For obvious reasons we took advantage of the free light breakfast provided by the hotel "Econo-Inn Kyoto." We didn't head down early enough because there was another group of Caucasian tourists eating already and they took most of the good bread. ｡ﾟ･（>﹏<）･ﾟ｡ Beware of the next morning. After a nice little breakfast, we headed out to Kyoto Station. Sometimes the 15 minutes walk to the station feels like a long journey especially with the heat and sun engulfing you.
First stop of the day, #Nara.
Side note: The train seats in Japan is so COOL; you can pull the yellow lever on the top of the seat to which the direction of the seats. If you don't like sitting 4 by 4 then you can sit 2 by 2 or if you don't like traveling backwards then pull the lever to switch your seat direction. GREAT INVENTION. We NEED IT HERE.
Since we have the 7-days JR pass, we must utilize it to the fullest. We took the Nara line rapid from Kyoto station to Nara (~45 minutes).
Since we have the 7-days JR pass, we must utilize it to the fullest. We took the Nara line rapid from Kyoto station to Nara (~45 minutes).
Women in a kimono - very sophisticated
Arrival in Nara. From the station to Nara park, it was approximately 20 minutes walk. Along the way, we had the urge to pee and good thing we spotted a tourist information centre and we did our business there.
There's a lot of tourists in Nara. You can usually just follow the crowd once you get off the train cause they would probably be going to the same place you are, to see DEERS. I was actually expecting to see deers the moment I step out onto the streets, but I guess it's different from what you hear and see on the web.
Approaching the park.
Long walk up to the park.
Kofukuji temple
¥150 - cookies to feed the deers! You will see a couple of old man/women selling these in Nara park. If you have these cookies with you, the deers won't hesitate to come near you. Also, it's great if you want to take pictures with the deers!
The sign says "The deers are wild animals, and will occasionally bite, kick, head bump, and knock down" people. And some cute pictographs for tourists who does not know English nor Japanese.
Aw. It's a baby!
There's a washroom just a bit further up from the tori. And also I believe there's a path you can take to walk around the park.
As we were heading back to the station, we spotted a little booth with a lot of tourists buying some mochi, so we got some too.
Red bean mochi ¥130 (quite pricey for one small one)
Lunch @ Saizeriya. Super cheap! only ¥999 for pasta, a small salad, a bowl of soup and small pizza. This place ia actually quite popular in Hong Kong, I remember seeing a lot of people lining outside the restaurant at night. Saizeriya is actually along the path that we had to walk on to get back to Nara station. A great location for tourists and the menu is in English too.
NARA STATION. The building looks so pretty! (station beside it)
We didn't go deep into the park. We left just before we got to the famous Todaiji temple. So we were at Nara for half a day and then we headed off to Osaka. Osaka wasn't on our itinerary but since it was close to Nara so we hopped on the train and stopped at Namba Station (~50 minutes).
#OSAKA! Once on the streets of Osaka we noted this shop "Sex machine," interesting name... We were actually quite lost and didn't know how to get to "Nipponbashi Denden Town", but luckily this middle-old age man in a suit approached us and asked us where we were going. And he said he would guide us there. And led us down all these sketchy streets and we thought he was going to bring us to some back alley and "XXXX." Well, we were wrong, he led us straight to Nipponbashi, and it was around a 15 minutes walk too, we were very grateful but did feel bad cause he had to take a detour from his busy schedule. He did seem like he was in a rush though.
Nipponbashi DenDen Town is full of ANIME!!! I mean, look at the amount of gachapons! The whole street is full of anime banners, ads, and even the stores are anime/game related. So if you are a Otaku, this is definitely the place to visit.
MAID CAFE!
Love that HUGE GUNDAM BANNER.
Osaka "Dotonbori District " - great shopping area! It's very lively with arcades, performances, food stalls, etc etc. And at night there are a lot of neon lights!
Line Characters! They are so CUTE! It is impossible to win this though, not with those weak claws. They took so much money from me!!!
Shin Sai Bashi shopping area - so many locals and tourists at night!
For dinner we went to Lotteria, ¥840 cause we didn't know what to eat. And here, they have an English menu for sure. I would like to visit Osaka again, half a day is certainly not enough time to enjoy this city. There's so much shopping and attractions to see. I need at least 2 days here.
We took the JR back from Osaka to Kyoto Station. It was pitch black when we arrived. I don't remember, but I think we left Osaka between 9-10 PM? cause we don't know when the last train was, so better safe than sorry. And it took almost an hour to get back to Kyoto + our 15 minutes walk to the hotel. But just before heading to our hotel we went to the convenience store to grab some bananas, I believe it was three almost rotten bananas for ¥141 (why are fruits in Japan so expensive??). Need some fruits due to lack of bowel movements.
Kyoto Tower
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