Kyoto to Hiroshima, Japan - Day 41

June 5, 2015

A not so great-looking morning. We spent the morning in Kyoto before heading to Hiroshima. We had the free complimentary breakfast, provided by the hotel, first before checking out of the hotel (11AM checkout) and then stored our luggage there so that we can explore Kyoto for the last time. From our hotel (Econo-Inn), we walked over to the Higahiyama District to see the kiyomizu temple (~20 minutes). The kiyomizu temple is also one of the  UNESCO world heritage sites so it's a must VISIT.

During our walk towards the temple, we stroll passed some inner streets and entered some of those shops, but it was very awkward due to the shop owner greeting us ONLY, and then we are left wandering around the shop (us being the only customer) and we leave empty handed. As we get closer towards the temple, we noticed more and more people and soon it was a mob. There were a lot of tourists, as well as school kids, ranging from preschool to high school. 

We didn't know there were construction going on here so the view wasn't as scenic. There is an admission cost if you want to head to the Kiyomizu temple ¥300.

 Entrance/ Gate. 

 The construction....

After purchasing our tickets, we were able to walk along the hall of the Kiyomizu temple. Out on the wooden stage, you are able to grab a nice view of the surroundings.  

 Here's some students burning incense. 

I took a photo from the balcony. There was a lot of people down there, and a huge line to drink from the waterfall. From the photo you can see three streams of water, each one of them has a fortune - love, success, longevity; but you can only drink from one.  

 Otowa Waterfall

 Kiyomizu Temple

At the bottom of the temple, there is a mini garden. It's so pretty!

 At the bottom of the Otowa Waterfall area. - the amount of kids...

 Look at the amount of stairs we had to walk down and then walk back up. - it was a killer

Jishu Shrine - worship the deity of love and matchmaking

If you are able to walk from one stone to the other with your eyes closed then luck in love will be with you. The stones are several meters apart...

Okage Myo-jin god who will answer any prayers. It is said that people would hammer a nail into a doll on the cedar tree to place a curse on the enemy.

 Your prayers would be answered if you pat the bronze statue. - Nade-Daikoku-San

And then it was time to head back. We took a detour and checked out the surroundings.  We walked through the souvenirs shops. Kyoto is such as nice place, the traditional buildings gives off a totally different feel than Tokyo.

 Dozens of different soft-serve ice cream flavors.

Ryōzen Kannon temple is a place to commemorate the people who died in WWII. There is an entrance fee, but outside you can see the head of the statue of  Bodhisattva Avalokitesvar, so really, no need to go in. We walked all over the parking lot trying to grab a better view. LOL, we're so cheap.

Stumbled upon another temple...

Gion? Forgot where this was...

And then for lunch we went to a dessert place in one of the shopping district for lunch. I got this strawberry parfait. ♥♥(o￫ܫ￩o)♫

 No house, no life.

Once we got back to Econo-Inn, we got our luggage from storage and then headed to Kyoto Station. Every time I enter Kyoto station, I am just amazed how the grandness of it. The train from Kyoto to Hiroshima was about 2.5 hours. First, we had to take the JR Hikari to Shin-Osaka Station and then transfer to the JR Sakura; luckily, the train ticket itself tells you about the transfer and which platform you should be at.

We boarded the train at 4:48 and arrived in Hiroshima at ~7:50PM. Once we got off the train we exited the station, but we took a wrong turn or the like BECAUSE my sister's GPS guided us towards many dead ends. It was late and we were dragging our luggage around trying to cross the streets BUT there's no crosswalk. In addition to that, every turn we took it was an dead end. By this point, we were both quite impatient and peeved (bickering too (╬ŎдŎ )), 30 minutes passed, everybody who passed by us did not ask if we needed help (unlike Tokyo). Finally, I noticed every now and then somebody would walk towards a rail tracks but what would they do there? And I walked toward the area they walked and noticed an underground tunnel, and that is how you cross to the other side.

Our hotel in Hiroshima was Urbain Hiroshima Executive . The exterior of the hotel was the best looking one out of all the ones we stayed at in Japan. The lobby of the hotel is quite clean and nice, even the staff are polite. The cost per day for a double bed was $72.10 CND and we stayed for 2 days so it was $144.20 CND Our room includes a private washroom and shower, a small fridge, air con, a large double bed and a high tech toilet (include bum washing and heated seats). The hotel also provides free WIFI on the GROUND FLOOR ONLY, 24 hours drink bar (coke, juice, tea, water, etc.), complimentary breakfast, luggage storage and free maps. Our room was quite small as you can see, and oddly there is a sink outside of the washroom (no sink inside). The breakfast the hotel provides is quite generous, there's noodles, miso soup, tea, sushi, meatballs, etc. Plus the hotel is quite close to Hiroshima station too, perhaps a 10-15 minutes walk.

 

By the time we finished checking in and settled down, we need to grab dinner. It was approximately 9PM and when we headed outside it was dark, very dark, and most of the stores were already closed; plus, there weren't many restaurants nearby so we headed back to the train station to grab something to eat. We didn't want to grab fast food so we went to this Japanese restaurant and luckily they have an English menu too. We ordered vegetable pancake and okonomiyaki to share. We sat right beside the cook we watched her make the okonomiyaki, it was pretty cool.

