#jappy // From Hong Kong to Tokyo.
First entry on my 2017 Tokyo travelogue.
I took the earliest flight by HK Express, which was at 9 am and arrived at Narita at around 2 pm. Since I have to wait for Rene who was arriving one hour later, I took the free shuttle bus from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 and walk around at the departure hall.
The bus looks like this!
Source: https://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/shuttlebus/
After meeting up with Rene, we bought the Narita Express or known as N'EX tickets to get to the city. The train stops at major stations like Tokyo, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ikebukuro and etc so it's really convenient to take the N'EX. Be sure to grab the N'EX Tokyo Round Trip tickets if you are planning to return to the airport from the same station. For us, we will be heading to Ikebukuro and leaving from the same station on our last day so we got the round trip tickets for 4000 yen (saving 2040 yen!).
When you purchase the round trip tickets, you will get two tickets. Be sure to keep it safe and not use the wrong one! For the return trip, you can choose the departure time and reserve your seat at any JR East stations. It does take quite a while to get to the city, around an hour to Tokyo station and close to 2 hours to Ikebukuro station.
(Leaving Tokyo) From Ikebukuro to Narita.
With a heavy heart.
Have some combini food while enjoying the view outside.
After the 2 hours ride, we got down at Ikebukuro station and drag along our tired body and luggage towards our ryokan. We stayed at Kimi Ryokan, a traditional Japanese Inn located approximately 8 minutes walk from the West exit of Ikebukuro Station. Initially we plan to alternate between Kimi Ryokan and some other pretty hostel but staying in dormitory style wasn't that cheap given that you can have private space in Kimi Ryokan with the same price. It's a total different story if you're coming to Japan on your own, then staying in dormitory style hostels would be more pocket-friendly and you get to meet new friends!
The entrance.
We enjoyed staying in Kimi Ryokan as they offer futons instead of bed, so you can really experience the Japanese culture while staying here. We went for the room with the size of 4.5 mats, which cost us 6500 yen. At first we were quite worry that there would be queues for the use of common bathrooms and showers but not even once did we encountered such situation. Even if the shower is occupied, you can easily walk one floor up or down to use the vacant shower room.
Our 4.5 mat room.
It is also cozy to stay in the common area to enjoy food or make use of that foot massage machine (really useful coz my feet aches alot after those 10 hours of walk everyday). When we have some extra time in the morning, we will just enjoy some fruits or juice there before leaving.
Overall I did like the stay at Kimi Ryokan. Given its prime location, near to all the shopping area of Ikebukuro, I could have done more walking around the area but sadly, the trip was rather short and we have spent most time going outside of Ikebukuro. Oh well... there is always next time, TOKYO.
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