I Stopped At...

10/08/2009 We headed towards Okayama from Hyogo buying the 18 seijun ticket. We headed straight to Okayama but then again we did not stop at the Okayama station. We took the Marine Liner train towards Takamatsu- a city in Shikoku. Traveling across the islands means traveling over the sea. A long bridge connects all the islets over the sea. The highway run overhead,I mean over the railway tracks.The best view is from the highway they say. Hundreds of little islets can be seen in the sea among the mist of the summer. The sea stays calm and majestic below us showing the pride it holds towards it s own beauty. It was so beautiful. I heard that the best scenic period is the winter when the air is clearer. To reach there we took the Marine liner rapid train which runs every 40 minutes across the main island and the shikoku. If you are going to Takamatsu to just to see the bridge over the river you also may have plans to get back to the main island in the first available train. Take th...

09/08/2009 We left early the hotel to the Kyoto station to buy a free pass to travel inside the Kyoto town. There were several types of tickets.One was a tour bus ticket where the routes were already decided. It was not a free plan trip so we decided to give it up. Next we thought of buying the one day pass of 1000yen which is said to be have discount entrance fee coupons attached. But then again we were not going through the Arashiyama area so that this ticket was also not comparatively cheap. we finally decide on the free bus ride ticket of 500 yen. We also got a city bus route map making traveling in Kyoto very simple. We started with 東寺(Toji). It is a 5 floored pagoda which can also be seen from the shinkansen which means the bullet train in Japanese. The entrance fee was 60yen and we decided to not to enter the premises. So we just took the photographs of the pagoda from the outside the sacred area and took the bus towards Ryoanji. 2.1 Toji Temple 龍安寺　(Ryoanji) is an...

08/08/2009 We reached Osaka at 10 in the morning by the bullet train after starting from shin-Yokohama at 7.30 in the morning. First we put our bags in a Umeda station coin locker and set out to enjoy Osaka. We bought the one day pass 2000yen subway ticket to travel all around Osaka in the subway, with free pass coupons attached. First we went to The Universal city and enjoyed the summer sun there. we did not enter the Universal studios premises but took photos of the entrance and all. Then we went to the American mura - American village - a shopping area which is more like harajuku in Tokyo. We had our meal at a McDonald (a poor lunch) in the american mura. 1.1 Universal Studios Osaka Then we set out again towards the 道頓堀 dotonbori canal. We were planning to enjoy the river cruise, which was really more like a canal cruise. This cruise cruises down the dotonbori canal passing so many bridges and famous landmarks of Osaka. The famous land mark of the Glico man and th...