Japan Day 10 - Kyoto

 27/03/2023

Kyoto - Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and Kiyomizudera Temple

Setting off from Osaka Station to Kyoto for a day trip.

Absolutely beautiful aircon weather with warm sunshine.

We had quick breakfast in the train station.

We were supposed to walk straight to the bamboo forest but we took the wrong turn and were lost in the mist of shrines.

We kept eating.

Too cute to resist.

995yen and it's actually delicious.

Tenryu-ji

Katsura River

From the river we finally found the bamboo forest, we were not impressed at all.  It's nice but not that wow wow kind.  The crowd was a major put off.

At this point we were deciding to walk back to the river, cross it to get to the monkey park or go to Kiyomizudera Temple.  My body batt was kinda flat and decided that covering the Temple should be the priority.

Walking towards Arashiyama Station.

Pedestrian walkway were narrow, some had to walk on the road to get by.  I was being shoved onto the road by another tourist screaming rudely "EXCUSE ME EXCUSE ME".  I hope he made it in time to reincarnate.

Arashiyama Station, who had know this was a train station without the sign board.

The Kimono Forest was beside or rather in the station.  We didn't include this in our itinerary, so it was a bonus.

Quickly took a few pics before moving on.

Small cute station.

Upon checking with the information counter, we took this pink tram (电车) to Kiyomizudera Temple. Our first tram ride!!! I was so HAPPY! It was 200 or 300 or 350yen, couldn't remember.

The tram passed by Yasaka Shrine (八坂神社)

Tram not affected by minor traffic jam.

Weeeeeeee..... so the distance between the bamboo forest and temple is actually very near.

We alighted and found a ramen place in a small lane.  Since we didn't had proper lunch, early dinner was great.

Cash machine again, I was running out of cash...

Only counter seats were available with a open kitchen.

This was very very unforgettable, thick broth with yuzu flavour, crab legs, seared scallop and thin pink char siew lined the bowl, waaaa.......  I never tried Ichiran but I am sure this looked way way way better.

1900yen

Darren's without seafood, 850yen.

Luis had rice, 850yen.

Shiokness overloaded...

Kiyomizu-zara Street 清水板

I hate the crowd X100, we basically walked through the street, whatever view, whatever heritage building all blocked by people.

Found a corner to take a selfie.

Stalls at the side lane with lesser ppl.

Was so tempted to buy one foxy mask...

I took a pic so that we wouldn't be lost, but at the end we didn't refer to the map at all.

A few bright red shrines.

A few moments later the sky turned PINK!  It was so freaking beautiful, I thank god for it.

Japan don't deserve uncivilised barbarian tourists, but they were all here polluting this beautiful place.

Sunset overlooking Kyoto city, sakura season elevated the whole scenery.

Bought tix to enter the main temple.

Forced him to take a pic, quite nice right?

The night lights were on, cherry blossoms turned into gold lolxx...

By the time we reached the top, the sky turned dark, suddenly.  So I wasn't able to see the wood structures at all.  Will have to arrange for another trip back here in 2025.

I need to see the original look of the temple in day light, meanwhile it was magical with night lights.

There was a massive crowd at the left side cos this was the photo spot.  Ridiculous inconsiderate ppl hoarded space for more than 15mins even after taking photos.  You can really find the whole world of horrible tourists here, I felt so sorry for Kyoto...

I tried taking photo away from the crowd, but the trees blocked half of the temple.

I waited for more than 15mins, ppl hoarded like leeches on the spot (I hope these selfish ppl eventually lost all their photos), so I had to resort to squeeze in (sorry).  Gotten the below photos in less than a min and left ASAP, felt disgusting to be part of the crowd.

The wood pillars looked amazing.

Moving down hill.

I took numerous shots over this stretch, many photos didn't turn out, iphone camera was very "confused" with the night lights lolxx...

I like mirror effect photos very very much.

Back to Kiyomizu-zara Street. It was only 7.30pm, with more than half of the shops were closed, the crowd subsided a lot.

Pyramid Sumikko puffs.

Bought some for supper, heehee...

Tasted..... normal.

My niece love these, but.... everything was so expensive.

Couldn't afford never mind, took photos.

After this, we travelled back to Osaka.

We only had one day in Kyoto, maybe next trip should put in a few more days.  Day 11, we travelled to Kanazawa.  Anyone been to this place?  Will churn out the post soon, thank you for dropping by.