Kyoto- Arashimaya Bamboo Grove

Getting to Arashimaya Bamboo grove took us about an hour plus to find. We walked from the nearest train station to the Bamboo grove. The walk there was extremely breath taking. The view was amazing! There was an entire park of Sakura trees. SO BEAUTIFUL!

We got lost trying to find the Bamboo grove within Arashimaya park. The locals kept giving us different directions so we were like walking back and forth until i saw a group of people running across the train tracks. That's when i realised the tall bamboo trees and was extremely elated to have found it. By the time we got to it the sky was starting to turn dark. We quickly snapped photos before it went completely dark. The photos didn't turn out the way i envisioned it would. Oh wells. It just means i gotta visit Japan again. Hehe. There is a map from the Saga Arashimaya Station to guide you to the bamboo grove.

ARASHIMAYA BAMBOO GROVE

Nearest Train Station: Saga Arashimaya Station

*All shops close at 8PM, best to visit in the morning-day time*

 

 

The waygu beef was cooked well. Medium rare- Just the way i like it! (: All the shops inclusive of restaurant, closes at 8PM. So it's best to visit Arashimaya from morning onwards till late afternoon & no later. There are many shops & restaurants at Arashimaya area. It's like a lovely little village. I would love to visit Arashimaya again. & This time, I'm gonna make sure i arrive earlier. Hahaha.

Kyoto- Fushimi Inari + Kiyomizu Dera

During our 4th day in Japan, Kyoto, we visited several places. Nara Park, Fushimi Inari & lastly, Kiyomizu dera. I realised that many of the shops at these kinda places close by 6PM or 8PM the latest. So it's best to visit these places early in the afternoon/morning. 

Of all the places we visited, Fushimi Inari was by far the easiest place to get to! It is located literally right outside the train station!! Lol. So awesome. No need walk so much or worry about what bus to take etc. It's really very near! Lol. The train ride wasn't even that long either.

Inari sushi.

This bowl of grilled mackerel soba noodles tasted sooo good!! The soup was soaked with the grilled mackerel flavour! Drinking it in the cold felt so comforting. I ate everything & drank every the entire bowl of soup. 

 

You can actually continue walking further up to Mount Inari. It's a 4km hike. We didn't continue the hike up because it started to rain & we did not have an umbrella. The rain, wind & the drop in temperature made us turn back. It was really cold and i was wearing the above only with no jacket. Kyoto was not as cold as Tokyo. Until it started raining, i couldn't take the cold.

Japanese TakooYaki balls are so different from the ones we always eat in SG. Their TakoYaki balls are gooey on the inside. Whereas the ones in SG are fully cooked. My friends and i preferred our TakoYaki balls to be fully cooked. We did not like the gooey centre. It tasted like it was undercooked. 

Sake soft serve- 450Yen.

We were expecting it to taste quite alcoholic but instead, it tasted more milky. Couldn't even taste the Sake. 

As my friends and i had already visited 2 other touristy places- Nara Park & Fushimi Inari, by the time we reached Kiyomizu Dera, it was close to 6PM. & The temple closes at 6PM! We arrived 10mins earlier and the guards were already starting to cordon off the area. We quickly went inside the temple to snap a few photos. 

I made a mistake of thinking the temple had some illuminating light show from 6pm-9pm. I found it on some website. Unfortunately the guard told me that we were a day late & the show ended 1 day before. Pfft. Bad timing. At least we got to catch a glimpse of the temple. Quite honestly i felt there was nothing much to see. It's just a temple. But great for photo taking as they have several stalls where you can rent the Japanese traditional costume which i saw many women & several men wearing. 

The picture above shows how to get to Kiyomizu Dera.

After our quick 10min browse through Kiyomizu Dera, we proceeded to look for a place to eat. Thats when we realised that all the shops close when the temple is closed too. Which is 6PM! We managed to find a restaurant that was still opened & were selling sushi/sashimi. I was craving for more Sushi & Sashimi. Haha. Must eat lots of it since we are in the land of Sushi! (:

Anyway, the food wasn't cheap. The prices were crazy high. But we didn't mind since we assumed the quality would make every penny worth it. Kh & I both ordered Salmon Sashimi & salmon sushi. When i put one into my mouth, there was something crunchy & i spat it out. It was bones. Kh also had bones in his sashimi. We looked at each other appalled by the fact that we were dining in a Sushi restaurant by a Japanese chef & yet the sushi + sashimi served were so sub standard. Kinda like Sakae Sushi which is very disappointing.