Part of my sidetrip on my vacay to the Kansai region was to visit 3 other towns aside from Osaka namely, Kyoto, Nara and Kobe. Last Oct.17th, I joined a 12-hr sightseeing tour by Limon Shinki Bus Tour. The whole trip was literally just sightseeing and picture-taking as you only get to spend for around 90 minutes per town so therefore, there's little time to shop for that matter.Haha
Anyway, we started at 8am from bus pick-ups at Umeda and Namba-OCAT. We were quite a mix of foreigners who joined the trip so they provided English and Chinese tour guides. Besides that,we were given our itineraries as the tour offers different packages like some do not include meals or others end their trip in Nara only. Mine consisted of having a set lunch instead of a buffet and journey to 3 towns. :)
So our first stop was in Arashiyama Park in Kyoto and here's its map.The whole place is traditionally scenic and I love it.❤️
Our main agenda here was to go inside the Sagano Bamboo Forest where you can find Nonomiya Shrine. The forest was very picturesque and no wonder a lot of couples were doing their wedding photoshoot there!
And here's where you could wish in a well,place wood carvings on the wall or pray for it is known to be a shrine for marriage. Believe me, these are one of the things that I always look forward to whenever I go on a trip to Japan.;D
Rubbing this "Kame-ishi" or turtle rock says that your wish will come true within a year!
Besides the forest,there are many other attractions around the park like Togetsukyo River and one of UNESCO's world heritage,Tenryuji Temple.
They also have a lot of souvenir shops which mostly sells MATCHA.Indeed,these matcha flavored pastries are certainly a must-try from stall to stalls!
You could even rent a Kimono and wear it while sightseeing for I think,¥300(not sure!).And here's my set lunch:
Yummy authentic sukiyaki with siu mai on the side (and what's interesting is that it comes with a matcha-powdered dip and it tasted great!!) plus another tray for ze appetizers.I'm not very familiar to all of it so I did took a bite on each of it instead. It mostly consisted of truffles and eggs.
After that,I had my first randen train ride going to Shijo-Oomiya.But first,I got my complimentary matcha-soft served ice cream inside Arashiyama station ;3 You could have it in full matcha or with a mix of vanilla just like what I had.
2 things that I love riding this train: 1) It arrives every 15 minutes and travels on the same rails like normal cars and buses do! and 2) Rilakkuma is the train's current design.I can't believe it,haha❤️
Next stop: NARA! We went to another world heritage site which is the Todai-ji Temple. Just like in Kyoto, the place is also historically scenic but this one's fuller of significant statues and rituals. I did not took a picture of all the statues there as a lot of people are paying worship on it; Like there is this statue near the gate where you could touch its body part that you want to get healed.
So I did participated to a few rituals before I entered the Buddha hall.I tossed a coin in the Octagonal Lantern,cleansed my hands into this potable fountain (yes,the water is suitable for drinking!) and lighted an incense in front of the temple entrance.
And here's the largest buddha statue in Japan,"Daibutsu" or the "Great Buddha of Nara".It's pretty much, one of the biggest that I've ever seen and there's also another huge one beside it.All of the pieces inside the building have their own meanings retelling the history of Nara and even its pillars that symbolizes enlightenment.
Plus, you could buy a souvenir as usual especially these blessed pouches for good fortune. ;) Aside from the statues, another unique attraction in the area are the well-known Nara deers! They can all be seen everywhere around the town actually and they aren't harmful at all!
Isn't he/she the cutest?Yet this is one of the only decent pics I took with them.haha!❤️ Try feeding them deer cookies around the park for ¥150 and in less than a minute you'll get surrounded by them.So yeah,they are quite gluttonous. :)) Deer cookies for humans are available along the souvenir stalls there as well and look how they are cutely packed!
For our last stop,we head on to KOBE!
Here's the view of port of Kobe from Kobe MOSAIC mall.Cold weather + bright lights around town=perfect!❤️ We had a Shabu-Shabu eat-all-you-can dinner at the mall and it was scrumptious.Earlier,our tour guide made us choose 2 soups for our Shabu-Shabu and these are what I picked:
half soya,half sukiyaki! :)) We had a complement set of the meat and we had the chance to choose our ingredients.
Well I'm no cook but I guess I made this as edible as possible!lol :)) I'm not used with drinking soya but having it as a savory broth didn't tasted bad at all.
So here's to conclude my wonderful experience to 3 towns in a day and the rest of Osaka from my previous post.❤️ My whole solo travel really had brought me to a lot of learnings and I'm sure I'd do it again next time!And I will tour another part of Japan soon.this is all i KANSAI for now ;)
'Til then!
