Travel Log: A Rainy Summer in Nihon (Day 1-2)

Destination: Japan

Duration: 15 Days 15 Nights (May 31~Jun 14, 2014)

Day 1: A Long Day on the Plane (Again!!!)

The morning started with breakfast in KFC – AM Riser and chicken porridge. 1^st time trying those and I think AM Riser is definitely value for money and yummy too. Too FAT for breakfast though. =P

KFC Chicken Porridge, AM Riser & Cheesy Egg

I had the exact same flight schedule as my last trip to Japan 2 weeks ago (link) to Haneda Airport with exact same meal menu along with some updated entertainment menu. Since I’d tried their Japanese lunch set last time, I ordered the international selection of Grilled Chicken instead. The Verdict? Go for the Japanese set! It was so much better than international selection. =P

Silkair Typical Snack PEN-SIN

Chicken Puff

Sammy is Excited!!!

Sammy enjoying White Wine & Peanuts on Singapore Airline to Haneda

International Selection - not as good as the Japanese Selection though

This time I’m staying in Kawasaki Nikko Hotel and it is just a 15minutes train ride away from Haneda Airport with Keikyu Airport Express to Keikyu Kawasaki Station. Well, Kawasaki Nikko Hotel did not have Jacuzzi like The Prince Sakura Tower in Shinagawa that I’d stayed 2 weeks ago but it was just a 5 minutes’ walk away from our Kawasaki Office. More SLEEP!!!! *thumbs up*

The Cozy Kawasaki Nikko Hotel - Single Room

Everything is Mini here...

Sammy jumping on the Bed...

Dinner - Banana Milk

Day 2: Day Trip to Kyoto

Since we were too busy to plan a DIY for Kyoto, we signed up for a Kyoto express 1 day tour (link). The agent provided pickup service in The Prince Shinagawa main tower thus we went there early in the morning for pickup. There were a few pickup agents there so the best was to ask them directly by showing them the booking - else they might miss out asking you.

Shinagawa The Prince Main Tower

Cute Tourist Introduction in The Prince Shinagawa Main Tower Reception Hall

Breakfast of the Day

We were then transferred to Hamamatsucho bus terminal to ‘officially’ register for the tour and then transferred to Tokyo station to take the Shinkansen to Kyoto. It was almost 12.30noon when we finally reached Kyoto. *sweat* Most of our time were wasted in transport!

Reserved Seat Ticket for Shinkansen to Kyoto - that's why the trip is expensive! Reserved Seat on Shinkansen!

How cute is this? Saw this outside of Tokyo Station

We are going to Kyoto!!!

Sammy hiding in the bag

A Shot from Shinkansen - reaching from Rural Area

Lunch was included in New Miyako Hotel in semi-buffet style and it was YUMMY! They served a lot of miniature Japanese dishes (such as cawanmushi, smoked salmon, Japanese style beef) which happened to be all you can eat.

New Miyako Hotel!

Those platters are AWESOME!!!

Cawanmushi with Salmon, Smoked Salmon, Japanese Beef & Prawns! YUMMY!!!

More "Appetizers"!!! Soup, Pizza, meatball, tempura seafood etc... FAT!!!

By the time we finished the ‘appetizer’, we were stuffed to the neck. *facepalm* The main course of the day was steak – thankfully the portion is small! I guess they expect people won’t be able to eat more after the ‘appetizer’. The steak was scrumptious!!!! Definitely one of the best steaks I’d tried. =)

The Main Course - It doesn't look that nice here but it was GREAT!!!

Some Desserts? *Innocent Look*

Miyako Hotel Courtyard

I think this is Where they conduct wedding?

We boarded the bus on 1.30pm to finally start our Kyoto trip. Our 1^st stop was Heian-jingu Shrine – a shrine which was built to celebrate the 1107 year anniversary of the founding of the city of Kyoto. However, we were given very minimum time at the site (30minutes) and were ushered out quickly. We didn’t even get the chance to enter the garden area. =(

Cloth Sticker

Random Temple from the Bus

Another Random Temple

Heian-Jingu Shrine!!!

