Our day out with Makiko our wonderful guide

The first time we came to Japan in 2011, we chanced upon an English speaking guide in Nara  (which is incidentally the place which not only has the temple with the largest wooden Buddha but also has cute deer walking around everywhere ). He asked us whether we had heard of the free guide group, he told us that each place in Japan generally has people who volunteer to give up their time to guide tourists. The second time we came to Japan we had three free guides one ; Tomoko with whom I am still in touch with via Facebook! (We are catching up with her on the 3rd)

This time Makiko - a teacher - got back to us with a great itinerary. In case you are wondering how to organize this just google _________ (insert name of area i.e. Kyoto) free guide, and the blurb with an email address comes up. She suggested ( and we of course delightedly agreed ) that she meet us at our airbnb and that we catch the train to Tofukuji Temple then go to the Ponto-chō area for an early ramen lunch. After lunch  she planned to take us to Arashiyama to see The Snow Monkeys and then the bamboo forest and flower and light festival!  I had researched festivals in Kyoto and this one Hanatoro had come up.

Makiko came to our airbnb at 9am and whisked us off to the train station to go to Tofukuji Temple which is a Zen Buddhist temple compound. It is also the one you see in advertisements for tourism Japan a temple with gorgeous autumn leaves. We were lucky enough to still see some trees with colour and could envisage how spectacular it would be in autumn.  We have been to Japan in two seasons now - summer and winter,and we definitely want to see  the famed Autumn colours as well as the even more revered cherry blossoms in Spring!

This temple is the head temple of the Tofukuji School of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. It was built in 1236 on the instructions of Kujo Michiie, the great statesman of the Kamakura period, who desired to build in Kyoto a temple complexes in Nara. Even its name, Tofukuji, is a combination of one chalacter from the names of each of these Nara temples. We were lucky enough to see these two temples in 2011.
Its original buildings were burned but were rebuilt in the 15th century according to the original plans. About this time it flourished as one of the Five Great Temples of Kyoto. Its many compounds and sub-temples survived the ravages of war and fire until the late Meiji period when the Butsuden (Buddha hall) were burned. However, it even now retains the magnificent scale characteristic of a medieval Zen temple.

The grounds are indeed huge and start close to the railway  station they also include a daycare centre. We strolled about the complex and because we had come early we avoided the hords of tourists. My favorite parts were the rock and moss gardens which tell the story of Buddha's life as well as symbolisjng the constellations. 

After taking heaps of photos and breathing in the serenity of the Temple we headed back to the station and got off near Ponto-chō,  we had to cross the bridge over the river Kama. When we stayed in Kyoto the last two times we had stayed at the same hotel on the other side of the river. We loved that hotel because  we really had our bearings and it was a 10 minute walk to the Imperial Palace gardens. However the price had more than doubled so hence our first airbnb experiences.

It was lovely going with Makiko because we were her first tourists and she was very enthusiastic.  We were so grateful that she had given up her entire Sunday to accompany us. She told us she was a teacher at an English speaking school and had gone to elementary school in the US, which explained her perfect English.  I thought she was on holidays like her students but alas jn Japan teachers only get 2 weeks of paid holiday which can also be used up as sick days. (  i will never complain again about the disparity between the QLD and NSW sick days )

I had mentioned by email to Makiko that we were Ramen enthusiasts and that we in particular loved the thick Hakata style Tonkatsu broth. ( our fascination with ramen began with the movie Ramen Girl - a soppy romance, featuring the late Brittany Murphy). Makiko had to do a lot of research for this lunch as she is an Osaka resident and hadn't eaten this style of ramen in Kyoto,  she had also found ramen cooking lessons for us but they were a little too dear at $100 a pop.

The ramen restaurant was behind some fabric curtains and could seat about 16 people - some places can only seat 4. We managed to get an inside table shared with a family with two cute little kids who were slurping away with gusto! We ordered our ramen, noodles were served hard and there were only 4 types available, i noticed they were all eggless. The broth was superb, and the noodles were so good that I ate a quarter of them, this is good going for me as usually I am only have the broth and pork. Eric was happy as per usual finishing my noodles and leftover broth.

