Kyoto, Japan

Early morning, set off to Kyoto with two others (Joseph and Abraham). Took us quite a while to get there, having to take the hankyu bus, subway, and JR line. But at last, we made it to Kyoto a little before 12pm.

Was greeted by Hiroko who I met as one of the Japanese supporter’s friends during our trip to the aquarium. She, her friend, and her friend’s brother were our tour guides for the day. Let me just say they are the sweetest people ever! Yuka’s brother, Nobu, wouldn’t let us pay for anything (we had to literally argue to pay for dinner) and he drove us all around Kyoto just to show us around (:

Our first stop was lunch at a ramen place as Abraham has never had ramen since coming to Japan. Ramen and gyoza, yum. Then we set off for Kinkaku-ji, which is Kyoto’s golden pavilion. Quite a sight as it’s painted in gold and surrounded by beautiful gardens and a tea house. We got fortunes there and I ended up with a pretty good one, please do bless me with such luck!

After Kinkaku-ji, we go across town to Arashiyama to check out the Bamboo Forest and hike up to Monkey Park. The Bamboo Forest is easily the most gorgeous sight I’ve seen in Japan yet. Hiking up to Monkey Park was quite a feat and we got to feed the wild monkeys right when we got up there. There was also a boar and birds up there, kind of random.

Next stop was Gion, which is the district known for geishas. It’s a very traditional block filled with tourists and local restaurants. Of course, our luck wasn’t by our side and we didn’t see any geishas, but we did spot many people in yukatas–not the same.

Dinner was AYCE yakiniku at Chi Fa Ja, which is a restaurant my sensei recommended to the class. Yakiniku is very similar to KBBQ and not gonna lie, nothing beats KBBQ brisket. But damn, Japanese yakiniku is on a whole another level. Their short ribs, literally melted in my mouth. And I’m normally not a fan of pork belly kalbi, but damn, Japan does it so well. IT WAS SO GOOD. Got my fix of meat and am so satisfied with that meal.

Spent two hours at dinner so we only had about an hour left in Kyoto before we had to catch the train back to Osaka. We decided to shop around the area Chi Fa Ja was at. Bought some yatsuhashi omiyage for Andy per request, and I get to see him next weekend in Tokyo! Super stoked, but not excited for what’s going to be a crazy amount of tourists and people.Read more