The Backpack Adventures

Day 4 December 22, 2019 Exploring Kyoto 2 Ohayou minasan! Ready for the new day! It's another day of adventure here in Japan . Originally, we plan to visit Otsu City in S higa Prefecture today to try out the Michigan Cruise in Lake Biwa . However, there were still plenty of amazing places in Kyoto that we haven't covered yet and it would be a shame to miss them out in exchange for only one destination. So, for today, we decided to explore around Rakuto Area which is better known as the Higashiyama Area of Kyoto City.  Back to Kyoto Station but this time we'll take the bus. Waiting for Raku Bus #100 As previously done, we woke up early, had breakfast, then headed to Kyoto Station to avail of the Kyoto City Bus One-Day Pass  for today's tour. Then, we rode bus #100 towards our first destination for the day - Yasaka Jinja Shrine .  Boarded down at Gion bus stop... Off to Yasaka Jinja First stop: Yasaka Jinja Yasaka Jinja's Maidono Yasaka Jinja Rikimizu Yas

Day 3 December 21, 2019 Exploring Nara Good morning guys! Today is the 3rd day of our 2019 Japan Adventure . For today's itinerary, we're off to explore Nara City in Nara Prefecture.  Off to Nara! Waiting for our train to Nara Station The train was slow and crowded thank God we managed to get a seat. Since Nara City is about 40+ kilometers away, we woke up early to catch the earliest train we could going to Nara Station . This is to avoid joining the potential influx of tourists heading to Nara City on this beautiful Saturday morning.   We got a tip from the train operator on board. She said we should board down at Uji and transfer to the much faster express train... All aboard at Kintetsu Limited Express to Nara Station There was plenty of room on the train for me to pose and get that souvenir photo. From our Air BnB residence, we walked for about three minutes to  Kyoto Station and bought tickets to Nara Station. A ticket costs 720 yen per adult and 360 yen for a c