I woke up around 4 am to Chris running to the bathroom to vomit. This continued for the next 2.5 hours. Poor guy was going through it, and all I could think was, gosh I hope he doesn’t puke on the real tatami mats because that will be hard to clean.
After my alarm went off at 7 I promptly fell back asleep while Chris also slept, finally without vomiting. We woke up around 8:30 and had a chat about the day. He was dizzy and didn’t think he had the energy to go, so I packed up to head out on my own, including an umbrella that I borrowed from the house. While his health is my number one priority, a close second is yolo’ing when I travel so seeyah!
I went downstairs to eat our pre-packed breakfast and ran into Craig who asked why we weren’t already out for the day. After explaining the situation I headed out on my own, around 10am, 3 hours after I’d planned to be on the road. This led to some decision making around cutting out sights to see.
I saw this very old cat in our neighbourhood, set out for the day to greet his neighbours!
It was also garbage day, and people put their bags in these collapsible bins. What a space saver!
I stopped for a Green Dakara; I figured the extra electrolytes couldn’t hurt after being around Chris all night. This made me late for my train and the next one didn’t come for half an hour. It was scheduled to come earlier, but a family had pulled the SOS alarm which I believe made my train extra late as it wasn’t lining up to the Google Maps schedule (and this has been very reliable). When the emergency team came running and the family pointed down to the tracks, where I’m guessing they had dropped something of value, they got a stern talking to from the emergency crew. I imagine they said to the foreigner family, “Dropping a phone on the lines is not an emergency!!” There was a lot of pointing and head shaking by the emergency crew workers.
Finally on my train I re-evaluated my day yet again and decided to skip all 3 temples and head straight towards my lunch reservations. On the way out, me being me, I left my umbrella on board!!! On the platform I saw the guy who was sitting next to me and he had one in his hand so I said in a mild panic, “Oh! Is that mine?” He replied, “No, but is this the correct stop for Arashyama?” “Yes!!” I replied in a hurry to the guy who had the audacity to ask the clearly non-local girl who’s also clearly in a rush for directions. I hurried back on to the train, couldn’t see it, hopped off, hopped back on another car, and found it! Phew.
On the way to lunch and with about 45 minutes to kill I found some amazing shopping. I found souvenirs I had been hoping to find but hadn’t seen yet like chopsticks and chopsticks holders and a cute Buddhism t-shirt. I visited little shrines and made a wish on this wishing wall.
One of the souvenir shops were selling a handheld fan for just 5$! Sold. When the cashier went to bag it up I motioned, “no, no, no, please I need that now.” She laughed. I pointed at my Canadian flag and then showed her my weather app where it said Kyoto was 27, and back home I showed her it was 11. Ahhh, she understood now why I was so sweaty!! This was a conversation had without saying any words that each other understood, and it was sweet.
But it was hot, and I was sweating through my t-shirt in every direction. I wore short sleeves knowing I’d be at the temple, and I was regretting this choice without as much airflow as my sleeveless tops. With the high humidity, even though it was overcast with no direct sun, this must have been one of the top 3 hottest and most uncomfortable I’d been in my life.
Then I realized… I forgot my umbrella again!!! This time in a shop. So I walked back and of course it was right where I left it. Ok, be better Kelsey.
I was now just a 4 minute walk from lunch and it was 12:40. My reservations were at 1:00 so I headed there. Google maps said I was approaching, but it was nowhere to be seen. I saw a sign directing me around a building, but still I couldn’t find signage for the restaurant. I stopped to ask for directions and was told it was in this large building, so I headed there thinking I’d found it. The worker at that building told me no, it’s in another building. At this point with the weather and high humidity I was sweating and stressing that I’d miss my reservation. I’d already emailed them this morning saying that Chris couldn’t make it.
I found another employee who pulled out a map and calmly showed me how to get there. She said I had to pay to enter the garden first, which I had assumed I didn’t need to do. I thanked her and she looked at my beet red and sweaty face and sad, “be well“. Lol.
Finally, after ¥500 to enter the garden, and being 10 minutes late for my reservation, I entered the temple. The employee hurried me to remove my shoes and brought me inside and to my seat and sat me down. “Just tea ok?” Sure, anything is fine! I settled down and tried to calm my body after all of the racing around.
I was seated on the floor in front of a small bench, trying to be sly as I looked around at the other guests’ tables to see what was on the menu. I saw someone drinking something other than hot tea, so I googled the menu and I saw beer and wine! Really, at a temple? Just a few minutes later my shojin ryori arrived and it was beautiful. Everything looked very plain and clean, but with gorgeous presentation. I asked the shoe-less server, “is there beer?” She said “hai!” And brought me a menu. Asahi please! And she promptly brought me a huge bottle of beer, with its own tray and holder, along with the tiniest maybe 3floz glass. It was cold and I was happy. I almost rubbed the cold bottle all over my chest but I refrained.
The meal was the opposite of plain. Every bite was bursting with flavours I’d never tried before. A small bit of walnut was actually boiled and seasoned with sweet and salt and who knows what else. I was stunned by the flavours and textures. Each new bite was exquisite! And my beer was the perfect accompaniment. I had the tea at the end and it was delicious too. I can’t believe this food had no onions or garlic and was still so boldly flavoured.
