With a heavy heart, this is our final blog post about Norway. If you have been following our adventures, surely you have been amazed by the magnificent fjords here and also mesmerized by the stunning Northern Lights ( Aurora Borealis ) here . #Day 6: Tromsø - Oslo, Norway  Next stop – Oslo, the capital of Norway! The cheapest way to get there is by taking the NSB train to Oslo Central Station priced at NOK 93 per way. With approximately 25 minutes of train ride, we arrived at Oslo. Once we were at Oslo, we realized that the city doesn’t felt as safe as the other places in Norway. There are many refugees, beggars and foreigners in the city. At night, we even heard people screaming on the streets. As our accommodation was Comfort Hotel Xpress Central Station just opposite of Oslo Central Station.  Before we went for dinner, we shopped for fish oil capsules at one pharmacy and we were so lucky that the pharmacy was having a promotion for this fish oil brand.

Aurora Borealis, we are coming for you! Some people spend days to hunt the Northern Lights, some people are just unlucky as they couldn't catch it no matter how long it takes. The weather in Norway had not been pleasant to us until now with constant rain from Day 1. Hopefully, the clouds will clear up soon enough so that we could watch the lights dancing in the sky.

No doubt that Norway is one of the top five most expensive countries to live in the world due to their high living cost. But, we just couldn’t resist their incredible scenery - a stunning fjord view, a breathtaking walk in the village surrounding by fjord, and not forgetting the magnificent northern light ( Aurora Borealis ) which is only available in a few countries around the world.

It is very important to have good accommodation when you are travelling so that you could have a good rest and enjoy your vacation happily. This is why we are always very choosy when it comes to selecting our accommodation no matter where we are travelling to. 

It all started with the dream of waking up to the stunning and spectacular/breathtaking fjord view, crossing the magical Arctic Circle to meet Santa Claus, experiencing Swedish “Fika” culture at a Swedish café and hunting for aurora borealis in the northern region of Norway. What a luxurious dream, right? Yes indeed, but we did it in an economical way by travelling across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia for only RM11,800 per person (ALL IN). Stay with us as we share our money-saving tips, what to eat and what you need to know about these countries.

My last day in Japan. How I wish I can stay longer here. The final day started with breakfast at CoCo Ichibanya. The CoCo Ichibaya in Japan serves pork as well whereas the Malaysia branch does not have pork. I located a CoCo Ichibanya in Shinjuku which was opened early in the morning. The restaurant is quite small. English menu was provided upon request. I ordered the Pork Cutlet Curry rice with pork curry for JPY774. Pork curry certainly tastes good. Click here for a more detailed blog post of my CoCo Ichibanya experience.

Ramen again! Yes, you are right… I am trying out another ramen in Tokyo! Mutekiya was rated as one of the best ramen in Tokyo, not just from the mouth of a foreigner but most importantly from the mouth of the locals as well. Seriously, I was not a ramen lover but I just couldn’t say no to the different ramen styles in Japan. Actually, I wanted to visit Ichiran again for my last ramen during this Japan trip but Miss J kept persuading me to try out other ramen restaurant. So, here I am. The queue was quite long when I arrived at the ramen restaurant on a sunny Sunday afternoon. 

If you love curry rice, you must definitely try out CoCo Ichibanya when you are in Japan. This is because in Malaysia, Coco Ichibanya does not serve pork curry. But in Japan, you can choose to have either pork curry or beef curry .

My Japanese colleague recommended visiting Asakusa to truly experience Japanese culture and tradition. Asakusa used to be Tokyo’s leading entertainment district many centuries ago. After it was heavily bombed during the World War 2, it was rebuilt but it lost its glory.

I am not sure about other countries, but most Malaysians would say definitely recommend Ichiran whenever you travel to Japan. Hence, here I am to check out how yummy is this Ichiran which most Malaysians has fallen in love with. As there were many Ichiran branches, I decided to visit to one at Shinjuku Kabuki-cho. To my surprise, there wasn’t any queue when I reached there. 

How can one claim he/she have been to Japan (specifically Tokyo) without visiting Mount Fuji? Mount Fuji is actually still an active volcano and is located about 100km southwest of Tokyo. It is Japan’s tallest peak at 3,776m.

You might be aware that many ramen restaurants have their own focus/strength such as special broth, “melt-in-the-mouth” chashu, etc. Each part of Japan also has different Ramen style. So, how can I miss out one of the most popular ramen in Yokohama? The queue was quite long when I reached there (it was just slightly after the lunch peak hour). Without thinking much, I just queued for it.

