Arima Onsen, Kyoto and Uji on a solo trip (part 2)

Kyoto

There's really no singular picture that really represents Kyoto. There is the old and new, and the touristy and yet tranquil peaceful gardens. In fact, I don't think I have spent enough time in Kyoto and would love to come back for more.



The irritating thing about Kyoto was that there is literally no way you could walk from the north to the south exit of the station without either going underground or climbing to the second storey of the station. This is because the trains run through the first story and the whole area is blocked if you do not enter using  a pass.

This is fine unless you are intending to pass through the station late at night. Both the second storey and B1 entrances and exits are CLOSED at night. So literally, there's no way you can pass through unless you take some very long tedious way, which I did because most of the attractions are on the North but Piece Hostel was on the South!

The first place I stayed at was Piece hostel in an 8-bed female dorm. The hostel is new and just opened in 2014 and therefore it was spanking clean. The beds were really wide and I spent one of the best nights sleeping there. There was also a night light and several electrical power points you could use in your bed cubicle. In your dorm was also a small locker with a key combination you could use.

The funky lounge area of Piece Hostel

The breakfast, a simple meal of Miso soup with rice and buns, was free. But I didn't bother with that as it was so crowded. I ordered a coffee from their cool bar instead. It was passable.

An embarrassing thing happened here. I was walking around in the morning with the back of my dress unzipped (yes I forgot to zip it, very normal for me), and nobody bothered to tell me until I checked out of the hostel and met a kind pedestrian.

Isetan Bento Section

I had this on the day I arrived in Kyoto. It's cheap and delicious. The variety of bento boxes at Isetan is just amazing!

Tea Room Juan
I also attended a Tea ceremony at Tea Room Juan, which is within walking distance from Kyoto station, but hidden in an alleyway, so it took me some time to find it. My host, Naoko, welcomed me as the only person in attendance during the 4pm session.

She was very nice and even offered to take pictures of me pretending to pour tea. She explained the cultural background behind tea. What I was surprised at was that this tea ceremony idea was actually from China, and originally, all the feudal lords who were rich enough to build their own consecrated tea rooms, imported the tea materials and water pots all from China!

Daitokuji Zen Gardens

I also went to the Daitokuji Temple. It's a complex of several temples and beautiful zen gardens. Each temple has an entrance fee. I went into two of the most popular temple complexes Daisenin and Ryogenin. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of Daisenin, the most popular one, but it was an interesting walk and I even managed to talk to the monk there, who tried to speak to me in English. All the stone pattens and arrangements have different meanings and represent the different stages in one's life. There were also all sorts of souvenirs for sale and I bought a Zen book there.

Izusen Daijiinten 

Right next to Daitokuji Temple, was a beautiful vegetarian Ryori restaurant called Izusen. There, I was served a cup of beautiful matcha and ordered this delicious two-tiered vegetarian set. I think I'm officially in love with yuba.

Even though it's all vegetarian, it was delicious and filling, and very delicate and artistically arranged.

Shoren-in temple
I also visited the Shoren-in temple, recommended by Insidekyoto (in fact, many of my visitations are based on InsideKyoto). You can also see Shoren-in in the video below. It's a beautiful place with huge wooden beams and a beautiful garden you can watch and enjoy while drinking a cup of matcha tea.

Most temples require you to take off your shoes before entering

Jojo Izakaya

I tried this quaint little izakaya buried in a nondescript street about a 5-mins walk north of Kyoto station. You would have missed it if you hadn't known it was there.It was another recommendation by Inside Kyoto. It was on the basement floor of this building that looked like a very drab apartment. If you hadn't walked inside, you wouldn't have seen the sign and door that lead to the basement. The atmosphere was definitely very local and this was proven by the waiter immediately seating me and handing me a menu in Japanese. I was so used to places being able to distinguish me as "gaijin" that I was shocked for a while, and contemplated using my meagre Japanese to ask for recommendations. Then, I decided to try asking if they had an English menu (in Japanese of course), and thank heavens they did.

The food was homely and delicious, I had a lovely clam soup, some stew and tofu. Exactly what I needed after a long day of walking around.

Funaoka Onsen

Nestled near Funaokayama Park, along Kurama-guchi dori, lies Kyoto’s best known public bath – Funaoka Onsen. I don’t know why it is called an onsen, as it isn’t a hot spring. As for why is it Kyoto’s best public bath, I have no clue either. You have to buy your own bath towel and soap if you didn’t bring your own. And the towel is tiny!

It has quite a few soaking pools, including an immensely large one in the middle, which is electrified. Yes it is an electric bath, and you wouldn’t notice it until you are in it. Being a typical tourist, I just stepped into the biggest bath available. It was then I noticed a signboard that warned bathers that it is an electric bath, and people with heart problems shouldn’t use it. Then I looked around and noticed there were metal plates attached to the walls in the adjourning pool that joins to the main bath.

Maybe I was scaring myself, but I began to feel mild tingling in my feet, like pins and needles. Then I felt the tingling crawling up my skin. It wasn’t painful but it was a little weird, and definitely prevented me from being totally relaxed in the warm water.

