Secret life of a Travelling Pig: Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan

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).