Kindred Escapades: Japan, Land of the Rising Sun (Kyoto Day Two): Getting Familiar with the Ryokan and its Neighborhood

One of the best decisions we made on this trip is to stay on a ryokan. Yamazaki Ryokan is definitely one of the highlights of our Kyoto stay. To walk around the Zen gardens is a truly peaceful and remarkable experience. It's funny though that on the whole duration of our stay we never met any other guest loitering around and enjoying the garden. It added to the exclusivity of the experience.

We got to walk around 3 minutes to get to this bus stop. There is a schedule in the ryokan about the bus arrival times and all. We always miss it though and most of the time we had to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus. Takao, the place where we stayed in Kyoto is like a 'barangay' away from the city; just like my home back in Cebu. It has that small town, rustic feel to it yet has the luxury of the city just 3 bus stops away.

Kyoto Station is the major interchange of Kyoto definitely. We got our bus passes here as well as milk! We ran out of Casey's powdered milk so we dropped by a pharmacy that looked more like Watsons Japan version. We tried to read through Japanese-labeled milk cans and hope that Casey will chug it down and not complain. Surprisingly, he liked the milk! If that didn't work out we'd seriously have a problem finding his Nan milk powder.

One thing impressive about Kyoto is the street food! Clean, sumptuous, relatively cheap and colorful! We enjoy Takoyaki in Singapore so we have to taste it from its country of origin. The moment we saw this stall, we definitely have to sit down and experience it first hand. As expected, it's really good! We never had lunch on this day... we just went for street food every time we felt our tummy grumble. For me, culture is best explored through their food and the best food to define a country's culture are the ones sold on their street. I'm just glad the husband is as adventurous and gastronomically tough as me. This is just the first street food for the day.

Electric vehicles or EV are quite a common sight. :)

We searched for travel adapters as we needed to charge our mobile phones and camera battery. They have a a two-pronged power outlet compared to Singapore's three. We dropped by one of their famous electronic shop, Yodobashi. Yes we manage to get our adapters and more. Casey loves this tiny car models even in Singapore so as to keep the peace we bought him a few. We especially just got to buy a Mater too.

Then we headed towards Gion our only POI for the day after securing all our necessities. The moment we were dropped by the bus at the stop, we saw another street food favorite. It's actually like popcorn chicken with the unusual Japanese sauces and sesame seeds. I have to say, I prefer the Taiwanese version that we usually get in Singapore. :)

While walking around the area, we saw a good number of locals in their summer yukata. These beautiful ladies are not geishas but they are just as pretty. My boys just can't hide their excitement. Look at how Casey is staring at them! Smh.

While further exploring the place, we ended up in a tiny grocery store and bought candies and sweets for Casey's birthday party in Cebu. It's cool how we have to do our own packing of the stuff we shopped. Yes, they do not have 'baggers' and cashiers won't bother putting your grocery in a bag. She will just ask if you have your own carrier because if not you got to pay for one. This pretty much encourage recycling and discourage the use of plastic. I think this holds true for all groceries. Very clever and nature-minded Japanese!

Because of our heavy grocery, we decided to take a cab back to our ryokan. We love coming home in our home away from home. We took photos outside the garden and allowed Casey to loiter around, discover, and have fun. He was enjoying himself until he heard the buzzing of the bee probably trying to play with him. Before it started to sting him, we brought him inside and continued exploring the inn's interior and facilities.