I decided to switch to a smaller pool. There was one, about 2x2 metres, which had searingly hot water. Perhaps about 50-60 degrees? Or at least it felt that way. I switched to another similar sized pool with reddish water. There was a narrow ledge in the pool you could sit on. That one felt a little more comfortable, with a lovely warm-hot temperature.

Garden with cypress tub

Then I decided to try the cypress tub, which resided in the tiniest garden. It was an outdoor bath and it could only take four adults max. There were already 3 adults, so I stepped in, and stayed there for about 5-mins before I got really bored and disappointed with the luke-warm water. Definitely not the hinoki tub experience I was hoping for.

There was a private little bath area indoors that had a shower system dripping hot water into a tub that only fits one person. I think the water droplets are meant to massage the skin as it falls. It’s not a bad feeling, and it’s quite soothing.

With the exception of a cold pool, that’s all the pools that were available. In the changing room, lockers were free but you had to pay for the use of a hair dryer. I would say it’s Kyoto’s best public bath because of the variety of interesting pools, but it’s definitely not the best looking one.

Ryokan Uemura (Gion)

The next day, I stayed at budget ryokan Uemura. I think Mrs Uemura, who runs the place, must be really old, but yet she's got such a youthful vibe and is a warm and motherly kind of person. She speaks good English too.

Check out my room at Uemura Ryokan:

Welcome Tea and snack in my room upon arrival

Mrs Uemura prepared a hearty and delicious Japanese breakfast for me the next day

My pretty night light

Gion Night Walk
On my first day in Kyoto, I went for the Waraido Tours Gion Night walk. As it was a Friday night, there were nearly 60 people in my group.

It was an interesting tour and I learnt some things I haven't previously read about. For example, okiya and ochaya can clearly be distinguished by a black little signboard outside some of the geisha quarters. Also, gion is beautiful at night, especially along the river, where you can see pretty street lights and willow (?) trees bowing to the ryokan, almost as if paying tribute to the artistry and tradition of the geisha quarters. You can view a short video of some parts of the tour here.

It's really lovely to walk around in Kyoto and even their commercial streets are immaculately paved. I thoroughly enjoyed this hour-long walk from Kyoto station to Gion as everything is so pretty.

I also went to this dessert shop called Kagizen Yoshifusa (pictured above), which is very famous and there was a queue of people waiting to be seated inside. There I ordered a Matcha Tea and sweet set, but honestly, I wasn't very impressed. Pretty as it looked, it wasn't really worth my 800 yen and I thought the tea tasted a bit bland. Honestly the best matcha tea I had was at Isuzen, and it was offered free!

 Izuju Sushi



After reading this blog on the best Kyoto style sushi, I decided that I must try this. I attempted to visit this restaurant at 8pm on my second night in Kyoto, but unfortunately it was already closed. I tried again the next morning at 11am , during my last day in Kyoto and fortunately, even though I already had a heavy breakfast at Uemura, it was opened and queues were already forming.

I ordered the most famous sushi, Sabazushi (pickled mackerel on sushi rice), for about 2000yen. Not cheap, but it was good, slightly salty with natural rich flavours of the mackerel, all the goodness just packed tightly into that 6 slices of giant sushi. The restaurant looks really quaint too and has an old-school kind of feel.

Oh the sabazushi really yummy, although it's not your conventional sushi, I'm salivating just thinking of the rich natural flavours.

Geisha / Maiko Makeover

I had decided I was going to do this since I wasn't going to waste my time hanging around just trying to spot Geisha (called Geiko in Kyoto). While doing some research before my trip to Kyoto, I noticed some websites saying that some of the Geisha or Maiko (apprentice geisha) who seem too happy to have their photos taken aren't actually real. They are tourists who went for a makeover. And I thought, why not? Why not get a decent photo of myself as a Maiko instead of wasting my energy stalking them?

I decided to do more research and settled on this studio called Yumekoubou in Gion (they have one at Kyoto station too). They seem to be the one that is most reliable and more popular and I was pretty sure they would do a good job. I chose the Maiko package because it was cheaper and the hair accessories were prettier. I think I got a pretty good deal, they were having a promotion and instead of their usual 9000 yen I only paid 6000 yen.

The photographers could speak English and the makeup was all done in an hour. I got 8 photos in total as part of the package and the photographer burned everything for me in a CD. Some of the photos were rather retarded, like one where I had to hold this rattan ball and smile, but there were at least 3 good photos that I really liked. My favourite is the one above.

Coincidentally, my other half was telling me about this movie he watched, called Sakuran, it's about prostitutes in feudal Japan, and the highest class prostitute (or the top prostitute) of any brothel is usually called an Oiran. She's the one with the most elaborate dress. I was walking past some shop houses where I saw an Oiran makeover service! Wow. It's pretty expensive though, at 12,500yen. They also offer other fantasy character packages.

Washi Paper
I got these washi souvenirs from Wagaminomise Morita Washi at the recommendation of Inside Kyoto again. I hung them up in my office cubicle and everyone is saying how pretty it looks.

Uji

I think Uji is the most beautiful place in Kyoto and that's where I spent my last day. Check it out.

Back to Part One.