Anyeong! Noona totally has nothing to post because she has not had holiday yet for the past month so she decided to just follow her friends' 4 Days 3 Nights trip to Kyoto. Noona's friends, Brown and Cony from Line Town are now taking over the blog to share their travel itinerary in Kyoto. Let's read their story.

 DAY 1 - FLIGHT TO JAPAN

Brown (the brown bear) and Cony (the white bunny) woke up so early to catch their flight to Japan. As there is no direct flight from Singapore to Kyoto, they either have to take a flight to Tokyo or to Osaka. While Brown was working overtime in the office, Cony was busy checking and comparing the price and she immediately booked the two-to-go Mastercard promotion which is offered occasionally by Singapore Airlines (SQ). As they took the earliest flight, both of them needs a little wake-me-up drinks at Terminal 3 Changi Airport, the local tea from Tip Top.

The return ticket from Singapore to Tokyo costs SGD 1,400 for two people. These two little friends of Noona really great at finding deals, even Noona herself would decide to go if the flight to Japan costs less than 800 SGD. Have a safe flight, Brown and Cony!

LANDED AT HANEDA AIRPORT

After 7 hours of flying, Brown and Cony have finally landed at Haneda Airport. As what the other passengers do, both of them went through the immigration and proceeded to the baggage collection area. Brown starts to wonder why nobody stand near to the baggage conveyor. In other countries (including Singapore), people usually stand pretty near to the conveyor but here in Japan, there is a clear line which should not be crossed by passengers before their luggage is in sight. What an orderly manner!

  

If the above is not neat enough, the airport ground staff will make sure to put the luggage in a way that the luggage handle is at the lower end so that passengers will be able to pick the luggage easily. Cony was touched by this simple and yet, nice gesture of the airport ground staff in Haneda (which Noona presumes is considered normal for Japanese standard, but amazing in other countries' standard).  

Brown and Cony quickly got themselves busy after picking up their luggages from the conveyor. First, they have to collect their PuRuRu Pocket Wifi. Brown has booked the pocket wifi rental beforehand (400JPY per day for 10GB) and now he just needed to collect it as Cony made her way to the toilet. He joined the queue at JAL ABC counter to collect the pocket wifi but the queue was so long. To make matters worse, he needed to pee really soon. Thankfully, he was able to hold it until he collected the pocket wifi.

While Cony is waiting to collect her and Brown's JR Pass, let Noona explains a bit more about this important JR Pass. JR Pass could only be bought from other countries (yes, you cannot buy it here at Haneda Airport or anywhere else in Japan) because the pass is meant only for tourists. Cony has bought JR Pass earlier in Singapore at JTB office in Takashimaya. The price for the JR Pass is as follows:

Type Green Ordinary Duration Adult Child Adult Child 7-day ¥ 38,880 ¥ 19,440 ¥ 29,110 ¥ 14,550 14-day ¥ 62,950 ¥ 31,470 ¥ 46,390 ¥ 23,190 21-day ¥ 81,870 ¥ 40,930 ¥ 59,350 ¥ 29,670 Note:

Please note that the back part of the JR Pass is the most important part of this pass and should never ever be detached because it will make the pass void. What's so awesome about JR Pass by the way? JR Pass allows its possessor to board any train (with exception of the most expensive Shinkansen ticket i.e. Nozomi) operated by Japan Railways Group with no additional cost. This is exceptionally economical if you need to board Shinkansen a lot of times to travel between cities in Japan. Transportation costs pretty high in Japan and buying yourself JR Pass will help you save some dollars.

 After 40 minutes of train ride, Brown and Cony have finally reached Shinagawa Station. They only had one hour to look around and visit the washroom before boarding another train to their destination, Kyoto. Shinagawa is such a busy station and it has a food hall where a lot of commuters can buy food for dinner/ train bento to be eaten in the train or at home. 

You will be able to see in which cabin your seats are located from the ticket. Brown and Cony's seats are in cabin 15 so they waited at the line with the number "15" written on the floor. Here comes the bullet train!
Cony was so excited to board the bullet train, she quickly ran out inside to find her seat. Hopefully Brown is strong enough to carry their luggage. XD
The train ride from Shinagawa Station to Kyoto Station takes around 3 hours. After an hour passing by, Brown and Cony started to get hungry and it is time to take out whatever thing they bought at Shinagawa Station. Turns out our furry friends bought Japanese train bento. Like what the TV often shows, Japanese train bento is packaged in a super lovely way, you could not help but not to take picture of the bento before opening it. 

Not many people spotted at the lobby as Brown and Cony arrived around 9.30PM at night. While waiting for the room key, they spotted breakfast option from Ibis Styles Kyoto Station: the breakfast buffet or the breakfast box. None of the option enticed our Brown and Cony as they'd rather eat somewhere else for breakfast the next day.

Brown finally had his turn after Cony was done with her beauty regime. It seems that bath tub is a must for all Japanese hotel. The bath tub in Japan is deeper than in other countries, but Brown just wanted to get some sleep so he used the shower instead. Being a hygienic bear, he did not forget to brush his teeth too.