Japan trip 2014 - Swimming pools & Kyoto

Wednesday the 13th of August

Hello everyone!

I don't know how many of you remember this but last year Mari took a photo with a ton of stuffed toys and it became one of my husband's favorites so this year he decided she needed to take the same sort of photo. I tried but this was the closest I got. So many adorable plushies!

We decided to have something light for lunch so I had Yakisoba. Yakisoba is like noodles with a lovely thick tasty sauce. Have you tried it? 

It is actually instant, but its yummy.

That morning the mailman came. I wasn't expecting anything so it was a surprise. It was a lolita purchase!

Aren't these adorable? I love them even if they are not really my style.

HA! Fooled you, these are actually for Mari.

They are by Shirley Temple, one of Emily Temple Cute's sister brands which is actually older. 

I wonder if there are series names, i'd love to find out if anyone knows how.

 We decided we would go to the swimming pool. I thought it would be an interesting new experience. I rarely go to pools in my own country because i'm too self conscious of my body and hate showing it off but i figured in a foreign country where nobody knows me it would be ok.

I was hoping we would go to the pool near my inlaw's place but my father in law wanted to take us to what he believes is a nicer pool and so we ended up in this one which was apparently crowded. I got a bit scared when i arrived but I had to go anyway, couldn't just freak out and run away.

The entrance of the swimming pool!

 When we got in after paying for the ticket we went by the bathrooms/lockers. Everyone apparently takes two sets of clothes, one for the pool and one to leave in. This sounds weird, i'll explain:
Apparently in Japan most (if not all) women and some men go in the pool with clothes on. Yes I repeat, they get in the pool wearing a full outfit.
It usually is a pair of shorts (not necessarily short) and a shirt. But because they want to be as white as possible, most of them are completely covered, I saw a lot of women in hoodies inside the pool and a bunch wearing the following: Longsleeved shirt, shorts and black long leggings under the shorts. I swear its the truth, check the background of my shots.

The complex had a total of 4 pools. One was a oval pool, one of those with water movement, that if you let go you'll just go with the current which seems like fun. It also had slides.

A smaller one for kids and then another for babies.

I thought at this point that i had the biggest tan i had in the last couple of years until i posted this shot and compared myself with the people in the background. Damn I'm pale, like a vampire... XD

 Anyway I had fun in the end, and Mari was sooo sooo happy! She loved it so much I was determined to go again for her.

We then left and got in our ride (my father in law went to get us) and then got back home.
Everyone took a bath and prepared for dinner.

I love Japanese barbecue, their sauce is sooo tasty! 

 There was salad and also japanese pumpkin which is soft and sweet and boiled. I cannot do the same with the one sold here so I always miss this dish.

And then everyone had the most delicious cream cake ever with some iced coffee. Mari is not eating a bit of sweet things from time to time so she had a spoon or two. She loved it too of course.

It was a calm and very nice day, I had not been in a pool in ages and it felt great even though it made me wanna swim which is something i cannot imagine doing with my clothes on. 

Wednesday the 15th of August

I had been to Kyoto before but for some reason I did not enjoy my trip at all so I really wanted to give it another go. I had a lovely day but my husband cheated a bit because it didn't feel like I was visiting Kyoto but some spots instead. 

Breakfast was a bit different: Karepan (YAY! - I love karepan), salad, coffee of course and a bit of chocolate cake (got spoiled)

A one way ride to Kyoto from Sango is 970yen so that means just to go there cost around 14 euro.

I had no idea where we were going because I like surprises so I did not care to ask either. We changed trains a bit but then got out. I was expecting to walk a lot so when we stepped out and I saw this exact view across the street I was surprised at how close it was.

Our destination was Fushimi Inari taisha which is a shrine famous for the "ridiculous" amount of tori. If I am not mistaken people can just pay a certain amount to have one of their own and basically keep their names living forever. I think that sounds really cool and it made me want to have one for myself although It seems like it'd be expensive of course.

I must have walked a long distance but this was just around 10min walk from the start so I was still feeling energetic enough to want to pose for photos.



After a while, when we saw this map we just decided to stop there, we were literally dripping sweat at that time to the point where we decided that if we would carry on to the top, we would have to buy new shirts since we still had to go elsewhere. I think this is where I decided enough was enough. I dislike giving up though.

We still checked a viewing spot in the area and since the sky was not clear we couldn't really see the view well so we figured the same would happen even if we reached the top so that was another reason.

We decided to take a different route back and we soon came to regret that decision because the path was deserted, there was nothing to see and it was dangerous, I almost fell on the way down.

We were surprised to see cars and motorcycles actually use that "road".

Postman in his motorcycle delivering mail... not sure where to to be honest!

Another area of the shrine.

