Today was a bit of a day to recuperate.
We slept in until 7am and didn’t leave the hotel until past 9am. The only place we visited today was Arashiyama, the Bamboo Path. My friend from Japan had told me about this place and I really, really wanted to go. But, after going, to be honest, I was highly disappointed because my imagination of the place was far better than the actual location.
I had thought that you could actually go walk through the bamboo, but they had all of it blocked off behind barbed wire, so it was kind of a struggle to even take any photos.
After going through the path, you hit a river. We ended up watching a couple as they had their wedding pictures taken. Shh, I took one too.
After walking around for nearly 3 hours in downtown Kyoto, we made our way to the shopping mall where we wandered through the vendors for about another two hours. Tired (and sticky from the 90 degree weather, a lot of us got a little sun burned) we made our way back to the hotel where many of us took a quick shower.
I chilled in the AC and read for a few hours before I decided to go and find myself some dinner. We had planned to go out for ramen as a group, but half of them fell asleep. XD
It ended up being about 8 of us who went out for ramen and dessert crepes.
Since we were already in the basement of the Kyoto tower, we decided to pay the fee to go up to the top.
It was pretty cool to see Kyoto lit up at night. We soon left and two of us made our way to the local supermarket. I stocked up on some candy I can’t find in the states but can find here pretty cheap. A pack of the candy I like is around .80 usd here where if I bought it in the US, I would end up paying around 3.25 a pack. The lady looked at me oddly since I bought 15$ worth. Lol.
Anyway, that’s it for Kyoto. Next stop is Mount Koya where we are going to go sleep in the temple with the monks.
Night y’all,
Addis
Arashiyama is pretty packed during peak hours now so it’s hard to get good photos. There’s actually a temple (Adashino Nenbutsuji) 15 min walk away from the main area that has a small bamboo grove and is much more peaceful than the main walkway with great photo ops.
Have fun at Mt. Koya! The vegetarian food served at those temples is amazing. Try to wake up for morning prayer/meditation if you can. It’s an interesting experience!
Thank You
Thank you^^ Hope your sunburn isn’t too bad.
I remember my friends went to the bamboo forest at night in winter to see the special lights against the bamboo. It wasn’t especially cool, but going at night meant we could do multiple things that day. It was so packed tho! We could barely move. But that was cool too.
I’m enjoying the armchair version of your tour – thank you for taking the time to share!
Thank you so much for sharing. Would they look at you funny if you asked for hard boiled eggs instead? Taking notes for when and if I ever go…and I can’t stand runny eggs unless it’s over easy. I have heard in some places they consider it an insult if you order something cooked differently. As for the candy, totally get that! I had a friend from Ireland that came to visit us. And apparently denim in the U.S. is lots cheaper than the Emerald Isle…he stocked up too. Can’t wait for your update on sleeping with the monks. I… Read more »
Thank you for sharing the pics and talking about the things you saw and what you did =)
Thanks for sharing Addis. I’m loving all your pictures, even if they make me hungry. It looks so beautiful there. Sleep well and I hope the sleeping in a temple wont be too uncomfortable.
Thank you for sharing your travel experience with all of us. You have inspired me to look up travels to Japan as I have wished for, for many years but haven’t get around to do.
Hmmmmm such amazing
food(-porn)😣 How many are in your group?
wow! you are seeing so much!
thanks for sharing it with us!!
There’s a beautiful bamboo forest in the Fushimi Inari shrine. You need to take a crossroad among the torii and them you fine peace. No tourist there, unlike under the torii. I crossed the path of a tourists guide there who was on scouting, and he told me this forest was more pleasante than Arashiyama which is too popular and too crowded.