Month: February 2018

Quick breakfast from Family Mart before we rush down to the shrine. Got the braised pork onigiri which was from the premium range and a chicken & egg sandwich. Both are very nice! Very filling.

Soymilk smoothie with fruits. Waaaa… I really like this leh! Why Singapore don’t have? Smoothie is very thick due to the bananas, had to wait a while for it to come out. 😆

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Sanjusangendo. It was closed when we came yesterday.

Let me just go somewhere to steal some pictures first, so that I can show you how amazing this place is. We’re not allowed to take pictures inside. ☹

Tadaa!

Some brief history from Wiki.
The main deity of the temple is Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokiteśvara or the Thousand Armed Kannon. The statue of the main deity was created by the Kamakura sculptor Tankei and is a National Treasure of Japan. The temple also contains one thousand life-size statues of the Thousand Armed Kannon which stand on both the right and left sides of the main statue in 10 rows and 50 columns. Of these, 124 statues are from the original temple, rescued from the fire of 1249, while the remaining 876 statues were constructed in the 13th century. The statues are made of Japanese cypress clad in gold leaf. The temple is 120- meter long. Around the 1000 Kannon statues stand 28 statues of guardian deities. There are also two famous statues of Fūjin and Raijin.

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Got my fortune again! It’s still good. 😥

We are allowed take pictures outside the praying hall.

This looks like cherry blossom? Not sure. 🤔

Plum blossoms.

Freesias smells very niceeee.

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Another temple. Don’t know the name. Hahahhahahaha! It was somewhere nearby.

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Maple pretzel for a snack before we head for dinner.

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Oyako don at Hisago! I have craved a long time for this. It’s still good. 😋😋😋 Can never find anything that’s close to this in Singapore.

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Then favourite dango with sweet salty miso sauce for dessert! Shop’s name is Tanbaya. This is a must get!

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Coffee at Tsukiji Cafe, not the fish market. The decor is pretty.

Ordered assam tea, tastes just like lipton tea. Chocolate is meh. Weiner coffee is coffee with cream.

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Just strolling around.

Saw these cute easter treats.

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Then it was time for a late dinner at Ichiran. Safe place for ramen.

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One last supper in Kyoto, clearing the food that we still have.

This building. 😂 Don’t know who so evil, stick the sticker there. TC thought we are really staying in NASA. 🤣

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Took a walk along to river to town

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Shopped at the Disney store. They have things like dollhouses and those Alice in the Wonderland home decorative items are so pretty!

I’m here for only beauty and the beast. 😍 Too bad I can’t find tsum tsum for the rest of the characters. Gonna try the store at Osaka.

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Food galore at Nishiki Market.

Saw Mike Chen’s Kyoto youtube video, there’s this tangerine mochi and TC has been wanting to eat it. Yes, tangerine is juicy, just a little sweet but the mochi around it tastes like the skin around snowskin mooncakes. Really not a fan of snowskin. 😐

Bought a packet of Houjicha tea leaves here. Packet was filled to the bream.

These scallops. 😍😍😍

Although I don’t like butter but it doesn’t have the milky taste that I hate and most importantly there’s a sweet corn fragrance. I’ve looked at the other stores, it’s either just boiled in water or grilled until it looks dry.

Best. Big, juicy and sweet.

I always crave for this tamago. Really don’t know how they make it so smooth.

Soft mochi in soybean powder. 😍😍😍

The flowers. 😍 Too bad, I can’t bring them back.

Snooppy shop. Very cute but I didn’t get any.

I saw a shop selling custard filled porcupines and chocolate croquette. Please skip them. Just interesting but doesn’t taste good.

Soymilk store. We had the matcha soymilk ice cream, it’s not the creamy kind, it’s more like ice; frozen slushie. Soymilk donuts are good; fluffy and mildly sweet.

Tofu skin is the best! Eaten with soy sauce and a little bit of wasabi. 👍👍👍👍

Bought a pack of sweet strawberries for tonight.

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There’s a mini Kitano Tenmangu Shrine near Nishiki. What’s different is that they have moving mechanisms.

You can enjoy the plum blossoms here too.

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Wanted to visit a few other shrines but they close early during this period until 28 Feb.

Nevertheless, it was still a good stroll.

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That’s Kyoto tower.

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Headed to Isetan for Pork Cutlets. Katsukura at The Cube, it’s at the 11th floor’s Eat Paradise. Would take quite some time to find.

We ordered from the premium range, costs around ¥2,000 for 120g. Pork is really tender. Even the barley rice is good. 👍👍👍👍👍

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If you have time, since you are already at the top level, go take a look at the scenery around.

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Ballroom range for Sylvannian Families! 😍😍😍

Argh! Why so pretty? That sprig of cherry blossom. 👍

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Supper

Got the hotpot set from the supermarket, the soup packet is included at the bottom. Surprisingly good.

Donuts are from a little stall at Kyoto Station. Very doughy. Meh. Just cute for pictures.

On our way for some yummy food.

At ELK Cafe, they serve soufflè pancakes. The place may be a little too cosy. 🤣

Order croque monsieur and chocolate cookie & banana pancakes. Had coffees too, which I think you can skip.

Pancakes are very very soft and airy, like clouds. I loved it!

