Japan Day 2
Day 2, 12 Nov 2016
So our itinerary for day 2 is to visit the bamboo groves at Arashiyama and to get dressed in Kimono. It was indeed an extremely tiring experience to walk around in kimono x.x. But I would say I am glad we did it? It was quite a memorable experience though a tad too touristy? One should always aim to be a traveller not a tourist imo haha.
First thing first, breakfast! :> Had breakfast at Yoshinoya. Was deciding between Macs and Yoshinoya lolol and decided on Yoshinoya because there wasn't anything special at Macs for breakfast.
Beef rice bowl with add-on of egg and green onion
While there is Yoshinoya in Singapore, this tasted much better hahaha. Think everything in Japan just taste better. Well, imo, this is probably because how Japanese just take so much pride in everything they do. (Y)
After our breakfast, we headed to Yumeyakata Kimono Rental which was just a stone throw away.
Spent quite a long time choosing a kimono, wearing the kimono (actually just stood there and get dressed), and doing my hair. Wearing the kimono was quite an awkward process I guess. One just stand there and wait to be served. Hmm this is how all the princesses get dressed in the past I presume? Haha.
I think the entire process took almost two hours (or was it longer) and it was time to begin our journey to Arashiyama. It was quite a long walk to the Togetsukyo Bridge and we had our photos taken by other tourists who thought we were headed to some party -.-
After a long walk, we were greeted by this :)
Look at them ducks at the bridge area
Being a weird tourist and posing with autumn leaf lol.
There were several stalls selling food ranging from skewered meat to ice-cream. And in the end we got dango cause it looks pretty. HAHA we finally see a real dango after looking at pictures/emoji.
Kimono girl eating dango
Well, it wasn't amazing sadly. The green tea taste wasn't strong and it was a little gelat. :(
There was a queue for this coffee x.x Sighhhh why am I forever queuing for food lol.
Rebellious kimono girl drinking coffee instead of tea
This coffee was pretty good (Y). But I like bitter coffee so this may not be what everyone likes. Initially I wanted to try their hot coffee but the weather was pretty warm. 20 degrees (or maybe even higher) and being in a kimono x.x. I was pretty sure I was sweating under the many layers of clothes.
Kimono girl finding her way to bamboo grove
Ever onward Andersonians
Well Andss' logo has bamboo so yup my caption does make sense. It wasn't super amazing the bamboo forest? Like other tourist destinations (Fushimi Inari shrines etc), it was crowded and hence hard to take more pictures haha.
Then we decided to head back to the kimono rental place to change out of our kimono before exploring Nishiki Market :) So glad to change out of our kimono hahaha. Although the kimono looks really pretty, it was hard to walk in them. Climbing stairs in kimono is really a chore because one of the layer of clothing was tied around your legs so you couldn't have big movements. While it is unlikely that I will wear kimono again, I have to say it's a good experience.
Entrance to Nishiki Market and matcha icecream from Sawawa
Octopus with quail egg and tamago which is savoury instead of sweet
We also tried the fishcake with carrot, pumpkin and sweet potato which was pretty yummy. Glad we had added Nishiki Market into our itinerary. It wasn't in our itinerary at first because we didn't have enough time in Kyoto and we wanted to try the burnt ramen instead... But in the end we decided to go with the market and I am glad we did because markets always provide a good insight into the locals' lives. Or maybe I am just happy because of all the fooooood.
Headed back to Kyoto station for dinner while we had takoyaki and a parfait from Tsujiri Tea House.
Super miss the takoyaki from Gindaco at Ion Orchard. Why must all the food shops that I like get closed down in SG :( Gindaco, Happy Lemon... The parfait from Tsujiri wasn't very nice. Maybe it's because I don't like houjicha that much and whipped cream is just not my thing.
Takoyaki from Gindaco ^^
Houjicha icream with jelly and matcha whipped from Tsujiri
Tsujiri was located inside the departmental store and it was closed at 8pm! The entire departmental store also closes pretty early, surprisingly. So after having our parfait, we slowly made our way back to our Airbnb to rest in preparation for the next day- Nara Park and Osaka!
Read about Day 1 here.
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