Japan : Kyoto > Uji > Fushimi Inari > Gion > Fresco (Day 3)

25 May 2018

We began our day with Japanese-style breakfast: onigiri 🍙and green tea🍵. I always thought the onigiri in Japan would have overflowing fillings. So I was disappointed to find that the filling was consistently little but they tend to use fresh salmon instead of canned salmon.

We took a train to Kawaramachi Station to purchase our Kansai One Pass (3000Y) at Hankyu Tourist Information Center, Kyoto. Basically, Kansai One Pass is like our Touch N' Go where you can reload money and use it on most trains and buses within the Kansai region. You can also check out this website for some of the benefits of having Kansai One Pass.

After that, we crossed a bridge and went to Keihan Tourist Information Center at Gion-Shijo Station to buy our Kyoto Sight-Seeing Pass (600Y). The 1 day pass allows you to explore around Kyoto using Keihan Railway. I found this website that is offering 500Y for the one day pass now.

From Gion-shijo Station, we took the train down to Uji Station. Our original plan was to go to Fushimi Inari first but we accidentally took the express train which skipped the station. Hence, the change of plan.

Tips: 
Express train only stops at major station. Refer to the train station map, the express train only stops at stations indicated in bigger dots. So do be alert and don't miss your station! 

We were going around rather randomly in Uji. There were quite a number of temples there. 

When you are in Uji, you just have to try their green tea ice-cream. But we were quite disappointed as this shop's green tea ice cream tasted exactly like the one sold at Family Mart in Malaysia. 😅

Walked a bit further down the street and you would see people heading towards Byodoin Temple (600Y). If you want to go into the Phoenix Hall ☝, you will need to pay additional 300Y and there would be a long queue to go in. If you have a 10 yen coin with you, you can compare the Phoenix Hall with the picture imprint behind the 10 yen coin.

After that, we headed towards Byodo-in Omotesando Street, the must-go place if you are in Uji. Here, you would be able to purchase all sorts of green tea products. 

I was attracted by the awesome green tea 🍵aroma from this shop. This cup of green tea was only 50Y!!! 😮😁 I felt like I had found a gem! 💚 

We bought quite a lot of green tea products from this shop, ranging from green tea mochi, green tea curry, green tea biscuits, etc. But if you are not thinking of buying a lot, you can purchase the same product at Kansai airport's tax free shop. The price is the same. The only down side is that you would need to hand carry them. If you are flying by AirAsia, it would be quite troublesome as they limit your hand carry bags to two.

After shopping, we headed towards Kawabun (川文) for lunch. 

We ordered green tea soba. Set meal on the left (1200Y) and ala-carte on the right (850Y). Do not mistaken tsuyu (the dipping sauce) as soup 😁. The right way to eat soba is to pour in scallions into tsuyu, then take a bit of green tea soba and dip into tsuyu before savouring it. 😋

We had to give Uji another chance to redeem itself for its green tea ice-cream. So we had another round at Masuda Chaho (ますだ茶舗).

Matcha ice cream (300Y) and roasted matcha ice-cream (300Y). Compared to the one we had before, these were heavenly. I personally preferred matcha flavour but my husband liked the roasted one more. 

At 1p.m., we decided to head back to Uji Station and move on to Fushimi Inari.

Fushimi Inari was packed with human. 😱

We hiked all the way up in order to capture a nice photo without any crowd. 

There was this foreigner that was talking to himself while attempting to capture a nice photo without any invader in his photo.

Photographer: *mumbling* Go away! Go away! 😠

Me & Husband: *Laughed Out Loud* 😆😆

Photographer: *looked at us and smiled* They look too nice to be in my photo! 😁

Haha.... he was so cute. 😆

I think a McD meal at every new country we visit is a must. We ordered one ebi fillet-o set meal and one gran club house ala carte (1180Y). Honest review: nothing to shout of. It was so-so.

After that, we strolled along Gion Street. We bumped into a geisha while crossing the road. There were quite a number of people that snapped photo of her. I thought I would see a lot more geisha so I didn't have a good look. Turned out that was my only encounter with geisha in Japan.... 😔 

Tried Pablo's original egg tart and it was one of the best we had in Japan.

I saw a lot of ladies holding shopping bag of this brand at Gion Street. Did some google search and got to know that its Yojiya and famous for its oil blotting facial paper. I am regretting now for not buying it. 😔

By the time we reached Shijo-Omiya, we were hungry again 😜 So we went to Matsuya (松屋) for supper. 

It was affordable and yummy! 🤤We ordered regular portion of Gyumeshi with Spicy Sauce [Extra Green Onions and an Egg] (430Y) and Gyumeshi (Beef on rice) (320Y).  

I love how the food was served without any additives but they gave you different types of sauce in case if you want to add a bit more flavour to your dish. 

Our last stop was at Fresco, a mart that was located directly opposite our Airbnb. The strawberries were heavenly and it was only 345Y per pack after 20% discount. 

So that was our third day in Japan. Sorry to those that have been waiting for updates >_< I'll try to update more often. 💓

Japan : Osaka Kansai Airport > Kyoto > Shijo Omiya (Day 1)

23 May 2018

After 6 and a half hour of flight, we arrived in Osaka, Kansai Airport at 4:30p.m. ✌ I was waiting for my luggage and caught a glimpse of my bag at the side of the luggage belt. Apparently an officer was pulling some bags from the belt selectively and put it at the side. So if you cannot find your bags, don't panic 😭, look around and check first. 

