Day 9 - Kyoto - Being Dorks Around Kyoto

Our last full day in Kyoto, we dedicated to an adventure up Fushimi-Inari, and a trip across town to see Kinkaku-ji - the golden temple (related to Ginkaku-ji which we saw yesterday).

Today was no different to our normal mornings, waking up between 8.30 and 9:00am, before showering and heading into town looking forward to what the day would bring us. As we had found that the quickest route to the somewhat awkwardly located Fushimi-Inari (temples on the side of a mountain with lots of gates) was south east of the city, we decided to go via Kyoto central station, book our tickets on the Shinkansen for Tokyo [tomorrow] then back out by subway.

Before making our commute, we headed into Teramachi for breakfast at a Tully's Coffee, another cafe chain popular in Japan. There we had 2-stack pancakes - I went for the ever pleasing chocolate and banana, while Adelaide tired the strawberries and cream. We got a cheese on toast to share and, of course, got some coffee. I still haven't warmed up to Japanese coffee and must admit I think Australia does it better. That said, their green tea is amazing.

Towards the end of breakfast, Addy had somehow smeared cream on her arm... which we then discovered had made it's way to the top of her pants and arm rest. No one else saw, but it made for an interesting morning topic, as well as a search around the table and on our persons to see if it had escaped any further. The wet towelettes that are provided with each meal turned out to be very helpful.

Before the cream disaster of 10 am

Despite it was Saturday, the shopping precinct in Kyoto was still late to rise - a fact I found a little unusual, as most restaurants in Brisbane are wide eyed at 6 am at the best of times, and the shops soon to follow, our walk to Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae subway station was made just a little faster. Because it's close from Kyoto (Central) station, we were there soon after, and once again lost in the labyrinth of shops that tunneled underneath it. I opted that we get back on the surface, and there we were able to locate the JR ticket office, where we were served by a lady who had the highest actions per minute (APM) of any register I'd seen in Japan - her fingers were a blur. In under a minute, we'd booked the wrong tickets, and the blur of her hands fixed up the error.

Kyoto Tower

The expansive Kyoto Station

I'm lost...

With that completed we boarded another (overland) JR line to Inari station. While we waited for the train to go I saw another train driver getting ready board his train - white driving gloves donned and his many papers stored in his briefcase. Once he got on, we saw him do their usual pre-driving rituals: some practiced, unusual hand movements to mark where there head should be, as well as some other details. Inari station was conviently located a few minutes walk from the start of the Fushimi-Inari trek - not that you could get lost as you were immediately swept into the sea of other tourists heading there from just outside the station.

The walk up towards the entrance was very broad and clean, and was littered with people taking photos of the Grand gate out the front (many selfie-sticks to be seen - they're catching on!). There wasn't an entrance fee, but I think thats because they know they punish you on the climb up the hill. The gates started from the very bottom, and they were a little bigger than me (thankfully). Painted oranges, with the names of those who made them (possible, we think) engraved on the back, these gates were spaced maybe a foot apart all the way up the hill, save for a few spaces for shrines and shops.

If you squint, you can see the trail off in the hills on the right

It begins...

It's so... Orange!

It was unusual looking back to see all these

The start of the walk was gradual and packed with people, and trying to get a photo without anyone in the front of your gate was hard - you could always tell when you ruined someones photo. Thankfully, we managed to get a few. We also spotted a few locals who'd walked out in between the gates at popular sections to do some drawings or paintings (and then spotted most, if not more, of the same ones there when we were on our way down).

The route changed from an elevated path into steps, which slowly got more and more steeper. We passed a handful of shrines which had their own little areas, and usually featured an intersection - but the main path was clear as it was the one that was lined. There were maps too, but these weren't helpful as they were horrendously scaled - 10 minutes of walking and you would have gone maybe 3 centimeters, then by the the time you were at the summit an hour later you would have moved across the entire map.

Deceptive!

A rare clear shot!

Escalating

Most of the crowd only went up to an look-out which had glorious views of Kyoto, centred around a large intersection which had a few ways up to the summit of Inari, as well as some shops which were capitalizing on the tourists.We took a minute to look at one of the wierd maps before making our decision with the help of a local on which way to take to the summit - hopefully the one with the least amount of hills. Within another 15 minutes, we had made it to the summit, which was occupied by a shrine and another shop. We'd noticed at this point the increasing price of drinks as you rose - although the summit seemed to be a little cheaper (perhaps as recognition for making it so far?) - and we also saw that the shop sold way over priced bento-boxes for what I think I spied as 3000 Yen. Making it that far though, we weren't rewarded with any better views, so we continued on the path, which finally lead downhill.

Spectacular!

It was hot enough work to take off our jackets

The lack of weaklings made it easier to take a photo

Seems a whole lot further... (It was actually 4kms round trip)

This side of the mountain was a little more protected from the sun as you went down, so it had the hint of a rainforest feel to it, and was far more deserted than the start, so we had a few moment of absolute, Hillbrook-reflection-level quiet to ourselves. At this point we'd also noticed that we'd gotten jelly legs from all the ups and downs - something neither of us had experienced in a while - another hiker must've had the same as he strode past us backwards. The shrines were very nice but we powered on, fueled by a grape Fanta (and suddenly stitched), trying to make our way back to the start for a seat.

After a gamble on an intersection (and another unfortunate uphill climb), we were re-acquianted with the outlook area, where we took our time to buy a strawberry and vanilla combo ice-cream, and ate it while enjoying the view. I was surprised when the soft serve cone was savory, not like the sweet pink ones you get at McDonalds. Adelaide enjoyed hers while I scoffed mine to cool myself off (despite the already cool weather - apparently it was 0 this morning, but maxed out at a stinky 8 degrees). With our snacks finished we descended Inari, passing many inappropriately dressed people (which made me flash back to the Stiletto heeled lass on the side of Uluru), as well as a few very elderly people who I was surprised to see scaling it. We took a detour back on the level-enough land towards the entrance, detouring the busy few gates.