Yokahama is the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo. This city is usually left out by most tourists. In fact, it has many interesting attractions too and most importantly, it is only about 40 minutes train ride from Tokyo. It is totally worth it to check out this place for a different kind of experience. 

Sushi is the national food of Japan. At the largest fish market (Tsukiji Fish Market) in the world, I strongly believe I could get the freshest and tastiest sushi here. Some claimed Sushi Dai to be the top sushi restaurant among the tourists. Besides that, Sushi Dai was also famous for their long waiting time as you may probably need to queue for up to 3 - 4 hours at times. For those who couldn’t wait for such a long time, there are other sushi restaurants around the market such as Daiwa Sushi and others. Oh ya, the owner of Daiwa Sushi is actually the son of Sushi Dai’s owner. 

Guess where was I? I was at the train station waiting for the first train to head to Tsukiji Fish Market! Tsukiji Fish Market was supposed to move to a new location in November 2016 but it was delayed until further notice. Before it moves, I must definitely check out this largest fish market in the world.

Recently, Japan is becoming one of the popular countries where people would love to visit. However, many people will actually think twice or thrice before travelling to Japan since it is usually termed as an expensive destination with expensive air ticket price and high cost of living. Thankfully, for some reason, the air fare to Japan seems to be getting cheaper day by day.

The broth of Japanese ramen is usually either pork base or chicken base. However, AFURI's ramen has a unique broth which is Yuzu in fresh chicken broth! Such broth base could actually give a hint of freshness to the ramen. This restaurant made their broth with pure natural water from the foot of Mount Abi (also called “Afuri”). This was how they got their restaurant name. 

We started off our last day in Taiwan by visiting the historical landmark in Taiwan, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂). This national monument is built in honor and memory of the former President of Taiwan, Chiang Kai Shek. 

After getting down from the MRT station, just follow the crowd and it will lead you to the night market. Shilin Night Market is not just an open area of night market area as it also has a underground food court with many food stalls too.

Obviously, this was totally a food trip…a weight gaining trip! We ate more than 4 meals a day! Started with this famous local Taiwanese breakfast, Fu Hang Soy Milk (阜杭豆漿), this was not only a tourist spot but also the locals’ favorite breakfast place too. 

Yehliu Geopark (野柳地质公园) is as one of the famous eroded rock formations in the world. There were some unique geological formations such as Queen’s Head (女王头), Fairy Shoes (仙女鞋), etc. Before sharing the beautiful photos of the rock formations, there are some tips that we thought you should to know before visiting Yehliu Geopark during a summer season.

Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市), here we are! We exited at Shuanglian MRT Station (雙連站) Exit 1 and walked towards Mingshen West Road (民生西路). The first thing that we saw was a lot of people queuing for “Ah Poh Fan Tuan” (阿婆飯团). We quickly got into line as we knew this stall started selling at 6.30pm and will usually be sold out early.

Local Taiwanese breakfast to kick off our second day! 

Night market is always the choice for dinner in Taiwan! Fengjia Night Market (逢甲夜市) is one of the night markets you should never miss when you are in Taichung. Look at the crowd, but this will never stop us for food hunting.

Since 7-11 was just a few shops away from our hotel, we visited it before heading to Taipei Main Station (台北车站). Along the way to the bus station, we also passed by quite a few breakfast shops with grab and go concept.

We arrived at Taoyuan International Airport around 10.40pm. After collecting our luggage, we quickly proceeded to Level B1 to purchase our bus ticket to Taipei Main Station from the bus operator, Kuo-Kuang (国光客运). The bus tickets cost us TWD125 per person for a one-way journey. 

We know it is a little late to share our Taiwan Trip. But, we do believe that it is never too late to share the nice places and tasty foods with all of our readers. Not only did we visited the usual tourist attractions and food spots, but we also visited some places where the locals usually go with the help of a Taiwanese local website.

We spotted a new restaurant with bright yellow interior design at the Food Court level in Pavilion. Since we were out of dinner ideas, we decided to give it a try.

Spanish cuisine is one of the best cuisines in the world. We noticed that there are not many authentic Spanish Restaurant in town. We would say that this is not usually our typical dining choice.

A bowl of hot ramen is always the best for an empty stomach. This was our second time here and if you haven’t been here yet, it is worth to try. We would not say this is the best ramen restaurant in town but it is definitely one of the better ones. Generally, all ramen restaurants have their own specialty and uniqueness.

Pizza is always a good choice when you are in a rush. We had a quick meal at Mikey’s Original New York Pizza before we started our movie marathon at GSC Cinema which is just right upstairs. Surprisingly, the pizzas were extremely delicious.

Which city comes into your mind when you need a place to hunt for cheap and fashionable clothes outside of Malaysia? The answer is Bangkok!