Day 10 - Kyoto (Arashiyama & Sagano)

It says on our itinerary today we were supposed to visit Kinkakuji Temple in the morning and head on down to Arashiyama. Unfortunately, we were stuck doing laundry and ran really late (partly thanks to this girl who was hogging the dryer for an hour!). I couldn't take the waiting and went to ask Chisato at the reception if there were any outdoor place to hang our clothes. Turned out that there was! But by then the damage has already been done and after a slight argument with CK ( I was pissed I didn't get to go Kinkakuji), we decided to head straight to Arashiyama.

We took the JR train there and as we were in the middle of the Obon holidays, the train was packed. Manage to snag a seat and on our way there, we noticed something moving in a pram. It was a dashcund! Haha... and the girl next to us kept going 'kawaii nehhh' at the dog.

In 15min, we were in Arashiyama. As usual scorching hot. And as usual super crowded. Went to get our tickets fo the Torokko-Sagano Romantic Train ride but damn, only standing tickets were left. Since we had an hour to spare, we went to this quaint looking cafe run by two old ladies. Why are we not surprised but this shop had the latest porn mags too. We ordered an interesting Kyoto brewed Amber Ale and a not so interesting club sandwich. It did fill us up though.



Time for our train ride. The romantic train is those kinda choo-choo train like Thomas the train. What's very interesting was that we were treated to some lovely Karaoke by one of the train officers while waiting for the train to move on schedule. A cute retro red and yellow color, it took us on a scenic ride at the top of the gorges of Hozu River.



The train ultimate came to our final stop and here, you can take a 10 minute bus ride to the starting point of the Hozu Gawa Boat Trip. A scenic boat trip on the Hozu River, through gorges and some exciting rapids, both me and CK agreed this was one of the best experiences of our trip.

The boat is rowed using bamboo sticks where 3 strong guys take turns to row, steer and helm the boat. It's amazing.
Anyway one of the boat men was really funny. Though he only spoke Japanese, I think he kept telling alot of jokes coz the other 25 Japanese people onboard were laughing alot.

The gorge was beautiful and filled with activity. We came across teenagers camping, a Japanese girl and gaijin perched on the rocks, a labrador and his owner playing fetch and families etc. You get a nice serene feeling from the ride. Most of the trees were green coz it was summer but it was still gorgeousl. Imagine autumn!! What was also intersting is towards the end, a boat selling food and drinks comes to our boat, attaches itself to our boat before powering off together using its speed motor. Had this bbq squid which was damn bloody nice.



Anyway, from lovely Arashiyama, we headed back to Kyoto for dinner. We went to Pontocho, a narrow, atmospheric lane filled with bars and restaurants (notably one of the two hangouts for geishas.)



We finally ended up at this hot stone barbeque place called Ishiyaki Jidori Issian. It was really fun eating here coz we sat at the counter and was treated to various cuts of tasty chicken, pork and beef. We had pork cheek, chicken cartilage, prime rib, liver etc and you had to dip the meat into some grated onion first before dumping on the hot plate to cook. . The meat tastes very different from what we have here. It is simply naturally sweeter. And even the daikon tofu salad was excellent. Till this day I have cravings for it. Love the texture. And apparently even the rice they serve here is of some supreme quality (went very well with the meat) and with interesting presentation. You time your rice using an hourglass.



A memorable day that ended with a memorable meal. What a great day. Love Kyoto too.