Family Vacation @ Tokyo, Day 6, Edo Wonderland

Rise and shine at 7.30am. Usual routine for the morning - water filled, diapers replenished, jackets packed, snacks packed. Changed the 2 sleepyheads while they continued to zzz. Time to set off at 8.30am.

Aunt Shujun was waiting for us at the hotel entrance driveway. Off we went on the journey to Nikko. After one and a half hour of travelling on the road, we stopped at a rest point for coffee. By this time, the kids were awake and breakfast served (milk and breads). We continued the journey for another hour before we finally reached our destination: Edo Wonderland aka Edo Mura.

This cultural village was strongly recommended by Aunt Shujun. Apparently it was her 4th visit to the village. The entry ticket was not cheap though. It costs 4,500 yen per adult. Lucky Aunt Shujun owns certain cards that granted us discounted tickets.

I read that Edo Wonderland is one of Japan's coolest attractions and it is the only place to experience the living history and culture of Edo period Japan. Every staff was dressed in traditional costumes and played certain roles such as ninjas, samurais, geisha and more. The public can also rent the costumes at a fee to explore the village. There are different fees based on what costume or what character you would like to dress up as. Initially we were pretty keen to dress the lil ones as ninjas which cost 3,100 yen each. But there was a queue and it took ages to dress one up so we gave up the idea and proceeded to explore the village.

The ticket booth

Entrance

Edo Wonderland mascot

We visited Ninja Kai Kai Tei House of Illusion. It is the ninja training house which was situated on a  slope and the house was slanted. When we stepped in, we realised the interior was also slanted and as we walked further, it became increasingly difficult to maintain our balance. And I was carrying Jayven. Took me so much effort not to lose my balance and fall inside. When we finally came out of the house, we could still feel the after effects. At this point, we hear an excited voice "I want to go into the house again!" Yes, that was Janelle. Surprisingly, she did not seem to be affected by the illusionary house and the gravity pull. But no one was keen to bring her back in for another round.

Spot Jayven, the ninja

Entrance of Ninja Kai Kai Tei

The interior of the illusionary house. Gotten this picture from the website as there was no way that we were able to take pictures while trying to balance ourselves,

Thereafter, we queued for a ninja show performance. It was an interesting and impressive performance between two clans of ninjas fighting for a secret scroll. It was confined in a small room to view the performance and the ninjas often appeared from nowhere, scaring the audience. I was worried that the lil ones may be frightened but it seems that both of them enjoyed the performance too.

Photo with the ninjas after the show

Lunch time. Actually we had our second round in this stall. Aunt Shujun mistook that there are no tables and chairs for this food stall hence we went to another restaurant with proper seating so that we can feed the lil ones first. Yet she strongly recommend the yakitori hence we went for second round and spotted 2 tables and benches.

Oishii yakitori bento. We ordered more subsequently.

We chanced upon Yaba Archery Range and Janelle wanted to try. And of cos she has her dearest daddy to guide her. I always love to watch daddy and the children doing things together. Bonding moments.

And the cheeky boy will always want to join in. He nearly went into the forbidden grounds ie shooting zone.

This girl simply love horse ride!

And my boy want to follow his jiejie too. So Aunt Shujun brought him along on her lap.

A shrine within the village

Edo Wonderland closes at 5pm when the skies turns dark. Hence we left the village at 3plus and proceeded to our next destination, Nikko National Park. We wanted to visit Kegon Waterfall and Toshugu Shrine. It took us another hour to travel from Edo Wonderland to Nikko National Park and the park closes at 5pm too.

Never did I expect that we have to drive up a mountainous road to get to the park. It was Aunt Shujun's first attempt driving to the park too so she was not familiar with the road. And by the time we reach the park, there were fog forming and skies are turning dark. Hence we decided to skip the park in case we get caught in the fog and darkness. Aunt Shujun carefully drove all the way down the many twists and turns on the mountainous road. It seems more challenging than the one in Genting Highlands.

Anyway we made it safely down the mountain. I can feel that Aunt Shujun was very stressed when she was driving down the "Initial D" road too. With the skies turning dark, we decided to travel back to Tokyo which is a 3 hours drive from Nikko. Halfway through the journey, my hubs jumped when he felt something warm flowing onto his jeans. Jayven's diaper was too full and leaked out onto his daddy's jeans. So we had to find the nearest rest point to clean and dry. And I realised that I never brought an extra set of clothes for the lil ones. Hence the poor boy had to make do without his pants while we continued the journey back to Tokyo.

It was a long journey back as we were caught in the highway jam. It was almost 8pm by the time we reached Tokyo. Yes, all of us were famished then. Hence we decided to go Takashimaya for dinner since it is near the hotel. We settled down in a Japanese restaurant specializing in soba and started feeding the lil ones when the food came. Needless to say, I have forgotten to take pictures of food again. Hah!

We really appreciate Aunt Shujun playing a good host especially over the weekend. We all know that driving long hours on the road is really tiring (we have spent approximately 7 hours travelling on the road). Furthermore, she has kindly arranged for pocket wifi and a local line for us so that we can stay connected on the move during our vacation. As her hometown is a 2 hours drive from Tokyo, she has booked a room in the hotel so that she can continue to catch up with my mum. I joined in the conversation for the last 30 minutes after my boy fell asleep in our room (Janelle followed my mum to Aunt Shujun's room to play).

The next day was our last full day in Tokyo and our flight was very early the following day hence Aunt Shujun would not be able to see us off at the airport.