GOOD MORNING ALL
As usual, we were up extra early for our ONE DAY KYOTO TRIP today !!!
Here's what we covered :
- Kinkakuji
- Yasaka Shrine
- A Walk Through Maruyama Park
- Gion
- Higashiyama District
- Pass By Kodaiji Temple & Yasaka Pagoda
- Walking through the entire historic preserved walkways - Lots of Geisha Viewing
- *Even saw a traditional Japanese Marriage Ceremony at Kodaiji Temple ! ^^
- Walked the Ninnenzaka Stairs & Sannenzaka Stairs @ Higashiyama District
- *Lots of interesting shops to see and buy from !
- Kiyomizudera
- Fushimi Inari Shrine
- Kyoto Main Station Departmental Store Shopping!
Wah now it seems pretty impressive that we covered all of these in just ONE DAY ^^ ** its very packed !! Better to spread out among 2 days for more relaxed pace !
Around 8am to 11pm or so ! ** Be prepared for A LOT OF WALKING ~~
As usual, we start from our hotel (FLORAL INN NAMBA)
Love this convenient, cosy and cheap hotel ! :D
We're taking JR train from Namba Station to JR SHIN Osaka Main Station --- where we will take the train to JR KYOTO STATION
*we activated our 3 Day JR Pass yesterday !!
So we reached JR SHIN OSAKA Main Station ---- and here we will take the SHINKANSEN to JR KYOTO STATION
*Bear in mind that JR Passes do not include SHINKANSEN tickets -- they need to be purchased separately !!
We had a big hoo haa over this because we bought the wrong tickets --- very funny event and ended up we bought our tickets so damn cheap (turns out to be a upgrade tix) :P Shall not elaborate ! They let us pass because we're tourists "kids" and confused them .. lol
Buying the SHINKANSEN TICKET .
If dunno how to buy --- just buy from the counter , but need to Queue .
We just buy from machine because lazy, but in the end also buy wrong. HAHAHA .
Please buy reserved seats during peak timing, its better ! (we travelled on a Saturday)
Turns out our cheap tickets could let us take the FASTEST SHINKASEN TRAIN -- NOZOMI
.................. :D
by taking NOZOMI -- the whole journey from JR SHIN OSAKA to JR KYOTO only about 30mins !
Have our breakfast on the SHINKANSEN :d
ARRIVAL AT JR KYOTO STATION !
FIRST THING : when you arrived at the JR KYOTO STATION :
Please remember to find the counter to buy the :
ONE DAY KYOTO BUS SIGHTSEEING PASS (500Yen as of May 2014)
*extremely important as it will save you tons of travelling costs in Kyoto ! Quite easy to find the counter , just ask around and the counter lady speaks english as well ^^
this are the 2 maps you will receive with the bought passes !
Because at first we wanted to buy the Train + Bus one day tix --- but the counter lady say we won't use trains that much (train services pretty limited in Kyoto) then recommend us to take the Bus Pass will do ! So nice ;)
So our first destination : KINKAKUJI (GOLDEN PAVILION) Temple
Queing up for the Bus ride to Kinkakuji -- Its pretty far off from the city centre so we thought we will just clear this place first ! haha -- about 30 min bus ride from the JR Kyoto Station ! (In a packed bus ...)
Finally arrived at the famed Golden Pavilion Grounds after a squeezy -- long bus ride ..
Beautiful in real life -- pictures dont really do justice !!
Wondering whats the occasion -- its sooooooo dammmmm crowdedddd
Grabbed some delish icecream off the vending machine to cool down :D
We spent about 2 hours at Golden Pavilion Grounds , then headed to a cafe right next to the bus stop for lunch ! (Bus stop heading back to the city)
We alighted at GION (after about a 30mins bus ride) once we saw the red temple below !
** very important to have a copy of the bus route map in your hands all times , really useful and quite user friendly (english)
The red temple below is called "YASAKA SHRINE" , situated at the east end of Shijio-dori.
Start of our Gion walking !
Lucky us who managed to witness a traditional Japanese wedding , for real , upclose and live !! Wow
Beauty water , anyone ?? We did !
