Osaka is the gateway to other cities in the Kansai region. Today we are going to Kyoto.
Kyoto is where the imperial family used to live and its beauty saved it from being attacked by the nuclear bomb.
The light up of the mountain areas. Ya I know the photo sucks haha.
The day started not too well. When we reached the train station to take to Kyoto, we saw people crowding at the platform, heard announcements being made and realised that train services were disrupted because someone has jumped on the tracks.
By the time we figured out how to take an alternative route (which is longer), we could only reached Kyoto at slightly past 11am.
We made adjustments to our plans to squeeze in as many places as we still could. After figuring out our bearings, we took the bus to our first stop: Kiyomizudera清水寺.
This was a place that my friend wanted to visit and it is also a Unesco Heritage Site.
The entrance to the temple
Walking into the temple grounds
This love rock will bring you love luck if you can touch it after walking blindfolded to it from another love rock. Apparently this is a big reason why many people come here.
Can imagine the scenary around the temple will be very nice in autumn. Quite disappointing to see the bare plants on winter.
Snacks bought at the shopping street in front of the temple as we were walking to it. The snack shops and nick nack shops were very interesting. We bought a little stuffed rabbit made with Kyoto printed cloth.
We then moved on to the Gion area which would be more probably more exciting in the evening. It just looked like a modern stretch of shops to me.
Lunch was settled at Izuju sushi which is famous for making traditional pressed rectangular sushi and sabazushi. These sushi were the traditional kind that the Japanese used to eat before refrigeration was invented and sushi became what we eat today.
Sushi platter to share
A winter special that we ordered to try. Not mind blowing but deliciously comforting.
After lunch, we walked through the streets to look for the local Nishiki market.
We spend quite some time looking for it. We were in the vicinity but just couldn't find the entrance to the market.
We asked locals for help but they were either as lost as us or they brushed us off because they couldn't understand us. So one tip: Kansai people are really more unfriendly and have a lower understanding of English. So do your homework well to minimize having to ask for directions.
We finally found the entrance because we came to the street where the market was and I suggested going down the street counting the number of shops according to what we saw on the directory.
It was underwhelming when we finally found the market. It was crowded with aunties buying food stuffs for their cooking and we didn't really see anything interesting. But Dear's colleague's wife who visited the market after seeing my itinerary loved the place, so I guess to each his own.
Bought tamagoyaki from a reputed shop but we thought the taste was so so.
Also tried soy donuts. Not oily at all- makes fried food taste even better!
After leaving the market, we made our way to the Fushima Inari shrine.
When you wan to be fast, you end up slow. We took the wrong train (Dear will rem why) and had to rush to reach the shrine before light starts to fall.
The sky got dark in 10 mins after we reached the shrine.
Managed to take some photos before light falls.
The sky was dark by the time we walked to the tori gates. Wasted. At least I managed to get one nice photo of these famed gates.
Last stop of the day was the Arashiyama area where there is a light-up of the mountain areas in winter.
The open concept train station to board the train to Arashiyama.
There was a carnival feeling on the streets. We bought fried chicken to line our stomachs before dinner.
Pooh gets invited to dinner too.
Dinner was at Unagi Horakawa, a one Michelin star restaurant specializing in eel.
The eel was smokey, succulent and nicely flavored. Best part is that such a don was reasonably priced at $20++. Michelin experience in Japan unlocked!
On the way back to the train station to Osaka. The Kyoto tower in the background.
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