold it that made us have to come inside the store to warm ourselves.

Overall, it was a so-so experience for me in Disneyland compared to Disney Sea. Tomorrowland has the most fun attractions. And based on my pictures, you could see that Disneyland offers many good snacks. Besides their cute appearance, they taste great too! Lucky it was winter that we always had room for any food.



Related posts:
Hong Kong Disneyland
Tokyo Disney Sea

Waking up feeling blessed and grateful. It was my birthday and I couldn't feel thankful enough. It was a special day for me that I could celebrate my birthday here in Japan.

Today, we were going to explore around Shibuya, Harajuku, and Omotesando. These three areas can be explored within walking distance. To start the day, we had breakfast in Gyukatsu Motomura, a popular katsu restaurant. People have talked about how the good the beef katsu is and surely I didn't want to miss it while I was here.

It is said the queue is crazy and you could wait for 2 hours. I  arrived at around 11.30pm. The queue wasn't that long but we were ready if we had to wait. A few minutes after we joined the queue, a woman staff said we could get a seat after an hour. We were okay then she gave us the menu and took our order immediately. We ordered the set meal that consists of 130gr beef cutlet, rice, miso soup, cabbage, potato salad, pickles, and two kinds of sauce and rock salt with no yam.

Thankfully, before an hour passed, we were called to come inside. The place is so small and the seat capacity is only for 9 people. We sat and waited for the food to be served. I just couldn't wait to taste it. When they served it, my eyes went wide. The staff explained something to us in Japanese which we didn't understand so we just nodded our head and smiled. Before I came here, I had read the post from Anak Jajan which is really helpful so I knew how to eat this.

First, I took a slice and dipped it with the soy sauce. Then I put the on the stone grill provided in front of me for 5 to 10 seconds on each side. I ate it along with the rice. Oh, my, goodness. People are not exaggerating. This is the first food that made me wanted to cry from the first bite. Truly a definition of a delicious food. When I tried the second slice with the horse radish sauce, I feel like I wanted to jump because it taste so good! You just have to try it by yourselves. I ate so slowly and enjoyed every bite until the stone grill was off before I finished the cutlets. Oh no! I quickly put the rest of the cutlet altogether onto the grill and finished them all. I wish I had ordered the 260gr size directly to really make the most of it. When we left the restaurant, we saw the queue was much longer than we came. Thank God.




After happily having the best meal I've had in my life, we walked around Shibuya. One of must-do list is taking photos with the famous Hachiko statue. I was surprised that nobody was taking pictures here. I thought there would be many people crowding around taking turns. Instead, people were just standing and sitting around. Well, it's good then.

Hachiko statue

Shibuya is a lively area with youthful vibe. I could see people were really enjoying their Sunday.

Shibuya crossing

Dolci Silkcream

We moved to Harajuku by walking. We passed this quite and friendly neighbourhood with apartments, sport field, and schools nearby. After about 20 minutes walking, we arrived in Harajuku. We sat for a while to rest. I saw some trucks promoting popular singers' new album passing by while playing the songs loudly. They were not only Japan artists, but also Korea and even the US.

Here we come to Takeshita Street, a shopping street filled with shops (d'oh, of course!) and eating places. I don't know because it was Sunday or it has always been like this, but the street was crowded indeed. Although it is a pedestrian street, there was 'traffic jam'. Even so, I enjoyed being in this area since there is much to see and try. Yes, we there were just too many interesting food here. Colours are popping from the shops.

Trying this cotton candy from Totti Candy Factory just because we saw many people holding this.

Custard Caramel Cheese Cake from Marion Crepes. Very tasty yet so light.

Churros, Poterico Salad, and Sweet Chocolate Potato Chips from Calbee

Moving from fun and trendy area in Harajuku, Omotesando is more high-end. People here also look more stylish and fashionable. I was going to try the famous Frozen Marshmallow from Dominique Ansel Bakery, but when we got there, the queue was long. Since we just tried many food before this, we skipped it and walked around.



We spent the rest of the night back in Ginza. We needed to buy Tokyo Banana for our relatives but looking for them wasn't as easy as we thought. We went to Laox Duty Free Shop and only found the original flavour. We were disappointed but still ended up buying it.

Before we closed the day, we ate in Yoshinoya again for dinner. Second time eating here, I wanted to try something else so I had this pork bowl with soft-boiled egg. It was yummy!


