I am back here in Kyoto. again.
after 4 months. right after midterms. but the only thing was, I had REALLY LIMITED TIME. so this was what I did for a day! it might even be a good reference on where to go from AM to PM =D. I returned to Osaka since I stayed there at around 6pm though =D.
ahhh. the streets of Gion. I actually like shopping here compared to other places because the OPA and some other malls here were actually pretty good!
saw these. too pretty to not buy D=. it was delicious but it doesn’t worth its price T_T. it was around 500yen. T___T.
it was a Sunday and here we were at Nishiki Market. I came here for the purpose of eating those sashimi on a stick. heard it’s reallyyyy good. but only one shop was selling it and they are off on Sundays T______T. WHYYYYYYYYYYYY.
it wasn’t very long but it was pretty interesting. of course, nothing like Tsukiji, but if you have time, I really recommend you to come here! well, come here for the sashimi on a stick (which I have yet to try pfft). what’s more is that.. it’s pretty reasonably priced! for around 180yen for each stick ^^. so make sure you try it. and I’ll make sure I get back there on my next trip >=(.
dried and salted fish store!
beautiful CHEAP strawberries. they were really sweet too! only 300yen! the bigger ones were only like 100yen more expensive but I’ve never bothered about size =P. if you think of it, sometimes the bigger = the bigger the gap in the container = less strawberries. or is it just my silly inaccurate assumption.
me and my ichigo! it means strawberry.
pickled store. everything pickled. the only Japanese food that I hate so far. =S. my Japanese friends love these though >_>.
I don’t know what these are but they are disgustingly photogenic.
a famous fried fish stick store. but I didn’t like fried food =S.
so I ordered the hugest hotate (scallop) I’ve ever eaten. it’s much bigger than what it look like in the picture pfft. I should’ve put my hand there for comparison D=. 400yen each stick. should’ve just eaten the fish that was 300yen! >=(. it was good but it wasn’t the famous thing there hahaha I ordered without knowing T_T.
look at how they treasure those white strawberries. 2300yen!! D= *faints*. someone please buy me these? T_T. I eagerly want to try it but I am too much of a cheapskate to >_>.
onigiri store! saw some girl buying PLAIN WHITE rice. I really wonder if there were anything inside.
look at all those testicles and tentacles. yeap you heard me. TESTICLES and tentacles. Shirako (you can find a post about that on my travel page or simply type shirako on my search tab!) are fish testicles and they taste like mayonnaise. it’s delicious. I’m not kidding.
really like how they displayed the apples <3.
flowers in Japan are so pretty. don’t know what that purple ball thing was but it’s super cute!
this was one weird juice store. they literally juice the fruit and serve it with its skin D=. but too little juice for 400-600yen no? =S.
and at the end of the market, you’d find a beautiful shrine!
THIS was why I came here. T_______T. the sashimi on a stick store. apparently they serve super fresh sashimi and seasoned it a little in a way that’s so unique everyone comes here for this. so please look for KIMURA (the shop’s name) when you are here next time! and NEVER EVER COME HERE ON A SUNDAY PFFFFT. there are quite a few types of snacks to eat around there (mostly overpriced too T_T. but don’t worry, Kimura isn’t!) so coming with an empty stomach is perfectly fine!
Kyoto Opera house near the Kamogawa river.
not a nice picture of me but… THOSE FLOWERS ARE SO PRETTY! <3.
ngawwwwwwwww <3.
don’t do this, kids! it’s dangerous there! =P.
인증샷! beautiful view and my foot. to proof that I was there teehee =P.
my xD face.
konichiwa!!!! onegaishimasu!!! I don’t know how can I forget most of my Japanese having studied it for half a year pfft. still could read and understand WORDS but.. T_T I can’t speak at all =(.
don’t forget to visit Kamogawa during summer (from May) because they have YUKA!!! it’s the terrace outside the restaurants and you can dine outside facing the beautiful river =3.
a more clear shot of the Yuka’s. but they aren’t available when I was there. just.. 2 more days pfft. this was their prep I guess hahaha.
but I heard dining at a Yuka ain’t cheap. well, just once in a bluemoonnnnnn!!!
I’ve always admired this restaurant every time I walk pass. it look so.. traditionally beautiful =3.
=D! okay I am quite weird. I admit.
spam.
the famous Okonomiyaki(?) store! it isn’t famous for it’s Okonomiyaki I guess.. you should know why =D.
we walked towards the end of Gion later for….
