Japan Part II

Here we are during our time in Kyoto. Notice how I accidentally matched the temple?? Hehe.
I’ve been so grateful for having my own personal tour guide (aka my hubby) to take me around the beautiful sites, recommend food I will like and translate for me when needed. It’s made for a lovely stress-free stay and you can find my Kyoto recap and list of recommendations at the bottom of the post.

At the Fushimi Inari Temple

We biked all over the city that day. So nice to have the breeze.

Found some Japanese street food. Hubby can’t resist a meat stick.

The many red gates that create a hallway

Climbing our way up to the Kiyomizu temple. Just had to stop when I saw peach soft-serve.

We liked how you can see the city-scape behind the beautiful temple giving off incense.

Kyoto:

Stayed at: Piece Hostel Tokyo
We loved our stay here. It is very well-kept and clean, the location is perfect next to the subway station, and free yummy breakfast. We booked a private room and there was not much walking room but it is nice and cozy. And they rent bikes for cheap which is really useful, especially on a hot day when it’s nice to have a breeze going from site to site.

Food: My sis-in-law recommended us to go to the top of Kyoto Station where they have restaurants. Just visiting there is a fun experience in and of itself because it’s a ginormous train station with tons of shopping, food and even some entertainment especially at night. But at the top there is a floor full of ramen shops and they are amazing. We ate some spicy ramen and gyoza there and it just doesn’t get an yummier or more authentic than that.

Activities:

• Fushimi Inari temple: this is the temple with the thousands of red gates. It’s beautiful and a definite visit.
• Kiyomizu temple: We biked to the Fushimi Inari temple and then this one and they are pretty convenient for biking to since they both have bike parking lots. This one is an experience even when walking up the big hill on your way to the temple. You will be eating many samples, so go with an empty stomach! Very fun and a good place to buy souvenirs.
• Bamboo Forest: Such a beautiful place and perfect for photos because the bamboo makes it shady. 
• Day trip to Nara: Nara is home to tons of deer that just roam the streets. We visited the Todai-ji temple and they all over, letting you pet them and feed them (they sell deer food all over as well). And another beautiful temple.

Hope this is helpful for your next Japan trip! For more questions on Kyoto, or Niigata, Tokyo and Hiroshima, don’t be afraid to leave a comment or shoot me an email.