Kyoto 京都, Japan Trip (Day 3)

6th March 2017, Monday

We woke up early today to head out to Kyoto, aiming for the 9:03 am train. We met up at the hotel lobby and did our check-out. Then we headed to take the train to Tokyo main station. It was so crowded at the train platform when we reached Tokyo main station, and we had to drag the luggage towards to the other end for the lifts. We went to buy our breakfast and i got 2 boxes of Tokyo Banana snacks with sakura flavour. Then we went to get our train tickets and went up to wait at the platform. Got some drinks from the vending machine too before the train arrived.

Finally we got on the shinkansen train and went to our allocated seats.... "Off to Kyoto!" ^_^
Had my bento while on the train and we could see Mount Fuji when the train passed by. However, thick clouds were covering the mountain. My friends played their monopoly deal during the ride. I still sat and enjoyed the scenery. We arrived at Kyoto @ around 11 plus and we made our way to the hotel. One of my friends was guiding us to walk to the hotel when we alighted at the station nearest to the hotel. We were walking through the street until my friend guide asked me why were we further from our destination on the google map.... -_-"...hahaaa..it turned out we were going the wrong way. So I took over her phone and followed the map...funny thing was we were also walking one big round on the opposite side of the hotel...hahaa...

Tatami style

My favourite!!

Soba with Ebi

Eventually, we found the hotel, safe and sound which was a relief. However, our room was not ready, so we just deposited our luggage there and went off for lunch. I brought them to the 150 years old soba restaurant (Kyoto Honke Owariya Soba), which was just one minute away from the hotel. We had to queue for a while before we were given a table. We got to sit at the table with Japanese style, which was to sit on the floor...(almost had leg camps after eating...hahaaa..). I ordered back the same soba set that came with 5 stacks of cold soba. One of my friends ordered the same set and the other one ordered a ebi soba set. It still tasted so yummy!!! Bought some of their hand-made cookies too.

After lunch, we headed down to Gion Street as my friends had not been there before. We walked and shopped around the different shops. I bought some souvenirs too and we went to try some green tea desserts. Also, walked through the ancient streets and saw a lot of people wearing kimono. In the end, we walked until the temple at the end of the streets but it was having light rain and the wind was blowing strongly. So we went in to see the temple, we can only see the outside as the temple had closed for visiting. I had walked ahead of my friends, and when my friends can't find me, one of them actually made a "Search for a Missing Cat" short clip..... -_-". Anyhow, they managed to catch up and found me.

Side Dishes

Salt, Pepper & Lemon

Pork Belly

Beef

Then we headed out back to the streets again and we did managed to see a geisha (not sure whether was she a geisha). But many people were just taking her photos without asking and she had to walk very quickly to get away from the attention. After that, we walked to IOIO building to have a toilet break, Then we sat down there to take a short break. After the break, we headed out to find a place for our dinner. We stumbled upon an alley called Pontocho Alley where there were a lot of restaurants. We picked a beef BBQ restaurant (Yakiniku Ponto Cho Teppai) for our dinner and ordered the ohmi beef and pork. We ordered a couple of side dishes, potato salad (which i don't find it nice), we had to bbq the meats too. However, their meat were tender and nice. The staff was quite friendly and she was able to speak with us in English too. We paid $14,461 Japanese yen in total for the meal.

Our room

After dinner, we walked back along the main streets, where we went to the Disney store there. We walked until 9 pm plus. Then we made our way back to the hotel and the hotel staff told us that our luggage was already in our room. So we took the keys and went up to the room. It was slightly bigger as it was with 3 single beds. But my friends slept on one bed and i slept on the other bed. I had trouble to sleep that night as usual (got super loud snoring sound).....hahaa

Hotel Stayed:
Hearton Hotel Kyoto