Japan : Kyoto > Randen Pass > Kimono Forest > Arashiyama Bamboo Grove > Izumiya (Day 2)

24 May 2018

We bought Randen 1 Day Pass (RM19) from Klook. The pass is really cheap and worth it 👍.

We started our journey at 8:30a.m. from Shijo-Omiya Station to Arashiyama Station by Randen tram. There was this guy who fall asleep 😪 on the tram and his handphone literally fall off to the side 😮. I was thinking he probably would not be able to see his handphone anymore if he does that in Malaysia.

The journey took around half an hour. Once we reached Arashiyama Station, we checked out the Kimono Forest right beside the station. I highly recommend you to take photos early in the morning as the crowd would swarm in later. At night, you get to see a different side of the Kimono Forest as the light will lit up and illumine💡 the place .

We followed the crowd and reached Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. If you want to get a nice photo, hike further up. At 9-ish, it was already very crowded so if you can, do depart earlier. 

There's really a lot of walking involved. So in case if you get tired, you can hire a beca (rickshaw) and enjoy being carried away by muscular man 😝.

This temple was filled with students praying for good grades.

After exploring Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, we walked towards the housing area. The vending machine near housing area seemed to be cheaper. I like 100Y vending machine 💓 The orange drink was so-so but the milk tea was good.

We found some elderly playing sports. Seemed like golf, but they played it on sand. 

There was a house selling Special Boiled Egg (100Y), Flesh Egg Rice (350Y)  and Custard Pudding (350Y). I tried the egg and it wasn't special at all. It tasted like normal egg.

To be honest we thought the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove would be huge but we finished walking through the forest in 20 minutes. So we decided to visit Nison-in (京都二尊院, 500Y). If you bought the Randen 1 Day Pass, there would be coupons provided. You can receive a small gift (prayers written on paper, stamped by the temple) by presenting the coupons. Since it was summer, everywhere was greenish. There were only some leaves turning red. It would be best if you visit during Autumn or Spring when the trees are colourful.

After all the walking, we had our lunch at Arashiyama Udon Ozuru (嵐山うどん おづる). Do note that you have to order one dish per pax.

As expected, the portion was huge. Good thing we ordered one Udon Noodles with Prawn and Vegetable tempura set (1980Y) 😋 and Udon noodles with duck and scallion ala-carte (990Y). The tempura was awesome! I love how its fried but not oily and the udon was chewy. The duck was so-so.

Recharged, we walked along Katsura River. Definitely bring a cap if you go during summer. I felt like I was melting. 

There was a long queue at Arabica Kyoto Arashiyama so we decided to try the % coffee. We ordered Colombia San Agustin 200g (1200Y). My husband said it was nice but slightly overpriced.

After that, we decided to cross over to the opposite and explore. It was a lot cooler and less crowded. We saw this 👆 and was very gung-ho to see the Great View 😍. So we walked for nearly half an hour only to find that the trail leads to a temple, which you would need to pay for a fee to go in 😞. We opted to turn back as we were already exhausted. 

It says, "When you'd like to take a ferryboat, please wave the white flag towards other side." 😆

We headed back to the Arashiyama Station. Right beside the Kimono Forest, there was a hot spring foot bath for you to soak your tired feet. 

You have to purchase the ticket at the Information Counter nearby. 

It's 200Y per pax and you would be given a small towel which can be brought home. Remember to wash your feet first before you soak your feet.

We were feeling adventurous and decided to take the tram and explore the blue line (since its a one day pass 😆). 

By chance, I caught a glimpse on Izumiya shopping mall at the last stop (Kitanohakubaicho Station). We spontaneously hopped off and check it out 😁

Food attracts me more than clothes 😜 We bought one of these wagyu beef back to our Airbnb to cook. Super awesome I tell you! 👍😍😋

Tips: Most supermarkets in Japan will start putting discount stickers slightly after dinner time. Can't remember the exact timing, probably around 6 or 7-ish. You will see a lot of people grabbing the discounted items.  🍣🍙🐄🐙

We were really happy with our purchase. The food is fresh and cheaper than Family Mart or other supermarkets. Total cost: 2,835Y. 💰


Steps count of the day: 23,832 steps. 🏃

Pre-Japan 101

Japan has always been a country I yearn to go. So I was really excited when our honeymoon destination was set to Japan. It was definitely the first time I took part in extensive planning and researching for a trip. If you are planning a trip to Japan, do read on for tips prior to your trip!

