Kyoto 京都, Japan Trip (Day 8)

3rd January 2015, Saturday

Parked Cars covered with Snow

Lake covered in Snow

Direction to the correct Gion

Today, we had planned to go Arashiyama but decided not to go as we didn't really explore Kyoto city itself. So we searched google map to go Gion, which was the Geisha street in Kyoto instead. We even found a 540 years old soba restaurant which was somewhere near the Imperial Palace. So we got ready and went out to the station which Google map had indicated, which was 1 stop away from our hotel station. Then we tried to walk very slowly, cos the whole ground was covered with ice and there were still left over snow around too. We just took our time to walk to the place which Google Map had pointed us to. It took us a long while to reach the place, cos we were also playing with the snow too...hehehe...The cars in the car park were also having snow on top of them. But alas, it was the wrong place, there was a notice pasted on the window, saying that the Gion shown in Google map was wrong and there was instructions on how to go to the real Gion distinct. So we walked back to the subway station again and took the subway to Higashiyama Station.

Unopened Shops

Nice River

Imperial Palace Gate

We were very lost when we came out from the station exit. So we just decided on 1 direction and started walking. There were shops along a street but all were not opened yet, seems like the opening time was in the late afternoon or evening time. Then we came to a river with an open bridge (more like a stone path with small walkway and there was no support to hold. We didn't try to walk over it but we saw an ang mo tourist walked across it. Then we walked further and it doesn't look right anymore. So we turned back and looked at the map near the river. There was buses to the Imperial Palace, so we decided to take the bus there. Saw their public toilet dome near the bus stop, very weird though...hahhaa...Then we waited for the bus to come, it came after about a few minutes later. And so we boarded and alighted at one of the entrances to Kyoto Imperial Palace. We thought of finding the 540 years old Soba restaurant and so we walked into the big garden of the palace. Snow was on the whole ground too, some parts were wet too. I just enjoyed myself and tried to walk on the snow with my rubber shoes (It was fun walking in the snow). My friend was cold until she don't have the mood to play...hehehe.....But when we reached the palace main gate, it wasn't opened for the day (Maybe due to the holidays week). It was a pity...didn't get to see the inside of the palace. So we left through another exit and we got lost again...hehehe....We just kept walking, trying to find the directions to the restaurant. I was getting hungry and abit frustrated too as we walked and we had walked until the next subway station away from the Imperial Palace.

Ho-Rai Soba Set

Ebi Don

Our dessert

So later i asked my friend to go the metro station and took the subway instead of walking in the cold. Then we just took the subway from Imadegawa Station to Karasuma Oike Station which was nearer to the restaurant. We checked the area map again from the station before we exited and tried to walk to the restaurant when we came out from the station. It was much nearer than walking from the imperial palace and the blogger wrote that it was like 5 mins away from the palace... -_-".....Finally we reached the restaurant, the name was called Kyoto Honke Owariya Soba (Must come to this place if you are in Kyoto). The restaurant was famous in the area and has a very long history of soba. They even cooked for the Royal Family, when the Royal Family visited Kyoto. They also sell their own made biscuits and cookies. We were brought up to 2nd level and i was so happy i can eat my breakfast and lunch finally. We really took almost 3 or 4 hours to get to this place, cos by the time we reached there was already past 3 pm. I ordered a Ho-Rai Soba Set, which the soba came in a form of 5 stacks and there was a plate of different toppings (seaweeds, eggs, prawns, etc). My friend ordered a prawns ebi rice bowl with a bowl of soba too. For my set, there was a piece of instructions in English on how you should eat the soda. I noticed the ladies on the next table got their instructions in Japanese. I like the soba very much...and this is the first time i actually eat soba noodles (i don't even eat in Singapore). The food was yummy. And for my set, there was a small teapot and a teacup with a sakura blossom flower in it. The tea was to be drank after you finished the soba. It was refreshing and my friend likes it. After the mains, we looked at the desserts menu and ordered a red bead with 'glass' jelly. It was yummy too, not sure what was the glass jelly was made of, but it was really transparent and smooth. And the red bean was nice....We also took their matchboxes too...heheee....

Green Tea drink & Dessert

After the yummy meal, we went down to pay for our meal and we also bought some of their biscuits and cookies. We also bought a packet of red bean buns (it was nice!!). After that, we left and tried to figure out how to go the Gion street. So we took the subway back to Higashiyama Station and this time, we went to the travel information counter to check first. The staff was telling us to walk 2 stations away to the place. Then i noticed there were 3 guys also looking for the same place as us, so i was joking with my friend said to follow them, they were going to the same place as us. But when we came out from the station behind the guys, they were also quite confused on which direction to walk...hahaha...So we turned the other way and walked on our own until we came upon a bus stop. So i checked on the buses and noticed there were some buses going to Gion street. So we waited for the bus to come to take to the street. Finally, we ended up in Gion street, the correct one but it was already dark although it was like 5 or 6 pm. But we just walked on the streets and looked at the shops, there were many people on the streets too.  We saw alot of restaurants there too and people started to queue too. Then we came to the Gion Corner sign but we walked ahead to a temple. The temple had also closed for the day, so we just walked round for a while and then left to walk on the shops streets. We came about a green tea shop, where it was selling mocha drinks and desserts. It really looked very yummy there and there were many people buying it too. The shop name is Japanese Tea Tsujiri and there were seats on the 2nd floor. The dessert was good and their drinks were also nice to drink, best of all, there was wifi too. So we took our time to enjoy the wifi and the food...hehehee....

Ninja Costumes

Shabu-Shabu Hotpot

Unlimited of Pork

After this, we continued walking on the streets until we came upon Takashiyama building where we went in to explore. It was very big, it was having 7 or 8 levels in total. I bought a notepad from Moleskine and even saw Tempur pillows having luck bags (but very expensive still)...hohohoo....After that, we continued walking on the streets, the shopping area was soooo big, we kept walking and walking and there were still sooo many shops along the streets and on both sides some more. We came upon an alley streets, with more and more smaller shops in it. Then something caught my attention inside a corner, it was a ninja restaurant and it was selling all you can eat buffet sabu-sabu for 90 mins. So we went inside and ordered only pork sabu sabu. I was expecting the restaurant to be more lively with some ninja actions but it was dead quiet and there was no ninja action (abit disapoointed).  Anyway we had our sabu sabu there, the pork was thin and nice and there were some free fried snacks, My friend targeted on the edamame most, anyway we took our time to eat too and the staffs didn't chase us out too. When my friend called for the bill, we waited for some time before the staff came back and gave us a glass of beer. We were so puzzled as why the staff gave us beer, so i asked my friend did she call for bill or beer? Hahahaa....the staff thought we wanted beer instead of the bill. We had a good laugh on this...hohoho....After the dinner, it was past 9 pm and all the shops had already closed when we came out from the restaurant. Then we walked a long way to the subway station where we had to transfer to the JR line to go back to our hotel. We really had a wonderful and fun day today and we both had our last hot bath and coffee in the hotel too as tomorrow we were be moving to Osaka city next....

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Tetora Otsu

Complete Photo Album: Click here