Dinner - ¥ 1250

After dinner, we explored the stores surrounding the station. Even though the sky was pitched black and a bit creepy, it must be done. We found a supermarket close by and I bought a ice cream bar. 。ﾟ+.ﾟヽ(●´ω｀●)ﾉ。

Overall, my first impression of Hiroshima was that it feels like China. the buildings are old, not like Kyoto, but modern yet old (run down). But once we go downtown, it's so pretty and modern! We didn't really notice a lot of young people, mostly middle aged folks but they weren't really fashionable like Tokyo people. Also unlike people in Tokyo, the people in Hiroshima don't really approach foreigners. Well, that's what it seems like to me. Hiroshima seems like a quiet city with a lot of history, WWII bombings, and it is a MUST VISIT city due to this, you get to see how they rebuilt itself after all these years.

Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan - Day 40

June 4, 2014

Saga-Arashimyama

We too the JR Sagano Rapid from Kyoto Station to Saga-Arashimyama Station (~16 minutes). Once we got here, our first destination was the "Bamboo Grooves," but we had trouble navigating through the streets. We were quite confused, as well as lost, and did not know how to get there. In order to get to the bamboo grooves, you have to navigate through residential streets and there is a lot of twist and turns, honestly I can't remember the way back. Luckily, a local grandmother asked us where we are heading and then she directed us to the right direction.We did get lost trying to get back to the train station afterwards.

We spotted a school bus along the way. I think this is a preschool bus or the like. So Cute.

Bamboo Grove

I believe it's a 10-15 minutes walk to the Bamboo Grove, but once you get to the actual streets you can usually just follow the tourists; it's very likely that they are going to the same place. The bamboo grove is a very nice tranquil and scenic place. There was a lot of tourists as well as locals on that day so it was quite hard to take pictures without the spectators. Along with the abundance of bamboos, there's also an abundance of dead bamboos.  The walk around the bamboo groove is very soothing. It was quiet yet the view just feel so surreal. You are literally engulfed in an endless walk of bamboos. We also witnessed a couple taking wedding photos here, they really know where to take them! There's also a lot of students on a school excursion.

The gold temple is located somewhere near here, but we didn't go cause there's an admission FEE.

Once we reached the end of the bamboo grove, there were some options as to where to go. We opted out of the one's where there is an entrance fee. So we headed up the mountain. And what a "great" choice. We stumbled upon this neat little place. It's actually a park of some sort. But if you look at this picture, it just makes me feel like I'm in a Ghibli film. SERIOUS. It just feel so fantasy like.

The stairs to go down (we didn't go yet) - feels like beginning of the "Spirited Away" movie where the main character enters the other realm. So magical.

We continued our hike up the mountain since my sister found a sign that said "Observatory" ?? meters up. I was a little afraid that we would get lost up the mountain because there's not a soul around. We had the whole place to ourselves. 

As we headed down the mountain, we just ASSUMED we are going the right way. Purely luck.

Some statues as we headed down the mountain.

Once at the bottom, we walked over to the famous "Togetsukyo bridge." Personally, this bridge looked like any other old-battered bridge. I totally did not think it was a famous landmark. Once you walk over the bridge, you would be surrounded by shops, shops, and more shops (shopping district). I remember that the streets are filled with people, locals, tourists, students, etc. There's an abundance of food and souvenir shops.

 Togetsukyo bridge

Monkey Park Iwatayama

Admission is  ¥550 only. I feel a bit regretful that I didn't go visit the MONKEYS. They look so damn cute! I thought the admission was quite steep and once you head up the mountain to the monkey park, you have some restrictions such as not looking in the eyes of the monkeys, else they may attack you or touching them. Once you walk up the stairs, there's a little shrine and also a place for you to buy admission tickets. Since we didn't buy any, we just enjoyed the view from the temple; there's also another group of two young men doing the same as us.

Entrance to the monkey park + temple

 View from the monkey park ticketing booth

We found a train station in the middle of the shopping area. I'm not too sure what it was, but the train was a couple/love train (need tickets). But the station itself was pretty neat, it gives off a manga feeling and a old style.

And the train cross-walk where in mangas, a lot of people kill themselves. I always wanted to see one of these in real life.

Lunch ¥1350

We headed back to the shopping district in Kyoto to wrap up the final trip. We had to leave the next day for Hiroshima. When we got here it started raining so my sister had to go to Daiso and buy an ¥100 umbrella (those clear kind), while I waited for her outside. As I waited for her, at least 10 people entered the store and came out with only an umbrella in hand. Well, I can't blame them, those umbrellas cost around $10 bucks here while it's a cheap option in Japan. Soon, that umbrella would be my sister's worst nightmare (in the upcoming days).

Bubble Tea ¥460 (it was buy one and then get the other half price - promotion)

Some kind of nuggets. ¥210

Baked kit kats. You need to bake it yourself in the oven. I thought it was bacon kit kats at first.