Note: My hand is weird because I moved

This took us out to the busy markets on a side street, which had all types of cheap Japanese cuisine, from crab-sticks to chicken skewers, which Adelaide purchased. I was more inclined to try my own Yakisoba, a style of noodles, so I lined up for what looked like a popular stall, which was kind of a mistake now that I think about it. He was so popular there was at least 7 people in front of me in the line, but one of them ordered multiple plates for his family, so I had to wait while he made two batches before he got to me. I don't have a problem waiting, but considering there were so many other stores, I could've bypassed waiting for 30 odd minutes before getting lunch. Adelaide played coach and brought me some of her fries she'd bought while waiting for me, which were deliciously seasoned in garlic.

That's one big hotplate!

Waiting...

Massive serving

Despite being unpleasantly jostled in line, I finally got my Yakisoba, and was full within 5 minutes. Adelaide was keen on having another "fish shaped waffle thing", which was filled with cream and strawberries (Dad, think of Taiwan and the rudely shapped waffles, but in fish form), and so we did before heading back towards the train station. With the immaculate timing of the Japanese train, we only would have had to wait another 10 minutes before it arrived, but Adelaide realised it might've been easier to catch the subway back 5 stops and just a short walk across the river, instead of having to transit between trains and subways. Thankfully we'd flashed our JR passes, and didn't actually buy a ticket, so we walked out and back down the road to the Subway station (which was above ground also). It was nicely painted orange just like the gates were, and we had to wait only a few more minutes for the subway to arrive.

Returned to Sanjo-station, we adjourned to the hotel for the warmth as well as planning for the rest of our day. Somehow, Adelaide had managed to make our remote work again which had previously run out of batteries (regardless of my attempts earlier that morning).

Prepared for the cold we left our hotel once more, bound for Kinkaku-ji. We didn't have enough change for the bus so we stopped at a 7-eleven where I broke a 1000 Yen note on a 100 Yen doughnut (which was great), and once we'd gotten back outside, our bus north west (a 59), had arrived. We quickly jumped on and rode it the whole way, finding seats shortly after embarking. It was close to a 40 minute drive, but it gave a look at the somewhat more residential Kyoto on the north side.

Once we had arrived we got ourselves oriented and found our way towards the temple up a boulevard. It wasn't until we were in the outer-gardens that Adelaide remembered the layout of Kinkaku-ji, and that it faced the west - which meant it was popular with tour buses in the afternoon, thus was still quite busy. We bought tickets and were directed into the 'viewing' area by an official, where it was best to take a photo.

Kinkaku-ji is similar in design to Ginkaku-ji, however this temple is meant to be clad in gold leaf. The lake around it was far more impressive, but the gardens were a little less. We took the opportunity to take many pictures, but once we had walked past it, there was little else to be scene as it was winter, most of the flora was bare. There were a few wishing wells, and a temple on the way out too, but most of the other buildings seemed to be under-repair. In all, I think we spent maybe 10 minutes in the compound - but still satisfied we got to see it.

Stunning

I spy with my little eye, a truck load of people taking photos!

On our way out, we spied a Haagen Dazs vending machine, and so of course we had to stop to try some. We made the mistake of buying the ice-cream-in-a-cup, which was stored at -25c, so it was rock hard when it came out and I broke a spoon trying to eat it; however there were ice-cream sandwiches sold in one of the machines next to it, which would've been far more economical.

We need more of these

An afternoon snack

Spoon #1

 Satisfied despite our choice, we made it back to the bus-stop (and spotted our first, rare, instance of road-rage - not directed at us of course). We had a choice of more buses to catch and were confused for a time before making a snap-decision to catch a No. 12 bus. This on followed a similar route to our out-bound bus, but made a right turn earlier to follow the main roads down. It quickly filled up and Adelaide and I vacated our seats for some elderly passengers who got on. The trip home was a bit faster too, by about 5 or 10 minutes, but we had to walk back from a few stops after Nijo-jo, through Sanjo-dori. This took us through the shopping street before returning us back to our hotel.

We took some time to relax, and I off-loaded the photos of today, and we watched some TV before heading out for dinner. We were both in more hungry and open moods tonight, and so we initially aimed to go back to the Gyoza place we visited the night before, but as it was Saturday, it was packed and there was a line out the front. We continued south past it, and was about to make a return trip on the opposite side of the river when we saw a place that took our fancy and went in. (At this point I should note that most of the places on this side of town favour the "leave a minimum wage employ casually dressed on the street corner to harass you with menus or deals when you walk past" approach that puts Adelaide and I off most eateries).

Our chosen establishment did a mix of Japanese traditional, as well as European food. We ordered Garlic bread and french fries as starters, before ordering some pizzas (so sue us). I risked it on the Chiruzo and Mushroom, while Addy settled on a margerhita. The place was nice and we practiced some of our food-related phrases on the staff (such as "Excuse me, I'd like another" in terms of beer, and "Can I see the bill?" - baby steps of course). I found the food to be pleasant, but Addy confided that her pizza was under-par - but that can't be helped, and we figured that tomorrow we'll be in Tokyo, ready to embrace the culture once more.

We returned to the hotel for a goodbye drink in "The Bar", where Adelaide ordered a cosmopolitian, and I sampled a Hakushu (I think) whiskey - very fruity and definitely one to consider when shopping for duty free on our way out. We never learned the bartender's name, but he was very professional when mixing our drinks.

Tomorrow, we're going to make our way to the big smoke of Tokyo - who knows what that'll bring! Until then, Goodnight!