Buses are the main transportation
around Tokyo. You
need to learn how to ride a Japanese bus. Riding
the Japanese bus is quite intimidating at first. You are in a foreign land,
with foreign characters. An English translation is not guaranteed. So it’d be best if you come ready.
Buy
the Kyoto Bus Pass. It is a pretty good deal for JPY 500 – you can ride the bus
all you want for a day. You’ll just have to add a bit if you want to go outside
the zones (no biggie). I bought mine from Gojo Guesthouse. You get the pass stamped in the bus with the date, and just have to show this to the driver when you get off the bus
Each
bus stop has a schedule that is precise. The bus closes its doors before the
time so be at the bus stop before that. They have different schedules for
weekends. Take pics of the schedules for your reference.
The
city center has a lot of buses. They have a map where you can find the bus
locations. You may need to cross streets... properly (follow the traffic
lights).
In the bus stops, FALL
IN LINE. Please. Proper manners are applied here.
Kyoto
is a bike friendly city. The bikers won't attack you, but have some presence of mind to watch out for the bikers. You'll hear the bell when there's a biker approaching.
 |
Some bikes parked in the street. |
Hiragana
reading pays off – insert Hiragana station pic directory in Kyoto
Pasalubong
Buying (What to buy in Japan as souvenir)
When
I started travelling, I was sweet enough to buy some food goodies for everyone
in our department (around 25-30 pax). After two or three trips, my wallet felt
the burden of massive pasalubong buying. I just bought goodies for my group (5
pax) to manage the budget. I don’t buy anything pricey, I usually buy local
delicacies and some unique stuff I find in the groceries; Like the equivalent
of dried mangoes and Choc-Nut here.
Applying
my pasalubong-buying approach in Japan is a strain on the wallet.
I
didn’t immediately find the popular Green Tea Kit-Kat in the groceries, I
didn’t see any in 7-11 either. I found them when I was in Kyoto already – in
Calbee stores.
Luckily,
these bunch were on sale.
 |
Price of a pack of KitKat Green Tea: JPY 285. |
Green chocolate for you.