SABAZUSHI!!! I can’t express how much I love Izuju. this 100 year old restaurant has sushi made so well I felt like I was in heaven. every single time I take a bite. it was THAT good. their Hako sushi are delicious as well! I didn’t like their Inari sushi so much so.. I recommend getting one Sabazushi and one Deluxe Hako sushi which will cost you 2,000yen for the saba and 1500 for the hako. it’s worth it. trust me. because you can have tonnes of that Sabazushi. I can assure you that!
I can’t wait to eatttittttttt. anyway, here’s a more detailed post on Izuju.
after the glorious meal, we headed for Hanami-koji, the place to spot for Geishas. because I loved it here so much, it’s actually my 6th time here and it’s only my second time in Kyoto. hahahaha. but guess what.. I’ve never seen any Geishas T_T. tragic. but apparently I went during the wrong time. the best time to spot for Geishas are actually 5.30-6pm because they start work at 6. I DIDN’T KNOW!!! T____T.
but nevertheless, a breath taking place.
my favourite picture of the trip!
will you give me dried chili’s instead of flowers? hahahaahahhaha. too darn funny. xD.
everyone’s sitting by the river! I found it very scary because I keep sliding but it’s actually pretty fun xD. except the weather was too hot and the sun pierced through my socks. T_T.
they do not have Gaenari (yellow Korean flowers) here, but they have similar ones! =3. oh-so-pretty!
ohaizzz
=D.
spam.
apparently my skirt was too short for Japan. I thought short skirts ORIGINATED from Japan >_>”. or maybe because it was Kyoto and not Tokyo. hahaha.
look at my view! =P.
and the prettiest view of the Kamogawa river.
I was so disappointed when I went home the last trip and noticed that ALL the pictures I took with the Kamogawa river was blur. so I had it taken so many times this time until it focuses on me pfft. my camera prefers the view much more it seems T_T. well, obviously hahahahaha.
Kiyamachi. linking to Gion. another beautiful alley. that’s why I love Gion. there’s also Pontocho, just an alley away =D.
and my favourite Italian restaurant in Korea. which first opened at Japan. and is much more popular in Japan. hahaha. their lunch buffet’s super cheap. at 1000yen!!!! but dinner’s pretty darn expensive =X. I mean ala-carte. but they are one of the few restaurants in the world to have a certificate for making authentic pizzas so you should acknowledge how good they are and that they are worth the price! which is true. the best pizza I’ve ever had.
the view from a cake cafe that I like =D.
and the other view. because we are not allowed to take pictures INSIDE the cafe so.. =(. I would like to show you all the beautiful french tartes they have. ranges from white strawberries to melon to mango to berries to green tea. they just have everything and you feel like eating EVERYTHING. but it ain’t cheap T_T. the white strawberry was like 1,600yen *faints.*
the outside on the shop was filled with a LONG LINE of people and getting a seat would take an hour of wait. so we just packed it up and ate it by the river =D.
anyways, its a chain shop so don’t fret if you’re not going to Kyoto because they have it in Tokyo and Osaka as well. not sure where in Tokyo but in Osaka, it’s at the huge Grand Front Osaka next to the Osaka Station. here’s the site of this cafe : http://quil-fait-bon.com/
the cake shop is called “qu’il fait bon” which means.. that is good??? from what I learn it’s something like that, he/she does good. hahaha. anyway, I hate learning French it is so confusing T_T.
I’ve tried their mixed berries and blueberry jam ones but I had it kept overnight so it wasn’t as nice anymore T_T. but I felt that it wasn’t too special either. BUT, THIS WAS AMAZING. it’s mango and almond. and they go along sooooooo well. <3. basically the cream are all almond cream. and I love almond flavoured everything. hahaha. it costs slightly over 600yen for this cake if I’m not wrong.
we later headed on to ANOTHER dessert shop. well, you get why I only ordered one cake. I wanted to fit more in my stomach =P. this parfait shop has like hundreds of different parfait to choose from and they are mostly amazingly good! they even have this huge as hell parfait that costs 50,000yen! that’s 500USD. even though it’s super huge, it’s meant for 20-25 people (makes it 2,000yen each) so even if you divide it, it is STILL EXPENSIVEEEE.
see what I say about the variety? because of its variety as well I kept coming back and picking something off the menu will never be an easy thing to do.
