Peter Wik

Peter Wik has been traveling the world since childhood. He has visited over 60 countries and some of them up to a hundred times. Peter is the owner of Relasian Travel & Event based in Stockholm, Sweden but constantly on the road. Peter is a foodie and loves to try new food around the world. Here he shares his favorite gems from places high and low around the world to make you go local yet being global. Peter lives in Stockholm and Paris.

For contact please visit relasian.com

2013-11-30

The Israel Museum - One of the highlights of Jerusalem

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is often missed by visitors to Jerusalem or their tourist bus just makes a brief stop to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is such a pity that people miss out of this place! It is one of the top museums world wide up there with the Louvre, British Museum or similar with a collection of over 500.000 pieces.
The museum opened to public in 1965 and the collection is based on gifts from Jewish People from all over the world. Here you find everything form archeological finds from the region to modern art from Israel and other places. What is the biggest surprise to most is that it also has an excellent collection of precolombian art from South America, a big collection of  beautiful Impressionist paintings, synagogues from all over the world moved here, a whole patrician apartment from Paris etc.
On this picture you see a painting of Damian Hearst and the famous statue of the "Boy from south Tel Aviv" by
Ohad Meromi.
The Museum is located close to Knesset on Ruppin Boulevard. Check with the opening hours with the webpage or call ahead as the opening hours change a lot during holiday.
http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/page_1465

For more information about a city or a country please use the search engine on the top to the left.

2013-11-27

3 Coin shops in Japan

10 years ago during the financial crisis in Japan a lot of 100 Yen shops opened in Japan. There are less and less of them now but suddenly you have many new 3 coins shops were everything is sold for the same price.
3 coins means that everything is sold for 300 Yen but then you add tax to that and the price is 315 Yen. That price is not possible to pay with 3 coins but in Japan everyone understands that.
This shop is in front of the big Tokyu Hands store in Shibuya.
Get ready for some bargain shopping!
300 Yen is 21 Swedish Krona or 3 US dollars or 2.3 Euro.

For more information about Japan or Tokyo just use the search engine on the left on top of this page!

2013-11-16

Palace Hotel, Tokyo

Since a few years back Tokyo had finally gotten some new hotels that have the Asian Luxury. The service in Japan is always top notch, but for many years the interiors of the hotels were a memory of the 1980th.
Since a few years back the Japanese capital has gotten new hotels and one of the best of them is The Palace Hotel. It has close to 300 rooms and many of them have the wonderful view over the Imperial Palace Gardens. The location is great for business men and women that wants to stay right downtown Maranouchi area were all the banks are and next to Tokyo Station.  The rooms are  very big for Tokyo and starts at 45 m2.  The lobby lounge with the outside terrace is a rare thing to find in Japan.
The only downside is that the area is rather dead after office hours, but then you have your room and balcony to enjoy! Not to forget all the excellent restaurants!
PALACE HOTEL TOKYO 1-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005 Japan TEL +81-3-3211-5211

For more information about Japan please use the search engine on the top to the left. Just type Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto or the place in the world you are going to.

Matakoiya - The smallest restaurant in the world? Tsukiji, Tokyo

Is this the smallest restaurant in the world?
At the outer Tsukiji Fishmarket in Tokyo you find a long row of standing restaurants. Most of them serve great noodles or tempura udon. It's a place for the people that work in the fishmarket and need to grab something to eat before they go home around lunchtime after many hours of work.
The sushi restaurant Matakoiya is a standing sushi counter open to the street with no walls or door. The sushi chef serves 3 guests at a time. The sushi is served on a long green leaf and he is specialized in tunafish.
It's a fun place to grab something quickly if you are in the area. Open from early morning to late afternoon.

For more information on Japan just use the search engine on the left. Type Japan and you find all the blogs posted about Japan.

2013-11-11

K-Pop & J-Pop store in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo, Japan

As you might now not only J-Pop but also K-Pop in Japan is really big and spreading around the world. Shin-Okubo on the Yamanote Line one stop from Shinjuku-station is Tokyo's Korea Town. Here you can find great Korean Food but many young people from all over come here to pick up the latest in gadgets from the K-Pop stars! It's a great place to take part of this culture and to look at all the young people go crazy over a coffee cup or a key ring with a special singer on! Or why not buy a new pillow with your favorite star that you can cuddle with a home.
This places can be found just outside the station of Shin-Okubo.

2013-11-10

Mandarake - Manga superstore in Shibuya - Tokyo

If you are into Japanese Manga this is one of the must visit places to visit and if you are not into manga this is a must place to visit to!
The Mandarake store in Shibuya Tokyo is the biggest manga store in Japan. It is located in the basement of the Beam Building close to the Policebox not far from Tokyu Hands. This place not only has more the 100.000 manga books in their store but also have all gadgets you can just imagine. They also have a stage for cosplay shows and if you purchase for over 1.000 yen you can sometimes take part in the show on the stage. Here you find people dressed out as their favorite manga character if you are lucky and this is the place to get a good view into Japanese pop culture.
Shibuya Beam B2 31-2, Udagawacho. Tokyo,
 03-3477-0777

Gold's Gym - Japan

Most hotels in Japan does not have a gym and if they happen to have one they are tiny. As in most places you have to be a member to go to a gym to work out. However at Gold's Gym in Harajuku on Omotesando Avenue they accept visitors without a membership and paying for one entry only. The cost is 3000 Yen and it includes access so two big floors of training with with classical machines and free weights. There is also group classes, sauna and an onsen bath.
When running on the treadmill on the top floor you have a great view of Tokyo outside the window.
Remember to bring a passport if you don't live in Japan as you have to register.
You find the gym on Omotesando 100 meters from the Harajuku station on Yamanote Line.
2-3F, 4-3-2 Jingumae, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo
03-5786 1818
They also have a branch in Kyoto if you need to work out there too!

2013-11-09

Spagetti at Pronto café in Japan

When I want to have something quick and simple, European but still with a Japanese touch to it I like to have some pasta at the coffee chain Pronto. You would not think of having pasta at a coffee shop but Pronto serves excellent pasta! Some are classics like Carbonara, but you can also have linguini with tomato cream sauce with crab (favourite) or pasta Mentaiko with cod roe and seaweed. ( Yes, it tastes a bit like Swedish Kalles Kaviar!)
You have all this for about 600-900 Yen that is about 5-7 Euros! Great coffee also and cheaper the Starbucks!
Pronto is a chain and is found all over Japan!

2013-11-08

Suica card payment now in Tokyo taxis!!!

Japan is the country were "Cash is King" Creditcards are not used that much and it can be specially difficult with a card that is not issued in Japan. If you do not want to carry cash you can buy a Suica Card for 2000 Yen at any JR train station. That includes a deposit for the card of 500 Yen. You can then recharge this card and use it for all Subway and train transportation all over Japan. You can also use it on most busses, all convenience stores, places like Starbucks and now you can even use it in most taxis. As an bonus is also makes you feel as you live in Japan and you are not only a tourist!