I heard so much about Japan and its vending machines prior my trip. Even at the airport itself, there were a lot of drink vending machines. 😮

Unlike most travelers, we decided to head to Kyoto first instead of Osaka. At the airport, we crossed the bridge to the opposite building to get our Kyoto Access Ticket at Nankai Ticket Office. You can also buy your JR Pass beside the Nankai Ticket Office (the one in blue).

Our Airbnb was at Shijo Omiya, Kyoto. We bought the Kyoto Access Ticket from Nankai Kansai-Airport to Omiya Station, which costs 1,230 yen per pax. It is the cheapest option 👍 to go to Kyoto. 

The bottom ticket was from Nankai Kansai Airport to Tengachaya. From Tengachaya, we switched to local sub to Omiya Station with the ticket on top. 

This was where we boarded the train. If you are not sure, do ask the friendly officers around. They are usually very helpful. 

Japanese are very quiet in train. They usually play with their handphones or read books in train. Also, they would put their bags either between their legs or at the overhead compartment. I was quite fascinated with the fact that all trains I took in Japan are cushioned 😍. 

The train journey took approximately two hours. We were thankful that our Airbnb was only 5 minutes walk from Omiya Station. When we reached our Airbnb, it was already 8p.m. 😫 

The place was small but cozy. 

I really loved the fact that we could cook here. The fridge was a tad too small thou. 

This was probably the smallest toilet + bathroom I had ever used. The bath tub beside the sink was extremely small. The shower and sink were sharing taps. 

We went to Seabura no Kami Mibu (セアブラノ神) for our late dinner. It was around 7 minutes walk from our place. 

Seabura Niboshi Soba (Backfat dried small sardines ramen, +Onion, +Egg) - their signature ramen (950Y). You had to order from the vending machine and it was all Japanese. We managed to make our order with the help of the shop assistant. The recommendation was to order the ramen with onion broth and egg.

Tips: 

Take photos of the food that you want to eat when you were doing research and show it to the shop assistant to avoid ordering wrong food.

I wanted to try another rice dish but the shop assistant said its not available😞. So, we randomly selected a rice dish from the photos shown at the vending machine. We were so surprised to find that its actually noodles - Mazesoba (まぜそば) (800Y). It was served in a thick sesame sauce with lard and soy sauce. You basically mixed all the ingredients together like a noodle version of bibimbap. It was savoury 😋and I prefer this over their signature ramen. 

We ordered medium portion for both and was alarmed by the big portion. Their medium was large to us. As I was feeling thankful scooping the last bit of noodles, the shop assistant came....

Shop Assistant  : Gohan (rice) *pointing at the Mazesoba*, service (on the house)! OK?

Me                      : *Smile and nod* OKOK! 😊*turning to husband* I told you those were rice on top! They said it was on the house.

Husband            : I see I see 😮.

When I was feeling proud that I could understand basic Japanese, the shop assistant came....

Shop Assistant  :  *passed me a scoop of rice* Service! *points at the Mazesoba and gestures to pour the rice in to eat with the sauce*

Me                      : *finally realized what she meant* Ahhhhh OKOK! *forced myself to smile* 😆

I tell you.... my stomach was on the verge of bursting from too much food at that point of time but I had to finish it if not it would seem too impolite. I felt very warmed by the hospitality thou. 

That pretty much sums up our first day in Japan! 💕

黑糖姜汁番薯芋圆糖水 (Sweet Potato Balls Ginger dessert)

I love chewy dessert and one of my favorite is Snowflakes' best seller, which consists of super chewy taro balls and sweet potato balls. I have done some research and customize the easiest way to make the hot version of sweet potato balls ginger dessert.

Ingredients:

- 180g Sweet potatoes

- 2 black sugar ginger cubes 

- 2 teaspoon of brown sugar

- 60g tapioca starch

- 30ml water

- Chinese wolfberry

- Red dates

- Ice

10 Steps Guide:

1. Cut the sweet potatoes into cubes.

2. Steam it for 20 - 30 minutes until its soft.

3. After that mash the sweet potatoes with a fork. Add-on two teaspoons of brown sugar while its hot so that it will melt. You may reduce the sugar based on your preference. Then, weigh the sweet potatoes.

4. Mix it with tapioca starch. The proportion should be 3 (sweet potato):1 (tapioca starch). In my case, my sweet potatoes are 180g so I mix it with 60g of tapioca starch. Excellent tip shared by my kawan.

5. Mix it with water bits by bit while you knead the dough. I added on 20ml of water, kneaded the dough and add-on another 10ml of water as I knead. The dough is ready when it does not stick to your hand.

Note: Adding too much water will result in non-chewy sweet potato balls!

6. Then, roll the dough into one long row and cut it into small square size. Round the edges to make it pretty. 

7. Put in the sweet potatoes balls in the boiling water. Once all the sweet potato balls start floating up, they are ready!

8. Drain the sweet potato balls and run it through water. Then put it in cold/ice water. 

7. Wash and slice the red dates, ginger and chinese wolfberry. 

8. Boil a pot of water with two black sugar ginger cubes.

9. Add-on the sliced red dates, ginger and chinese wolfberry.

10. Add-on the sweet potato balls 5-10 minutes before you want to serve. 

Try it out! It's a lot easier than it sounds. :D