#fukuguen

[chroniclesofamiddlechild]

THE DAY I WENT TO THE WRONG PAVILION: JAPAN DAY 8

today was going to be my only full day in kyoto and i had planned a lot of good stuff such as: going to the golden pavilion and then going to the ryoanji zen garden and then making my way to the north east side of kyoto to have a cup of green tea at nanzenj and then walk around gion and go back to eikan-do for the night time illuminations. quite an AGGRESSIVE plan that i BRACED myself for. BUT DID NOT GO AS PLANNED. 

first of all, i left the hostel before 9am today. DIDNT SEE THE CUTE GUY in the olive green rain jacket. DIDNT SEE THE CUTE GUY THAT WORKS THERE EITHER. -.- before i left canada, today was the day that i planned to buy a bus and subway day pass, but since i was so successful with bussing the previous day, i opted to buy a bus pass to save some money. lol. so BEFORE i hopped on the bus to go to KINKAKU-JI (golden pavilion), i went to the convenience store to get a 500ML bottle of water and an onigri. the family mart was right outside the bus stop which was nice. so when i got on the bus, a few stops later, I NOTICED I WAS ON THE WRONG BUS -____-. so i got off AS SOON AS I COULD and went to a bus stop that would take me to the right place. luckily that bus was coming soon so i just waited and THEN HOPPED RIGHT ON :P. AND THEN THE BUS WENT OUT OF SERVICE SO EVERYONE HAD TO GET OFF. LIKE WTFFFFFFF -__- AND THIS BUS STOP WAS RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE FAMILY MART I HAD MY MORNING ONIGRI AT... WHICH MEANT THAT I WAS ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET WHEN I FIRST BOARDED THE BUS. anyways, so then i just went on the next bus, since it was the same bus number. THEN I HAD TO GET OFF SOMEWHERE TO TRANSFER, which i did. HOWEVER, i transferred to the WRONG BUS. the final bus that i was on had “ginkaku-ji” on it BUT I TOOK IT AS KINKAKU-JI because “g” and “k” are often interchangeable in asian countries. (i.e. eunkwang, the leader in btob, is sometimes referred to as eungwang. also another example is the guy from infinite - sometimes he is sunggyu and sometimes he is sungkyu.) but DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS ME! so i i just rode the bus leading to ginkaku-ji until i hit the destination. once i got off the bus, it was around 11am. it took me 2 hours to reach this place -_____-. and I DIDNT EVEN KNOW I WAS AT THE WRONG PAVILION UNTIL I WHATSAPPED A PICTURE TO MY FAMILY AND THEY NOTIFIED ME I WAS AT THE SILVER PAVILION AND NOT THE GOLDEN PAVILION. LIKE FML. SO MORAL OF THE STORY: GINKAKU AND KINKAKU ARE NOT THE SAME!!! 

but i still went inside the silver pavilion which was 500 yen. 

pretty leaves and trees, but the pavilion itself is a little underwhelming. like WHERE IS THE SILVER?! i think if you are tight on time in kyoto, this is somewhere you should skip. the trees/foilage is pretty but i cant imagine going to the silver pavilion when its not fall and when all the trees are green and boring. 

after leaving the silver pavilion, i walked along the philosopher’s path. during march and early april, the philosopher’s path is where all the cherry blossoms are. but during the fall the trees are a bit bare. its a little bit of a dreary path but i kinda liked it. 

there were a lot of cool shops along the path. i went into one and i bought this really pretty accordion style scrapbook. i dont plan to use it, but the cover is a cherry blossom design, and its just a nice souvenir. there were a lot of other cool sights along the path. a lot of old people painting and i saw some cute japanese girl wearing a beret practicing her flute. def the type of girl some of my guy friends would lust over haha. 

so after my leisurely stroll along the philosopher’s path, i decided to go to eikan-do in the day time instead of night time because I NEEDED TO BUY STUFF AKA GREEN TEA before THE SHOPS CLOSE since EVERYTHING CLOSES EARLY IN KYOTO. and I ALSO decided to not go to nanzen-ji because BY THE TIME THAT I FINISH NANZEN-JI AND EIKAN-DO then it’d be too late to go to kinkaku-ji (MY ACTUAL FIRST DESTINATION FOR THE DAY) and why go to kyoto if you dont go to the GOLDEN TEMPLE?!!?! 

so eikan-do is SO GORGEOUS. it is quite pricy at 1000 yen (around $13 CAD), but totally WORTH. when you walk in, its just a colossal of colours just hitting your eyes since the trees are red, orange and yellow. 

this is the entrance of eikan-do. pls take in all the TOURISTS there. x.x. with all the tourists, it was a little difficult to walk around and take pics but i managed. 

so fricking pretty. i dont know what that stone monument is and/or what it means, but i liked it. 

look at the colours! so gorgeoussss~ the key to having pics with no people in it is to take pics of random things, or just random small paths inside the temple. there is a pagoda inside this area, but when you go to the pagoda, you have to walk up some NARROW STEPS. i was EXTREMELY SCARED but i dont advise people with weak legs to walk up those steps. VERY NARROW and the STEPS ARE VERY SMALL!  that was the only thing beside the massive amount of tourists that i didn’t like. 

