misstinapie

Today's our last day for Osaka but not without going to Nara. We have already accumulated so many shopping bags plus our luggage so we really had to resort to leaving them at lockers. We left ours at Osaka station so it would be easier when we go back to Tokyo. From the station look for the poster like so: If you've arrived early and have planned to do full day at Nara, you can buy an unlimited pass for the buses. We didn't get one because we only had to go the famous Nara park and back. Maybe next time when we'd do a proper tour of the Seven Great Temples . As soon as we got off at the bus stop we can already see deer. And even without effort a handful of them is already up for Reagan's petting. He just had to contain his excitement in feeding them in a bit because we will first visit the Todaiji temple. + Todai-ji +   It may not be apparent on the photos, but the Nandaimon is in old wood and the height is unbelievably high. Here's a comparative scuplture of a ...

Our day starts with an ekiben. We've been talking about this ever since we got here and thought today is the perfect opportunity to do so because our ride is more than an hour away. I got the #13  and it looked exactly the same! + Hiroshima + One good thing to know is that in Hiroshima you could practically get unlimited rides via the tourist buses that go around all the scenic spots via the JR Pass. All the reason to love it more. Our first stop was the bombing site. Reading the details around it was heart wrenching to say the least (there's a longer material around back, so go get there after you've done with the front part). Maybe it's the lack of tourists that add to how somber it was but I felt a bit emotional seeing it in real life. The park is truly huge and it has multiple bus stops if you don't wish to walk, but we did anyway in case we missed anything. We've made sure to see Sadako's memorial and the Eternal flame / cenotaph but didn't get in t...

Today involves a lot of walking. Our original itinerary is fully packed with so many places and this is our attempt to finish as much from our list. We did try to start early today but we've still arrived at our first stop almost 10 AM already (Shin-Osaka to Arashiyama is more than an hour away).  Technically we are already late for everything. + Arashiyama Bamboo Grove + I do not know if all routes go to the bamboo grove but we only followed a tour group just so we could reach it. We thought we were already there seeing the thin bamboos around but after some 5 minute walk (with a few stops as selfies)  we finally arrived at the famous grove. We roamed for a while, even to places until the crowd thinned more. After the grove we've went for quick snacks crab sticks and dango. We also found a weird snack: yuba soup! It's layers of tofu skin and tofu soup (300JPY a cup). The warm soup is comforting in this airy Kyoto. Price: FREE; There is bike rental though in case you wanted...

One of my most favorite things in Japan are the availability of weird drinks on their vendo machine. On this day I decided to get this drink from Beard Papa. It tastes something like flavored milk but not too sweet. + Universal Studios Japan + Price 15800JPY (for 2) We thought we were early but when we arrived at the gates of USJ, there are already a lot of people INSIDE. We rushed to look for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter being it's the only place I really wanted to see on the park. When we found the path that leads to the castle my heart started to beat really quick. USJ actually went to lengths of adding the detail of having REAL pines lead up to the entrance of WWHH (there's even the car Ron and Harry crashed on the side) and of course the tinkling of the HP theme on the air. I have seen pictures but I was still at awe in seeing the attraction, a mish mash of the places in the HP universe in one Hogsmeade-like village. They have those small details you would only app...