Family mart breakfast: Were out around 11 am. We recharge our metro cards and grab a snack from Family Mart before going to the temples.
Ginkaku temple and Philosophers Walk: I routed here accidentally because I thought Ginkaku was Kinkaku. It’s ok though, because it’s a Zen temple that definitely is pretty nice. We buy some snack souvenirs from the market street before going into the temple. The entrance fee is 500 yen. It’s quite quick. Afterwards, we walk along the Philosphers Walk. A quiet path along a stream.
Lunch: We take the express bus to Kinkaku temple. When we get dropped off, we get udon at Kinugasu Zen. They are serving bukkake udon here which I had never hard I’d before. But basically you splash soy sauce over cold udon. Also since I’m traveling with a big group of guys, I also learn about bukkake. I order the The noodles are thick and springy and the broth is clear. But my favorite is definitely the pudding. It’s very similar to flan, but the actual pudding is soy based. It’s topped with a smoky caramel syrup and two tiny cubes of kiwi. I have never had flan so good!
Kinkaku temple: The temple is just as I remember it. It’s crowded here but the brilliant temple exterior is all I see. After taking some photos, it’s already past 3 pm. We try some yaysuhashi (triangular Michu dumpling dessert) samples at a souvenir shop. Afterwards we head to the next temple. We take the 101 express bus to Kyoto station and transfer to the JR to go to Fushimi Inari temple.
Fushimi Imari temple: The temple entrance is right by the Inari station via the JR Nara line. There’s no entrance fee to do the hike. We’re greeted by a large orange gate, through which we see the main shrine. There are two loops on this hike, a lower and upper one. The lower one includes the double gates and is quite crowded. After we finish the lower loop, we end up at the start of the upper loop. Based on the illustrated map, we don’t think the upper loop should be too long. But after 10 minutes of hiking, the “you are here” red dot looks like it’s in the same palace as before. Uh oh. It’s 5:30 pm and AY’s flight leaves at 10 pm, so he needs to be back at the house by 6:30 or 7 pm. We decide to hit up the closest shrine on the path and then part ways. We get lots of nice photos. KW and KX head back to the house with AY. J, AK and I continue the hike to the top. Turns out it’s only about 15 more minutes and not much more strenuous than previous parts of the hike. The summit is a bit anticlimactic, since it’s just another group of tiny shrines and the trees are too tall to give a nice view. However we do see a rather out-of-the way clearing behind that shrine which gives a nice view of Kyoto. We hike down and grab ice cream at a nearby convenience store. Then we head back to the house to meet KW and KX.
Dinner: KX is meeting his friend Dylan for dinner and wants to go near Kyoto Station, where most of the good cheap food is. J, AK, and I just came from there and I’m exhausted so I vote to eat near the house instead. KW initially wants to go with KX (probably because he’s kind of a foodie) but KX wants to get ramen and KW is “not really in the mood for ramen.” So KX goes off while the rest of us hit up a kaiten sushi place that J found. It’s called Kura Sushi. It’s so lit! There are lots of locals here an all the dishes are only 100 yen!!! I’m really excited but am only able to eat 7 dishes. The three guys eat 18 each! That’s 61 dishes in total. And it only cost about 6500 yen! We discard the dishes in a chute connected to our table. There’s an automatic counter and every 5 dishes, a video shows up on the screen of different animated scenarios. In two of the scenarios (treasure hunting and surfing) we win a prize! Little plastic balls roll down with Pokemon tape inside. It’s so cute.
Games at house: After getting back to the house, we play Sushi Go. Then KX comes back with Dylan and we play some Spyfall and Monikers. However someone restarted the Monikers game by accident so we never got past round 1. And at that point Dylan had to leave because the trains stop running around 1 am. We spend the rest of the time playing Archer Love Letter. “Pam Poovey”!
Travel Diary 