after eikan-do i was going to go to kinkaku. BUT ONCE AGAIN, I GOT LOST GOING TO KINKAKU. GODDAMN, i really HATE BUSSING. google maps IS SO UNCLEAR WITH WHERE THE BUS STOPS ARE. i think that part is a little inaccurate in kyoto. so i walked to some BUS STOP as per GOOGLE MAPS and then I TOOK THE BUS, AND IT LED ME BACK TO EIKAN-DO. like WTF?! so i asked the bus driver if i was on the wrong bus and he was like yeah, SO I GOT OFF. and then I JUST WALKED BACK TO WHERE I WENT to go on the WRONG bus, and then walked more to another BUS STOP and then FINALLY, I WAS ON THE RIGHT BUS. thankfully i DID NOT HAVE TO TRANSFER. so i just rode the bus until i hit the GOLDEN PAVILION. phew. PHEW. when i got off the bus stop, i was STARVED. there was a udon resto right outside the bus stop, but i looked it up and the google reviews didn’t look that good AND PLUS THERE WAS NO ONE INSIDE. but i had an okonimiyaki on a stick. i dont think it was particularly good since it was geared towards tourists, BUT I WAS JUST SO HUNGRY I DIDNT CARE. 

so after wolfing down that okonomiyaki on a stick, i entered the golden pavilion and realized HOW BIG THE DIFFERENCE IS BETWEEN THE TWO PAVILIONS. the golden pavilion is just SO GOLD. ITS GORGEOUS! 

i wish it was a less cloudy when i went so i could see the sun bouncing off the gold of the pavilion and then the reflection in the water would be prettier. but still, it was so pretty. NOW THATS A PAVILION. i walked around the whole pond just to get the pic at different angles. there were A BUNCH OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. november is truly peak season for kyoto -.- . theres a few things to do after looking at the golden temple - there is a coin toss monument and some other souvenir shops. at most of the temples/shrines in japan, you can write down your wish and or get your fortune. i got my fortune for 100 yen from a machine. 

haha i was so happy when i got this fortune cos its SO GOOD!!!! BUT i dont think its very accurate because my luck has been quite poor since coming back from japan. but who am i to rely on a piece of paper from a machine to give me luck?! 

i spent around ~1 hour at the golden temple and by the time i was done walking around it was about 4:30pm. MY NEXT DESTINATION WAS TO GO TO GION FOR SOME ICECREAM AT GION KINANA. but AS YOU CAN IMAGINE. GETTING TO GION WAS NOOOO FUN. LIKE OMG I KEPT ON GOING TO THE WRONG BUS STOP AS PER GOOGLE MAPS. i had to ask around and the girls that i asked told me that i was at the wrong stop. -.- BUT WHEN i finally got on the RIGHT BUS AND IT WAS PACKED. SOO PACKED. SO THAT WAS VERY UNAMUSING. but luckily i got to transfer buses BUT WHEN I TRANSFERRED THE BUS, IT WAS JUST AS PACKED AND WAS PICKING UP EVEN MORE PEOPLE. SO I WAS EVEN MORE JAMMED. UGH. just thinking about it IS SO FRUSTRATING BECAUSE 1) I HATE BUSSING 2) I KEPT ON GOING ON THE WRONG BUS THE WHOLE DAY AND WASTED SO MUCH TIME BEING LOST 3) IM ON A SUPER PACKED LIKE SARDINES BUS. ughhhUGHHH. eventually I GOT TO GION. BUT WHEN I GOT THERE, it was just too late to see any geishas walking around :(. 

but when i got to gion, i noticed there were a lot of mainland chinese tourists. I SAW ONE OF THEM PICK THEIR NOSE WHEN CROSSING THE STREET. LIKE OMG...so gross. anyways, my main intention in gion was to go to gion kinana which is famous for their roasted soy bean ice cream. SO I FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS TO IT using google maps OF COURSE. and it led me to these dark alley ways in gion which was a little scary since it was night time. but google maps told me that i had reached my destination. i looked at my destination and i saw 7 GIRLS IN KIMONOS ENTER THE SHOP FOLLOWED BY 2 MEN IN SUITS. LIKE WTF? DID GOOGLE SEND ME TO SOME GEISHA HOUSE OR SOMETHING? I WAS SO CONFUSED and i WALKED AROUND to make sure that google was right and GOOGLE WAS RIGHT!! THAT WAS THE ICE CREAM SHOP. but when i got in, i noticed that the 7 girls in kimonos were not related to the 2 men in suits. they were each their own party. haha. PHEW. 

so at gion kinana, they make all their ice cream IN SHOP. i was FRICKING EXCITED and i ordered a taster of 3 flavours. there was a bunch of other items in the menu but I REALLY WANTED ICE CREAM!!!!