When we got down we reached a residential area. Suddenly there were houses, cars, decent roads... it was like hitting a portal and moving somewhere completely different.

We walked for a bit without knowing exactly where we were and we finally found our way to another sight seeing destination: TofukuJi temple.

I was a bit beat so we just took some shots of the outside and decided to continue our journey. Plus you had to pay to go in and we had other things to see and one must edit edit edit.

The place seemed amazing though, some other time maybe we can visit!

On the way to the train station my husband noticed a building which upon inspection we came to realize was a place famous for its connection with the artist Sesshū Tōyō. This is considered to be like a sub-temple of sorts and the garden was set by him and has interesting elements such as the "turtle" stones. You can read a bit more on this temple (Funda-In) here.

The entrance, the sign has a bit of info in English as well.

This is the main garden area, it was super peaceful and cool. I have no idea how they do this but, without air conditioning, the way some old temples are built make for a really cool area. It felt really nice because It was ridiculously hot that day.

The inside, tatami floor, sliding doors, typical style for this sort of thing.

Since we had to pay to get in I sat and wandered around for a while. I thought the payment system was funny: the sign said something like "If there is nobody here to collect your payment just leave the exact amount in the box, thank you". Yeah that would not work in my country haha.

We eventually left though and found our way to the nearest train station. In front there was a small restaurant so we decided to just grab a bite there. It was cheap, it was cool and also quiet.

After lunch we took the train again. Our destination was Arashiyama which is a very famous and touristy area.

Our main plan was to ride on the famous Torokko train but because it could sell out one has to buy the tickets in advance. That meant after buying the tickets we had an hour or two to explore the area.

Outside the Torokko train station there's a stationed train people can pose next to.

And since it was hot and I love matcha icecream we got these, it really did make a difference since I felt cool for a while. (and its so tasty! I always find people who dislike this as being very strange!)

One of the famous stops is the Togetsukyō bridge. The view is amazing and even thought it was summer and I find autumn and spring to be the most beautiful seasons in Japan for this sort of thing (and that's why its sad that I can never go then) it was still pretty striking.

Togetsukyō bridge

In this area another famous spot is Tenryū-ji which is the main temple for the enryū branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The building is pretty large and for an extra fee you can walk in it and sit in the balcony where its very cool which is a plus in the summer. You can actually just lay there and enjoy some peace and quiet. We did not want to pay the extra since we had limited time so we just took a walk on the premises.

The building from the outside

The garden was amazing, big and just stunning! The garden was a lot bigger than this and if one has time there's a lot of paths to explore. I actually felt sad that we just couldn't and I hope I can go back some day.

We then made a quick stop at the famous Sagano Bamboo forest aka groves. Apparently they are quite famous and they have been used for a site in movies and tv series. My photo does not show the real beauty of the place but I invite you do search for photos online and you'll find much nicer ones.

Sagano Bamboo forest

It was finally time for our Torokko densha trip. The train itself was adorable, very old but well preserved. As it arrived everyone took a photo of it because its not a sort of train one rides every day.

Here's a small explanation I borrowed from the Kyoto Travel website:

"The Saga Scenic Railway runs seven kilometers from Arashiyama to nearby Kameoka, mostly alongside the pretty Hozu River. The trains travel at a maximum speeds of about 25 km/h during their 25 minute journey, so passengers can enjoy the scenery without it rushing by too quickly."

Again since it was summer all one could see was green. We also got told that the river was brown because of the typhoon and that it usually is a deep emerald green (that was a bit of a downer). I still thought it was lovely and very relaxing! (some people would call it romantic)

Scenery

We asked the nice couple in front of us to take a photo. I'm glad we did because we do not usually remember to take photos together and that's a shame.

After the train ride we got some souveniers and started getting back. There was a festival with fireworks happening nearby but we would probably get back very late so we skipped that idea.

In the gigantic Kyoto Station we found that there was a small exhibit of miniature sets which I really enjoyed. There were pretty much random and ranged from the anime-related to more realistic settings (nature themed) and other random things.

I leave you with a couple of my favorites:

We also had to eat so we picked Korean for a change. I loooved it, it made me miss my university from when I used to live in China which had a Korean restaurant where I could get these really cheap. They are super hot and basically a combination of rice with topings. This one was full of cheese too which was yummy.

And I got to make a wish and the wish Is usually the same: the happiness of my family because one has to ask for the most important and that's always what comes first in my mind. I assume I'm just like everyone else, right? How boring ;)

And we just got home and fell asleep really fast, I remember we were pretty tired that day. It was a lovely day and now finally I have a good memory of Kyoto which means I will probably want to go back when I am in Japan next time. <3

Hope you liked reading again. Love,

Jo