Travel and Leisure
We did it - our first (together) trip to the Orient. Probably more for posterity than anything, here's a brief outline of our trip and the activities we packed into a 16-night trip.
While we flew in and out of Osaka (purely based on price of the air), we immediately grabbed a train to Kyoto for 6 nights. For anyone else looking to do this, there's a discounted rate for foreigners to take the one-way
JR Haruka Limited Express train, but you must buy the ticket from home. We had a minor credit card issue, so we were unable to purchase before hopping on board our flight.
Note to self: some credit cards still require advance notification of overseas travel authorisation to allow for purchases.
Day 1 and 2: orientation
With a late afternoon arrival, and bumbling around at the KIX train station, we arrived in Kyoto around dinner time, so dropped our bags at our Airbnb and ran out to grab a bite and basic groceries for breakfast. So our Day 1 was pretty uneventful, except trying to figure out where to eat (more on that later). For Day 2, we had little on the agenda, as we prefer to do now, using the first full day as kind of a decompression stop after the long haul flight. We had a brief neighbourhood intro walk with the owner of our Airbnb, who showed us a few of his favourite restaurants in the area, then we strolled the length of Nishiki Market. Note: It's hot here.
In the afternoon, we visited the nearby
Nijō Castle and grounds, a UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The 3,300-square-meter Ninomaru Palace consists of six connected separate main buildings, but the characteristic feature of the hallways, was the "nightingale floors"; normally old floorboards creak, but these floors were built in a way that the flooring nails rub against a jacket or clamp, causing chirping noises. I tried to capture the sound with my iPhone, but was unsuccessful.
That evening, instead of just walking around trying to find a place to eat, Christine used Google Maps to zero in on a place that better suited our palates.
Kyoto Niku Shokudō was a simple eatery, serving rice bowls quickly to a small room of only 16-20 diners. We were lucky to walk right in and grab the last two available seats, as a lineup formed moments after we ordered our meals. Since we're both not big seafood eaters, this place was a win for us, with beef on rice dishes - she had the "gorilla" version.
Day 3: Higashiyama temple touring
With our legs under us, we took the day to go to the eastern side of Kyoto, with many historic temples and shrines. The biggie was
Kiyomizu-dera, a 1250-year old buddhist temple, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is located 1/2 way up the mountain, and this would be the first day that we really started testing our legs.
Getting to/from the temples in this area took us through really interesting, historical streets. Even if you wanted a new store, e.g. this Starbucks, it needs to stay in the traditional style of the neighbourhood. Christine had mapped out our temple touring for the day, and we visited
Kōdai-ji, another Buddhist temple,
Ginkakuji, a Zen temple known as the Silver Pavilion, and then strolled a little bit of the
Philosopher's Path before catching the bus back to our Airbnb.
Day 4: day-trip to Nara
A brief 40-minute train ride from Kyoto takes you to the city of Nara, famous for their wild deer population that roam freely on the streets and specifically in Nara Park. You can buy special crackers to feed the deer, and at only ¥200 per pack, I decided to buy three. However, these deer are smart, and hover around the stand where the lady sells them, and immediately descend upon the unsuspecting tourists! I was getting mobbed by them, and in this pic, two are nibbling at me to get their crackers! We had to hot-foot it out of that area and leave behind the herd there; luckily the deer were not that agressive all day long.
Inside Nara Park, is the
Tōdai-ji Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples. Inside is the massive 15m tall, 500 tonne Great Buddha statue. We wandered the rest of the park, meeting and feeding many more deer along the way, and visiting other smaller shrines along the route. If you stopped and visited every temple and shrine, it would take all day to get around Nara Park, so we did an abbreviated visit instead.
Day 5: Western Kyoto
Tour organiser Christine had mapped out our third day on the west side of the city using the
Japan Guide suggestions, starting with a hike up to the
Arashiyama Monkey Park. Unlike the deer, these monkeys are not to be messed with! There were very explicit warnings: stay 2m away, don't make eye contact, do not point your camera at them. Another sign indicated the monkeys' traits when showing teeth: if you see only their bottom teeth, they are angry - step away from the monkey now.
Our self-guided tour took us across Togetsukyo Bridge into town to… another temple! The almost 700-year old
Tenryū-ji is yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, but growing a bit weary of temples, we only toured the beautiful gardens on site. This particular temple however, is located next to a bamboo forest, so we took the obligatory stroll through the towering rows, along with hundreds of other tourists looking for that IG shot.
After a street-food lunch stop, we took a break from the heat (did I mention that its hot here?), and rented e-bikes to continue touring around. This was a great idea, as some of the next sites were spread relatively far apart, and up some hills. One was even closed, and we pitied the poor folks that had trekked all the way up the historic Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street to the
Otagi Nenbutsuji temple, only to discover they had wasted their energy.
One last remote temple stop at
Daikaku-ji, where it was so empty, we had an entire bamboo forest to ourselves! With all the temple stops we'd had, we opted to stroll around the pond and the grounds instead of going into the complex and museum. A leisurely ride back downhill took us back to
Arashiyama street-car station and a complimentary foot-spa, before we rode the tram back to our Airbnb. Back in our 'hood, we discovered a great little restaurant for dinner,
Meat Bar Dining Ageratam, that served beef as their primary menu item, and were not disappointed!
Day 6: Fushimi Inari-taisha and urban Kyoto
We got an early start on probably THE most popular attraction in Kyoto:
Fushimi Inari-taisha. The shrine sits at the base of Inari mountain, where the trails and stairways that take you up the mountain are lined with arcades of torii gates. There are over 10,000 of these torii, and each has been donated by a family or business; the name is inscribed on the left post, and the year that it was donated on the right.
The hike takes you up to many smaller shrines, which goes up 233 vertical metres and spans 4 kilometres. Even though the Grouse Grind is almost triple that, it was tough sledding getting up to the top; Apple Health calculated that we went up the equivalent of 78 stories that day. Unsurprisingly, the crowd thins out as you get further up, so you can quickly catch these shots of empty stands of torii. Luckily, we were up and down before the crowds and heat of the day kicked in (yes, it's still hot here).
After some relaxi-taxi back at the Airbnb, we went down to the core of Kyoto, surrounding the main station there. First stop was a trip up to the
Nidec Kyoto Tower observation deck for sweeping, 360º views of the city, and to take in sunset. It was better than I was expecting, as we were able to use the telescopes to see the temples and sites we had visited on previous days. Attached to the station, is the massive
JR Kyoto Isetan department store.
We didn't visit to go shopping however, but to take in the views and the light show that takes place each night on the Grand Staircase. Kyoto Station itself is an architectural masterpiece, and there were a number of unique areas to explore that were lit up at night. After that, it was back to our neighbourhood beef restaurant for a great Wagyu hamburger, and to pack up for departure to Tokyo.
That's it for the first leg of our Japanese trip - To get you into the spirit of the Hallowe'en season, I'll leave you with a video of the Grand Staircase at the JR Kyoto Isetan:
Coming soon - Act II: Tokyo
