The “glass half full” observation of the morning we planned to hike to see the famous snow monkeys at Jigokudani Snow Money Park was that we got to see Japanese rain for the first time in our lives. Luckily, after a couple of rounds of Phase 10 under our heated table, the rain let up enough for us to begin the walk to the monkey park. Shortly into our 30 minute walk the rain stopped completely for what ended up…
After our whirlwind day in Tokyo and our previous urban stops to begin our adventure we were ready to get out of the city and see a little bit of countryside. We took a Japanese Rail (JR) Shinkansen Train, or “bullet train”, to Nagano before transferring to a local train to Yudanaka. From there it was a quick bus ride that got us within a 5 minute walk of our accommodations for the next 2 nights, Nozaru Hostel. Luckily, there are…
We arrived in Japan after a longer than expected travel day. We had imagined arriving at the airport and quickly getting into the city before grabbing some sushi for dinner. As it turned out we landed around 9:30 and we still had a journey of just over two hours including walking to the train station from our terminal, buying tickets, asking for help since we didn’t understand our tickets, and transferring before getting to our stop. We finally got to…
We spent four nights in Hong Kong and fell in love with the city immediately. It has beaches, mountains, and an incredible bustling city all wrapped together and connected by an excellent public transportation system. The weather couldn’t have been better while we were there – it was consistently in the 70s and sunny – so we opted to spend lots of time exploring Hong Kong’s great outdoors. Dragon’s Back Hike John’s cousin Jeremy and his family live in Hong…
One of our favorite things about traveling is trying local food. When researching places to eat in Hong Kong, Tim Ho Wan continued to pop up on our radar. It’s a dim sum joint, meaning you order small dishes to share. It’s got a reputation for amazing food and is known for being the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world. Af first, we worried that eating at even the cheapest Michelin restaurant would certainly be out of our tight budget….
We only had a few short days in Beijing to cram in a lot of the historical sites we wanted to see. We ended up hitting two major spots: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City Tiananmen Square sits at the base of the Forbidden City so we got a chance to see it quickly in the morning. Here we are! The Forbidden City was home to many emperors…
When we first started planning our trip to China with Jenna, we assumed we’d rent an Airbnb apartment. It’s our go-to website for booking accommodation; it’s affordable, it’s easy to use, it’s great for traveling with friends, and it can give an authentic feel for what life is really like in the places we visit. While researching China’s entry requirements, we learned that foreign tourists must register with the police within 24 hours of arriving in China. We also learned…
We had a blast kicking off our adventure in Shanghai with our pal Jenna and her dad, John! Shanghai is a cool city that we agreed reminded us of NYC in a lot of ways – big, bustling, and very modern. Here are our top 6 favorite activities from our long weekend here: 1. Rooftop Bars on The Bund Shanghai has an incredible skyline and there are a lot of rooftop bars that offer amazing views of the city. We…