After we finished our ramen we walked through Ponto-chō which was definitely on our to do list. It was fantastic going with Makiko as we would never have entered that great restaurant,  where my view was of a huge pot of bubbling tonkatsu broth ( in ramen girl it took 3 days to boil -but I'm not sure of the recipe here). Makiko read out  menus to us and pointed out areas of interest.  It was great for us to orientate ourselves. The last time we came here we sat on the riverbank during the star crossed lovers festival and watched the courting teenagers all dressed in their traditional summer robes.

No time to dilly dally soon we were on board the train to Arashiyama, we actually had to change lines so this would have been very difficult without local knowledge! Once at Arashiyama there was a fierce debate over whether we would climb the steep mountain and go to the monkey reservation.  Majority rules so it was agreed up Monkey Mountain we would climb, now please realise this, it was a real labour of love for me to do this as I sadly to say am more unfit than most grandparents i know. My love affair with our  primate cousins began at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney more than 40 years ago when a baby spider monkey escaped its cage and found refuge in my cardigan. I was intent on taking 'my baby' home and I sobbed hysterically when a mean man in a uniform took it away!

Ashamedly I had to stop at every bench, I could hear my heart pounding and my breath rasping. Good grief there were 80 year olds carrying grandchildren passing me looking completely unruffled. Anyway our troupe finally reached the top and not only was the view over Kyoto stunnng ( perfect blue sky and a snow peaked mountain in the distance), it took our breath away. Now as for the monkeys they were every where.  This is not a zoo but a reserve so the humans were heralded into a cage to watch the monkeys go about their daily monkey business. We were too cool to go into the cage and mingled freely with our fellow primates.  I was very happy that Makiko had never even heard of the monkey park before. She had questioned her fellow teachers and they were unaware of it as well.

Anyway the downward journey was much easier and Eric rewarded me for my efforts with a cake set at a quaint cafe. I also got to try Makiko' s traditional burdock root dessert which has a similar texture to glutinous rice sweets. We walked around the township for a while and Eric bought the most delicious karaage  chicken! We then moseyed up to the  bamboo forest each bamboo Avenue had lanterns lining it and had a huge floral arrangement at the end. The forest was  lit up beautifully as were the temples and riverbanks. At the riverbank there were gorgeous paper tissue structures which were lit up with light bulbs from within, some of these were even cubby houses. I had written about this previously but didn't save it, so am too lazy to write about it again - sorry.

We caught the shuttle bus back to the train station then all the way back to Sanjo, we then parted ways with our lovely guide as she had work the next day. Eric and I had a leisurely stroll through Ponto-chō  although we didnt make it to the riverbank.  We ashamedly ended up at a ramen and gyosa chain because we were desperate to find restrooms. In actual fact we didn't have ramen but did have a tasty dinner. The crowning glory was delicious ume soda for which i spied a tin. I askec if i could photograph the tin but the waiter was very coy, it was as if he was guarding a company secret.  It didn't matter because on the way home we found them at Lawsons for a mere aussie $3,  so of course we bought some for back at our quarters.

After a quick tub for me I fell asleep ( I did spend an hour on my blog) Eric fell asleep as soon as he entered the room. No movie for us that night, I had so many memories flicking through my mind. What a splendid day - thank you Makiko!

Day 3 Kyoto here we come again!

We  got up early and packed our bags and had a brisk walk to the Kyocera Dome this morning, I thought it was a definite must as my second mobile  ( the first had hurtled down the Barron Falls) was a Kyocera hand me down from my dad which lasted until I upgraded to Ruki's hand down. Eric incentive to walk to the dome was the fact that there was a McDonalds! He was not impressed to discover that it was inside the shopping center so no coffee for him! We had breakfast at the place where we had dinner last night. ( in actual fact, reading over yesterday's blog post, i realise that i  completely forgot we had dinner, and had stoppedmy gustational musings at ramen - i think that is when we should have stopped eating - so i had overlooked my interesting hotpot -only ordered because of my attraction to DiY restaurant cooking).i had karaage chicken, coleslaw and egg with miso and rice and Eric had a  cheerio, egg and I think a rissole) .

