Japan Day 6: KYOTO part 2A (Arashiyama and Philosopher's Path)

We woke up quite early, activated our first wifi connection to Kyoto City free wifi, bought our breakfast at nearest Lawson (to be eaten later), and used our One-Day-Pass Bus Card to go to Kitanohakubaicho Station (a Keifuku / Randen line station). We passed our card to a machine in the bus when we took off, then the machine will print the date on card's blank space. Next time we used it, we only had to show the card to the bus driver. Using a Randen train, we went to Arashiyama Station (transit once at Katabira no tsuji Station). In this Japan Guide link, you can find major information about Arashiyama and how-to-get-there.

What I anticipated so much to see was obviously riding the Randen tram and seeing the sakura tunnel between Utano and Narutaki Stations (prepare your cam, lads!). Here you can read a lot about Randen, a romantic way to do sight-seeing in northern Kyoto and Arashiyama. When we took off at Arashiyama Station, some Yuzen pillar shape already waited. Next time I'd like to go there at night to see illuminated Kimono Forest with its beautiful kimono patterned pillars. The sakura tunnel is also illuminated during 1st and 2nd weeks of April! This blog provides more beautiful pics.

 

They look like beautiful giant tumblers!

Here is an Arashiyama map from Hankyu.co.jp. We took our own path, though.

We arrived at Arashiyama Randen Station. First of all, of course, we went to the Bamboo Forest aka Bamboo Groove. Peaceful, even with so many travelers around us. There was a couple taking wedding pics on a rickshaw, so cute!

We ate our breakfast at the end ot the bamboo path then walking around Kameyama Park. The spring blossoms there was sooo beautiful!

A nice Japanese lady took a pic for us; she was an avid traveler and loved Bali so much!

From Kameyama park, we continued our walk along Oi (Katsura) River toward Togetsukyo Bridge. We watched some boats riding along the river with their guides shouting funnily in Japanese. The river was clean, I was so envious with Japanese people's cleanliness.

Togetsukyo Bridge

When we approached the bridge, the road was more crowded. There were two pretty maiko walked in front of us. Poor girls, they were surrounded by people who tried to take pictures with them and shoved their cameras in front of those girls' faces. We didn't take any pic of them.

After crossed the bridge, we arrived at Nakanoshima Park (aka Arashiyama Park). Many people were already there, picnicking under sakura trees. We bought a macha ice cream and enjoyed the view before we looked for lunch. At the road near the park, there were several restaurants.

People picnicking at Nakanoshima Park

Blue sky and sakura blossoms. Blissful!

Traveling during pregnancy was a bit troublesome aka riweuh. I got hungry all the time but my appetite always dropped when I smell something too flavorful like onion and garlic (which were my fave seasonings before pregnancy came). I also didn't fancy red meat (I could only ate fish, chicken, and pork) and spicy foods because of heartburn. Another factor was the price, LOL. I didn't want to spend too much money on common culinary *tsaaahh*. Thank God we found a resto with affordable prices (around JPY 1,000 per pax) and quite good taste.

We ended our journey in Arashiyama (yep, decided that we didn't have to see the temples etc) and hopped on a bus to Philosopher's Path. We took off at the Ginkakuji bus station and followed the crowd. It wasn't hard to find the path, we could saw its sakura trees not far from the bus stop (we only had to cross the street once).

There were several cafes and food truck and stalls along the way. We bought some post cards from a street artist; his paintings depicting the views of Tetsugaku no michi were very beautiful. We already agreed that we didn't have to finish the path, since it was approximately 2 km long and I usually got tired easily. But hey! The path was too gorgeous and very enjoyable that we finished it unknowingly! *proud* My only regret was that we didn't take plenty enough water. There weren't many vending machines on the path (and most of them were sold out).

We continued our journey to Kiyomizudera by bus (there was a bus stop near Nanzenji).

to be continued to the next part