Night viewing in Kiyomizudera and Animate in Kyoto!
In my previous post, I've talked about my day in Nagoya. The day in Nagoya was rainy so it sucked a little bit. I've also briefly talked about the morning where I walked around Tsurumai after checking out, and went to Meitetsu BC after riding the train from JR Tsurumai station to JR Nagoya station.I've also mentioned about how the Meitetsu bus that I hopped on worked, so now we are talking about Kyoto! :D
It was a 4-hour bus ride, and I had a 1-hour nap throughout the trip, while staring outside the windows since my bus wasn't full of passengers and complaining that my pocket wifi didn't have good reception throughout the highway but then again, who would even improve internet reception on a highway where there aren't even people living by its sides lololol
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| On my way to Kyoto from Nagoya |
When we are about 40 minutes away from Kyoto, the sky turned dark and I was praying so hard that it wouldn't rain. It rained a little, but stopped when I arrived Kyoto.
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| The dark skies almost made me think that my photo was in black and white |
Within the Kyoto station itself, there's actually a few floors, they also have an Isetan somewhere below the giant Christmas tree too!
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| Giant Christmas Tree in Kyoto Station |
Once you have stepped out from the Kyoto station, you will find yourself staring at the Kyoto Tower! Also, on your right side when you come out from the main exit of Kyoto station, you could see a small room selling bus tickets or daily passes. From there, I bought my Yamashina and Daigo pass for 1,300 yen.
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| View of Kyoto Tower from JY Kyoto Station |
On my first day, I forgot about getting two city bus tickets, which I really should have bought two to save 230 yen on the bus ticket to Kyoto station on the following day _(:3J
In the Kyoto station, you can see vending machines that sells various types of city bus tickets! There are three types of city bus tickets, but I'm showing you all of my passes that I bought for Nagoya and Kyoto in the following picture:
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| From left: #1 Nagoya's Donichi Pass, #2 and #5 Kyoto's 1 Day bus + Aquarium discount pass, #3 is similar to #2/5 but the discount is for the railway museum #4 is a One-way subway and bus pass (also for Keihan bus) that includes a route to Yamashina and Daigo for 1300 yen #6 is just an ordinary bus ticket of 500 yen _(:3J |
I would talk about the usage of these passes in another post, but generally, for the bus passes in Kyoto is valid for the day of usage only. If you start using it at 2pm of the day, then after 11:59pm of the same day the pass would be invalid because it's considered another day. Each pass costs 500 yen, except for #4, where it includes the usage of the city subway as well as extending the trips to Yamashina and Daigo.
For each bus ride, it costs 230 yen (except for Keihan buses where they will cost 300 yen) so if you are actually going around a lot the 500 yen bus pass would be worth it. Unless you are only planning to ride the bus for only once or twice throughout the day, then it's better to pay by coins or your IC card. Not all buses offer changes, so it's the best to prepare an exact amount of fare! :)
Anyways, the buses in Kyoto can be really confusing and intimidating at first, because there are so many bus stops with the same name and you might have no idea on which one to head to in order to hop onto the correct bus, or in Kyoto station, there are like, five rows of bus stops so you have to check the diagram on which station you wanted to go, and head to the correct platform. Google Maps was a complete fail when it comes to Kyoto bus stations, they'd tell you the bus number, but not which station or platform that you are supposed to board the bus.
It took me some time to realize that my platform was actually very close to the Kyoto station entrance, but Google Map brought me somewhere so far away and I was just... ( =____=);
And I finally managed to arrive Omiya Matsubara, where my stay in Kyoto was actually for four nights in a hostel-like guesthouse. The place is called Light's guesthouse（來都）where it's really, really convenient and close to the Omiya Matsubara bus stop. I found the place via Airbnb and I have made a lot of friends here throughout my stay!
When I entered Light's place, I was welcomed with English-speaking staff and I was introduced around the place, what to do and what not to do, and I had my space for my gigantic luggage. I was also welcomed by these two adorable shiba plushies that every single day before I go to bed and before I head out, I'll hug them or pat them on their heads.