We caught the JR Train seamlessly to Kyoto that's when the trouble began. Our host had written "catch the Sanjo Line and get out at exit 11" without mentioning that this was on  privately owned railway . After plaguing the volunteers at the information centre it was decided we should catch the subway. ( no mention was made of the oppositions railway line to Sanjo). When we reached Sanjo I saw a sign for the private rail ' The Keihan Line'  so we walked underground to this line then exited there from exit 11 ! Phew exhausting! Luckily there was a vending machine with Eric's favourite milk softdrink so he was as fresh as a daisy.

The rest of the instructions were very clear and we soon reached our next airbnb.  The owner Rina ( a merry young woman) was cleaning and told us she would bring our bags up in 40 minutes when we were due to check In. We decided to take a leisurely stroll to Gion and hoped to see a maiko or geisha. We found our way easily and had  brief shop at Fresca - a supermarket. We bought a great picnic including karaage chicken,  mochi, croquettes, salads and dressings and set off. ( we had been told 7 minutes -but it was more like 20mins. ) I felt like the worst dog owner in the world as i saw the pampered Japanese pooches parading  everywhere!

We were so hungry that we picnicked at the Keihan Railway station which is a gorgeous spot, with artistically laid out gardens, creeks, fountains etc. ( we didnt even look at them , we just unwrapped and ate- we had heated our food at the complimentary microwave at Fresca ). They say everything tastes better in the outdoors and they ( whoever they might be) are right ! Tasteless croquettes and very battery karaage chicken  were wolfed down, i think liberal application of Kewpie and wasabi helped. The crowning glory was the profiterole - much better than the expensive one at Daimaru!

At Gion we tasted many types of ume, pickled, preserved and turned into liquid nectar, but I resisted the urge to buy and we trudged on to the shrine. We didn't really have to walk as there were so many people that we were carried along by the crowd.  Before we went to the Yasuka Shrine, Eric insisted that i showed him our shabu shabu heaven. Once he was content that it was still there we went to revisit the shrine. We didn't stay long as it had a night market and was packed with tours.

We were so exhausted and in need of a real coffee that we relented and stopped at Starbucks, at least here they used milk in their coffee,  Eric ws getting upset with the 15ml sachets of 'rats milk' that he was getting to whiten his coffee.  I had some Christmas frappe which was far too sweet but looked extremely festive. After this we basically crawled home , exploring on the way. Once home I had a tub again ( its too cold t o shower so i fill the teeny tubs right up and cross my legs and defrost with the water up to my chin. After a virtuous dinner of coleslaw with sesame dressing we watched a movie and went to sleep on our mats.

Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori for the day reliving the past!

We were up quite early this morning as it was very cold (for us) , having a two bar electric heater did wonders for  the room . I hadn't planned anything for today except going back to Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori which we had really enjoyed on our past two visits. I wanted to go on the boat ride and ferris wheel but Eric thought it would be too cold.

Just walking down the street, that we were calling home was a veritable treat. I loved how the locals made gardens everywhere.  Old items were upcycled (bicycle ) and covered with vines, flowers and herbs. I love how the bright red berries brightened up a freezing winters day. We walked along the street took a leftie then ended up at a subway station. We decided to take the subway rather than walk back to the train station, 200m away.

We were very proud as we winged getting the subway and finding our fav haunts. I was desperate to find Krispy Kreme but was unsuccesful we were both so hungry that we ended up in Lotteria a Japanese style chain like McDonalds. I can't believe i ordered a hot chocolate and a ghana bar at this time of the day as i wanted something savoury but they were actually pretty good rather like a rich hot dutch chocolate.

I think for Eric the highlight was finding the 551 hoarai gyosa chain, where he promptly ordered 15 of the best. He feels that is a mInimum order. I was in foodie heaven lining up (actually watching Eric line up) for takoyaki - octopus balls done in a roux batter over a bbq. Considering that Shinsaibashi is a shoppers mecca i was very well behaved. The only take home stuff i purchased were 2 shirts for little NJ and an earwarmer for myself.

