Kyoto/Osaka 2017 Day 1 & 2 : Kyoto -> Iwashimizu Hachimangu Temple -> Fushimi-Inari -> Gion Street -> Gion Tstshimi Bridge ->

Day 1 :

Seeing this counter and you know I’m ready for another holiday!

As usual, first stop will the Changi Recommend counter to collect my WiFi router. Basically if I’m going to a country that I will not consider getting SIM card from the country, I will rent a WiFi router here because it’s easy to book, collect and return! 

Router and charger nicely pack in a porch as usual. Another reason why I always book the Wifi router from Changi Recommend is because it's only $5 per day so it's actually only $2.50 per person ( if you are traveling in two ) per day and with free two days promotion, I found it quite worth it.

Taking Philippine airline to Osaka because it’s the cheapest we can find at the point of time. And considering the transfer time is the shortest too. 

Two air tickets, one to Cebu and one from Cebu to Osaka and we are ready to go! 

Welfie before we fall asleep! 

Inflight supper.

And ice cream! 

Reached Cebu and it’s morning already. 

Walking over to the transfer area. Seems like many people are using the same way to go Osaka!

Oh ya! If you are using the same way to go Osaka, there is a terminal fee at Cebu that you need to pay before you leave the airport. It was mention before my previous post about Cebu. The terminal fee is 750 peso ( SGD$19.80 ).

For those who didn’t bring peso there, not to worry, there is a money charger there for you to change.

But have to say, the staff here do things quite slowly! Look at the queue to just pay the terminal fee... it’s taking forever! They ended up opening another counter to collect the fee.

Still have about an hour time to kill, so we went Coffee Bean which is just right beside our gate to have some coffee first.

Off we go again!

Breakfast time! 

And yes! Finally we reach Osaka!

Everything here is so computerize! Before we reach the custom, we need to go to these machine to scan our finger print. 

First place to go is to the tourist information center to purchase our Kyoto/Osaka 2 days sight seeing pass. This pass allow us to use the train within Kyoto and Osaka for 2 days!
 

Still gonna take train to Kyoto so we just grab some food at Family Mart.

From the airport, we walk over to the train station which is just opposite the airport.

Getting our railway tickets to Kyoto from this JR ticket office and also the ICOCA card that I have booked online before reaching Osaka. Basically you can purchase the ICOCA card and the railway from straight from this ticket office without booking online but because we wanted the card with Hello Kitty with Osaka Castle on it so we booked online.

Book online at :  https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/icoca-haruka/

The one way railway ticket is 1600 ( SGD19.50 ) and together with the ICOCA card will be 3600 ( SGD$43.90 ). Payment will be made upon collection at the ticket office and they only accept cash.

Gotten all type of card, ticket and pass we needed and off we go again! Today it's all about traveling! Oh ya that's my special requested ICOCA card in the middle!

Lunch on the go and look what I have got! Clear milk tea! To my surprise, it totally really taste like milk tea!

Ticket attendance will check tickets in between so remember not to throw away your tickets.

Sun is setting while on our way to Kyoto!

Here we are! Hello Kyoto!

From Kyoto station, walking to our apartment.

Walk towards Hotel Keihan ( opposite Kyoto station ) and walk straight about 5 mins.

Tada! Our apartment building! Good thing is that our host give really good instruction on how to walk to the apartment so we didn't spend too much time finding.

Here's our apartment! Once we open the main door, 3 different door in front of us. Let me introduce you our apartment in Kyoto.

Check put the host at : https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/9560983

Bedroom and living room.

Kitchen area. Super mini kitchen.

Totally not surprise how tiny the bathroom in Japan can be. Haha!

Toilet is in a separate room, also very tiny!

Very nice of the host to provide a portable Wifi router.

Off we go to hunt for dinner! Walking to Kyoto station to see what they have there.

How can you not shop drug store when you are in Japan right? My way of shopping is I will check out the price first on the first few days, compare the different price in different drug store company and will buy on the last few days on the trip. Different drug store company will have different promotion and therefore for the same item, it might be different price.

Hello Kyoto Tower!

Address : Japan, 〒600-8216 Kyōto-fu, Kyōto-shi, Shimogyō-ku, Higashishiokōjichō, 京都市下京区東塩小路町７２１−１
Operating Hours : 9am to 9pm

Went into Isetan which is in the Kyoto Station for dinner.

Address :  Japan, 〒600-8555 Kyōto-fu, Kyōto-shi, Shimogyō-ku, Higashishiokōjichō, 京都市下京区烏丸通 塩小路下ル東塩小路町 京都駅ビル
Operating Hours : 10am to 8pm

We are going up to level 10 for their ramen street.
Operation Hours : 11am to 10pm

Many ramen restaurant for you to choose!

Every restaurant are having queue due to the dinner time.

So we choose any restaurant since all of the restaurant looks good so I assume all will taste good too.

Gotten our ramen coupon!

Very small restaurant.

We are having the Toyama Black Men-ya Iroba.

Quite a good range of ramen to choose from.

Toyama black men-ya Iroba means Toyama style black sauce soup with cha shu. Yummy!

