Saturday, November 3, 2012

Japan (Sep 2012) Day 3: Day trip to Okayama and Himeji (Part 2)


After getting fully sunburnt at Okayama (the hottest day of this trip) and delicious lunch at Okayama station, I decided to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Himeji.  Yes, I know that Himeji castle is still undergoing restorations, but since it's along the way between Okayama and Osaka, so I decided to make a short stop here.

I totally forgot about the Loop bus which I could have taken from Himeji station to Himeji castle. Instead, I walked to Himeji castle. Took me 15mins to walk from station to castle exterior gate, and then another 10mins to get to the admissions ticketing counter, and then another 15mins to get to the castle itself.  Yeah, it's a pretty long walk since the castle grounds are very large. Much larger than Okayama castle I went earlier that day. 

Go back to Trip 5 (Sep 2012) Day 3 Okayama (Part 1) / 
Go forward to Trip 5 (Sep 2012) Day 4 Wakayama (Part 1)






Saw this cute advertising poster while walking



 There are many sculptures along the pavement between Himeji train station and Himeji Castle.

Only remembered about the Loop bus after seeing this.

Finally arrived at the exterior gates of Himeji castle. Note that Himeji castle is being covered up.
I was informed that the restoration might be on-going until some time in 2015.



1 of the many gates

Admissions, 400yen for adult









 The "Egret's Eye View" at Himeji castle is where you can take an elevator up to the top of Himeji Castle to view the on-going restoration progress.  You can see a nice view of Himeji city from that level as well.
This would cost an additional 200yen per adult (on-top of the 400yen admissions rate to get to castle grounds.)











After sweating it out at Himeji castle, I decided to head back to Osaka. Was so darn tired when I reached my hotel around 4pm and I kinda dozed off and took a 2hr nap till dinner time. Yeah, it's kinda a waste of precious time during vacation time, but since I'm travelling alone on this trip, so I just did whatever I liked.

At around 6pm after my nap, I headed over to Shinsekai area just a 5mins walk from my hotel to look for dinner. Although the area is kinda dodgy (since I come across a few shops along the way that sells porn) but I didn't feel unsafe.


  




 The restaurants at Shinsekai specializes in fried skewered food items.  The method of eating it is to dip it into the sauce in the metal tin on the tables. Since it's shared, so you can only dip once per skewer.

I requested for an English menu


After dinner, I headed back to hotel. Bought a box of custard cream puffs from the convenience store along the way. Large portion but yummy!



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