all of the orders come with their hojicha tea which really goes well with sweets. the ice cream flavours that i had were what was available for the day which was brown sugar, vanilla and roasted soy bean. i was so disappointed when they told me that i had vanilla because vanilla is such a BORING flavour, but it was pretty good. it wasnt too sweet and not too creamy which i liked. the roasted soy bean was BOMB tho :P. the one that i didn’t really like was the brown sugar. it just had a weird after taste. thankfully i ate that first and didn’t save it for last. that would have made me really sad. i think this shop is a MUST VISIT for kyoto! I WANT TO GO BACK and try more flavours of their ice cream and i wanted to try some of their parfaits too BUT I CAN ONLY EAT SO MUCH AS A PERSON. next time.. next time...

after gion kinana, i wanted to try some kyoto style sushi which i heard is pickled sushi. i went to izuju sushi which is famous of their kyoto style sushi, but it was PACKED. there was no way i was gonna be able to get in before closing and i was kinda full anyways so i just walked around. i wanted to find a container to hold some green tea leaves, but i couldnt find one that i liked and was of a size that i wanted. :( i also, walked past the mannequin restaurant, and was standing outside of the restaurant deliberating whether or not i should eat there. the restaurant only serves one type of dish which is the kyoto style okonomiyaki. i saw the chef make it but as i was looking inside the restaurant, looking RIGHT AT THE MANNEQUINS, I WAS STARTING TO GET REALLY SCARED. I WAS IMAGINING EATING MY FOOD, AND THEN THE MANNEQUINS STARTING TO MOVE. that thought really made me lose my appetite so i just left and walked more around gion. but the next time i go to kyoto and if im not by myself, i will DEF GO TO THIS RESTAURANT!! 

after walking around gion, i went back to kyoto station as i had to buy a bunch of stuff like TEA. getting back to kyoto station is EZ by bus because there are a bunch of buses for kyoto station. PHEW so i didn’t get lost getting there. when the bus dropped me off at the bus stop, you can see kyoto tower in the background which i recognized from an instagram pic of hyunsik’s. <3 aka i WAS WHERE HYUNSIK WAS <3 anyways, i went to kyoto station and i bought a lot of tea from nakamura toichi (aka matcha buckwheat noodle restaurant) and fukuguen. buying all that tea really took up a lot of time cos i had to buy for gifts and others. and i had to smell the tea too to make sure that i liked it. after buying a lot of tea, i went to daiso and this daiso was amazing. IT WAS SO BRIGHT AND CLEAN AND SPACIOUS!!! this daiso was outside kyoto station and it was at the mall that i went to the day before with uniqlo. i bought a lot of random things from daiso like cloth covers for bento boxes and instant miso soup. so fun fun, but to this date, i have not opened the cloth covers for the bent boxes and truthfully, i cant even remember where i put it... -_____- 

so after shopping for tea and other souvenirs I WAS STARVED. but the only thing that is opened past 9pm at kyoto station is ramen street. THIS TIME I WAS ABLE TO FIND RAMEN STREET! (you have to take the elevator at the south side of isetan.)ramen street is CRAZY. LIKE THE WHOLE FLOOR IS FILLED WITH RAMEN RESTAURANTS. i really didnt know what to get since everything looked the same to me EXCEPT ONE RESTAURANT, the tsukemen restaurant. i prefer tsukemen over ramen cos i just dont like submerged meats that much. most of the ramen restaurants on this floor required you to order from the machine. and most of the machines had an english option which was blessed. at this restaurant, i just ordered the small size of the tsukemen and i ordered gyoza too cos i was so starved. 

the gyoza was gyoza..pretty standard. but OMGZ. i love the tsukemen. the flavour of the broth was so strong, the noodles were JUST AL DENTE. SOO GOOD. the broth was PIPING HOT and it was STILL HOT even though i took so long to eat my noodles. ugh this is something im missing from japan. i had tsukemen in toronto recently, and it wasn’t comparable to this. :( i purposely ordered the small size, because i was hoping to try another ramen restaurant afterwards. but i COULDNT COS I WAS TOO FULL AND PLUS since i eat so slowly, by the time i was done, it was almost 10pm which was closing time. SO SAD. tried to be ambitious, but i failed :( 

after finishing my tsukemen, i went back to the hostel to pack my purchases since i was going to nagoya the next day. i washed up and just relaxed and then fell asleep. and if you are wondering, i did not SEE ANY OF THE CUTE GUYS. which was good cos acne attacks dont go away in one day. 

what i learned today: kinkaku and ginkaku are NOT THE SAME. G AND K ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE IN THIS SCENARIO. also, kyoto is a beautiful city and next time, i need to be in kyoto for longer. theres so much more i want to do there. 

high point: kinkaku-ji. so pretty. and im glad i still went even though i went to the wrong pavilion initially. 

low point: just the bussing. getting from one place to another was so difficult. it was also my fault cos i would get too anxious and i would just go on a bus without checking the numbers and asking around. 

#travels #kyoto #tsukemen #eikando #kinkakuji #ginkakuji #kyoto station #uniqlo #fukuguen #daiso #nakamura toichi #gion #gion kinana #geisha #bussing #nanzenji #getting lost #family mart