Oops, Trip Review

Oops, I totally forgot about this. Three hours after I posted my previous entry, I realized that I was leaving that night (with an hour and a half to throw my shit into bags, clean my apartment and run to the station in time for the bus). I was so horrified with myself - I don't typically make mistakes like that.

Anyway, onto the more interesting information!

First off, I should mention that I took 3 overnight buses. One to Kyoto, one from Osaka to Hiroshima and then the final one was from Hiroshima back to Tokyo. My worst experience was on the bus to Kyoto - they do design the seats with a Japanese body frame in mind. I was too broad in the hips and shoulders for the first bus ride, but the other two I was fine. I felt like the fat person on the airplane and I'm relatively normal sized for a white person.

Kyoto was amazing. I'm happy I get to go back for a day in March with my father and brother. I definitely recommend spending at least 3 or 4 days there. The city is rich with places to see and I'm sad I didn't get to see them all. I only visited the JR Kyoto Station area, Kiyomizudera, Fushimi Inari, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji and Gion (in that order).

I recommend K's House Kyoto! They were fantastic. I had a four person female dormitory. The beds were standard futon mattresses over wooden slats, but the super fluffy and soft comforter made up for it. The bunks were fairly easy to use, although I had a little difficulty making my bed. They have you make it yourself so you know the sheets are clean. The bathrooms are clean and there is a large common area with a decent kitchen. They even had a bath, although I didn't use it. I would say that aside from shared rooms with bunks that this was seriously hotel quality. I'll definitely stay with K's again!

After Kyoto, I took a train to Nara. Nara was very easy to navigate, even from the JR line. As long as you're in moderately decent shape (like myself), you'll have no problem walking the park. There is even a rest station between Koufuku-ji and Toudai-ji. The rest station has awesome bathrooms and you can check out the free earthquake simulator. The deer are actually quite annoying and no, I did not feed any. But I saw many people get head-butted, have their clothing/bags chewed, etc.

I spent half a day there before heading to Osaka station to wait for my bus. Osaka station isn't really good for the budget tourist, as it's mostly a high-dollar area. I saw ice cream that was $8 for a small. I made several loops around the station and saw a variety of singers and performers, which made up most of my entertainment.

After that, it was on to Hiroshima! First I went to the island of Miyajima and spent the larger part of my day there. For those who don't know, Miyajima is one of the most famous places in Japan and is almost always featured in a travel guide or on a picture vaguely titled "Japan". There is are two ferries that one can take from JR Miyajima station and both are reasonably priced. Miyajima also has deer, but they don't seem as annoying as the ones in Nara. Unfortunately, the cable car was down when I visited and I was too exhausted from the night bus ride to climb to the top, so I'll save that for another trip.

My last day was spent at the Genpaku Dome (nuclear dome), the A-Bomb Museum (entry is 50 yen and no, that's not a typo) and then Hiroshima Castle. The Genpaku Dome takes about 10 minutes, but I spent about 3 hours or so in the A-bomb Museum. It is really information intensive and the second half is a tear-jerker. Most people were sniffling. After that, I spent the rest of the evening meandering along the shopping streets of Hondori.

K's House Hiroshima is also fantastic. It's much smaller and seems to be quieter than K's House Kyoto, but it's still very clean and has the same feel of quality.