There was a group across from me eating really loudly, with one woman in the group telling everyone else how to combine their flavours so they would like them. Seems the two husbands weren’t as into this temple food. One of them was on his phone speaking loudly, “Hello? Can you hear me?” And then having a conversation. I didn’t let it bug me and I was very much enjoying my meal.
After I finished I used the washroom and just as I was thinking that I wanted my shoes on, slippers appeared!
I thanked the servers and headed out and into the rain. Luckily I had my umbrella!!
I had cut from my plans 3 temples: one known for its moss gardens, one known for its hundreds of hand carved statues, and one with a beautiful lake. Plus I cut out the bamboo forest. As I wandered the gardens of Tenryu-ji Temple I saw it all! Mossy grounds, bamboo, carved statues and a lake with koi. I’m sure I would have enjoyed the other places but I’m glad I got a little sample of those things here.
After leaving the temple I did a bit more shopping and then crossed the bridge towards the monkey park.
Here I paid a small fee to enter and then hiked up the mountain. Chris was feeling a bit better and was going to meet me for dinner so I had limited time here. So I HIKED up this mountain, just stopping at the huge fan they had installed halfway up. I didn’t stop for this air conditioned room but I knew Chris would have if he was here!
Almost at the top I saw a monkey!
Then nearing the top, there were so many. There were signs all over saying how to behave around them, and park staff watching for signs of aggression. If you want to get close to them, you go into a cage to feed them, otherwise it’s just an open area. It was so fun to watch them interact with each other, feed their babies, and scratch or pick at each other. When they would walk past you everyone would just freeze and wait for them to carry on.
One person walking by me said to me, “my gosh you look happy to be here!” I was. It was amazing seeing all of the monkeys!
The view of Kyoto was also incredible.
After getting my fill of the monkeys I headed down the mountain, stopping again at the huge fan for a breather. At the bottom I grabbed a cute fortune from the shrine.
I headed towards the train and on my way to meet Chris my maps said I would be there 1 minute before we agreed to meet. Perfect! I found him first in line at our dinner spot, Vegan Izakaya Niijya Farm. I thought it opened at 5 but it was actually 5:30, so we thought we were in for a 45 minute wait. We chatted about our days and were surprised when they let us in at 5:10! We ordered, Chris from the a la carte menu as he wasn’t sure how he would do with it. I ordered from the coursed menu and everything they brought out was absolutely incredible. Similarity to my temple lunch, each little bite was so full of flavour it was so delicious.
The cook who served us shared how it was best to enjoy. I added the wasabi to my soy sauce reluctantly as I don’t usually love wasabi, but this was fresh and it was full of wasabi flavour while being mild in heat. The fresh tofu was already steeped in yuzu but the addition of the yuzu ponzu sauce was so incredible I drank the rest of it once I finished the tofu. Soft, fresh tofu is incredible. My favourite bite was the yuba - fresh tofu skin - in the soy and wasabi. The obanzai was the five tiny bites of prepared veggies like sesame marinated greens and pickled radish, and a deep fried tofu.
The yakitori came out next and it was just as good if not better than at Saido. So chewy and it pulled apart just like meat it was wild.
Next there was another type of meat called Yakiniku which was also delicious. And a dumpling.
Some of the last bites were a soup and a ginger rice that was full of ginger and garlic, it was delicious. Finished with dessert, a local specialty called Yokan, it was like a chocolate fudge-ish bite.
For drinks I tried three - the yuzu sour, the aged plum wine and a dry Sake which were all great.
We paid our compliments, our bill, and gave out some dinos before heading towards our walking tour meeting spot in the rain.
At the famous Minamiza kabuki theater we met our guide Koki who said we might cut the tour short due to weather. This was a free walking tour highlighting the Yasaka Shrine and the Gion district. We walked and learned about the process of becoming a Maiko and then a Geisha. We saw the neighbourhoods with their houses and learned about how they and the registered tea houses are marked. We learned how much is “costs” to become a geisha including a 5 year apprenticeship that starts around age 15 and working your way through it to pay Mother and the house. Koki was a great guide!
We saw some landmarks that were in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha.
Then we got to Yasaka! We saw where they have performances and visiting different shrines including dousing our faces in the “beauty water”.
A few more stops on the walking tour visiting the private alleys and more of their tea houses. Koki said if we were lucky we would see a Maiko, but we only saw a tourist dressed up as one. We said goodbye to Koki after almost 2 hours of walking and learning.
Chris was hungry after his small dinner and our walk home would be about 35 minutes so we started that way. Heading first out of the Gion district we were alone on the street with just another group of 3 tourists. Out of a tea house came… a Maiko!! A real one we are 99% sure. Her makeup was incredible and went all around her neck too, and she had her wooden bag with her. She looked at me as she exited the tea house then scurried away quickly walking in her short steps. Since Koki had said that photos were ok I quickly snapped some as she walked away, once I snapped out of the awe. It was amazing!
We grabbed some snacks including the hot and ready baked sweet potato!! It was deeeelicious and we ate them outside in the rain before we carried on home.
At the house I chatted with Craig for maybe half an hour about life and the pandemic and business and veganism. I caught up on some football and went easily to bed after such a big day.
This featured blog entry was written by kmcveggie from the blog Veggie Pack.
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