While Kyoto and Osaka aren't exactly representative of the southern-most part of Japan (that title would belong to Okinawa), but they are quite far south relative to Iwaki. Earlier this month, April and I took a night-bus there that had retractable seats that were basically beds. We had originally been fearing this 10 hour bus ride, but it wasn't all that bad and I was actually able to get some sleep.
Bedtime!
Day 1
When morning came, we stepped off the bus into the humid Kyoto air and it was go-time. We had to take a train to get to the station nearest to our first hostel. It was an itty bitty station by Japan's standards.
JR Uzumasa Station
Our first hostel was very quaint, and had a bathroom outside of the actual house. The bathroom was covered though, so you didn't have to worry about mosquitoes literally biting your ass.
I recommend Bola Bola for your stay in Kyoto
Outside bathroom!
So Bola Bola offered daily bicycle rentals for only 500 yen. April and I gladly took up this offer and biked to our various locations on Day 1.
The first stop was Kinkaku-ji
Yes, that is a Cup Noodles vending machine
Ryoan-ji was a mere 2.1 km bicycle ride away from Kinkaku-ji. We visited its famous rock garden and apparently found inner peace... Well, it was pretty beautiful anyway haha.
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| Inner...Peace... |
There were these workers on bamboo ladders doing some tending to the various plants around Ryoan-ji. It looked pretty cool.
Just a train passing by...
This ramen shop was recommended to us by the owner of Bola Bola and the broth was very different from any other ramen I've had in Japan. It was really thick, and I thought it was soy-milk based, but April said it might be "Chinese-style ramen." Sorry that I can't confirm! The gyoza was pretty awesome too.
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| Cool guy fishing on the way to Monkey Park |
After lunch, we decided head to Monkey Park, where you could apparently interact with these monkeys in a semi-natural habitat. When we got there, we found out that it required to trek up this mountain to get to the actual site. This was fine and all, but April and I were quickly caught up in a thunderstorm during this trek. And the crazy thing, as we continued climbing the mountain, it seemed like the thunderstorm was getting closer and closer... until it was right on top of us. It was at this point that we decided to climb down. And it was a pretty scary hike down with the lightning and thunder looming above, and raindrops pounding down on our rental umbrellas. Actually, the umbrellas were pretty much useless because we still got soaked from the splash-back up from the ground. It was a harrowing experience, so we decided to regroup back at the hostel.
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| View of the bridge we eventually crossed to get to Monkey Park (which was up that mountain) |
After cleaning up a bit, we decided to spend the evening in Osaka, which is about an hour away by train from Kyoto. While we only spent a couple of hours there, we were able to try okonomi-yaki, we saw a river matsuri (festival), we hit up the Osaka Pokemon Center, and we saw that famous sign of that running guy.
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| okonomiyaki is basically like a seafood omelette stir-fry, and it was delicious |
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| I liked the Tokyo Pokemon Center more because they had a giant pikachu sign. Osaka Pokemon Center didn't even have "Osaka" printed next to the Pokemon Center sign! It was nice to hear the game boy Pokemon Center music again though =D |
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| A random river festival that we happened upon. It was pretty awesome and there were people cos-playing as well. |
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| That running guy sign |
With a new day came a renewed vigor to see the things we couldn't see due to dat dere thunderstorm. But it seemed as if we were still fighting spots of hard rain here and there. First off, we decided to go to a little area called Arashiyama.
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| Right next to Arashiyama Station were these cool column things |
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| Soy milk ice cream = safe for lactose intolerant people like myself |
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| A famous Kyoto lunch set. All I know is that the noodles are ramen, and that the bowl in the top right is some sort of tofu. |
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| You could ride around Arashiyama in one of these |
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| A bamboo forest |
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| Tenryu-ji had many nice views and walkways to venture through |
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| Tenryu-ji's walkways were beautiful. |
After venturing through Arashiyama in the morning, we decided to head to our second hostel and visit some areas in downtown Kyoto namely, Gion. And we happened upon another festival! It was Gion matsuri and takes place all throughout July every year. There were a lot of people, and stands upon stands full of good food.
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| Takoyaki |
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| A different kind of okonomiyaki |
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| Straight up steak on a stick |
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| chocolate banana + shave ice |
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| Gion matsuri takes place all through the Gion distract, but all the food stands were next to Yasaka Shrine. |
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| The crowd. |
Day 3
Our last day in Kyoto was short because we also had to make it back to Iwaki at a reasonable hour. Despite that, we were able to visit two more significant sightseeing spots: Fushimi inari-taisha and Kiyomizu-dera.
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| If you're not familiar with Fushimi inari-taisha, just know that its famous for the +1000 torii that lead up to the inner shrine. Which path should we take? Turns out they both led to the same place -_- |
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| April appreciating the sunlight |
Because of time constraints, we were unable to make it to the top or the innermost shrine where we could get a good view of Kyoto. But I was definitely happy with just seeing all dem torii. Our voyage to our next destination involved an uphill walk, but I think it was well worth it. Kiyomizu-dera was breathtaking and had many shops lining the hills leading up to it.
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| Front of Kiyomizu-dera |
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| Can you see the shrine in the distance? Apparently, this view is even more spectacular in the fall, when the leaves are different shades of orange, red, yellow, and brown. |
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| View of Kyoto from inside Kiyomizu-dera |
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| One of the restaurants inside Kiyomizu-dera. They all shared this characteristic open front space and bamboo seats. |
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| The streets leading up to Kiyomizudera were full of shops... and people. |
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| We were able to try some more Kyoto cuisine. I forget what it's called but I remember that it tasted like a cream puff from Beard Papa's, but with ice cream instead of just custard. |
After eating some cold soba and waiting out more rain and wind, we made our way back to Iwaki via Shinkansen and local trains. Shinkansen took 3 hours to get to Tokyo, and local trains took another 3 hours to get back to Iwaki station. We would normally take a bus back from Tokyo, but they were all booked up until 10:30 pm and we had work the next day!
Kyoto and Osaka are a MUST-SEE if you want to come to Japan. I think I enjoy being in Kyoto more than Tokyo simply because there are more things to see and do. I definitely want to go back and explore especially more of Osaka and hit up Nara as well. I hope I get to see it in the fall, but that is apparently peak season (everyone wants to see all the sights with the changing leaves in the background). Until next time.
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