Pokémon Go Fest 2020

This is my first Pokémon Go Fest that I attended and first time playing it virtually. 

Yup, 2020 had been a bummer year where covid-19 had turned everybody’s lives upside down. Due to the global pandemic, a lot of Pokémon go events were cancelled. Was actually planning to go Japan or Taiwan for Pokémon go Safari event this year but now it looks like it can only be a dream....😭😭

Tickets are sold at $14.99 USD each and can be used for 2 days from 10am to 8pm local time.

Pokémon Go fest events were usually organized in the US or Europe so I don’t have the chance to go so far just to play. Also, it’s not a free event as you need to buy tickets for them. I usually atttend Pogo Safari event which are free and close to where I lived such as in Japan or Taiwan.  Now I realize, there is really a great difference between paying $$ and free to attend. There are much more shiny Pokémons to catch in go fest events as compared to Pogo Safari events. Also, more freebies are given in go fest. For the first time, this virtual go fest 2020 was held online so you can play in the comfort of your home instead of sweating it out under the sun, grinding like mad for your shinies.

On day 1, when I opened the game at 10am, it started with water hour followed by grass, battle, friendship and fire. Different countries have different sequence.

Then I received 3 remote raid pass for free and got a surprise rotom Pokémon when I took a snapshot.

I also able to catch starter Pokémon wearing the pikachu visor hat which non tickets holders don’t have. In addition, there were free stickers given out every hour too 👍🏻  Yeah, I finally got some variety of stickers to send as gifts now.

However, the shiny rate was not v high on the first day as I only got 5 shinies. Noticed that many ppl also complained about the low shiny rate on the internet.

For Day 1, this was the special research we had to complete. It’s quite easy since you can easily catch the 20 fire Pokémon during the fire hour, and the 20 water type Pokémon in the water hour...etc. if you missed the first water hour, there will be a second water hour later. 

It’s funny to watch all the fire Pokémon suddenly disappear on the stroke of the clock at the hour and replace by water type etc.

Actually I was expecting day 2 to be more exciting as Niantic did not want to reveal much details and want to keep it as a surprise. However, I feel Day 1 was more fun and exciting as there was a rush against the clock to catch the type of Pokémon that can only appear at that particular hour. I completed day 2 special research quest in 1.5 hrs and spent the rest of the day shiny hunting.

Above are all my shinies caught during day 2. A total of 18 shinies. Managed to get shiny Gible and shiny unown but no sign of shiny snorlax!  Haven’t seen anyone post pics of shiny snorlax yet. Wonder if it’s even released??!! Shiny snorlax is the one I wanted the most! 😭 Hey Niantic, did u even release it??

Overall, it had been quite worth getting the ticket as I got tons of shiny Pokémons and freebies from it. Definitely would buy the ticket again next year if it is holding it online again. Although, it’s missing the fun part such as exploring new places and meeting new ppl and things, the pros are that I can enjoy catching shinies from the comfort and safety of my home and also save lots of money by not traveling. 

Was a bit sad when this event was over....it’s been a fun and fruitful 2 days for me.

As the saying goes ‘As life gives u lemons, make lemonade’ thus this year (& possibly next year) since I won’t be able to go traveling to other countries, I shall aim to save as much money as possible and motivate myself with this travel fund once this pandemic thing is over! 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

New Ippudo Summer menu

Ippudo was having a new item on its menu when I visited last week at Mandarin Gallery. It’s called Tori Ton ramen consisting of 2 slices of chicken char siew, 2 slices of pork char siew and topped with onions, spring onion tempura bits and cabbage.The price was pretty reasonable at around $16-17 that also comes with mini salad and mentai butter at the side.

When it came, I was told to taste the soup first before adding the mentai butter. The soup taste like chicken broth which was not too heavy or oily. In fact, it was light enough to drink all by itself yet having a distinct chicken taste. Once I added the mentai butter, the taste changed totally. No wonder the waitress told us to taste the soup first before adding it. 

Now the soup had a slight spiciness to it with a stronger flavor which totally masked the light chicken flavor. It was so delicious that I used up all my mentai butter. The soup also had a bit of crunch due to the mentaiko from the mentai butter and also adding a seafood taste to it. Anyway, the flavor is just too complex to describe and best way was to just try it yourself.

The only thing I don’t really like was the noodle which was made from whole wheat soba. It had a v smooth texture but I still prefer the straight hakata style noodle.