y in the world do we hav to book for a flight at this odd hour....
woke up at 4.30am to catch the limo bus to airport for our domestic flight to osaka. it was raining outside. sigh......
at the airport waiting for our flight
wanted to show off the shoes i bought in tokyo. 半路杀出个程咬金.
we reached osaka, took a bus from the airport to kyoto, then took a taxi from kyoto city to gion.
this is our ryokan for the day. we "threw" our luggage there n started to roam the streets of gion!
outside our ryokan
baby: 我们去探险咯！
the saying "go where the q goes" always works, regardless of geographical locations n cultural differences. we saw this q forming outside a tempura restaurant n we juz hopped in to join. well, since i missed my lunch at tenfusa, might as well try this!
they oni serve tempura rice bowls here.
i am totally juiced!
waiting inside the restaurant after 30 mins
one chef cooking for all of us. the smell of tempura is so alluring. our senses r all activated to prepare ourselves for a great meal.
baby ordered (i order for her cos the server is a woman, u c how it works here?) an anago eel special rice bowl. the eel was AWESOME!!!!! rich meaty flavor. super tasty!!!! so different from the delicate taste we've encountered in tokyo. super juicy, tender, robust eel flesh, sweet fish taste......omg. this is so so good!
my mixed seafood tempura rice bowl w tiger prawn n eel. delicious too! but pales in comparison to anago rice bowl!!!
after a fulfilling lunch, we braced ourselves for another challenge.
the legendary inari shrine
here we come!!! we planned to conquer the top! usually, it takes abt 2 - 3 hrs to climb up to the top.
the guardian of the shrine
memoirs of geisha anyone?
pillars r craved w names of companies which contributed / donated
we gave up halfway, after walking for abt 1 hr. the weather was killing us, n its nt helping that i wore a pair of new shoes for the hike. crazy.
found the cafe at gion street specializing in their green tea desserts.
weird thing is, they dun serve green tea here. the tea is oni in their dessert....?????
yup. look at hw others dressed. abt 60% of the women on the streets were in kimonos or yukata. we were instantly out of place.
let me teach u how to make a good cup of japanese ice coffee. 1st, add 5ml of sugar syrup.....
then, add in 10ml creamer
ta dah.....state of art (not)
dessert was served in a box. i look more suspicious than the box itself.
the box consists of cakes, fruits n jellies for us to dip in our matcha fondue.
fresh hot milk was served to mix w the left over matcha fondue after u finished ur dessert. it instantly became the best matcha milk ever.
cafe was at the 2nd floor, overseeing the streets of gion.
our shadows. reflects the weather.
baby was so excited to c geishas on the streets
so high fashion rite. superior skills of photographer
super hot ya
while i took high fashion pix for someone, the same cant b said for her. look at how lousy the pix came out to be (dun say i always post ugly pix of u ah.....look at my short legs n tummy.....sigh)
when critcisms r not well received (she say its the model's problem, nt the photographer), this happened. still short legs n big tummy. the oni thing that is skinny in this pix is my middle finger.
strong rickshaw pullers
finally, its time to check in
this crane became my best fren during our stay in the ryokan.
finally can rest
baby: i am soooooo tired!
this was the front door. i hav no idea how big the room was until i kept losing my way. yes. lose my way. IN THE ROOM. dun laugh.
this was juz the dining area
we had our own private onsen tub in the room as well.
we were served some refreshments upon checking in. there were free flow beers n sakes, green tea n sodas.
来杯茶！
baby like to exaggerate her injuries
like a boss
we soaked ourselves in the hot bath n got into our yukata for the kaiseki dinner served in our room
baby: y so long ah?
wat is happening under the table. the socks were from the ryokan. dun judge me.
the start of our wonderful kaiseki dinner. i will let the pix do the toking. delicate, refined and clean. a v v v v valuable treat to the senses.
sushi wrapped in bamboo leaf
look carefully for the savory jelly pearls in the spoon
吃太饱
our v cute, frank n friendly attendant of the day, saidako san. we liked her instantly. v truthful n real. reminds us of one of our ex colleague. :)
as we were having desserts n chatting, saidako san "secretly" arranged our "beds" for us. n when we opened the other door to the room, we saw this. amazing.
baby v happy after the meal
saidako san prepared a flask of warm water (she noes baby preferred warm water) n a cute goodnite note for us.
22nd May - Day 7 (Kyoto)
a half awake baby
ready for bfast!
the view fr our seat. we wanted to hav bfast downstairs to hav a different view n feel.
me: alamak, y no food yet????
ahhhh....dats better!
this tamago was the best ever. i hav nv tasted tamago like this b4. i was so mesmerized by the dashi they used. the taste is juz superb. i can eat this everyday.
udon pot
v happy!
juz look at the layers of egg. i duno hw it can b done, but it was done to perfection here. i really love this.
i hav this thing abt sugar cubes. pretty arent they.
fruit n coffee to end the meal. this came w a hand written msg to us below :)
cant resist another shot at the sugar cubes.
r
we went to check out the library n recreation room
this fella flew to our window latch for a chat. yup, my good fren.
our wonderful hostess tomoko san. she made sure that we were well taken care of during our stay, n helped to take care of our luggage as we checked out n roam the kyoto streets.
the phone booth is LOCKED. how to chg into my superman outfit?
the ryokan was named bcos of this tree which has been standing here for a few decades.
we strolled along this iconic river in the sunny but breezy weather
took the train to our nxt destination, tenryu-ji.
juz look at the beautiful n zen interior of the temple. lovely.
had to take off our shoes b4 we come in. n alas......
i hav to walk on silts like this. do u noe hw painful it was?
track for 30 mins or so b4 we reach the famous bamboo grove
被太阳晒到脸黑黑
went for this tofu ryori shop along the way out from the temple.
a full course tofu meal from homemade tofu, soybean skin to soy milk broth. v cleansing meal.
this plc was being "pushed" online as the best omurice in town, so we went n hunt it down. the small shop can oni hold 8 seats, so we hav to wait even if we've made reservations already. n guess wat. the whole restaurant was filled w singaporeans. we nearly held hands n sang majulah singapura in the restaurant.
handsome chef. one man show, his helper was a hinder instead of helping
the rice fried w beef stock gravy, chicken, onions and mixed veg, yup, no ketchup.
omelette poured over......
cut, and wah la! flowy fluffy egg covered the rice
topped up w more gravy
there u go, the so called best omurice was done.
i can oni say boss will make a good comedian. is this the best omurice? i am not sure. the flavors r too subtle in my humble opinion. but the chef is definitely a skillful one. i would say, go for the showmanship. as for the rice, it can b called the most expensive omurice i've eaten.
nite view of the restaurants exclusive to certain clienteles
went back to the ryokan for our luggage
n the staff were kind enuff to arrange transport for us to our nxt hotel, serving us tea as we waited. tomoko san came out n bid us goodbye, giving specific instructions to the driver, as in where our nxt destination was (she remembered our nxt hotel name!) we were so impressed by her kindness n professionalism. we love it here. thank you tomoko san. bye bye kyoto. till we meet again!
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