Tsuruga city and Kanazawa

Set off to Tsuruga city early in the morning which was just a stopover for S's shrine conquest before going to Kanazawa. I was kind of expecting we are doing more at the city beside the shrine but as we walked back to the Tsuruga station all the stores were yet to open. Quite disappointing. 

Kanazawa is the "hottest" destination spot with Japanese this year as the Shinkansen station was opened this year. Hence there are many tv programs that showcase Kanazawa. Booked the french resturant LaChic which was featured in the Japanese tourist book and it was superb! Luckily we managed to make reservation as the restaurant was fully seated after we arrived and it seemed that all of them made reservations as well. I forgot the price but we chose the mid range which was around 1300 yen and we ordered extra dessert which costed 600yen extra. The portion was more than what we expected and the desserts were outstanding. S kept eating non stop and i had to keep my eyes on him in case he finished everything lol.

the only time that gion street was so empty 

kehi shrine

if only we known about the special bus, might have taken this instead.

fukui prefecture tsuruga station

LaChic french at Kanazawa

menu on written on the mirror

salad with roots soup

the nice waitress refilled the warm bread for us

my lousy camera did not mange to capture the delicious dish in good light 

noto's pork, Those that seen NHK tv show "Mare" would know

600 yen dessert. worth the price. 

Kyoto Day 3 Part 2

After the heavy lunch, we walked to the famous togetsu bridge (known as Moon crossing) and its had many kodak moments. Pictures he took (since his camera is better) were just like from postcards. Next we went to Matsuo-Taisha known as God of Sake. S asked the train station master the direction of the shrine and station master kept telling him don't worry you will definitely spot it but S looked like he wanted to ask more haha. After just 2 steps from the station, we saw the big red gate haha!

Around evening time, we went to stroll around very old Kyoto atmosphere in Gion Shirakawa area (my okaasan recommendation). All the restaurants around it looked so expensive! Some don't even have the price outside which means you guarantee to get chop! We were pre warn by S's boss who went Kyoto few weeks earlier and he was shocked and upset with the dinner he had in one of the Grion restaurant that has no price listed. 1 beer, 2000 yen ($24), 3 slices of sashimi 8000 yen ($100) and others. 

We were searching for dinner but couldn't find any that was within our budget and so I wanted to go back to Green cafe and eat my fish and chips. S refused so we found a place with  mannequins dressed in Japanese old traditional clothes and each table had one. The funny thing was they only served 1 dish but their menu book was so huge. I did not like the taste so I barely eat it, then we found a ramen stall just opened for business. When we finished our ramen and left, S commented that they must had forgotten to add soya sauce inside my ramen and he was waiting for me to point it out. He couldn't believe I finished everything without complaint lol! Its was ok for me, not super delicious and I did not notice anything was wrong haha! But then I usually do not drink ramen soup as it was too oily and salty for me. 

just opposite side of the train station

matsuo-taisha

known as god of sake hence the offerings in sake

view from togetsu bridge

the sun was so glaring we could not open our eyes

we were trying to take ourself with selfie stick until the kind Japanese ladies group rescued us. 

gion shirakawa area

alittle creepy to eat with her lol

S liked it, I did not, sauce too sweet and i hate the pink ginger

shota said how can i finish since there's no soya sauce added. yet he only said it after i finished everything

Kyoto Day 3 Part 1

Once again, we got up early in the morning, had our breakfast and headed to Fushimi Inari Taisha. This shrine famous for its 1000 torii gates trail which lead into the mountain of Mt. Inari which probably need 2 hours (heard from the elderly Japanese ladies while waiting for our train). I decided to give up after realising we only climbed 1/5 of the journey as we still have a long day ahead. I was pretty sure, I won't be able to continue all the climbing if I used up my energy at our first destination. 

Thenafter, we took train to Arashiyama (嵐山), famous for the bamboo groves and Togetsukyo Bridge. There are many shrines and temples worth visiting as well. Okaasan recommended us to visit Jojakkoji Temple, famous for Japanese tourists but hardly any foreign tourists. Indeed, the path around temples did not have groups and groups of never ending crowd so it was very relaxing to take our leisure stroll and to explore.  

One of S recent worry was that he forecast that he will be turning "hage" (bald) when he's older. Since his grandfather was one and his dad was not, as he said that baldness usually skip a generation lol. Hence, we stopped by the famous hair shrine that many Japanese especially men went. For then on, the never ending tourists appeared once again....lol... The bamboo groves were indeed very beautiful (if only lesser people), you barely can take any pictures without people in your background. 

My feet were starting to ache again when we were touring in Tenryuji Temple, keep sitting down to rest in the garden and honestly speaking I was not in the mood to continue to take in the scenery anymore. Felt bad since the admission fee was not cheap. We left and went to look for lunch. 

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Inside Fushimi Inari Taisha

tracing the trail of the famous 1000 torii gates

looking back of the gates, each gate listed name or company that donated for the construction of the gate and date of it was built. 

The map of the gates the surrounded the mountain trail, said to take at least 2 hours to finish, we only covered 1/5 and i gave up. Beside the map, it stated the how much donation needed to "get" a torii gate. 

another different shrine off the trail 

Jojakkoji Temple

the view from the top of Jojakkoji Temple

very peaceful

Rakushisha Residence

inside Rakushisha Residence

Gioji Temple

S insisted I took picture with red bean statue since i love eating it.

short break 

cute guardian for Hair Shrine

Hair shrine

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Tenryuji Temple

inside Tenryuji Temple

lunch! 

around Arashiyama train station