The train from Kanazawa to Kyoto was only about two hours, and I arrived in Kyoto right when the sun was setting. Once again, I had to catch a couple subways to get to my hostel but by this time, I was pretty much an expert. My hostel (Hostel HARUYA) was actually a traditional 100+ year old house, and it was oddly quiet. I was hoping to meet a bunch of new people since I’d be there for four days, but I hardly saw anyone – not even the person in my room. It was all self check-in (I guess they’ve been doing that since Covid), but I didn’t see one staff member during my entire four days there. It was kind of bizarre! I also had to leave the cash in my room for payment, even though it was a shared room. Once I got settled, I went for a walk to do some exploring and look for dinner. I was staying in the Higashiyama district, near the Gion district, so I walked towards that, and I was able to see the Yasaka-jinja Shrine. I then walked across the river towards one of the restaurants that I had read about. Instantly, I loved the vibes of Kyoto. Especially in the evening, it just had a nice energy about it and the buildings had character and you could see a lot of history (I found out later that this is because Kyoto is one of the places in Japan that doesn’t get hit by earthquakes, so a lot of its old buildings have been preserved, unlike Tokyo, which gets hit by earthquakes quite often). I went to Kyoto Engine, which I had read about on my gluten-free app. I also read that it’s always very busy, but I decided to try my luck. It was after 9pm anyway. I got there and they didn’t have any tables available, but I luckily didn’t have to wait longer than 5-10 minutes. I was able to get a gluten-free ramen, but this ramen was different because it had a creamy broth. It was one of the best ramens I’ve ever had – I could see why it was so popular! After my late dinner, I headed back to my hostel and went to bed.
The next day, I got up early and decided to go to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. I read that you should go early or it gets extremely busy. After I got to the train station, I was on the search for coffee (naturally), so I found a coffee stand that sold (expensive) lattes. I got one and headed to the temple, only to see a sign that said no food or drinks in the complex (this was weird though because once I went IN to the complex, there were vendors selling food and drinks). I didn’t want to be disrespectful so I tried to start AND finish my coffee before entering. It was piping hot and I think I burnt my mouth multiple times, but I did it! I kept watching more and more people enter, and I knew that 9am wasn’t early enough. However, I soon realised that the further I walked, the less people there would be. The temple has about 10000 orange torii (gates), and it really is quite beautiful! There was a hike up a mountain, so I decided to do that since there would likely be less people. I passed more and more people, and ended up being able to walk a lot of it on my own. However, when I got to the top, there wasn’t even a view point! I watched other people arriving, looking just as confused as I felt. Well.. that was a bit anticlimactic.
I headed back down and as I stopped to take pictures, a guy from San Francisco asked if I could take his picture. We walked the rest of the way together and then he said he was going to Nishiki Market and asked if I wanted to come. I had time to kill so I joined him, and we took the subway there. The market was so busy! It was basically one row that went on for blocks, with stalls on either side. And the rules were if you bought something, you HAD to stand in front of the stall and eat it there – you weren’t allowed to walk and eat. I pretty much couldn’t eat anything since most of it was either deep-fried or marinated in soy sauce, but it was still cool to explore. I finally found some salmon sashimi and decided to get some of that, just so I could have something. We said our goodbyes and then I walked towards where I had booked my walking tour. Luckily, it was in front of a McDonald’s so I got some fries to tie me over since it would be a 3-hour tour. On the tour, I met Brie (from Singapore) and Farzaneh (from Iran), and it was so refreshing to meet some other solo female travellers! On the tour, we visited Maruyama Park, Chionin Sanmon, Ninen- Sannei Zaka district, Kiyomizu Temple, and were told about a lot of the history of Kyoto. Every turn we took was gorgeous – I really enjoyed Kyoto!
After the tour, Farzaneh, Brie, and I decided to explore the area a little bit more. We walked around the district and then went back to where our tour had started so we could find some dinner (this is because where the tour ended would be the most expensive restaurants, and where the tour started was where the cheapest ones were). Coincidently, we ran into our tour guide again so we asked him where to eat. We headed to the restaurant that he recommended, only to find out that it was closed for the holiday. So we happened to just walk into the one across the street (Komefuku), not knowing how popular it was. It was an Izakaya restaurant, so I knew I’d probably have to eat some gluten, especially when we found out that they were known for their tempura. We had to wait quite awhile for a table, but we finally got seated in our own isolated booth with a curtain – we were completely singled out from the rest of the restaurant (maybe they wanted to hide the tourists? Haha). I got some tempura and settled on a shrimp dish, which I didn’t realise was battered so I definitely got my gluten for the night! Even though we had already put in 20000+ steps in that day, we decided to walk another 20 minutes to Kōdai-ji Temple. This was another temple that was doing a light show because of Golden Week. We paid the fee and then watched a bunch of illuminations on the temple, which was cool. Then, we walked around the grounds for a bit. The three of us decided to meet up again the following morning so that we could go to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove together. So we said our goodbyes and headed to our own accommodations.
