When I visited Osaka at the beginning of this year with my friend, the plan was to pop by Kyoto as well since it’s accessible by a less-than-an-hour train ride. So glad we decided to do that, because Kyoto was way more beautiful than I imagined it to be. Although we spent only 3/4 of a day there, it was lovely enough to leave a deep impression. I actually like Kyoto more than certain parts of Osaka!
There are many ways to get to Kyoto from Osaka, and Google can give you all the directions you need. For us, we took the Hankyu line to Arashiyama Station because we wanted to visit the Bamboo Grove.
A calm and soothing sight welcomed us as we stepped out from the station. It felt slightly colder here than Osaka and the temperatures had fallen to below 5 degrees celsius – Extremely enjoyable for me though. I love cold weather!
We crossed to the other side of the road to have breakfast at a cafe.
Apart from the almost-unbearable smoke smell inside the cafe, the food was lovely as usual.
From the cafe, we followed the directional signs and took a long stroll in search of the Bamboo Grove. It was such an enjoyable stroll in the cold, with beautiful scenery around us. I would be contented to live here! Enjoy the sights that I saw along the way, though the photographs don’t do them justice.
Once you reach this bridge, cross it and you’re on the right track towards the Bamboo Grove.
From a distance, we spotted many rickshaws and I recalled having seen them when I was in Tokyo previously. We decided that we would ride them this time round! As expected, it was not cheap but it was an experience we enjoyed tremendously. Our rickshaw puller was good-looking, humorous and helpful, and along the way would suggest good photo points for us. The ride was a short 10-minute ride to Bamboo Grove and we enjoyed the sights along the way, with commentaries by the rickshaw puller with his limited vocabulary.
He had a stool ready for us to step up onto the rickshaw and covered our legs with a thick blanket. We felt very cosy and warm! :)
Along the way, we spotted geishas, and asked our rickshaw puller to help us ask if we could snap a photo of them. The truth is we are not sure if they are real geishas (most likely not, though) as dressing up as geishas is a popular activity to do in Kyoto. Japanese and tourists alike would pay a sum of money for a makeover, photo shoot and a day of rental for the kimonos and slippers, just so that they can experience a day in the life of a geisha. Nevertheless, they looked so elegant! Thankfully, they agreed immediately. :)
As we entered the Bamboo Grove, we were amazed at how beautiful the place was. No wonder it’s one of the must-visit places in Kyoto, especially for first-timers!
The Bamboo Grove was our final destination, and we alighted and thanked our rickshaw puller for a lovely experience. Then we took a slow stroll through the Bamboo Grove.
Along the way, we stumbled upon an old house with many years of history. We thought it was interesting to pay for a tea demonstration session in the old house and probably know a little more about Kyoto. It was certainly not cheap, but as usual, tourists don’t think too much about paying for such things. After all, tea making is a rather big part of Kyoto culture.
It turned out to be quite a big fluke though. There was no tea making demonstration (perhaps the Japanese lady didn’t explain well and could not understand us when we clarified about that part). We were merely served 2 pieces of pastries and two cups of special Kyoto tea in a private room, and that was it. The house was authentically old and had lots of history though, but it was not a traditional Japanese Ryoken that I was expected. It had modernized after several refurbishing works. We were showed a picture book of how the house looked like years ago and some history about the place. It was disappointing, but we had a good and quiet rest in that house after a long walk. Nonetheless, if I were to go back again, I would definitely not pay for such a thing again.
My last meal at Kyoto was this hot bowl of delightful udon soup. The udon was so QQ, and the soup was flavorful. It was especially comforting to savor this in such a cold weather. So good.
We headed back to Osaka in the evening because to get to another attraction in Kyoto, we would have to spend quite a bit of time travelling again. We enjoyed Kyoto very much and would love to be back again. :)