Every evening there will be lights performance at the stairway.

It's Halloween now so the performance is about Halloween!

Heading up to the sky garden at the roof top.

Kyoto's night view! ( that Kyoto Tower is actually a reflection! Haha! )

Still early so we walk over to the Kyoto Avanti.

Address : Japan, 〒601-8003 Kyōto-fu, Kyōto-shi, Minami-ku, Higashikujō Nishisannōchō, 京都市南区東九条西山王町３１
Operating Hours : 10am to 9pm

Our main purpose to this Kyoto Avanti is for this! Don Quijote! The best part...It closes at midnight!!! You know it's not easy to see shops that is still open after 10pm right?

Operating Hours : 8am to 12am

Is it less guilty if I eat such a mini cup noodle?

For Don Quijote, we can get back the tax on the spot. Waiting for my purchase to be wrap, seal and they will refund the tax after it's done.

Just a few minutes walk back from apartment.

My loot today at Don Quijote! This is the most well packed purchase I even seen! Normally when I receive, it's all dump into the bag and seal up with excess air and space inside while this is so organize! ( OCD in action... Haha )

 Bought some dessert back from the convenience store downstairs for supper!

Been traveling so much since yesterday night so time to say good night!

 

Day 2 :

Woke up early to start our Temple visiting! 

And coffee from the convenience store to save our time.

Walking to Tofukuji station which is about 15mins walk from our apartment to take train this time round.

Address : Honmachi 12-chome, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 605-0981, Japan

This scene looks like some Japan drama scene isn't it? Haha! 

Gonna use our Osaka/Kyoto 2 days Sight Seeing pass today! 

We are heading to the Iwashimizu Hachimangu Temple so we took the train from Tofukuji station to Yawatashi station. 

And from Yawatashi station, we walk over to the cable car station which is just 3 mins walk from the station to take the cable car up to the temple. 

We are using the sight seeing pass again, but for those who do not have the pass can buy the tickets at 200yen.

The timing for the cable car.

The cable car is actually going back and upwards! Haha! What a unique way to go up! 

Everything is good but..... raining is really a spoiler!

From the train station, we follow the way ( and some locals ) to find the temple. 

The temple is just on top of this big car park. Just walk up the stairs way which is beside the restaurant. 

Before we reach the temple, we saw locals washing their hands here so we follow too! Haha! Monkey see monkey do! 

And here we are at the Iwahimizu Hachimngu temple! The temple seems to have not many tourist here? Basically when we were there, we are the only two non locals.

Address : Japan, 〒614-8588 Kyoto Prefecture, 八幡市八幡高坊３０

A lot of people dress up their kids in Kimono and brought them to the temple to do some blessing there. The Iwashimizu Hachimangu temple provide this 753 blessing which is for kids of the age of 3,5 and 7.

Obviously we pass those age long long time ago, so we will do the normal wishing! Throw a coin, clap twice, and wish! ( and again, we follow how the local do... haha )

Happen to watch a ceremony that was happening in the temple. ( not sure what is it though... )

Many people wrote their wishing and hang here.

Different type of wooden plate that was sold here but same purpose, write your wishes and hang here.

Went to check out our luck for the up coming year!

 So what we have to do is to shake this bamboo thing until the a sticks comes out.

Once, the stick comes out, go to the counter and tell the staff the number that is on the stick.

And tada! This is my luck for next year! And yes, the paper you receive will be the same number that is on the stick. 

Ok but... we don’t understand a single word that is written on the paper! The staff here is very friendly, they even help us to translate to English even though they actually can’t speak English at all, they use hand phone to translate for us. 

We bought some souvenir here too! Got my parents and friend some lucky charm! 

Oh ya by the way, we can use the sight seeing pass coupon that was given together with the pass to redeem a free gift from them! 

Wash our hand again when we leave the temple.

Still raining and getting heavier and heavier, so we stop by the restaurant to shelter ourselves and also to have our lunch.

Tea was serve once we seat down! 

A bowl of warm udon for a raining day is just so perfect!

Fired chicken as sides! Yummy!

Off we go again. Walked back to the cable car station and hop on the cable car to go back down.

Now, we are taking the Keihan train to another famous temple, the Fushimi-Inari.

While walking to the Fushimi-Inari but the rain got so heavy that we have no choice to get ourselves an umbrella at 500yen each.

Many food stall along the way...

 

They Fushimi-Inari is so crowded even it’s raining! OMG...

Address :  68 Fukakusa Yabunouchicho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 612-0882, Japan

 Anyway, these red pillars are just so Kyoto right? Every time people come to Kyoto, they will definitely take pictures with all these red pillars! So to proof that I’ve been to Kyoto, of course I must take picture with them too!

But... it’s not easy to take a picture without any people photo bombing you! 

We manage to find a few seconds of peacefulness, so we quickly take as many picture as we can! Haha!

The pillar are getting bigger and bigger as we walk up.

Saw people praying at this little temple we pass by.