The next day, I got up and ready, stopped at a convenience store to pick up breakfast, and then took two subways to the Arashiyama stop. I met up with Brie and Farzaneh at 10, and we headed towards the Bamboo Grove. It was pretty cool to see so much bamboo in one area, but it was also quite busy. After going through the grove, we aimlessly walked around for a bit. When we got to a small countryside suburb and realised there wouldn’t be much left to look at, we turned around and headed back. We then walked towards the Togetsu-kyo Bridge, which has a history of over 1000 years. We walked across the bridge, explored the area there, and checked out some of the food vendors. One of our favourites was yatsuhashi – a triangle shaped pastry stuffed with various flavours. We had a lot of fun sampling all of the flavours! A lot of locals would be walking around with pickles on a stick. I finally decided to see what all of the fuss was, and it was actually so good! It didn’t taste like a pickle at all (as in it wasn’t vinegary), but instead, it had a salty lemon flavour. We also tried yuba & cheese, which is basically the skin of tofu stuffed with cheese and deep fried – so good! And of course, I always ate anything made with mochi. Brie had suggested doing the Sagano Romantic Train, which goes along the river with nice views. It’s a bit pricey – about $10 one way, and you really only get a view for about half the time because the view switches to the other side of the train. We all figured that we could probably get the same views if we just took a regular train and got off at the different stops. After that, the girls wanted to go to a temple (which I had also had on my list), but I still wanted to go to Nara and since it was supposed to rain the next day, I knew that this would be my only opportunity. I said goodbye to Brie and Farzaneh, and headed to Kyoto Station to take the one-hour train ride to Nara.
Nara is mostly known for its deer park, which is exactly why I was going. Once I got there, it was about a 20 minute walk to the park or you could take a bus. I opted to walk and also walked through the temple grounds on the way by. Once I got to the park, it had just started to drizzle. I saw that some people were feeding the deer and you could buy some deer cookies from a local vendor for 200 yen. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, but I met a girl from the United States and she convinced me to make sure I did it. Luckily I decided to buy the cookies when I did because right after, it started raining and the vendor packed up his stuff (and the deer all ran away into the forest). I followed the deer into the forest and it was a lot quieter since most of the people had left once it started raining. The rain didn’t last long, so I was able to enjoy some time hanging out with the deer. I basically had to walk away immediately after feeding a deer or it would keep head-butting me, and I had read that they can sometimes get aggressive. However, it was such a cool experience to be able to be close to such majestic creatures!
After spending some time with the deer, I walked back towards the train station and decided that I might as well stop in Osaka for dinner. It would be another 45 minutes there from Nara, but apparently if I took the bullet train back to Kyoto, it would only take 15 minutes! (Spoiler alert: I didn’t end up getting this train back so it took longer). As soon as I got off the train in Osaka, everything was flooded with people again and I instantly felt stressed. I headed to the main food street called Doutonbori Street, which was quite flashy and busy. It seemed like if a restaurant didn’t have a large octopus or lobster or anything large on the side of its building, it wouldn’t be allowed on the street. It reminded me of being in Las Vegas. It also started raining as soon as I got to Osaka, so I decided to go into a restaurant called Kura, so that I could finally get a proper taste of sushi. This was a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, but you could also order your own dishes from the iPad that was at every table. When I got there, it was about 7:30 and you had to go to a screen to reserve your spot. Two people had walked in before me, so I watched them click that they needed a table for two, and then I saw that their table would be ready after 9pm. Was I really willing to wait that long for a table? I didn’t have long enough to decide because I was already next, and there was a server there to help. When I said for one, he didn’t even let me touch the screen and then he took me to another screen that printed out a receipt with an 18 on it. “Oh, this is how long I wait?” “No, this is your table number.” So I got to walk past the huge crowd of people that were waiting for a table and go straight to my own table. See? There are perks to travelling alone! I got to my little area, which had a curtain behind me, so I was completely isolated except for the conveyor belt in front of me. I wondered where everything was (chopsticks, soy sauce, etc.) and then I realised that the table could be lifted up, and there were storage areas inside the table! AND they had a bottle of gluten-free soy sauce!!! (The location in Kyoto didn’t