So, on our third day, we met a new friend and spent one full day in Kyoto. Meet Jun!

Just kidding – we did meet a new friend named Jun. He is Mhealler’s former workmate from when he was working back for a law firm. He was our tour guide for the day, and we were very lucky to have a local show us around! Our original plan was to go to Kobe through a rental car, but since it was raining, we decided to just take the train to Kyoto instead.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Our first stop was the Fushimi Inari Shrine – famous for its clustered Tori gates that make up a walkway all towards the top of a hill. Despite the rain, there were so many people on this specific day that it was a struggle to walk through the gates, with everyone carrying their umbrellas. Taking a decent photo with this crowd was difficult. But, when there is a will, there is a way! We managed to get a few good shots both inside and outside the Tori gates.

We didn’t go all the way to the top since the rain didn’t seem to want to stop, and we didn’t want to tire ourselves – we had a full day of walking ahead! After taking some more photos, we went back to the train station for our next stop – Kiyomizu-dera.

Lunch

This was already around lunch time so we looked for a restaurant along the way. A lot of the restaurants were closed (I don’t remember if this was a holiday in Japan), while most of those that were open were Udon restaurants, and we didn’t feel like having Udon today. We started heading up the hill to Kiyomizu-dera, and stumbled upon this quaint cafe that served curry and pasta (literally just 2 options).

Kiyomizu-dera

Kiyomizu-dera is one of my favorite temples to visit – again, if not for the crowd! It’s one of the most famous tourist-spot in Kyoto, so even the streets heading to the temple is packed. The best time to visit Kiyomizu-dera is in Autumn because the colors of the trees are breathtaking. We were a few weeks early so the leaves were still green, and the main building was also under construction – but we still enjoyed taking a lot of photos!

Kiyomizu means “clear water”, and was built because of the natural spring that runs along this mountain (Otowa Waterfall). When visiting, make sure to partake in this cleansing ritual where you wash your hands and your mouth with the water from the spring.

After going around the temple grounds, it was time for our next stop – an area near Kiyomizu-dera, where one could step back in time to two to three thousand years ago.

Ninenzaka

Ninenzaka (and Sannenzaka) are a pair of streets downhill from Kiyomizu-dera that has well-preserved architecture from historical Japan. In short – it’s the most Instagrammable area in Kyoto, if you want something different from the usual temples. There are a lot of souvenir and specialty shops, restaurants and coffee shops along this street. This is also where you can find the internet-famous Japanese Starbucks (at least when it opened a couple of years ago).

We decided to have our coffee at a local coffee shop instead of this one, because it’s still Starbucks, right? We sat our tired butts and drank our warm coffee in Inoda Coffee (est. 1940).

After our quick break, we continued walking around the area, taking more photos and goggling at souvenirs we couldn’t buy (LOL), until we headed to our next stop!

Ryozen Kannon Statue & Maruyama Park

Our next stop was a big Buddha statue in another temple nearby. Unfortunately, the place was already closed when we got there. We settled for a photo from the closed gate – I didn’t get a decent shot, but just to give you an idea of how it looks like, in case you want to visit it – this is the statue:

As the temple was closed, we then proceeded to Maruyama park, which was so picturesque, despite the rain. We ended up spending a lot of time here taking photos and just laughing at each other’s poses!

It was getting dark already, so we started heading to the nearest train station. We were already very tired at this point and Osaka felt like a million miles away (okay, just exaggerating). It was a long way to the train station, too. I remember walking around Gion and Hannah looking for the nearest restroom for at least three times before we got back to our Airbnb in Osaka!

Dinner & Karaoke!

We rested for a few minutes before we headed out again for dinner. Jun took us to a very good restaurant that served duck soup, which I loved and up to this day, still think about. Their specialty dish was a little expensive so we just ordered the most affordable ones off the menu – but these were still so good! I would come back to this restaurant next time and order the real thing! Jun also ended up treating us for dinner, which was super nice of him!

After dinner, we went to a karaoke place to end a long and tiring, but fun day! Jun only stayed an hour with us since he had work the next morning – we tried our best to make him stay with alcohol and our great Japanese singing skills (HAHA) – but sadly he had to go home early!

We stayed for two more hours after Jun left, and to be honest, I barely remember anything after that! As per Hannah, we were already very rowdy on the way back home, and she was scared that we’d be arrested or something! Haha. Well, Japanese people do love their alcohol so I guess that’s normal! She also mentioned that this was our most expensive Karaoke to-date, but to me – this is definitely one for the books!

That’s the end of Day 3! A teaser for Day 4 – a policeman visits us in our Airbnb! Oh no!!!