HazelDiary

One bag with things you need easy to hand, another one for the rest

*Photo by Unknown, Public Domain (CC0 1.0)*
For many, travelling is seen as the dream perk of any job; jetting off to a new city, country or continent, with everything paid for is a lifestyle many people, and especially school leavers, dream of. But for those who travel regularly for work, it is bearable at most. The regular traveller will most likely have perfected their travel and packing routines, but for the less seasoned globetrotter, the packing style may be throwing stuff into a suitcase last minute. It certainly works for some journeys, but usually it means that things are forgotten or too much is packed
that never gets used. Read More

*Updated January 2024*

On my latest visit to Taipei, my experience took a unique turn compared to my previous trips. This time, I dedicated half a day to venture beyond Taipei and explore Thousand Island Lake (千島湖) in Shiding. Unlike popular tourist destinations, this hidden gem is not well-known, as evidenced by our private cab driver of 42 years who had never been here before. Interestingly, it has started gaining attention among tourists, particularly after the impact of Covid where everyone is restricted to travelling.
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I am back to Taipei, Taiwan on the last week of December 2018 for a short gateway and visited Fei Qian Wu 肥前屋 for dinner. Fei Qian Wu 肥前屋 is known for its famous unagi don or unadon in Taipei. The restaurant is established over 50 years ago by a Taiwanese-Japanese family. We were there around 4.20pm and started to queue for early dinner. We were 2nd in line and the restaurant is open for dinner at 5pm. So, yeah! We queued for 40 minutes for this. Read More

Apart from matcha desserts, Tokyo’s kakigori shaved ice desserts are recommended as well. We were looking for dessert place and came across this recommendation from online reviews. Mamechawan is recommended as one of Tokyo’s best kakigori shaved ice desserts. So, we decided to visit the restaurant on one of the days when we are exploring Tokyo. Read More

With our 5-DAY JR East Pass Rail, we decided to use 1 day to explore Ushiku Daibutsu (牛久大仏). Ushiku Daibutsu is a statue located in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It is completed in 1993 and it stands a total of 120metres (390ft) tall, including the 10m (33ft) base and 10m lotus platform. The statue held the record for the tallest statue from 1993-2002. Read More

I finally visit Tokyo Disneyland during my recent trip to Tokyo, Japan. My last visit was to Hong Kong Disneyland few years ago. I was told that Tokyo Disneyland is the classic of all. I was contemplating whether to go for Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo Disneysea initially. I ended up choosing Tokyo Disneyland for this trip. Read More

Saveur, local French restaurant is well-known with their signature Saveur Pasta and Duck Confit. My first visit to Saveur was few years back in 2012 and I even blogged about it here. Saveur has been in F&B industry for 7 years and they recently awarded as one of Singapore’s Top Restaurants (2018). Time flies! Read More

After exploring Kamakura, Nikko, we found another less touristy place, Mount Nokogiriyama. Nokogiri Yama (aka Sawtooth Mountain) is located in the Boso, Penisula in Chiba. It is known for two giant Buddhas, over 1500 arhats, temples and quarry caves. The mountain is also ideal for hiking with rewarding top view. If you are not into hiking, there is a cable car to the top to save the trouble and time. Read More

Since we got the 5-Day JR East Pass, we decided to explore Nikko, Japan this time. Nikko (日光, Nikkō) is a small city in Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture. It is also a center of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship for many centuries before Toshogu was built in the 1600s. There are many attraction places to explore in Nikko itself but we only managed to explore limited places during our day trip there. Places like Nikko National Park, shrines, hot springs, hiking trails, monkeys and many more. Read More

Instead of spending time in Tokyo city, I decided to plan day trip out from Tokyo for few days this time. E & I did some research and decided to explore off the beaten path destination. So, follow my Japan travel posts for the updates. The first destination is Kamakura day trip. Read More