though, but the one in Tokyo did!). I decided to just order from the iPad. I was shocked when after a few minutes, the dishes just showed up in front of me – I could definitely get used to this! I wasn’t as adventurous this time around, but I had some tuna and salmon, some albacore (wasn’t a huge fan), an amazing crab-topped avocado dish (which wasn’t at any of the other locations that I went to), and something called a probiotic drink (it was good, and I had it again the next two times I went). The dishes are all quite cheap, 132 yen each (unless it’s a special dish) and then when you’re done with your plates, there’s a slot that you can drop them down. Once you drop 5 plates, you can play a “game” to try to win a prize (the game is really just watching a show on a screen – you didn’t have to do anything). It wasn’t until the end of my meal that I realised that there was green tea powder in the table compartment – I had thought that they were only supplying hot water! Rookie mistake. After I was happily full, I had to pay. The receipt that I got at the beginning had a QR code on it, so I had to go to a self-checkout, scan the QR code, and either insert the right amount of cash or scan my card. So high-tech! Literally spent the entire service not having to talk to anyone – my kind of dining! Luckily the rain had stopped so I walked up and down Doutonburi Street, as well as the river. I finally decided to head back to Osaka station so I could take the train back to Kyoto. There must be a time that the bullet train stops, because I ended up having to take the slower train, which took about 45 minutes. I got to my hostel quite late, and went to bed.
The next day was the day of rain. And I don’t mean 15 minutes of heavy rain, and then it stops. Nor do I mean a light drizzle all day. This was a full-on heavy rain that lasted the entire day. No, it didn’t slow down or stop. I only had my water-resistant pants and my rain jacket so in the morning, I walked 5 minutes to the nearest cafe (Dot Coffee). I was soaked by the time I got there! However, it was worth it because I got the biggest coffee that I’ve had in Japan (usually they give the tiniest cups). They also had gluten-free Basque cake, so I tried one of those. I tried to work on my blog, but had no motivation. After hanging out in the cafe for longer than I probably should have, I headed back to my hostel to decide what to do. Again, I was soaking so I just hung out for as long as I could, until the guilt took over (I find it very difficult to just sit and waste a day when I could be exploring. Even when I was sick in the Philippines, I felt guilty and was trying to convince myself to do something). After a couple of hours, I decided that I’d walk towards the shopping arcades because at least I’d have a roof over my head. However, I’d still have to walk 20 minutes to get there. I decided that once I’d get there, I’d try out a Nepalese restaurant but on the way, I saw another Kura Sushi. I was starving… why not? I walked in and there was a huge group of people in the waiting room. I went to the screen to click one person, got my receipt with my number, and sat down in the waiting room. Less than 30 seconds later, my number came up on the screen (it’s exactly like a doctor’s office haha), so I headed to the next screen as all of the people in the waiting room watched me go, probably wondering how I got to go so fast when I just walked in. I went to the next screen to put my number in and then it printed out another receipt with my table number on it. This time, I was a bit more adventurous. I still had salmon, tuna, and shrimp, but I also tried salmon belly (still prefer regular salmon), scallop, and horse mackerel. And I have to say that scallop might be my new favourite kind of sushi, although I’ll probably never have it again because I don’t think I would trust any other sushi places outside of Japan. I also had a Warabimochi desert, which is a mochi made of something called warabi starch (as opposed to regular mochi, which is glutinous rice flour). After lunch, I walked around all of the arcades and shops for a couple of hours, and then I found a coffee shop (a chain called Doutor) to try Japanese bubble tea. Again, I tried to write my blog but had no motivation. Farzaneh messaged and asked where I was, so she met up with me. We chatted in the cafe before deciding to get dinner at the Nepalese place that I was planning to go to earlier (Yak & Yeti). I ended up getting a set meal, which was so much food! It came with an appetiser, curry, rice, salad, and ended with ice cream. We finished at around 9:30, so we said our final goodbye (since I was heading back to Tokyo the next day). I did the 20 minute walk back to my hostel (the rain STILL hadn’t slowed down or stopped) and was drenched again by the time I got back.
The next morning, I got up and headed to Dot Cafe once again to have a coffee and this time try the matcha basque cake. Then I headed back to my hostel to pack everything up, check out, and take the subway to Kyoto train station. My time in Kyoto was unfortunately done, and it was my favourite part of my time in Japan. It was time to head back to Tokyo for one final night in Japan. Love always
Prairie Girl Abroad 