2 weeks in Kyushu with the Japan rail pass. Part 6 of 6: Day 14 – 17 Kyoto and going to Narita airport (Tokyo)

Day 14: typhoon approached Southern Japan – Rest day and Kyoto ramen

We woke up and felt smug and relieved at the same time. Smug as we made the right choice traveling yesterday and relieved as we actually managed it. Shinkansen between Kokura and Kyoto are not running all day today and had we not traveled yesterday, we would’ve been stuck in Beppu, probably fighting for tomorrow’s train with other travellers who are also stuck.

We decided not to do any sightseeings today as the city public transport could also stop today. We were also really tired after 2 weeks of traveling in Southern Japan heat, so had a nice slow and easy day and went out only after lunch hour.

Our airbnb was near JR train station called Tanbaguchi, so we could use our JR pass. We went to Kyoto station and went to tourist information, post office, did some window shopping and ate Kyoto ramen.

Kyoto ramen is quite different to many other ramens in Japan; flavour is subtle and much less oily. I really like Kyoto ramen.

It rained a lot at night and we could hear the strong wind.

Day 15: Kinkakuji temple – Nishiki market – Gion area – Daimonji bonfire festival

The sky was blue and the sun was out. The typhoon seems to have passed.

We first went to Kinkakuji temple (Golden Pavilion), ¥400 entry fee. It was busy, very busy.

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They have a tea house. ¥500 for matcha and sweets.

Top tips for JR pass holders; Do not bother with JR Kyoto buses. Buy a Kyoto city bus pass. There are loads of city buses covering all areas in Kyoto whereas JR buses only run certain routes and some come only once every hour, or none. City bus day pass is ¥600 and can be bought from a driver on the bus.

We then went to Nishiki market. I guess no introduction is needed.

We visited Yasaka shrine, walked around Gion, and it was time to go and see the Daimonji festival.

Daimonji festival is an annual cerebration in Kyoto. Huge bonfires are set alight on five mountains in the shape of Japanese characters. ‘Obon’ is a big holiday time in Japan. The Japanese believe that the spirits of their ancestors come to visit the human world during Obon. Daimonji festival celebrates the end of Obon and sends off the spirits back with bright lights so they don’t get lost.

I’ve seen photos of Daimonji festival many times, but never thought I’d have a chance to see the real thing! We found out that the roof top car park of an Aeon shopping mall has a good view of the mountains. The car park was full of people when we got there, but we managed to see a couple of bonfires really clearly. I put my hands together and wished for their safe returns. It was such a wonderful and moving experience.

We went back to airbnb and had some Kyoto sake.

 

Day 16: Fushimi inari shrine – Ninen-zaka – Uji-cha green tea

I don’t know what happened to Fushimi Inari Shrine, but it became so big, so famous I don’t even recognise the place anymore. I first visited here probably about 10 years ago, it has always been a well known Kyoto attraction, but it was not like this:

I do not mean to sound like those You-tubers who probably get up at ridiculous hour of the morning to get the ‘best shot’ of Fushimi Inari, but it’s true what they say. Please do try to come as early as you can, it really is a tranquil, beautiful and peaceful place, I promise!

We then went to Ninen-zaka.

One of many things we wanted to do in Kyoto was to try the real Kyoto green tea called Uji-cha. We had a few places in mind but went to a cafe called Cha-no-ki inside Marui department store.

As you can see, it’s a very, very, modern setting and we had to first spend a few seconds erasing our traditional-wooden-house-with-beautiful-tatami-floor Kyoto tea drinking fantasy out of our minds.

C and I had iced green tea and C’s mum had hoji tea. Both are easily one of the best Japanese teas I’ve had. The green tea was so thick it was borderline milkshake consistency. We don’t normally spend ¥600 for a glass of tea, but it was definitely worth it and definitely the kind of Kyoto tea experience we were hoping for.

Marui also has a Taiyaki shop on the ground floor. Taiyaki is a sweet bean paste wrapped in a thin fish shaped pancake. Of course we tried the matcha (¥250) and the hoji-cha (¥200) flavours.

Day 17: Final day – going to Tokyo Narita airport from Kyoto

Last day of our 14 days JR pass and the last day of our journey.

C and I will have another week in Tokyo, but C’s mum was leaving to Europe from Narita airport tonight.

We checked out our airbnb and arrived at Kyoto station early enough so we could buy some last minutes souvenir and food for the journey and have coffee in a cafe.

We went to Deli Cafe in the station. C ordered hoji-cha latte and I matcha-latte. We never order lattes, but that was the Kyot-est thing they had on the menu and they actually were really delicious. Good-bye Kyoto, until next time!

We took the 10:32 Hikari shinkansen. Only 2 and half hours to Tokyo, amazing! But my Kyoto experience didn’t end with the matcha latte. At the station, I bought a couple of Kyoto dishes, Koya-tofu and burdock wrapped in Japanese omelette. I had them for lunch in shinkansen – fantastic.

I like the subtlety and elegance of Kyoto flavours. Next to me, C was happily chomping his egg sandwiches from seven-eleven.

We arrived at Shinagawa station at 13:03 and took the 13:24 Narita Express. We arrived at Narita airport terminal1 at 14:29. C’s mum’s flight was at 18:00 and the check-in was going to open at around 15:00, so it was perfect timing.

After checking in, we went to the food court and had udon with egg and grated yam (¥540) and soon it was time for C’s mum to go to her gate… We were going to see her only in a week, but still it was a little sad to say good bye after traveling and being together for over 2 weeks.

C and I love Narita airport and we were planning to play and shop till we drop before going to our Tokyo airbnb. But we dropped before we could shop. Both C and myself experienced this sudden rush of overwhelming exhaustion a second after seeing off C’s mum. I think we were both relieved that we brought her here safely (and on time and she was going to the right gate!) and we also completed our intense 2 weeks Kyushu adventure, safely.

We went straight to the JR ticket office and booked the next Narita Express to Ikebukuro. By the way, I didn’t know that Narita Express went straight to/from Ikebukuro until then. We booked an airbnb in Ikebukuro because it was the cheapest, but were thinking that we had to change at Ueno or Tokyo for JR Yamanote line. I was surprised and overjoyed to find out that it was going to carry me all the way to Ikebukuro.

C and I were both exhausted. We stretched our legs and rested in a comfy Narita Express train, slowly taking in all the excitement we had in Kyushu and Kyoto and looking forward to our Tokyo adventure.