Japan Day 5 [Kyoto]

August 16, 2017

Highlights:

Aura Tachibana
Kyoto
Gion Corner
Temple with 3 waterfalls
Udon/Tempura
Saryo Tsujiri Gion Honten
The Prime Pod Kyoto

I wanted to wake up early today to go to the onsen again before breakfast, which I did. I didn’t want to get, but it was time for breakfast, so I got dressed again and headed to breakfast. There, they already had our side dishes beautifully set up and brought out a few more dishes to eat with them. I was seriously blown away by the food, the view, and the whole experience.

I absolutely dreaded leaving!

When we checked out, they were nice enough to ask if we would like a ride to the subway station. We took the offer so we didn’t have to walk back down the hill with our luggage. After some goodbyes, we made our way to the station to take what we thought was the right train to our next city, Kyoto. Little did we know, some of the same trains take longer or doesn’t go the same places if you don’t choose exactly the right time that Google maps tells you. So we actually wasted a lot of time going back and forth between stations until we figured out which one will actually take us to our destination. Already, we were exhausted after such a relaxing day.

After being on edge about the ride, we finally got to Kyoto and found out way to our hostel, but not before I stopped at McDonald’s during our transfer to get a kiwi milkshake. It didn’t really taste like kiwi, more like some kind of light fruit with sugar. Anyway, I felt Kyoto was slightly less advanced than in Tokyo in terms of their ease of navigation for foreigners. However, it’s not about us, so we navigated as best we could. We dropped off our stuff and was starving at this point so we walked nearby where we stumbled at another open air market. After walking around figuring out what to eat, we shared a pork bowl which we chose from the vending machine and ate it outside under a tree because we felt bad eating there when we said we would take it to go. We didn’t know there was going to be no seating outside so we had to ghetto it up!

When we were finally fed and ready to go, we headed to Gion Corner where they are known for Geisha’s. I was upset I didn’t spot one, but I did see a bunch of tourists with kimonos on. I really wanted to see a Geisha show, but there was only one that was showing (because it’s not in season) and the reviews were not great at all. I decided that if we were to make it back in time, we would go. Moving on, we headed to the Temple with Three Waterfalls because it was closing soon. We weaved in and out of the streets until we hit the bottom of a street that lead us to the temple. It was a moderately steep hill, about ¾ of a mile up, with shops and food stands all along the way. I wanted to stop, but we didn’t have enough time so I looked really quick as we passed by. When we reached the top, we could tell we made it because of the huge orange pagoda that everyone was taking pictures in front of. So I did too. We took a quick break because we were tired and headed in. As we followed the path, it was super crowded because there was a ton of people and tour groups their. I didn’t really like it because half of it was under construction too. However, I was determined to find the 3 waterfalls and we saw it on the bottom of the hill and made our way down the stairs. It was slightly disappointing as it wasn’t waterfalls, but 3 streams of water falling into a fountain. We all stood in line and took turns to wash our hands for good luck. We wandered around a bit more and saw a smaller pagoda, but other than that, most of the site was under construction which was unfortunate. After a couple pictures, they were closing so we headed out to the empty streets because the temple was closing. The shops all closed too so we didn’t have anything to look at on the way down.

As we headed back to our hostel, we decided to get dinner along the way and stumbled upon this udon restaurant. We walked in to try because we haven’t had udon on this trip yet. I got the udon with tempura and it was actually pretty filling. The broth was light with a little miso flavor and the udon was perfectly cooked. The shrimp? OMG, the biggest and freshest pieces of tempura shrimp i’ve eaten. Tempura in America can’t even compare to this. It supplemented my noodles and broth nicely and I was actually full and satisfied!

When we left, it was barely after 7pm so we decided to get dessert. I yelped a popular parfait place, Saryo Tsujiri Gion Honten so we navigated our way back to what seemed like the “downtown” and headed up to the second floor where they sent us to the third floor to eat. After much debate, we each go our own dessert. I got the one with the jelly, kiwi, banana, mochi and green tea whipped green. Overall, it was pretty good but I would suggest sharing, especially after dinner. The flavors were light and subtle, but I liked how there were layers of different textures. After a while, it got to be too much, but of course I finished it! Great dessert, but pretty pricey at $12 a cup.

Full and ready for bed, we finally arrived at our hotel, the Prime Pod Kyoto, which was another capsule hotel. It was similar to the one in Tokyo except the common area is on another floor and shared with both genders. I got ready for bed and as always, knocked out.