Autumn Trip to Kansai and Shikoku ...
Showing posts with label kansai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kansai. Show all posts
Day 9 [3rd June]: Osaka to Tokyo
It's my last day in Osaka before I head to Tokyo for the next part of my long trip. I went to a nearby cafe for my breakfast before heading back to hotel to do my final packing and getting ready to check out. After checking out, I went to Osaka station and used the paid lockers to keep my luggage while I roam around before the scheduled train departure time. My departure time was 2:37pm, so I had time during noon to roam around, do some shopping and get lunch before taking the bullet train. For lunch, I tried a random restaurant called 一夜一夜 because their teriyaki chicken set seems quite reasonable at ¥1,080.
Day 8 [2nd June]: Osaka + Arima Onsen
For my last day in Osaka, I was toying with the idea of going to Arima Onsen in the afternoon. For the morning, I went to Kuromon Market in Osaka for a brunch at about 11am. Surprisingly, the market is not too crowded at this time.
Day 7 [1st June]: Kyoto
As planned, I visited Kyoto on a Saturday so that I can hop on the sightseeing bus that only operates during the weekends. The bus ticket for 京都ひるバス costs ¥2,000 for unlimited rides on the bus for the whole day. The first bus starts at 8:40am and the last bus arrives back in Kyoto station at about 6pm. The tour guide on board takes about some of the places in Kyoto during the bus ride, but it is only in Japanese though. The duration of the complete route takes 1 hour and 38 minutes.
Day 6 [31st May]: Nara + Osaka
With 3 full days left in Osaka, I still have 2 day-trips from Osaka as planned. For day 6, I took an express train heading to Nara and the journey took about 40 minutes.
Day 5 [30th May]: Kyoto
I made an online reservation for a guided tour in Kyoto Imperial Palace for 30th May, so I made my way to Kyoto in the morning as planned. I didn't want to reach too early, but somehow I underestimated the time needed to take the subway from Kyoto station and walk to the palace from the subway station. So I ended up reaching the palace about 10 to 15 minutes later than the scheduled time. I managed to catch up with the group inside the palace and the guided tour duration is about 1 hour.
Day 4 [29th May]: Kobe
On my 4th day, I was kind of in a dilemma which place to visit because the weather forecast doesn't seem favorable for these few days. After checking through the weather forecast of Kyoto, Kobe and Nara, it seems that it should be a clear day only for Kobe. On the way to the train station from the hotel, I had breakfast and also bought a cheap and thin windbreaker. From Osaka station, it was about 35 minutes of normal train ride to Sannomiya station in Kobe.
Day 3 [28th May]: Kyoto
For my third day, I decided to follow my plan to make a day trip to Kyoto. I took the train to Osaka station and transferred to a train heading for Kyoto. The train station is a little overwhelming for me as it was my first time there. There were schedules for normal train and express train. As I was unsure if there is extra charge for the express train, I decided to wait for the normal train. After about 40 minutes of train ride, I stepped foot in Kyoto.
Day 2 [27th May]: Universal Studios Japan
I was planning to wake up early on day 2 to start the day early at Universal Studios so as to avoid the crowd. However, I woke up at only 8am+ and went for breakfast before taking the JR train to Universal Studios. When I reached, there was quite a queue at the entrance and also a queue at the ticketing counters. I entered the theme park at about 9:20am and there was already quite a crowd although the place opens at 9am.
Japan (May/June 2013)
Needed a good break and was looking around for a destination suitable for travel in May or June. After much research, it came down to either Eastern Europe, Spain/Portugal/UK or Japan. As I started doing some research on Japan, I discovered that accomodation is not as expensive as expected, especially compared to Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore. Furthermore, the airfares by Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific seemed attractive. I was more interested in visiting Hokkaido, but decided it's probably cheaper to fly to Osaka/Tokyo and take budget airline to Hokkaido instead. And I went ahead with my travel planning and bookings.
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