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| My favorite plushies in Kyoto |
After checking in, I took out my bag and headed out around 4:30pm. I thought 4:30 in the evening might be a little too early for night-viewing in Kiyomizudera, so I chose to look around the downtown area of Kyoto - Shijo Kawaramachi. There are little stores everywhere that sells items like snacks, local street food, kimono, etc. There is also a piercing store and I was initially thinking that it's a store that sell earrings lol. There's also a Matsumoto Kiyoshi too! Animate Kyoto and Animate Cafe of Kyoto is also in this area.
Animate Kyoto is, needless to say, a lot smaller than the Animate branches in Tokyo, but there are actually goods that I was able to find in Kyoto rather than Tokyo so I'm actually glad to go to Kyoto's Animate! Their staff are also very helpful and are also capable in speaking in English! I was initially conversing with the cashier staff in Japanese until he asked me about the usage of points and I got a little confused and he was like "Ah, would it be better for you if I explain it in English?" and I swear it was so nice of him to make sure that I understand what was going on during the payment part. Ever since that day, I am able to shop in Animate like a regular customer lololol
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| The stairs to heaven - Animate Kyoto |
After my visit, I hopped on the bus from Shijo Kawaramachi to Kiyomizu-zaka! We had to walk up the slope so it was actually a little tiring. However, there are actually shops that offer free samples of tea and sweets so the cheapo inside of me decided to have some tea and look around for sweets that my parents might like. In the end I worried about not being able to stuff these sweets into my bag and gave up on any food item purchases.
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| My proud possession - Kunikida Doppo (from Bungo Stray Dogs) Perfume from Animate Kyoto! |
Actually I tried using the perfume on myself and ever since I think I smell like soap for the entire day. I told my friends that also liked Bungo Stray Dogs about Kunikida's perfume, and they were like "Maybe Doppo just doesn't use perfume in real life so he smells like soap" lmao
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| Me while trying to figure out where I was in Kiyomizudera |
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| Kiyomizudera at night |
Then again, there are actually guys that can't lift them so I'M NOT THAT WEAK. MUAHAHAHAHA. 3:)
There was also a very, very crowded bridge that you can get a really decent view of the Kyoto tower! And later on as you pass through the bridge, you'll find a bamboo path and you can go all the way down, make a turn and have some udon as well as seeing people cleansing their hands and mouth with holy water and there's a really long queue (I queued regardless).
After leaving Kiyomizudera around 8:30pm, there are shops that started to close. I walked back to the bus station and took the bus to Yasaka shrine. Yasaka shrine is actually accessible 24/7, but the omikuji/ charm-selling stalls are closed in the evening. Didn't matter too much to me, since I bought an omamori from Kiyomizudera. :D
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| After getting through the front gate of Yasaka shrine |
There's actually Maruyama park behind Yasaka shrine, but I felt really tired, so I walked back around the Gion area and bought a giant cream puff from Lawson. They had a collaboration with Rilakkuma where they would gift you a bowl after collecting 40 stamps. The stamps are usually from items such as food like sandwiches or cakes and I did a little calculation where the cheapest price for that Rilakkuma bowl is gonna cost you at least 4,000 yen. Ain't bringing myself to a stuffed stomach and a chance of breaking the bowl while travelling around Japan :'D
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| My delicious giant cream puff, also Kitashiro Takeru's favorite coughscoughs |
So after Yasaka shrine and Gion, I headed back to Light's guesthouse and spent some time sitting while making new acquaintances/friends. I realized that there are quite a lot of people from France visiting Japan in this season too! We had this little bar here that we can store our beer/ wine etc. I actually had a can of wine but I left it in the fridge and forgot about drinking it until the night before my checkout lololol
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| Our little bar \o/ |
And that sums up my first day in Kyoto!
I'll talk about the following day in my next post, because I have booked an appointment to transform into a maiko! :D
Until next time~
