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Tea and Temples at Maokong
The weather forecast looked good again today so we headed to Maokong, a mountainous area just at the edge of Taipei, after breakfast at the Grand Hyatt. We ended up checking out a few temples, enjoyed the scenery, and bought some local tea as Maokong is a historic tea producing area.
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Sandiaoling and Shifen
After waking up at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, we had a nice buffet breakfast downstairs. We decided to head out to Sandiaoling for a waterfall hike based on today’s favorable weather forecast. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon at Shifen where there is a much larger waterfall as well as an extremely busy old street area. We ended our day back in Taipei at Taipei 101.
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Christmas in Taipei
We arrived just after midnight on Christmas at Taoyuan in Taiwan. By the time we made it to the Grand Hyatt Taipei and checked in, it was almost 1:30am. After getting some sleep, we headed out in the morning for a small Taiwanese breakfast before making a quick visit to the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall nearby. After, we went to have lunch with family. In the early evening, we headed out to Banqiao to see Christmasland at New Taipei City Hall.
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ANA First Class from ORD to NRT
We had the opportunity, thanks to United MileagePlus, to upgrade to First Class on ANA flight 11 from ORD to NRT while on our way to TPE. The flight was fantastic, both in terms of the seat and service provided. There were some pre-flight reservation issues that threatened to derail the flight, though luckily we had planned a long enough connection at ORD that it was not an issue.
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Tokyo Imperial Palace East Gardens
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto one last time, we returned to Tokyo via Shinkansen. We had some time before our flight from Haneda so we visited the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, near Tokyo Station. After a nice lunch nearby and some more snacking at the ANA Lounge at Haneda, we end our fantastic 11 night trip to Japan!
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Enko-ji, Shisen-do, and the Shimogamo-jinja
Our last full day in Kyoto! After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, we headed out to visit Enko-ji and Shisen-do nearby. We also made a late lunch reservation for Kani Doraku‘s nearby location. Afterwards, we ended the day with a visit to the Shinto Shimogamo-jinja.
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Bishamon-do and Sanjo to Shijo
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, we headed out in the morning to Bishamon-do, near Yamashina Station at the eastern edge of Kyoto City. After spending some time at this Buddhist temple, we returned to central Kyoto and walked through various shopping areas from Sanjo to Shijo, eating various snacks along the way and having lunch and dinner as well.
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Oh Deer, a Day in Nara
After waking up at the Hyatt Place Kyoto, we took the train down to Nara to spend the day. We saw many of the ancient capital city’s very tame deer and visited Todai-ji and Kasuga Taisha. While there was some fall foliage to be seen, it wasn’t nearly as good as what we’ve seen in Kyoto on this trip.
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Temple Hopping in Arashiyama
After taking the bus from the Hyatt Place Kyoto to Arashiyama, we spent the day in the area visiting various temples, enjoying the fall colors, and of course walking through the famous bamboo forest.
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Kitano Tenmangu and To-ji
We headed out in the morning by bus from the Hyatt Place Kyoto to Kitano Tenmangu, a Shinto shrine in northwestern Kyoto. After spending the morning there, we had lunch and visited To-ji, a Buddhist temple near Kyoto Station. We ended the day at Kyoto Station where we did some shopping and had dinner.
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Here and there but not quite everywhere!