First night at Hoteiya - 6th June

Our first nite at Hoteiya, near to Tokyo Backpackers which we moved out from. Tokyo Backpackers was a nice place.. New and modern. Good clean shower areas and 6 men dormitory.. price was reasonable at 2.1k yen/nite (S$27.40) but the catch was.. we have to leave the hostel from 11am-4pm daily as that was a compulsory lock out period for cleaning of the place. That's livable with for awhile.. but becomes a chore after that.

Hoteiya, just a few streets away, on the other hand is sited in an older, nondescript building. First impressions few days ago when we dropped by, wasn't very good as the interior design was dated. However, this is one great example of how first impressions can be misleading. Hoteiya is superb! Costing us now 1800yen/nite (S$23.50) in a private double room, with free 24hrs wifi in a no frills cozy lounge with great jazz and classical tunes playing in the background, an onsen and massage chair free of charge (btw. 4pm-10pm), a very friendly and approachable owner, Kiyama-san who's always willing to dish out tips on where to visit and answer all questions we have, no curfews and lock-out periods, a lift to the 3rd floor where we stay, a kitchen and yard to dry our clothes, free hot water, toasted tea (i guess it's rice tea) and green tea running from the vending machine, a tv in our room with live sports and some adult stuffs!.. we are very contented now! Apart from the further distance to Shinjuku and downtown areas, this place offers awesome value for budget travellers, or those who prefer to splurge on shopping! Highly recommmended on the Stuart's Backpacker Lodging List! Hoteiya's website is www.spocom.net.

Tonight we decided to fulfil our dinner at the supermarket! There's usually the daily discounts for Sushi/Dons/Sashimi nearing the end of the day.. However, we were a step too near closing time and much of the goodies had been snapped up, leaving only the more expensive stuff. Thus, Ben and i went for a Braised Pork, Omelette noodles which we heated up and was completely satisfying and cheap! we wanted to go a step further by gettin' some raw stuff and cooking but weren't sure whether woks and pans were avail in the kitchen. Maybe next time. We calculated that by cooking, we could have very good food for probably S$5-6/pax. We could each get a meal of rice with a choice of 3 huge scallops or 4 prawns and 6-7 pieces of spiced beef chunks! Or we could easily swap some vegies in for less costs. Some seafoods are really cheap here!

 

Btw, that's our room! Really tiny (Mel, you'd love to see this!) so it's not for the claustrophobic.. i sleep on the mattress which is layed down at nite and Ben takes the bed..

Stuart - satisfied with the home-made pork omelette noodles.