Photo credit

1. Determine which season you would like to experience.
   Dec-Feb: Winter ☃
   Mar-May: Spring 🌸
   Jun-Aug: Summer ☀
   Sept-Nov: Autumn 🍁
   
   Spring is definitely the most peak period as people swarmed to Japan to view the beautiful cherry blossom 🌸. Do you know that cherry blossom season may differ depending on the location? The best time to view cherry blossom in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto would be around end of March to early April. You can check JNTO for more specific information.
   
   We managed to book cheap air tickets from AirAsia and our travel period was end of May to early June. We missed the cherry blossom season but that also means that we avoided the crowd, which I thought was a good choice for our first trip 👍.
2. How many places do you intend to cover? 
   We booked our air tickets to and fro Osaka. We only found out later that people usually fly in to Tokyo and depart from Osaka. It would be costly for you to travel Osaka-Tokyo-Osaka as train tickets are not cheap in Japan 😓... As we want to have a leisure trip, we decided to focus our 12 days in Kansai region. We made the right choice 👍as Kansai is so huge that we couldn't finish exploring the region! For our trip, we explored Kyoto, Osaka, Uji, Nara, and Kobe.
3. It would be good for you to check out the estimated weather of Japan ⛈during your trip. If you are planning to go to Disneyland or Universal Studio Japan, I would strongly advise you to pick a date that is sunny⛅. I will explain why in my next post.
   
   If you are expecting a lot of rainy days☔, it would be good to purchase a raincoat. Else, you can also buy it in Japan. Do note that most Japanese would use only transparent or white rain coat. So if you buy a blue, pink or orange raincoat, you will look like the odd one out. They seem to prefer umbrella over raincoat as well. Most Airbnb would provide umbrella so you really don't need to bring your own.
   
   Interesting fact:
   In Japan, you will be required to put your umbrella at the rack outside of the shop or restaurant. Don't be alarmed if you cannot find your original umbrella when you come out. Japanese has this weird umbrella exchange culture where you could just take whichever umbrella you want at the umbrella rack. So blend in and exchange! Else, bring an umbrella that is extremely colourful and I'm sure nobody would take it.
4. Spend your Fridays stalking on Klook 😆
   You would be able to purchase most passes and tickets from Klook. This saves your time spent on queuing as most passes can be redeemed just by showing your mobile vouchers. We purchased our Osaka Amazing Pass , Randen Pass, Universal Studio Japan ticket and PocketWifi at Klook.
   
   Why Fridays? Because Klook normally has promotion on Fridays. We were one of the lucky ones who managed to purchase a buy one free one USJ ticket 👏 from Klook. Remember to keep an eye to Klook's Facebook as well for their latest promotion.
5. Bring a comfortable pair of shoes. 👟If you are not engaging with any travel agency, it would be best for you to bring along a pair of comfortable walking shoes. Believe it or not, I could easily walk up to 23,000 steps a day in Japan. It dropped to 1,500 steps a day when I'm back in Malaysia. No wonder I don't really see people who are obese in Japan. 😮
6. Book your accommodation early and have some backup plans!
   We booked our accommodation through Airbnb. If you use this link, you will get RM120 travel credit for free! It is best for you to book your accommodation that is near to train station as it not only saves time but also saves energy. We heard so many stories of Airbnb host cancelling the reservation last minute, so its good to have some backup plans. We are thankful that we don't have to experience that.
   
   Tips:
   In Japan, there is a one-time fee charged by host to cover the cost of cleaning their space. So you have to pay for cleaning fee every time you change accommodation. Hence, its best for you to stay at the same place and make a one day trip to other city.

That's about it for now. I will try to cover more soon so stay tuned ! 😉