Kyoto: what it's famous for

No doubt about it - food in Kyoto is the best of Japan. I believe this is part of the reason I love Kyoto so much. Though I didn't get to much, wagashi (Japanese sweets) like anko, macha, cherry-blossom flavoured mochi are popular souvenirs amongst Japanese travellers. For dining, I suggest hitting up a restaurant that serves traditional Japanese food, like we did.



Yuba-don (anything stuck to the word 'don' means it's served on rice). Yuba is paper-thin tofu, silky and smooth. It is amongst the tastiest and one of the more famous ingredients of Kyoto. Served on top of rice, biting down a spoonful makes you oohh after some tiring sight-seeing.



Meals are served with a variety of nibblers like preserved radish/kelp/plum (umeboshi), soup, rice, tempura, the list goes on. Ain't the little flowery designs cute!



The menu on display in 3D! Plastic food is a common way for Japanese restaurants to show how appetising their menu is. On top of that, it makes it much more easy for foreigners to identify what they want to eat ;).



Also located in the station, is this wonderful modern Japanese/French cafe called Malebranche. We stopped by in need of something sweet before I headed home.



Clean, crisp & crafty interior!



Really straight macha (green tea powder) mixed with water. Intense flavour, but not the intended order. My friend wanted it with milk, and unfortunately I do believe it would have tasted better with it.

Macha cake soft serve. A macha soft serve topped with moorish macha cookie pieces. This was so damn good! There was a nice good cool creaminess with a lovely lovely lovelyyyy macha taste. Not to mention classy presentation! Kyoto is the bomb for some good ol' macha.

Oh, Kyoto!

A hub buzzing with a traditional or yet heart-warming Japanese culture, Kyoto is my favourite city in Japan. My 2 friends, Azusa and Mei (Azusa whom I met in Nara and Mei whom I met on the day!) made this a very lovely trip for me.



I bought a one day pass (1600 yen) to travel around the Osaka, Nara and Kyoto area, which proved handy as I had to get from Nara to Kyoto and back (and not to mention I forgot my luggage in the lockers in Kyoto = another half trip back down there) , then to Osaka for my night departure to Kumamoto. I recommend grabbing the one-day bus pass (500 yen) to go sightseeing around Kyoto, whilst not forgeting my clumsiness, I lost this pass after only one bus trip...which might explain why I didn't visit the famous Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). But we did manage to visit 3 places before I had to leave. Really, all was good since this was my second visit to Kyoto ;).



Some shrine, can't remember the name but it's near Nijo Castle. Very petite and pretty.



Story goes, if you walk across this bridge (towards the camera), your wish comes true! On another note, Azusa is so cute!



Apparently you pick out these fortune-telling papers and if they're bad (or really once you're done looking at 'em), you tie them onto this pole thing.



Nijo castle: How did people from the Edo period create such intricate details! I love the colours and the design. The inside was much more mind-blowing, and unfortunately you can't take photos inside so you'd just have to see for yourself!



Beautiful scenery from the top of Nijo castle ...apparently buildings cannot exceed a certain height (of about 7/9 floors or something) to preserve the unique landscape.



Toji Temple: listed World Heritage Site.

The famous 5-story pagoda part of Toji Temple - highest wooden tower in Kyoto.



Thought this was a cute taxi sign!



Everywhere you walk is so Japanese! Love Kyoto.