Firts time in Kyoto and Hiroshima Japan

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Trip Start Aug 04, 2008 Trip End Aug 19, 2008

  Kyoto, Japan
Wednesday, September 3, 2008

  I too made my first trip to Japan last month in August. I was very nervous because I was going to be there alone for the 1st 5 days. I had a great time though, I had originally planned to spend the entire time in Kansai but I was lucky and was able to make it to Hiroshima when my friend joined me.

I am not a good traveler so I cheated a little bit (a lot actually). A firend of a friend knows this girl who does yukata and kimono rentals in Kyoto, she speaks good Japanese and has been living there for a while. Well she helped me quite a bit. She found me a hotel across from the Imperial Palace and so the next morning I did the palace tour. It was quite beautiful. She lent me her bicyle for the rest of the day and I rode around the shrines in that area including Shimogamo etc.

I was in Kyoto a little before the middle of August with all the fireworks and stayed until after the festival where they light fire to the 5 kanji on the mountains. I rented a yukata from R San and then I went with she and her friends to the fireworks festival near the big lake called Biwako. It was amazing, we sat on a blanket and had beer and the triangular onigiri and edamame while watching fireworks explode in the night sky.  The slippers (geta) took a little getting used to, but I managed to pull it off.

When my friend came, R San suggested we get this youth 18 ticket for like $100. My friend and I used the same ticket; it was valid for 5 days of
unlimited travel or for 5 people to travel unlimitedly for one day, or
any combination thereof.You cant use the Shinkansen but we used the regular fast train to Himeji.  In Himeji we saw the absolutely stunning castle, skip the fake one in Osaka (really skip it) and head to Himeji the interior is in its original condition.  Next we went to an onsen which overlooks the castle and purified our pores.  We were so reluctant to leave but eventually we did and then we went to one of Japans top 3 garden in Okayama. After that we went straight to Hiroshima.

We were exhausted when we got to Hiroshima so dinner was simple.  The next day however we went to the Okonomiyaki building and had our fill of Hiroshima Okonomiyaki.  The sauce is a little sweet but I added lots of ginger and that balanced it out.  Miyajima Island was nothing short of a dream.  The view of the tori with the mountain in backdrop from the ferry was spectacular.

On the way back from Hiroshima we stopped in Kurashiki which is a quaint little town with a beautiful old japanese houses.

Back in Kyoto it was time for another festival (Daimonji) we rented a yukata for the whole day
again ( I had done it before but my friend wanted to try it so we did it again) and went to Arashiyama. In the evening we walked along the river and saw 2 of the 5
kanjis set on fire. After that we went to one of the outdoor restaurant
called 'yuka' which is built on top of the river for dinner (it was a thank you for the lady who helped us.

While we were at R's place getting dressed for Daimonji we found out that she
studied tea ceremony.  We begged and so she made us matcha and served
us tea ceremony style with sweets.  It was sooo much better than the
bitter stuff I have had here in the States.  We became very interested in this tea thing, and so the next day we went to Uji and did a tour of the Koyama factory and experienced drinking matcha with sweets again (yeah twice in a row).  Our last day we wanted to have tea again.  R sent us to this very famous tea shop (built in the 1800's) around the corner from her house called Ippodo.  There was no tour this time but we did have tea and sweets (third time, is the charm) in their tearoom.  I bought a tea sieve to sift the matcha I had bought at Koyama.

In Kyoto I went to to so many places including Inari Shrine, Ginkakuji, Ryoanji, Heian Shrine, Moriyama Park, Path of Philosophy, Uji and so many others. And because we were able to rent/borrow bicyles a few times we saw a lot more of the smaller streets and unkown places that are not in guide books plus we had help.  For example after going to Ginkakuji, we had lunch at one of the Top 2 universities in Japan at their cafeteria it was very cheap and we could recover from the heat and humidity.  The university makes its own beer (Blue Nile) and curry  (Presidents curry) we bought some as gifts for friends and family.

All in all, we had a great time and we would definately love to go back,  R told us that Gion is a also a good time so we may do that next time.

Helpful links/info
Hotel-  Palace Side Hotel
Tea:  Ippodo on Teramachi and Koyama in Uji
Yukata/Kimono rental: elegancebypandora@gmail.com
Izakaya (japanese bar/pub) Zawatami on Teramachi
Train tickets:  Ticket shop at corner of Sanjo

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