Ready for some hiking! From Kyoto Station we took the JR Nara rapid to Inari Station (~5 minutes), the second station.
Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is so grand, it's quite popular with locals and tourists. You will see a lot of foxes everywhere even as you hike up the mountain. The fox god.
The entrance to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is very large and they have souvenirs shops too.
Colorful folded cranes
Hang your wishes here.
Torii costs ¥800. I think this make a great souvenir instead.
Heading up towards the mountain.
A map of the hike.
Wooded foxes head - for wishes
The starting point for the hike. The torii gates make up the path up the mountains, so you don't really need to worry about the sun burning you. It's so beautiful! And there's inscription on the tories too! At the bottom of the mountain there would be a lot of tourists taking pictures with the torii gates but as you ascend, there won't be many people, I guess they just want to have a picture with the many torii gates and not hike up.
As you continue to hike, you will come about many of these mini shrines. It's everywhere along the mountain.
No need to worry about souvenirs since there are souvenirs shops along the hike too. Oh right, and there are vending machines for drinks too, but it's very expensive, so be sure to bring fluids.
At the half way point, there's a rest area and you can buy ice cream!!! It was soft serve icecream - soybean flavor ¥350. It taste very delicious when you are dehydrated and tired. There's also a fan on the table that you can self-fan yourself. LOL. I was dripping in sweat from the heat and the exercise.
The view while sitting at the resting spot and eating my ice-cream. It's pretty, you can see the torii and the city.
The mountain top. I believe it was an hour and a half hike up the mountain. There's not much to see at the top, but you do feel a sense of accomplishment. It's great that there's barely anybody at the top, so they can't photobomb my photos! The mountain top is an alter for worshiping the god of rice and the foxes.
Sign: Top of the mountain.
The alter.
And then it was time to descend the mountain. It took around 30 minutes to walk down.
As we descended the mountain, there were actually two routes you can take. I believe we took a wrong turn or something because somehow along the way we were surrounded by houses. But all in all, we did manage to get back to our initial starting point.
It was quite hot that day and once we got back to the starting point, we headed to the resting area in the shrine. They offer free tea and water, and they also provide cups for you too. You can make a donation if you want, but it's self-serve and you need to wash your cup after you are finished.
Next off, UJI. We took the JR Nara local from Inari station to Uji (~ 20 minutes). Uji is more of a quiet city and is very famous for their green tea. The "Byodoin Temple" is located here and is only ¥300 but we didn't go, the view is very pretty though.
The "Tale of Genji" welcomes you. - this must be the home of this famous novel.
Once we arrived in Uji, we grabbed ice cream again!! It didn't taste too good. I should've saved my stomach for REAL ice cream in the shopping district, how regretful.
¥300 each. Mine was the blue one "calpis soda" and i think my sister's was raspberry
First we walked along the streets following other tourists to the famous green tea area. All the shops were selling matcha related items - tea, mochi, kitkats, etc. We did some green tea shopping on the streets of "Byodoin Omotesando," it's a pedestrian only street so no need to worry about cars. Every shop here sells green tea, some shops allow you to try the tea first before you buy. We did buy some green tea as souvenirs for family. The buildings here looks very ancient and the town is quiet so it's a very relaxing stroll. Lots of cheap desserts too.
After this we crossed the streets from Byodoin Omotesando and headed to see the Uji river.
Uji River. So magnificent. The greenery and mountains in the background combined the the blue sky and large river creates a relaxing feel. It's just so tranquil.
Once you walk over the bridge, you would be greeted a monument of "The tale of Genji."
Ujigami shrine. When we got here, the shrine has nobody, so it was just us and perhaps another couple. Quite eerie. This is a world heritage site. I didn't know this was a world heritage site, else I would've snapped a picture of the temple. Dejected. The temple looked so old that's why I didn't take a picture. Next time, I will.
Uji Shrine
Cute sign.
We spotted some filming once again. From what I saw, they seemed to be filming about fishing with birds. The women had a rope tied around a bird and the bird would help her catch fishes.
This bird kept on stealing this fishes that the women caught. When she realized the bird was eating the fish, she had to shoo it away.
After crossing the bridge and looking for a place to eat, we found the Tourist Information Center. The Information Center had free tea and water and also wifi access. Great resting place too! Plenty of seats and there's air condition.
Bought some takoyaki along the way. ¥300. This was a small stall ran by 3 old grannies and once we ordered, one of the granny took out the "FROZEN" takoyaki (still in the bag) and then started to fry it. We went inside to wait and sat on the seats but apparently we saw a sign that says if you sit and eat then they will charge you extra. So once the takoyaki was done, we took it and walked away. I got to say, the frozen takoyaki actually taste PRETTY GOOD. ONE of the best that I've ate in Japan. It was quite hilarious watching three grannies making food, each one has a specific role, just to make some takoyaki.
For dinner we decided to go the famous dessert cafe "Nakamura Tokichi." Once we went inside, the room was a small souvenir shop, selling food and the likes and once you passed the entrance you will be greeted by a long hall and in front would be the actual cafe. Once we got there, around 7PM, we saw dozens of people sitting outside waiting and apparently you have to go up to them and tell them your name so that they can call you when they have a seat. They told us it would be around a 40-45 minutes wait. So instead of sitting here and waiting we went out and walked around the area.
Nakamura Tokichi
We came back a bit early and sat and waited for our names to be called. Once we got seated, it took forever for the waitress to get our order. We were waiting for 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, we got the attention of one of the waitress and attempted to ask her to help us order but she told us to wait. And she went and served the Caucasian man in front of us. By that point, I was obviously quite peeved, 30 minutes to get served?? People who arrived after us got served before us. No grudges since the dessert taste so good!
Matcha shaved ice
My dinner was the matcha shaved ice while my sister ordered green tea soba and seaweed rice and we added another green tea ice cream dessert on the side; total came to ¥2570. I will testify that the shaved ice taste fabulous! The ice is so thinly shaved it just melts in your mouth and the green tea syrup that the provide for the shaved ice, complements it so well. The syrup is not overly sweet too. There's soft served ice cream on the top and some red bean on the side. Delicious! I was quite full after the dessert and couldn't really stomach another ice cream dessert. But I did try.
After dinner we headed back to Uji Station to take the JR back to Kyoto Station. And then we can do some more shopping at night!
We went back to the Shinkyogoku Shopping Street and I saw Attack of Titan gachopon. Luckily I got Eren. 
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