Date: 02/12/2012
Route: Osaka - Kyoto
Woke up early in the morning and boarded the train bound for Kyoto at 8am. The journey was about 30 mins or so. We reached Kyoto station and put our luggage at Budget Inn first. The owner was friendly but his English accent was weird. Lolz!
Our first stop is Nishi Honganji, which is diagonally opposite our guesthouse.
Nishi Honganji (西本願寺) is one of two temple complexes of Jōdo Shinshū in Kyoto, Japan, the other being Higashi Honganji. Jōdo Shinshū is a school of Pure Land Buddhism, and today Nishi Honganji serves as the head temple of the Jōdo Shinshū organization. (credit: Wikipedia)
Japanese Buddhist temples are rather confusing because they are of different sects, schools and sub temples. Architecture style varies as well, though mostly under Japanese or Chinese influence.
Nishi Hongaji does not have maple trees, but they have ginkgo trees. The ginkgo tree leaves are yellow in colour and they made a stark contrast against the red maple leaves.
We took a local bus and travelled to Nijo Castle.
Nijō Castle (二条城) is a flatland castle located in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the ruins of the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is 275,000 square meters, of which 8000 square meters is occupied by buildings. (credit: Wikipedia)
Nijo Castle is the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns. As a fan of "Ooku", the castle looked somewhat familiar. Haha! Ninomaru Palace is made of wood, and there are many interesting features like the squeaking sound of the floor when one walks along the corridor. Photography is not allowed in the palace hence I could only snapped the castle from the outside. Honmaru Palace is also out of bounds, but I managed to snap a far view of the palace from the nearby fort. Surprisingly, Nijo's gardens were one of the highlights and it's one good place for people who wanna snapped autumn sceneries.
We took a local bus again and went to Morpho Cafe for lunch. I am not sure of the exact location hence spent a bit more time walking here and there. Luckily we found the cafe which was located beside the main street.
The staff do not speak much English but they have a English menu. We ordered their set lunch (950yen) and it was quite delicious. I liked their "hamburg steak" and the seaweeds.
Next stop we travelled to the south of Kyoto by bus and train. Kyoto station is not as confusing as Osaka or Tokyo stations hence it's quite easy to walk about.
Tōfukuji (東福寺) is a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama-ku in Kyoto, Japan. Tōfukuji takes its name from two temples in Nara, Tōdaiji and Kōfuku-ji. It is one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan or "five great Zen temples of Kyoto". (credit: Wikipedia)
Tofukuji is one of the famous spots for autumn sceneries. However, the best time to visit is during mid to late November. By the time I reached there, the leaves has started to turn brown, but overall the leaves still looked beautiful to me.
Tōfukuji's main gate is the oldest sanmon in Japan. It is a National Treasure of Japan. It is two stories high and five bays wide. The central three bays are doors.
Next we proceeded to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which is close to Tofukuji.
Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) is the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres above sea-level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines.
Since in early Japan Inari was seen as the patron of business, each of the Torii is donated by a Japanese business. First and foremost though, Inari is the god of rice.
Merchants and manufacturers worship Inari for wealth. Donated torii lining footpaths are part of the scenic view.
This popular shrine is said to have as many as 32,000 sub-shrines throughout Japan. (credit: Wikipedia)
What attracted me to visit this shrine is the thousands of red Torii, which looked spectacular. I also got to see the Japanese lucky charms but I did not know they are so expensive. Haha!
Bought Takoyaki after we left the shrine. Super delicious!
We returned to Kyoto Station and checked out Porta Underground Mall, which was freaking huge. There was a restaurant street and area for clothings, stationeries and souvenirs. We popped in one of the Japanese restaurants selling soba and had our dinner there.
I ordered Tenzaru soba, which I have eaten N times in Singapore. Lolz~~~ The portion was alright and the meal was not too bad.
Returned to Budget Inn and we were introduced to various facilities in the guesthouse by the owner. Our room was a triple ensuite, equipped with kitchen facilities. The room was much spacious than Hotel Kinki. Room was Japanese style (with Tatami mat), and we have enough space to put our luggage. Very satisfied with my choice. It was a good place to stay for 4 nights.
Today we made a small mistake by not buying the 1 day city bus pass which costed 500yen. We did not expect to take so many buses. Haha! Well, there are always unexpected things popping out during a trip and we could not determine if the decision is right one. A good lesson to learn for the DIY planning.
Photos on Facebook. Enjoy~
Day 2 Kyoto
Tuesday 25 December 2012
Saturday 22 December 2012
Japan 2012 - Day 1 @ Osaka
Date: 01/12/2012
Route: Singapore - Hong Kong - Osaka
We boarded our plane at 1.15am, and it was an old A330. Seats were old and legroom not very spacious. Very disappointed to see Cathay's old inflight entertainment system with lousy and small screens. Movie choices were limited, but I managed to watch something.
Waited for drinks but they did not seve until our meals came. Had my seafood pasta dinner and it was not too bad. CX crew did not impressed me when I flew with them in 2004, and I did not see much improvements till now.
We landed at Hong Kong International airport at 5.20am and headed to McDonald's for our breakfast.