Everything in the croque monsieur works so well together, even that little bit of spinach on top adds a good tinge of flavour. 👍👍👍👍👍

Another hit! Although the chocolate wasn’t sinful, it was just nice. That whipped cream surprised me, I thought it was ice cream but not cold??? Hahaha! Creamy, airy and smooth, best part is there’s no milky smell. 👍👍👍👍👍

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We’re taking the public bus to Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, following Google’s direction of course.

There’s a festival every 25th of the month at the shrine, hence the crowd. There’s flea market along the way selling food, crafted items and second-hand stuffs.

What a long queue to see geishas! All the way in. 😅

Can you spot the geishas?

There’s even a long queue for praying. 😓

Can’t finished the food but I don’t want to waste it. This is what I do. 👌

Got my fortune! Luckily it’s good.

Plum blossoms everywhere. If you can’t go for cherry blossoms season, come earlier to see plum blossoms instead.

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Decided to walk to Kinkaku-ji Shrine

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Stopped for a quick rest before we step inside the Shrine. Takoyaki in soup 🤔 and croquette. Never had soaked takoyaki before, still tastes like it but just wet.

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They give amulets as admission passes. Haha! That’s nice. ¥200 per adult.

Here’s the famous golden shrine.

Gold carp in the lake.

Other things around the shrine.

Bought a few charms, all they need to do is sell one that says ‘good health for pet’. Take my money.

Also bought my stamp book here; ¥800 for the book, ¥300 for the stamp. The calligraphy is really nice to look at.

Got my fortune here too! It’s still good. 😥

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We’re having sushi tonight! Sushi no Musashi, Foursquare recommended this place to us and it has a score of 8.8/10.

After seated, we were quite surprised because the servings aren’t as generous as the ones we have been to before. Oh well.

Mentaiko is salty. 😂

Scallop is sweet but I think it’s only half scallop each.

I never like tuna until I had this fatty tuna. 😍

Just look at the grain and fats.

Uni sushi. Another love. Can never find a good one in Singapore. It’s like creamy egg yolk.

On to the sweet stuffs; beancurd skin, tamago and sweet potato.

We only had 12 plates, it’s quite affordable.

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Shopped at one of my favorite place, Flying Tiger Copenhagen. Only managed to get 2 items for the house though, the selection is not as much as the last time I was here which was 2 or 3 years ago?

Got this for TC from Loft. He can be batman for 15 mins. 🤣

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Headed to McDonald’s for some food because laoniang’s gastric is acting up.

Shared a Chicken Tatsuya burger meal. It was damnnnnnnn good. Omgawd. Well marinated, full of flavour and tender. Can Singapore McDonald’s bring in this???

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Late night supper! Everything from 7-eleven.

Cup noodles from their premium range. Obviously, I wouldn’t know what’s the flavour.

Has little packs of oil which has to be added after the noodles are cooked.

Don’t know why TC always somehow has a lot of green onions in his food. 🤣

Anyways, the yellow one. Noodles are thick and chewy. Soup is thick. Really good. 👍👍👍👍

Brown. The oil has this salted fish smell which I hate because I don’t like salted fish. Doesn’t smell that bad when eating. Noodles are thin. Soup wise is just salty? Can’t really comment. Haha.

Added vegetables to the diet because we hardly had vegetables. The vegetable is very good because it has a natural sweetness.

Guess it’s the peach season? Yes to Calpis Peach Soda. 👍👍👍 No to Peach Coke, it’s like have soap fragrant drink. Ewww… I threw the wjole bottle.

Not sure if anyone notices this display of mini clocks at the Airport Terminal 2 before. The feature playing was very pretty, I was awed.

The feature stopped playing and was showing the time when I tried to take picture. By the time the picture was taken… it was like that. I didn’t realised it too. *facepalm*

Light breakfast before the flight.

Cya in 7 hours? Or 8?

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Lucky! We have an empty seat beside us! I could lay down to sleep, best sleep in plane ever.

We were also in a newer plane, the windows will dim or brighten depending on the settings that we apply. It’s in a shade of blue though, so everything looks blue outside unless you are at the brightest setting.

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Lunch comes with a Ritter Sport chocolate bar and green tee. Had the chicken thigh and tomyum fried rice. Fried rice is pretty good. Chicken passable.

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Toilet ootd. 🤣

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Landing soon!

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Heading to Family Mart to fill our tummies with chicken yakitori onigiri, crab onigiri and mochis.

The yakitori chicken onigiri is very good; tender and flavourful.

Mochis too sweet. The one with strawberry is slightly better because it has a tinge of sourness.

Pear flavoured water is refreshing.

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Getting the JR tickets to Kyoto.

We used our Pasmo cards to take the train but still had to top up another ¥1,940 because it’s an express train.

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Found these cute donuts at the Kyoto Station! Cute!!!

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Finally got to our Airbnb. It’s a old building, as you can see… the lift is old. It’s cheap with basic amenities, good enough for the both of us.

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Finally, we are having a proper meal at Matsuya (松屋). The beef with egg is awesome. 😋😋😋

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Took a walk, visited the arcade. Interesting stuffs, looks easy but don’t get cheated.

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Visited the convenience stores and bought a lot of snacks, plus a small tub of hydrating gel for myself. So cold and dry, I think my skin is going to crack.

There’s even a magazine with only egg recipes. Too bad I can’t read Japanese.

The Sakura Starbucks packaging is pretty! Too bad I don’t like milk.