Anyway, by right we could climb up to the top of the mountain to see what said to be a beautiful view but seriously the rain is such a spoiler! We didn’t want to climb anymore as the walk way is wet and path is narrow due to the crowd, so we decided to head back down and head to our next destination.

Few souvenir shops around here.

Lady of goddess? Japan also pay respect to Lady of goddess? ( not sure though... )

Even it's a raining day, there is still many people wearing Kimono to do their temple visiting! Most of them is tourist but traditionally, Japanese do wear Kimono to temple for some occasion.

Time for some snacks!

Rice ball wrapped with bacon!

Next, we again took the Keihan railway to Gion-Shijo station.

Walked to the Gion street, which is where Geisha can be seen.

Address :  Hanamikoji Dori, Gionmachi Minamigawa, Higashiyama-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu 605-0074, Japan

Buildings are beautiful, they makes us feels like we have travel back to the olden days, but again... it’s difficult to take a proper picture due to the crowd!

A luxury brand in such a old building gives a total different feel isn't it?

 The place is seriously too difficult to take nice picture ( without people photo bombing ) so after a few shot, we decided to walk to Starbucks. You must be thinking why should we even wanna have Starbucks in Japan right? But because this particular Starbucks we are going is a special one! How special? You will see it later.

While walking to the Starbucks, we pass by another temple which we are not sure what temple it is.

But here, we saw a very. Unique way of getting blessed! Believer actually crawls ( yes... crawls! ) to and fro through this hole! 

Ok done being a curiosity cat, we continue our journey to the Starbucks. Walking distance is about 16 minutes.

Tada! This is the special Starbucks I’m taking about! This outlet is newly open if I’m not wrong, and this truly shows the beauty when modern meets the traditional!

Address : 京都市東山区高台寺南門通下河原東入桝屋町349番地, Masuyachō, Higashiyama-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyōto-fu 605-0826, Japan

Operating Hours : 8am to 8pm 

It is very crowded inside so the staff told us to order our drinks first and check if there is seats later.

After ordering our drinks, gonna queue again to collect our drinks... 

Once we gotten our drinks, went up to see if we could find a seat. As expected, this tatami area and two other tatami area are all full house!

Now we are left with the normal seats BUT it’s also full house! OMG...

So we waited for quite awhile and just nice that a couple finish their drinks and so we could take over their table. ( like finally... )

How can you not drink matcha when you are in Japan right? So I decided to have one!

After a short rest we continue walking about 14 minutes to the Gion Tatshimi Bridge! This place is also one of the “vintage” area. We actually saw the real Geisha walking pass us but we didn’t dare to take a picture of her. Haha!

Address : 祇園 Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 605-0084, Japan

We also happen to see people wearing kimono and doing some photo shoots there! 

We also took some pictures here at the exact spot and we are ready to go hunt for our dinner.

Again we walked about 15 minutes to a famous Omurice ( omelette rice ) restaurant.

Yes! Kichi Kichi omurice is super famous in YouTube! Of course I tried to make a reservation one and a half months ago but it’s fully booked! Unbelievable right?! But I happen to see some review online saying that we can try our luck by going straight to the restaurant and asked if they could squeeze us in or not. True enough they allowed but we have to come back in an hour time.

Address : Japan, 〒604-8017 Kyōto-fu, Kyōto-shi, Nakagyō-ku, Zaimokuchō, 材木町185-4
Operating Hours : 5pm to 9am

Since we got nothing to do and there’s nothing to shop around because most of the shops there are restaurant. So we went to walk around and pass by a pet shop and stop by to see some cats and dogs!  Not something Pearlie would want to do but I’m totally a dog lover so seeing them makes me happy!

Still have a bit of time we went to the arcade to take a picture using the photo machine! It’s been ages since I last took picture using the photo machine! 

OMG! I look like an alien here!

This place is super small and I guess this explain why it’s so difficult to make an reservation! They can only serve a minimum amount of people at the same time! 

This is their menu. To be honest the Omurice is quite expensive! We ended up ordering the half portion which already costs 1450Yen!

This guy with his signature red hat is the famous chef of Kichi Kichi! 

He will do cooking performance for each and every individual guest.

Because we are at the side table the chef is so nice that he came over to our table to do the omelette stan!

He is a very funny chef!

We are the last few guest so we all have a chance to take a picture with him since he’s not busy.

It’s closed! They open at 5pm and close at 9pm! Seriously if my working hours is like that, I will be super grateful! Haha!

Time to go home, walk over to Sanjo station and take the subway back to Kyoto station. Didn’t want to take the Keihan railway again because if we stop at the Tofukuji station again, we have to walk a long distance back to our apartment.

Since we are already at Kyoto station how can we skip this place right? So we went in to Don Quijote again to see if there is any replenishment of what we wanted yesterday but was out of stock. The answer is nope! But yet we manage to get 1 or 2 items! Haha! 

Back to apartment, and the Omurice has disappear! So we shall have some instant ramen! Lucky we bought some downstairs before we reach home. Even their instant eamen has so many pattern ( a.k.a so complicated )! 

OK it’s waiting time...

Ready to eat! And it’s yummy!! Anyway, bathed and it’s time to say good night!