Sammy is Overjoyed!!! Look at the couple in Traditional Japanese Clothing!

Everything is RED!

Make a Wish!

More Wishes

Look at this Masterpiece!

The Weather is Scorching though....

Make a Wish Trees? Love this!!

Goodbye..

The bus then took us to Sanjusangen-do Temple - the world's longest wooden structure, housing 1,001 life-size statues of Buddhist Kannon deities dating back to the 13th century. There was no photo allowed inside the temple but the temple definitely looked and smelled ancient. Really an eye-opener.

Sanjusangen-do Temple Entrance...

This is the Ancient Temple that Houses 1001 statues... no Photo allowed inside

Walking along the Courtyard

A small pond?

In the Courtyard

The Bright Red Gate

The Ancient Temple from Outside

Our last destination of the day was Kiyomizu-dera Temple which located at hilltop – this place was jam packed with tourist! We needed to walk up a touristy street with lots of shops in order to get to the temple. The view from the top was great but there were simply too many people until photo-taking became a challenge. 

The Tourist Street! It's Uphill Walking!

Finally we are here!!!

Did i mention it's HOT?

The Famous Pagoda under reconstruction! *facepalm*

Never see the Pagoda! NOOO!!!!!

Sammy was there!

More Red Building!

Walking around

Construction in Progress though

The Pagoda from Afar...

The Main Hall

Ancient Lamp?

After the main hall, if we continued to the left would be Jishu-Jinja and the right side would be Otowa Waterfall. We went to Otowa Waterfall instead.

Jishu-Jinja - a matchmaking Shrine!!! Didn't get the chance to go in though..

Going to the Otowa Waterfall

We walked to the main hall to take a sip from Otowa waterfall – according to our guide the water could make your wish come true. This of course was a long queue as well. Btw, did I mention Kyoto was HOT? Like Penang midday hot? The guide said this was actually quite abnormal in beginning of June.

The Temple is built on the Hill - look at the base structure!

We are here at Otowa Waterfall! Long Queue!

Drinking!!!

Another Pagoda

Walking towards the 'Tourist Street'

We were given some free time so we walked around the tourist street (I think there should be a name for the street but I would call this tourist trap! Hehe..). We sampled some foods and I got myself a bottle of cold green tea and it was really concentrate.  It looked kind of like the Street in Kawagoe from my last trip though (link). I walked pass this food stall selling some kind of beef bun so I got one to try too. It was yummy! Try this if you have the chance. =)

The Thick Green Tea!!!

The Tourist Street with Old Buildings.. 

More Shops!

The Beef Bun

Look nice?

A Random Street

Our Shinkansen back to Tokyo was reserved seat which meant we had to get on the train in a fixed timing (& more expensive). Since our tour in Kyoto finished by 5.30pm and our train only departed at around 7pm, we were given free time to walk around the Kyoto station area. As usual, the station was full of restaurants and shops.

Some Food Model at Kyoto Station

More FOODssss!!!

What Else? FOODSSSS!!!

Even the Bread looks AMAZING!!!

I wish i can eat everything!

Cold Bun for Microwave

The verdict? I won’t really recommend this day tour as it simply took too much time for transit in the morning. We wasted half day just to be transferred to different locations and ended up visited 3 sites in 4 hours. My suggestion would be to buy your own non-reserved Shinkansen ticket and directly book the full day tour in Kyoto from Sunrise tour (their full day tour started at 8.35am). If you get on the earliest Shinkansen from Tokyo station, you should be able to catch this timing. The best part would be this is CHEAPER and allow you to visit more sites too.

Join the One Day Tour starting from New Miyako Hotel!!! Don't go for the same one like ours!

It was around 10pm when we finally reached Kawasaki and we were beat. Tomorrow would be our working day in Kawasaki Office! Oh NO!!!!

Dinner from the Bakery! YUMMY!!!

Next Week (Workweek in Kawasaki, Minato Mirai & Ikebukuro)