The day started early after a much needed night of rest following the long travel. We walked to a coffee shop over in Shinjuku called Caffice and spent a few hours there. I worked on the website and arranging plans for staying in a monastery and hiking Yala Peak in Nepal. We then walked for an hour from Shinjuku to Shibuya city, passing through Yoyogi Park and Meiji Jingu, a Shinto shrine located in the middle of the park. The shrine was composed with beautiful architecture. Like the many locals, we too payed homage by tossing our coins and genuinely bowing.
We then arrived in Shibuya City, right before 2:00PM to meet our group for a ramen tour. It was Joseph’s birthday, and his girlfriend Morgan from back home surprised him/us with the booking (Thank you Morgan!). We went to three different ramen shops, trying 2 out of 4 ramen options at each location (6 total mini ramen bowls). While savoring every sip and bite, we learned about the history, trends, and preparation of ramen. We truly treated our taste buds to the best ramen I have ever tasted.
The first shop we had traditional Miso based ramens, the second shop we enjoyed tonkotsu ramen (I enjoyed a ramen with black broth from squid ink), and the last stop we had curry ramen!
Along our ramen tour, we befriended an Australian couple named Fred and Lou. They too are going up to Sapporo and Niseko to snowboard next in Japan. After sharing some drinks over the ramen tour, we decided to keep the party rolling and went to “Tokyo’s #1 standing bar,” a sake bar called Buri. Here, we had countless Kanpais (cheers) and enjoyed a handful of different sakes, including frozen sakes that were frozen activated by shaking and patting the lid before opening. We then had housemade Sangrias and whiskeys, and were amazed by the hidden bathroom door concealed in a wall of empty sake glasses.
We then went to a different bar that I do not remember the name of for one more drink before Joseph and I took the subway back to Shinjuku. After getting off at our stop, we went into a McDonald’s and enjoyed a pair of classic Big Macs. What a follow up meal to all the amazing ramen we enjoyed earlier. However, the Big Mac meal balanced out the alcohol we had consumed.
After McDonald’s, we were walking towards our Air BnB when we met a young fun crew celebrating a birthday too. We walked with them to a bowling alley. That crew ended up not going in, but we met 3 local guys who we ended up sharing a lane with. We bowled two games and had hilarious conversations via Google translate. They were even kind enough to pay for our bowling despite our offering. (Thank you!)
After bowling, two of our three new friends went home. The other friend took us to a close night club called Warp. There were two dance floors in this club. One was smaller and by the bar, where people were smoking. The other larger one was very crowded with a hodgepodge of locals, British visitors, Australian visitors, and American visitors. We somehow danced the night away to a mix of global EDM and Techno music until the club closed down at 4AM. For our first full day on the journey and celebrating Joseph’s birthday, I can’t imagine having a more wild time than we did.