Day 1 – Japan trip (Kyoto)

Finally, my dream comes true by visiting one of the top 10 countries in my wish list – Japan. This is our self-organised trip which includes friends as well. Compared to our previous BKK trip, we’ve managed to roughly plot some places-of-interest in both Kyoto and Osaka {Yes, we are opting for more authentic places (Kyoto) with a balance of city tour (Osaka)!} ^^v

After a reasonably long 6.5 hours flight, the plane touched down and our group journey began. Once we reached Kansai International Airport, we made a quick dash to purchase our ICOCA prepaid rail card for transit from Osaka > Kyoto. The card itself costs around 1,600 yen and we’d managed to top up with 2,000 yen to travel to our destinations. * Tips : The ICOCA card is a reduced-fare ticket for the Limited Express Haruka. Say, a single journey from Kyoto to Osaka costs around 3,000+ yen but with the card, you could save up to 1,000 yen/ journey. In fact, you can use the card for shopping as well ∩__∩y

Our JR cards with cutesy design {{{(>_<)}}}

Our wefie @transit (#^_^#) Flashback : Really impressed with how Japanese paid attention to details. They had even placed some pretty attendants to assist with carrying our luggages. Mind you, they are not just about pretty faces but they’d the strength to carry up heavy luggages!

Spotted different varieties of snacks at the omnipresent vending machines. Couldn’t resist to snack on during our 1+ hour journey. Bought a pack of Latte and Onigiri in case we were on hunger pang ^_^

While I was immersed with the beautiful sceneries along the ride, I took a selfie in the train (#^_^#)

Once we reached Kyoto, we truly felt the shopping vibes with many stores selling quintessentially souveniers and knick-knacks at the Kyoto stop.  

We continued our journey to our Air BnB located @Jujo station.

                                                       

The comprehensive map O.o

Our Air BnB had only 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms but overall, the house had Japanese-style feel completed with tatami mats and equipped with hi-tech Japanese toilets. Our only complaints were the compact acrylic shower place and open-concept panelled glass doors between the exposed shoe rack to the living room a.k.a our sleeping place. Imagine the “fresh” air permeates the entire room at night after a long walk during day time. Ohwell, the owner was kind enough to provide us with plastic bags for us to wrap our shoes to reduce the intensity of the smell ︸_︸ Otherwise, we still had some lavish items such as Nescafe Dolce Gusto complemented with refills to make up the cons. 

A well-equipped kitchen. 

After settling down, we instantly hunt for food!! As it was rather late at night, we’d managed to have a quick but sumptuous dinner at the nearby ramen shop. Albeit a down-to-earth shop, the ramen was cook to perfection. The broth had succulent pork bones flavour and the “charsu” toppings were juicy and tender while the soft-boiled eggs were flavourful. It was indeed not your usual run-of-the-mill meal.  

Ok, that’s all for Day 1 (❁´◡`❁)*✲ﾟ

XOXO

sassycat