Walk through these gates to reach MARUYAMA PARK !!
* to be frank, we didn't plan for all these, just that we alighted at the right stop :D
ZOMG GEISHA
ZOMG MATCHA SOFT SERVE IN THE PARK
Just continue walking , following the signs of Kodaji Temple / Kiyomizu Dera Temple
Passed by this quaint traditional looking dessert / teahouse and we had to go in ..which turns out to be one of the best Japanese dining experiences ever !
Japanese sweets in a traditional Japanese garden in cool weather, how more perfect can it be !
We saw a lot of Geishas !!!
There are many roadside Buddhist Statues in the Higashiyama District which we were walking in , and everyone is so interesting and must touch every single one because every one has different "power" hahahaa
This is a picture map of the Higashiyama District , where we are walking in !! This will be found by the roadside :)
Following the path towards Kiyomizu Dera , its quite obvious because there will always be a crowd going towards the same direction as you are !
Hold on babes, theres A LOT to see , do & eat in this District --- so many interesting things !! Remember to try as much and eat as much !! :D Enjoy the travelling !
We ate lots of street snacks & bought lots of souvenirs , many of which are Kyoto Limited Ed !
Its really so crowded the day we were there !!
Entrance to the Kiyomizu Dera !!
Absolutely stunning ! This temple is entirely built out of wood blocks.. Wow
** remember to buy the amulets (souvenirs) here as they are very effective ones .. true story !
Amazing structure!
Walking downhill now , there's a lot to explore !
Passed by a toy collection shop, full of TOTORO :d
Another map of the District !!
Walked towards the bus stop downhill and took which ever bus that will take us back to Kyoto Station !! Remember to refer to your bus map in hand .. very important , with the bus map, everything is pretty straightforward !
So as described above, during the pathway taken by us, you would have seen :
*Starting At :*
Yasaka Shrine
A Walk Through Maruyama Park
Pass By Kodaiji Temple & Yasaka Pagoda
Walking through the entire historic preserved walkways - Lots of Geisha Viewing
Walked the Ninnenzaka Stairs & Sannenzaka Stairs @ Higashiyama District
*Lots of interesting shops to see and buy from !
*Ending with walking through the historical streets downhill after Kiyomizudera*
All these probably take you 5 hours or so !!
BACK AT JR KYOTO MAIN STATION :
We decided to head to Fushimi Inari before the sky turns dark !
For Fushimi Inari Shrine , its the easiest to go from JR Kyoto Station as it is located at JR Inari Station.
Along the JR Nara Line, its the 2nd station from JR Kyoto Station, which takes only 5 minutes train ride ! Its located just outside the JR Inari Station!!
Outside the BEAUTIFUL RED GATES
Such a landmark
This picture shows the entire map of Fushimi Inari (There's the shrine and hill too)
But we only managed to go till half of the red gates , because the sky turning dark !
But lucky us , the shop was still open for us to buy a mini shrine and write our wishes on them ! So cute and very meaningful , everyone who come here must do this !
well we wrote in Chinese because we see there was some draft chinese lettering and many people writing in Japanese / Chinese hehe
Absolutely breathtaking to be here , thinking about it . So therapeutic and tranquil . Amazing feeling, very hard to describe !
Taking the train back to JR Kyoto Station for our dinner and heading back to Osaka city
Had our dinner at the underground mall of JR Kyoto Station , always so amazed by Japan's underground malls hehe ..
Seeing the Isetan basement supermarket wasn't closed yet so we popped in for some shopping !
The best place and best things to buy when they're closing is always food :S
Bought some famous chicken kaaraage for supper :D
Took the normal train back to JR Osaka Station and took back to our Namba Hotel .
Legs like Jelly !! But really happy that we've covered so much in just one day !! :D
&& being extremely gluttony, we still went out to eat supper around Namba area .. because that place never sleeps ! fantastic to stay there.. & love the convenience of our hotel :)
our friends quite shocked that we go so many places in a day's time .. haha
Will blog about Day 4 soon !
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