Kyoto - 22nd November 2013

We reached Kyoto pretty late at around evening time..and took such a qalk to our Sakura Ryokan. It's about 10min walk from internet but I feel it takes longer. It's very near to Nishi Honganji..it takes some time to walk from the Kyoto station to the ryokan. It's located within the residential area. So with our heavy backpacks , we struggled our way to the ryokan... literally hahAHa

We decided to go visit Kiyomizudera light illumination during the night. We took a train ride to Gion station and walked to Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka,  which are both very charming streets at night, lined with various cuisine rstaurants, soft icecream, Kyoto yu-tofu, ramen etc..

Below is one interesting shop..Mini Ghibli shop!

The various Ghibli museum characters

Totoro at busstop!

Before I forgot, Gion is a street where maikos and geishas are frequently seen in evening time, rushing to their venues..we didnt have the fortune to see any...better luck next time!

Icecream again!!

En route to Kiyomizu dera.. we saw this poster..and to our shock..we saw the long long queue..everyone wanna see autumn foliage at night! The crowd was amazingly enormous..hahaha

Finally after 45min, we got entry in. It was thw first time we experienced the huge fanatic crowd during autmn foliage viewing. More to come in the upcoming days...this was in fact the most minor..the worst crowd was at Tofukiji hahaha.. 

But everyone was still in order..and polite..no crowd pushing..and crowd control was still good. So we managed to get very nice view of the maple leaves, the foliage at night including he magnificent temple..we were glad we were there despite the tired feet hahaa..

Look at the crowd!!

From afar...

This pic was taken from the Kyoto station en route back home...

From near..haha.. we had some ramen along the way for dinner and dropped by the convenience store for some more snacks ...cant wait to share more autumn foliage at other top spots for viewing in Kyoto tomorrow. and tomorrow, we are going for a cycling tour with Kyoto Cycling Tour project (KCTP)! 

Kinosaki Onsen - 22nd November 2013

A wonderful sleep at Kojinmari and we received a morning call that our breakfast (crab based) is ready!

The happy us got ourselves ready in yukata and went to the dining area to have our meal..the elaborate dishes was really the first time I experienced in a Japanese ryokan!I have no time to take pics of all the food but I can tell you is really worth the money..what we paid include the breakfast, dinner, and a one night stay at their most prestigious RIN room. I highly recommend visitors to stay the RIN room if you can :)

We shopped around the souvenir shops of Kinosaki and purchased some sigmature food, magnets, shinchan keychains that have a symbol of Kinosaki haha..really didnt expect to see that many here..

Softo icecream..anyone? 

We had plenty here and they are have unique flavors.Cake shops, cafes..easily found along streets of Kinosaki We were scheduled to take the train to Kyoto at 1pm. 

After getting what we need and want haha..we carried our backpacks to the station and said farewell to this wonderful onsen town that provided us delicious crabs, great onsen experience thats totally unforgettable :) Enroute to Kyoto..another highlight of our trip!!

Osaka to Kinosaki - 22nd November 2013

Waking up early at 7 am for our shinkansen ride to Kinosaki Onsen!

It was the peak hour for the working folks and tourists like us just like to stand around and take pics of the hectic hour!and maybe these folks were thinking we were kichigaii (mad in Japanese) hahaha

So the 2Hr ride began up north of the Kansai region.. I was looking forward to Kinosaki as it is the Crab season! Yummy crabs here we come and the amazing onsen spots within Kinosaki is yet another highlight!

As quoted from japanguide: Kinosaki (城崎) is located in northern Hyogo Prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan. This pleasant town, built along a willow lined river, is one of the top onsen destinations of the Kansai Region.

We stayed at Kinosaki Onsen Kojinmari Ryokan. It took some time to find this lovely ryokan and we were so glad to see it located near to convenience store hahaha...
We met with this lady who was present at the ryokan, whose English was perfect! She introduced us to places to have lunch, top onsen spots and places to visit within Kinosaki since our room was still not ready.

