Arashiyama, Japan

Arashiyama, Japan

Hello.

  Here's a continuation of my trip. Despite our jam-packed schedule, we made a day-trip to experience the sights and sounds of Kyoto.

We hopped on the JR Sagano Line and get going. Halfway through, we tried a stand-alone udon stall at one of the transit station and which is cheap and savory.

Us while waiting for JR train:

The trip was made easy for us as there were many tourists commuting to Saga-Arashiyama. We went on a Saturday and as expected, it was more crowded than on weekdays.

Without much planning prior to arrival, we decided to visit a few of the notable attractions and let the rest of the journey takes its course.

On the Togetsukyo bridge:

I have seen nicer pictures around, probably there were other better days for better views on the bridge.

Around the bridge:

Kyoto was flooded with tourists and Japanese visitors alike on Saturday. We followed the crowd through Togetsukyo Bridge and made our way up to the Monkey Park Iwatayama.

Despite the crowd, B got a good picture:

The entrance of Monkey Park which is situated near the end of the bridge:

The distance of the Monkey hut went beyond our expectations. It was quite a workout, about 20 minutes of climbing before reaching the peak where the monkeys are.

We are reaching... I surrender.

Hey you, get out of the way.

View of Japanese buildings. It is actually therapeutic from above, especially when there were fewer people and more space. The weather played a part in providing comfort.

We got feeds over the counter and fed the monkeys through the fence. Apart from monkey-feeding and watching, the view is worth the workout. We went downhill and tried taking on the longest slide we ever seen.

I hope the stairs provided a good gauge of the actual length.

We had ice cream the first thing we went down. It was not too bad, but the ice cream shop (nearest to toilet) in Shiraito Falls sells really good matcha ice cream! Kyoto was chilly and we felt colder than we were in Tokyo. Gloves or headwear might be a good idea if you are heading to Kyoto in November.

Picture worthy momiji on the way to Tenryuji Temple.

Shyashin o torimasen ka?

Everyone there was trying to get the perfect shot but we do not have the luxury of time... We took a few pictures quickly and left.

If I were to share one travelling tip, it would be to bring sunglasses/shades everywhere! It is almost impossible to look bad in photos with sunnies.

We did not pay to go in because we prefer to go to the Bamboo Groves which is free, and we had already visited a few temples before Tenryuji.

The Bamboo Groves has a relaxing atmosphere to it. We were hoping for photo opportunities but there were too many people around... I could only say we tried our best.

One lousy badly taken wefie to prove our presence:

Snackers we got in the streets of Kyoto. Both tasted like fishcake/yong tao foo anyway.

This ends our trip to Kyoto.

Overall: ⋆⋆⋆⋆
In summary, Kyoto has many shrines which works on pay-per-visit. I could only imagine how tranquil it would be like if there were fewer people. I do not recommend anyone to visit on weekends... Probably reserve the weekends for malls and streets like Harajuku? In that case there are more to see (Harajuku girls on Sunday) and more photo opportunities less the hordes of visitors.

Many shops in Kyoto seems commercialized, at least to us. Most of the food are more expensive than they are in Tokyo.

In the later part we visited Kyoto Arashiyama Orgel Museum which cost about JPY 1,000 (SGD 12) per head. They have a couple of great musical box collection but the tour was conducted fully in Japanese. The merchandise were disappointed though.

There were some interesting places such as the Kami God (Hair God) selling mini hair comb charms for healthy hair, and the Hozu River Boat Tour we missed out due to the lack of time.

I wished we have brought a better camera for the trip but what's done is done. I would make it happen for the next subsequent trips though!

Mount Fuji, Japan

1-Day Mt. Fuji Golden Tour

Hi all,

  I am back to document another fraction of our Japan trip in November. For convenience sake, we booked a day-tour from Japanican.com to visit Mount Fuji, which came up to JPY 12,800 (about SGD 70+ per pax).

We head first for Mount Fuji, and we were lucky as we can get. The skies are clear and Mount Fuji is beautiful even from afar.

Us in the bus:

Mount Fuji on the very day:

We picked the right wing of the bus, but the left obviously has a better view.

No later, the bus was on it's way to the 5th station of Mount Fuji.

Mount Fuji 5th Station

As the sky darkens early in cooler places, time is not on our side. We alighted and tried to make the best use of the 30 or 40 minutes we have, taking in the beautiful scenery and skipped the shops, as the souvenirs are too pricey for our liking.

Oshino Hakkai

Our next stop is Oshino Hakkai. Known for it's water catchment areas, we were expecting some photo taking spots.

We arrived at a small village lined with food stalls and souvenir shops. I bought a packet of fresh rice crackers from the local shops and it was extremely saltish! I threw the whole bag away.

There were 8 ponds in the area and we managed to cover at least 4 of them. We walked around but there was nothing outstanding. The only highlight is probably our first taste of spring water from the drinking spot, which was fresh and very different from purified water we drink everyday.

Found a picture worthy spot in Oshino Hakkai:

We ate a scallop fishcake snack along the way and it is tasty. Not sure what it is but the scallops are succulent and sweet.

We wander around for a little while and waited in the bus before moving on to our next destination.

Lake Kawaguchi

We did not opt for lunch prior to the tour and we did some walking on our own. Although we had some difficulty finding decent convenience food but the view is worthwhile.

We popped by a resting station with heating and had oden from the nearby convenience store.

Pictures have failed to depict how beautiful the place was. If I were to go again I would make it a point to bring a better camera. And extra batteries!

Shiraito Falls came up next and we saw some moo moos along the way.

Who knew you could get a picture perfect view of Mount Fuji near Shiraito Falls?

*Faster selfie with Mount Fuji*

Shiraito Falls

The only 2 decent photos I have of the falls before our cameras died:

The falls were alright in our opinion but my top pick for scenery would be the 5th station and Lake Kawaguchi.

Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha

We ended up in Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha as the sky darkens. We captured some pictures with what was left of our camera and handphone batteries combined.

Some pond in the shrine. We noticed some taps in the temple grounds and I managed to ask some Japanese ladies if the water is drinkable, and the answer is yes! Apparently it is good for health or something along the line and without hesitation we fill our bottles.

This was where we were taught the proper way to pray to the shinto gods and we did it the right way throughout the rest of our Japan trip.

Overall: ⋆⋆⋆⋆
The trip is close to perfect because we were accompanied by lovely, clear weather and unblock, panoramic views of Fujisan. We must have ran out of luck on the way back because we were plagued by a traffic jam which took about 1 hour or so to clear up.

We have to credit our tour guide, Marie for being professional and helpful. She is helpful and informative as can be.

We would definitely recommend this tour to any first-timers to Japan, despite the time limitations as of most of the day tours. Probably the experience is contingent on the weather, but everything went smoothly and we are thankful for it.