Rise and shine! Gotten quite used to the time here.
Waking up at 8am is actually 7am in Singapore.
The shrine nearest to our hotel had pigeons. LOTS of pigeons.
It costs 100yen for a packet of pigeon feeding stuff.
Outside the shrine. You can see Kyoto Tower in the distance.
We walk past this place every morning to get to Kyoto Station.
Bus route map. Outside the shrine.
Huge KOIs and turtles in the moat surrounding the shrine.
Pachinko games nearby.
We don't know. Really.
Morning crowd at the station. See the conductor guy on the right packing people into the bus.
Even though the train routes are all in Japanese, you will eventually get to
where you want to go by asking enough people. lol.
We're heading to the western outskirts of Kyoto, to Arashiyama and Sagano.
This Wilson and his iPhone~
After about 30 minutes, we're here!
They have a sort of pointing ritual they have to do everytime
the train departs to check if the platforms are clear.
Priority Seats. Turn off your handphones when near these seats.
Arashiyama is where we're headed.
Got a bit lost as soon as we left the station.
This nice parking guard pointed us in the right direction.
So nice to ride around in such cool weather!
They have tons of isotonic drinks in their vending machines. Been trying all sorts.
Finally we got the the road we were looking for. See the row of shops?
All tourist traps! We knew we were at the right place xD
Entrance.
Wilson thought these were maple trees. Turns out they weren't.
Me.
Tenryu-ji. One of the Historical Monuments of Kyoto, a sign at the entrance.
Closer view. Each of these Monuments had Gold Plated coins for 500yen.
We bought one at Kyoto tower. I think there's like an entire series of these coins.
Tickets! I think these were 700yen per person.
This place looks like fantasy land in winter. They had photos of the place in all 4 seasons.
Wash hands? Drink?
Wilson getting his macro shots.
Bamboo Grove!
This was the reason we came all the way to the outskirts of Kyoto.
It's a strange feeling to walk through really really tall poles.
Got owned by spiderwebs a couple times. There were LOTS of spiderwebs.
Map of the grove.
My chinese F9, so no subtitles here.
It's actually a one way path from the bamboo grove.
You can't return to the main entrance of the Tenryu-ji.
So we pushed on towards the Togetsu Bridge, another attraction.
It was a long winding walk through the forest. Decided to talk a detour to this Summit Observatio Deck.
'Where we are' signs.
Found the place, saw this old man working out.
The view was awesome.
River down below, mountains all round.
Seems like there was a boat cruise going on below.
We were wondering how to get down there.
Blogging again.
There's a whole series of Mr Wilson blogging on his iPhone at various locations.
We should get sponsored by Apple.
We spent quite some time, i think an hour? Walking through the foresty
place trying to find our way to the bridge.
Eventually we got out and found this cozy little eating
place beside the river we saw from high above.
The menus were all in japanese and we sat on mats.
No chairs here. Made it all the more cozy.
Eventually the owner gave us a pictured menu after several failed attempts at ordering. lol.
Group shot!
DELICIOUS!
Wilson says this was the best soba he's ever had.
Imagine eating a hot bowl of ramen here in winter.
Snow everywhere. Awwww man. We need to come back here in winter.
Thats where we were, along the river after getting out of the forest up north.
Strolling along the river bank towards the bridge in the distance.
This is where the river cruise starts.
Random cute car.
Random red umbrella outside a restaurant.
Which was really red.
Dam just before the bride.
Turn left from the dam and you'll see the bridge up ahead.
More of these trishaw guys in ninja footwear.
No girl pullers here though.
Cross street before the bridge. Busy busy.
Crossing the bridge.
Gay shots along the stone beach.
Shopped around for a bit before deciding to head back.
Really tired from the earlier trek through the forest. Had some ice-cream to perk up. :D
At the station this tourist couple, i think, speaking Swedish?
Asked me how to get to some station. I tried my best to reply in english,
but i think they didn't understand anyways. lol.
Another long standing trip.
Got our first taste of the rush hour traffic in Japan.
Headed back to our hotel to rest and recharge before heading out to the
shopping area we found while cycling around yesterday.
Yoshinoya!
This is the shopping district in Kyoto. Looks a bit like London ya.
Wilson bought stones at the store next to this long queue.
We didn't try what they were selling though. Wasn't really hungry.
Went back instead to queue for this sticky rice and roasted honey thing. Awesomes.
On our way back to the Kamo river. We've gotten quite familar with the surrounding
areas around our hotel thanks to the bike trip.
Dinner from 7-eleven. Rice and tuna. Nice.
Walked further down to another shopping district. This place was 'hipper' lots of teens.
One of the sidestreets.
Bought toothpaste. Didn't bring enough.
This was the street i bought my shoes from. 16800yen can! S$230 zomg.
UFO machines!
Cute hor! Wanted to try, but, nah.
Had a super awkward moment in this store.
We were waiting in the queue when we realized there were only 2 guys in the entire shop. Us. lol. It was filled with school girls. The cashier looked like Ayumi with
super incredible make up and wavey hair.
Supper! I love the 7-elevens here.
You could have all 3 meals from there and still live a healthy life.
Their selection is just insane.
Anyways, that's all for Day 3!