As we were ambling along I saw a huge line of people and immediately joined the queue! I figured from Trip Advisor that if there's a line,  join it as the commotion means a treat is in store.  The line was for Pablo cheese cakes which we had watched the production of that morning . And yes, they were divine even the non sweet loving Eric devoured his. I was hoping that he wouldn't.

By now my ears were starting to ache as we walked down beside the windy river ; Dotonbori. I was desperate to buy earmuffs but Eric vetoed them. I ended up purchasing a tubular device which could be used as a headband or handwarming cuff. The idea was to cover the ears with this then pop my hood over the top. Post note - I am very pleased to announce that trout fishing jackets like mine are sported by very slender fashionable women here in Osako.

When we were eating our takoyaki in the morning we had observed hoards of people lining up for ramen, the exciting thing was not only the dragon that embellished the open seated  establishment but the fact that the fragrant tonkatsu broth was piled with pork, the glutton in me said "COME AND EAT HERE! " So ofcourse i obeyed my inner voice and after walking around for several hours we returned and were not disappointed.

Now i dont want you to think that we were starving by this point because we weren't.  We had spent hours admiring the lavishly wrapped foods in B2, the basement at Daimaru not succumbing to temptation  until after i had purchased a new Mac foundation. During this foray into the world of fashion  The girls took such great care to match the colour, (i had of course left my nearly empty compact back at our teeny cubby so was of no assistance with the number) . ( to my great delight when i checked later  - they were  both 43!) . Eric was dying for a coffee so i kindly obliged him by ordering two coffee and cake sets; a delicate strawberry tart for Eric and a profiterole for moi!

I have doubled checked with Eric but apart from looking for puffer jackets for my European adventure at Easter, all we did on our first full day in Japan was eat. We were too tired and cold to try out one of the six bars lining our picturesque street and after a soak in the tub we watched a trashy movie and zonked out ready for our trip the next day to Kyoto.

Osaka bound - destination reached

Day One - Anticipation
Still in Cairns - very muggy weather - its the am, and we are rushing around weighing things. Eric has left his packing til this morning- talk about nerve wrecking for me!

I've packed exactly 7kg of timtams and chocolate to give to our Kyoto Free guide and our various Air B&B hosts.

I still have to find my earjack splitter, otherwise I guess it will be movies for one. In view of economy I have resurrected my old Jetstar care pack, hopefully there is no hole in the pillow.

It's always difficult leaving home when you've got kids staying behind even if they are adults albeit one is only 17. I've had so many lists to check that I've got a headache from them. Bring on the actual plane so I can go to sleep!

We had quite a good flight enjoying the timtams, pringles and other junk food I had packed, i watched The Second Best Marigold hotel again  ( i must've done my normal falling asleep act the first time because it was all new to me!). We did really well catching the train to our destination mastering the vending machine in record time. Finding the airbnb was not that easy but should have been because the last pedestrian crossing spans our street and from there its a 2 minute walk. Thank god we didnt catch a cab. Instead we spent an hour asking people ( should've  listened to the first woman and not be foiled by the pretty business woman who sent us off on a wild goose chase when we were 10 mins from the doorway )

Entered the tiny apartment - although its a lot more space than the hotel rooms we've had in the past. The kitchen was just a sink with a kettle, cups,  glasses and spoons. The bathroom/toilet was adequate - lots of hot water. The bed , hmmmm , our poor backs.

Anyway we went down the 4 flights of narrow steep steps and ate ramen in a tiny restaurant below our apartment.  It seated 8 people and honestly had the best broth I've ever tasted. The pork was amazing aswell but just one slice -- what's  with that!? Anyway delciois noodles which Eric devoured , i am a broth only person, so he was fullafter having two bowls of noodles. Back up the stepp staircase .......

Well well well,  tucked up on our  thin mattress stand ins on the floor now , no sign of tatami mats, with the heater cranked up as high as possible.  Luckily I'm well padded because its like laying on a quilt! We've cranked up the heater and that's our first day done!