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 : 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. 🏃