We walked around the town, spotted everyone at Kinosaki wearing their yukata and approaching different onsen spots or just walking around browsing the fresh crab and seafood produce. We took the Kinosaki cable car up to have a bird eye view of the small Kinosaki town, which is blessed with natural hotspring water and nice mountains.

Up the mountain, it was drizzling so we took shelter at the cafe having some local dessert shown below. Totally yummy while admiring the scenery as shown in the above picture.

Red maple leaves at Kinosaki!

Us wearing our yukatas and getting ready for some onsen!

Outside our ryokan Kojinmari

But before that, we had our lunch first at one recommended restaurant by the lady at the ryokan.

Look at the sushi..so big slice of fish on top of the rice..perfect to have all these in a rainy day haha..After lunch, we walked around and saw the crabs in season..we cant wait for our kaiseki dinner which was crab theme!

I could not imagine seeing Shinchan here as a ambassador for firefighting in Kinosaki hahaaa hard to link indeed.

This is one of the top kinosaki onsens venue to visit. It is a must! This is Goshono-yu. 

We visited the following morning as it wasnt open on the day we went. So after that, we went to two onsens before dinner.. one of the onsens.. I actually saw 2rainbows and it was an amazing sight as the onsen was outdoor. It was nearing sunset after rain and I could not forget that moment :) That was at Satono-yu. The second onsen we visited was Ichino-yu.
So if you only have time to visit three onsens, these are the three which you should go as they are very spacious,as heard from the boss of ryokan.

More info on the onsens 

The lovely sunset before going back to the hotel for dinner!

Crab kaiseki dinner course was waiting for us after our onsen experience..and there was also beef, chicken and other seafood..yum yum...it was nice they have a sheet that explains each dish in terms of ingredients in English.

That is Tajima beef!

Look at the appetizer!

Us with the lady boss at the ryokan who brought us all the dishes into the room...with all the shitsureishimasu..summimasen etc..polite and patient..each time with every bow that we feel really embarrased at times haha

Crab from Kinosaki

Wow oysters

Seafood bbq

Crab crabmeat..so soft and chewy..heaven! It was also very sweet..

The TV programme which showed the famous Jap group Smap haha..singing songs..while we enjoyed our sumptuous kaiseki dinner..a bliss to have..and we took a rest before having onsen in our private hotspring area..that is a special feature of the RIN room :) oyasumi nasai!

Some photo shots of the RIN room! Simple luxury :)

Osaka - 21st November 2013

1. Osaka castle

Taking the overnight flight to Kansai airport has made us very shag indeed. Seats were not so comfortable but we are not expecting much from budget tix. But the excitement of seeing the autumn koyo(foliage) and the yummilicious kobe beef kept us going!

 
Upon checking into Hotel Monterey Osaka, we went off to explore osaka castle as our first destination! It just took us a simple train ride from the confusing Osaka station..it is like a maze for first timers like us.

We took a pleasant walk from the osaka castle station, enjoying the breezy weather and the yellow, orange, red trees that came into our sight! Simply excited to see what awaits for us at Kyoto, as it was the peak week for autumn foliage.

We took about 20mins walk to reach this magnificent castle. We decided not to go into the castle but took some pic of the castle as memory that we arrived at one of the major attractions in Osaka.

Feeling hungry, we decided to head to Namba for some authentic food in Osaka which are highly popular among Singaporeans..like takoyaki balls, gyoza, okonomiyaki. Same thing..just a subway ride away..I love the subway system in Osaka..everywhere is just within reach from the station :)

The neon lights,the big red crab sign, and the huge takoyaki balls! We queued for about 15mins and we finally took our first bite in Osaka. The taste was overwhelming with the octopus filling up our mouth.. in the weather we were in, taking warm food is simply bliss!

Of cuz, we saw iconic characters that were often mentioned in guidebooks like the glico man!

Kuidaore Taro..

As this was our first day arriving in Osaka, we decided to head back to hotel for a good night rest, as we had an early train to catch the next day to Kinosaki Onsen...more to come in the next post!