Today was a wonderfully busy day! We covered 4 whole temples in Kyoto in the span of about 6 hours, and I still can’t believe we managed to see them all.  The first temple we visited was Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion, a building constructed by a Shogun as a way to showcase their wealth and influence. … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

05/23/2023 Woke up at 7:30am(??) to eat breakfast in the hotel lounge (@ anteroom kyoto). Simple but yummy! I love smoked salmon toast. We met our lovely tour guide Yuuko-sensei and headed out on our long day of touring at around 9:15am. Since we all visited the same places today, I’ll post just my favorites! … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

Combining 2 days into one since I KO’d the past few days 05/21/2023 Today we were scheduled to meet up with everyone at Shinagawa Prince Hotel. As our group arrived a few days ahead of schedule, we had to travel from our prior accommodation in Oshiage to Shinagawa. We left at around 10:00am. Cam and … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

Today was the big “lets see Kyoto!” Day! The day started early around 730 for breakfast and our tour guide showed up around 8:30 to give us a precursor of Japan. After our little lecture we drove to Kinkaku-Ji temple! You’ve probably seen photos of this temple from the Internet but it is a gold … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

May 23rd: Because of our busy schedule for the next week I woke up at 7 which was much easier when I first got here but unfortunately I’m starting to adjust to the schedule here. Luckily there is a very fancy automatic coffee machine that I will definitely be taking advantage of. We were also … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

Sooo I started my first peridot when I arrived in Tokyo on May 17th. I named her Starry and she grew to be an adult in about 4 days. Here’s a photo of her: About the time we got to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, Starry was ready to have a baby and then came Luna. … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

Temple 2: Kiyomizu-Dera Day 3 was temple day in Kyoto. It started off early in the morning with breakfast at 7am and a bus to catch at 9:30. Stop number one was the Kinkaku-Ji Shrine, which was built by a shogun in 1397 by a shogun, as explained by our wonderful tour guide, Yuko. This … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

Everyone travelling to Kyoto! Today is the day we travelled from Shinagawa to Kyoto via bullet train. Our original plan was to get on a train at 11am after checking out of the hotel around 10am. However, the trains were all full at 11 so we had to switch to a 2pm train. This game … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

5/18 – Shibuya Our first full day in Tokyo, Esther and I explored Shibuya since that’s where our hotel was. We crossed the Shibuya Scramble, saw Hachiko, and wandered the streets. My wallet hurt a bit after going to the Once Piece store, Nintendo Tokyo, Shibuya Parco, and many other stores. 5/19 – Harajuku The … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”

After our adventures to the Aqua Park, I met up with everyone else as we prepared our trip to Kyoto. We went to Shinagawa Station and used our newly-acquired JRPasses to hop onto my first-ever bullet train! The ride was about two-and-a-half to three hours, but it went by fast. As we approached Kyoto, the … Continue reading “5/23 – Kyoto Temple Speedrun: Any %”