4th Day - Ueno-Asakusa

This is supposed to be Kawagoe Day but decided to switch it with Ueno/Asakusa instead. We called it Chill day because we just want to do our shopping and do a relaxed itinerary.

We stayed in Candeo Hotel in Uguisudani which is a station away from Ueno. You can actually walk from Uguisudani to Ueno but since it's cold and we don't feel like consuming our energy in the morning we still took the train to Ueno.

📍 Don Quijote

Went to Don Quijote in Ueno as it is the nearest branch from where we were staying. Exited at Ueno Park from train station and decided to take a peek at Ueno Park.

The lotus were in poor condition and there's not much to see so we scratched it off to our list.

Bought chocolates and some goodies in Donki.

I Highly recommend buying the ff:

Alfort @78 yen each
Ghana @98yen each

KitKat is expensive here at around 298 Yen. You can buy cheaper ones in Ameyoko Market at a 100+yen.

 📍ABAB

Before heading to our next stop, we left the shopped goodies in the locker area in the train station. One locker for 700 yen.

We headed to Abab for the 100 dollar store and bought more pasalubong.. Dolls are way cheaper here than in Donki but Akihibara store in Airport sells them, and other stuffs at much lower price. Ref magnets in the airport is just 330 yen while the one I bought in Fuji is 440 yen.

Neck warmer is just 300 yen. I bought one for Xander and regretted not buying one for me because it was really nice. It's not bulky like the scarf.

We also tried breakfast buffet in Abab. For 1320 yen you can eat all you want for salads, cakes, pasta, curry rice for 90mins.

After that we went to Magazines store for the Anello bags and headed back to the train station and rented another locker.

Took a train from Ueno to Asakusa and exited near the Sensoji temple.

 📍AMEYOKOCHO MARKET

From the train station exit, we turn right to Ameyokocho Market for cheap finds. The Kitkat packs are cheaper here than in Donki or in the Airport. 

My son bought candies at the famous Shimura shop.  Shimura Candy Shop, is a shop in Ameyoko famous for selling chocolate with Tataki-uri performance.  The guy from the store fills your plastic with any chocolate or candies his hand can grab to. And you'll get to pay 1000won. It was fun as we were chanting "more, more!!" to encourage the guy to stuff more candies.

 📍 SENSOJI TEMPLE

This is just the main gate. Behind that giant lantern is more people...

My friend went here at night and there is not much of a crowd. So if you prefer to stroll with less crowd, then you might opt to choose that option.

Yes! Just when you thought passing the gate is heaven, well it isn't the case. Here you will walk to an alley with stores on both sides, plus more people to bump into. Well, I did enjoy brushing through them and walking in to some stores just to find souvenirs, pasalubongs or anything that catches my eye. Unfortunately, for a budget traveler like me, your eyes mostly catch those with cheaper tags..hahaha.

This is what it feels like with people rushing bothways, and me at the center. Up ahead is the Sensoji Temple but we did not even get inside as there are more people.

We took a left to where the pagoda is, took pictures and ate takoyaki and yakiniku at the food stalls.

Takoyaki ala Sensoji

Isn't she lovely? That architecture of beautiful symmetry.

Headed back to the alleyway and turn left for the Asakusa River sunset view.

Asakusa Skyline with that famous beer logo on top of the black building. Do not ask me what that is.

Tokyo Skytree

The train station is just a minute walk from this vantage point so it's a good endpoint for the day. As for us, we head to Shibuya to meet some friends but ended up exhausted from all the day's shopping aside from the stress you get when you get to experience the throng of people in Shibuya.