I don’t know why.. I kept going back for the black sesame. maybe because I hardly see black sesame ice creams in Seoul =S. but they are so goooood T______T. their cream especially, was so light I didn’t feel sinned despite it actually being really sinful.
well other than the huge parfaits, there are WEIRD ones as well. which I don’t know if I would want to try D=.
fried prawns and american dog parfait. well they say add some salt into your hot chocolate and it’ll become sweeter. errrrrrr.
donkatsu and french fries parfait *pukes.*
bye bye Kiyamachi.
returned to Osaka at 6pm and reached at 7pm. to be honest, I spent the most time strolling along Kamogawa and acting like a dork taking thousands of pictures hahahaha. I could probably fit in a shrine or temple in my itinerary. but I’ve visited most of them and they have expensive entry fee’s so forget it. hahaha. and the free and nice ones are far T_T. I started my journey at 9am, though. if you’re planning on a day trip to Kyoto I’d recommend going REALLY early as it’ll spare you much more time. common sense, I know.
so in Osaka, we headed to the Umeda Sky Building. I never knew it was this pretty. they have the lock thingy for couples too but here they’d PRINT your name on the locks. very high tech but boring =X. how are you going to find your lock if everyone has an almost identical lock =S.
the view from above. it’s even prettier than Seoul’s view from N-Seoul Tower in my opinion =X. because they had like red lights on all the high rise buildings and it made it really pretty.
and this picture taken INSIDE the building. the one earlier was on the deck.
it’s like walking on stars.
I thought that this view reminded me of Seoul’s Han River hahahahah.
stairway to heaven =P. it’s pretty scary to think that you’re on an elevator with NOTHING below you being so high up.
the view from below. I zoomed in a lot. it’s very very very huge and tall. although only 40 stories but I mean, it’s really enough. and it’s basically two towers connected by the deck above to form a building haha. very creative architecture. I forgot to take a picture from afar but you can always google “Umeda Sky Building” =D.
we later headed on to an aquarium and resort dining restaurant at Umeda. not sure where was it exactly because we took a cab. haha. cabs are very very very expensive in Japan but it was cold and I was tired =(. the cab experience was pretty cool though! the cab driver was extremely friendly and courteous and there’s no handle for you to open the door because the cab driver controls everything. it will pop open for you and close itself. qui’te scary if he’s a bad person now that I come to think of it. but the posh interior and the pretty and yummy food brightened me up totally. it’s really the first time ever dining in such a private manner. I was literally facing the aquarium and I kept spying on the tiger fish and puffer fish which was farrr away. all the expensive fishes hide themselves at a corner >_>”.
you jelly? =P.
I loved everything in this restaurant other than.. that tangerine sauce (so bitter T_T) and the Balinese music. they put weird Balinese music I swear. it isn’t even the relaxing one but rather some really mysterious and it’s just.. annoying. but they were having some kind of Balinese event for 2 months so.. their sparkling wine was good as well. surprisingly strong. it looked very very weak to me hahaha. their food and drinks (cocktails, wine and others) were actually very reasonably priced. half of the price of drinks at bars in Seoul. and heck, this restaurant’s located inside a hotel!
they even do Birthday events. my birthday is this coming Friday so I didn’t expect the birthday song to be for me pffft. super touched T_T. Japanese people always surprise me the best for my every birthday T________T. for the past 3 years. I love Japanese people!!!!
that cake was as good as the famous strawberry cream cake at Peony’s (which I was going to get for my Birthday this year hahaha), to my surprise. was really not expecting the cake to be THAT good really.
it’s called an aquarium and resort dining so.. this part of the restaurant is the “resort” I guess. the section I was at was much more private and it’s filled with aquarium after aquarium at almost every wall.
found a cheap and yummy place to have my favourite sashimi at Namba! this was 580yen.
and the sashimi set was 680yen. normally, when they are priced like that the sashimi would be just.. so-so. but the ones here were so fresh. so fresh that it’s good enough to be served at any nice Japanese restaurants back in KL. ahhhhhhhh. the tuna and kampachi was especially fresh. <3.
wasabi kit kat. do you dare? it tastes funky but it’s actually pretty delicious ahhaha. it’s more like a milky wasabi taste. not that spicy so I highly recommend this!
even though I really only had a day and a half there despite it being 3 days, I truly enjoyed my trip ^_^.