At the end of the day, I feel very happy for having such a great birthday. Thank you, God :)

Starting our day by having breakfast in Tsukiji Fish Market. We came with empty stomach on purpose. I have listed some recommended places to eat while in Tsukiji. At first, we were trying to find them. We walked around and were surprised that there are actually many tenants with varieties of food. I don't know it's because of the food or it was only me who was starving, the food look very appetizing! When I saw something interesting, I would love to buy and try it.

The food hunters

We kept walking around to browse. Some tenants look more popular than the others. At the end, we forgot about finding the places on my list and just ate random things along the way. I didn't expect I would have a great culinary adventure here. If my stomach had no limit, I would definitely try them all.

Our breakfast menu. The best finding is the sweet tamago on top right and second best is the fish wrapped with bacon on top left.

After having unexpectedly fulfilling breakfast, we moved the Ginza. I scheduled going here today to experience Ginza Car Free Day. But first, we explored through the famous Uniqlo Ginza store. It has 12 floors! I literally browsed thoroughly on each floor. Some products are displayed not only on one floor and they have cashiers on each floor. I tried some clothes in the dressing room and was surprised knowing that I had to take off my shoes and cover myself with this thin cloth. It really is a new clothes-trying experience for me.

Getting out of the store, we played around on the street. The best thing about car free day here it lasts until 5 or 6 pm. Chairs and tables with umbrellas are even provided for public so that people can just sit around or even eat in the middle of the street. The weather was nice too. Even though it was quite windy, it wasn't too cold. Very excited with this big space I got, I danced around joyfully. This experience wouldn't complete without taking photos. Striking poses with natural wind that blew my hair, I definitely felt like a model doing photoshoot, haha.

Sudden photoshoot in the middle of the street during Ginza Car Free Day

We didn't realize we spent a long time shopping and goofing around until we felt hungry again. Thank God there is Yoshinoya nearby, a popular chain of beef bowl restaurant. I have been curious how the real Yoshinoya taste like. There is no doubt I would order something which is not available in Jakarta, so I ordered Cheese Pork bowl. When it was still hot, I mixed everything inside the bowl and the cheese melted. That combination of hot rice, pork slices, and gooey cheese was awesome! I enjoyed every bite and it was very fulfilling.

Cheese Pork bowl for me and Beef Bowl for dad, didn't take a picture of my brother's Unagi Bowl because he got separate seat

We still got plenty of time to finish the day, so we went to Odaiba, an artificial island in southern Tokyo. My main purpose of going here is to take picture in front of giant Gundam Robot. Of course we took the train to get there. I mostly passed underground track these two days. But this time, I got to have the most enjoyable train ride during the trip.

I was standing because there was no empty seats. I didn't mind, though. The view from the train which took me from Shimbashi to Daiba station is very amazing. I didn't expect it at all. I got to see the beautiful city landscape: long bridges, tall buildings, sunny blue sky, the sea, and even the railway looked very pretty. I smiled the whole time.


The nearest place we could explore from the station is Aqua City shopping mall. Getting off at Daiba station, I felt the wind directly blew us hardly. Even so, we enjoyed walking around and watching the view. Until we couldn't hold the wind any longer, we came inside the mall and went window-shopping.

Crossing the road, we moved to Diver City Tokyo Plaza to find the Gundam Robot. But along the way, we were distracted by interesting findings. First, I accidentally found Nana's Green Tea, a popular green tea dessert house. We decided to try and sit there for a while. Then, we found this large souvenir shop just beside Nana's Green Tea called The Daiba. I think the place has great varieties of Japanese snacks which I didn't easily find anywhere else. Plus, you could get tax-free after certain amount of purchase. Passing the food court, there are also many choices of affordable Japanese restaurant chains.

Nana's Green Tea Highly recommend the parfait on the right. Best matcha dessert I've ever had.

We went outside and finally found the robot. I was very happy taking picture with this iconic site in Odaiba. Until I wrote this post, the latest news I read is that the robot was removed in March 2017 and would be replaced by a new one.

In front of the giant Gundam Robot

As it was getting dark, we head back to the city. The view from the train looked more beautiful as the lights were lit up. If you have time, I suggest you make a visit to Odaiba. The neighbourhood gives you a different vibe.


We spent the rest of the night walking around Shinjuku. I was instantly in love with the neighborhood! On the night before, we came here only to eat at Ichiran Ramen. That night, we could really get the feel of the area. There are many eating places and the lights mostly come from them. Everything just came into life at night.

Just a couple of snacks we bought that night from 7-Eleven