Waited for a few hours before we boarded our transit plane to Osaka at 10.20am. It was an old B747 but surprisingly the seats were more comfortable and spacious. IFE equipment was much better than their A330 as well.
I had pasta again for brunch. I thought I cld get some dim sum or Japanese food? Hahaha!
CX planes used centralised air-con control hence we felt kind of warm in the plane. I would prefer personal air-con control found on other planes.
We landed at Kansai International Airport at 2.40pm Japan time. The arriving terminal was actually their T2 but the airport in fact has only 1 terminal for departure and arrival. Passengers have to take their airport tram to the main terminal.
The JR West office was located in a separate building outside the airport building. We bought our ICOCA and Haruka package and boarded the Rapid airport express to Umeda.
Unfortunately, I forgot that the round trip ticket could only be used within 14 days hence I could not use it when I return on the 15th day. 1000 yen wasted, but we still managed to use up 390 yen for our Kobe trip.
The train was a normal commuter train hence there was lots of people who boarded from major stations like Tennoji etc.
JR Osaka station was quite a horror as it was very big and there were so many exits and buildinngs connected to it.
We had some tough time finding Hotel Kinki, which was a good 10 to 15 mins walk away. I guessed I would spend more money to stay hotels that are right beside the station next time.
Hotel Kinki was located along a street full of restaurants, game arcades and "free information centres". Quite an "interesting" place actually. Our triple room was quite small and we could not place our luggage properly. Beds and pillows were comfortable, could not complain too much for the price I paid.
Our first dinner was at Curry House CocoIchibanya, which has a restaurant in Singapore. Thus, the food was nothing new for us. Luckily there was a waitress who spoke Mandarin hence our first meal was settled easily. Hahaha!
Walked around Umeda area which was the base for lots of departmental stores like Isetan, Daimaru, Hankyu and Hanshin. We went to Hep Five and found Lowrys Farm. Realised their shirts were sold at a cheaper price than in Singapore. Bought one long sleeve shirt which only costed about $30+ SGD. I could only buy shirts at this price after a 50-70% sale here! Other blouses costed about the same in both countries hence we did not buy any. KH bought a pair of bling bling pumps in a local shop too. We did not walk any further, or else our wallets wld get burst! Lolz!
Returned to hotel as we need to leave early for Kyoto the next day.
Route: Singapore - Hong Kong - Osaka
We boarded our plane at 1.15am, and it was an old A330. Seats were old and legroom not very spacious. Very disappointed to see Cathay's old inflight entertainment system with lousy and small screens. Movie choices were limited, but I managed to watch something.
Waited for drinks but they did not seve until our meals came. Had my seafood pasta dinner and it was not too bad. CX crew did not impressed me when I flew with them in 2004, and I did not see much improvements till now.
We landed at Hong Kong International airport at 5.20am and headed to McDonald's for our breakfast.
Waited for a few hours before we boarded our transit plane to Osaka at 10.20am. It was an old B747 but surprisingly the seats were more comfortable and spacious. IFE equipment was much better than their A330 as well.
I had pasta again for brunch. I thought I cld get some dim sum or Japanese food? Hahaha!
CX planes used centralised air-con control hence we felt kind of warm in the plane. I would prefer personal air-con control found on other planes.
We landed at Kansai International Airport at 2.40pm Japan time. The arriving terminal was actually their T2 but the airport in fact has only 1 terminal for departure and arrival. Passengers have to take their airport tram to the main terminal.
The JR West office was located in a separate building outside the airport building. We bought our ICOCA and Haruka package and boarded the Rapid airport express to Umeda.
Unfortunately, I forgot that the round trip ticket could only be used within 14 days hence I could not use it when I return on the 15th day. 1000 yen wasted, but we still managed to use up 390 yen for our Kobe trip.
The train was a normal commuter train hence there was lots of people who boarded from major stations like Tennoji etc.
JR Osaka station was quite a horror as it was very big and there were so many exits and buildinngs connected to it.
We had some tough time finding Hotel Kinki, which was a good 10 to 15 mins walk away. I guessed I would spend more money to stay hotels that are right beside the station next time.
Hotel Kinki was located along a street full of restaurants, game arcades and "free information centres". Quite an "interesting" place actually. Our triple room was quite small and we could not place our luggage properly. Beds and pillows were comfortable, could not complain too much for the price I paid.
Our first dinner was at Curry House CocoIchibanya, which has a restaurant in Singapore. Thus, the food was nothing new for us. Luckily there was a waitress who spoke Mandarin hence our first meal was settled easily. Hahaha!
Walked around Umeda area which was the base for lots of departmental stores like Isetan, Daimaru, Hankyu and Hanshin. We went to Hep Five and found Lowrys Farm. Realised their shirts were sold at a cheaper price than in Singapore. Bought one long sleeve shirt which only costed about $30+ SGD. I could only buy shirts at this price after a 50-70% sale here! Other blouses costed about the same in both countries hence we did not buy any. KH bought a pair of bling bling pumps in a local shop too. We did not walk any further, or else our wallets wld get burst! Lolz!
Returned to hotel as we need to leave early for Kyoto the next day.
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