December 8th, 2023

Day 5

Today is the day that I visit Japan’s ancient capital — Kyoto! But before I checkout of my Ryokan, which is quite expensive, by the way, I’ve got to enjoy the Ryokan’s own Onsen. Morizuya has 2 Onsens, one for guys and one for girls. I didn’t quite understand their rule about switching, but one thing was for sure, the one that I went to becomes a guy’s bath at 7:00 in the morning. Once I was in there, I can lock the doors, and it will become my personal Onsen!

So I woke up early in the morning, got dressed up in Yukata, went downstairs to the Onsen on the second floor, and check it out!

Normally you aren’t supposed to bring any recording device into a bath place, but since I was there by myself, I figured, no harm no foul, right?

Ryokan’s Onsen also had a government safety form that details every aspect of the Onsen. Stuff like if they added additives, if they used water other than from the hot spring, and etc. Morizuya adds tap water into its Onsen, and the stated reason was that the hot spring is too hot, added tap water to make sure it’s less hot. Good reason.

Anyway, check out the pictures of the outdoor Onsen. Morizuya is right next to Ichino-yu, which has the “cave bath”, so Morizuya is also a “cave bath”. Saw a lot of stones, that’s for sure. Onsen inside the bathhouse? Never interesting and don’t want to get in. Outdoors Onsen, though, especially during winter seasons, is the best. The part of your body that is exposed to the winter wind is constantly being heated up by the part of your body that is submerged into the Onsen. It feels instantly better than the indoor ones where not only is the part of your body that is being submerged, so hot, the part of your body that isn’t submerged is still hot from the steam that wouldn’t dissipate.

Bathhouse Verdict: ★★★☆☆

After I got dressed, I got back to my room; the futon was taken away, and the table was put back in the dining position. An old lady saw me with all my towels when I was walking towards the Ryokan’s Onsen, and asked me if I will be back at my requested time for breakfast. She became my waitress for the day, and she wasn’t cute like the younger girl from yesterday. Bummer. Also, since her age is up there, in Chinese and Japanese filial piety education, she is allowed to use the “plain form” of Japanese instead of “desu/masu” form and “polite form”. But that didn’t bother me, after all, she really is allowed to do that. Sometimes, it is just a little bit difficult to understand what she is saying, because I can only understand Japanese when it is being annunciated clearly. Still, managed to understand what she said after thinking for a while.

Soon, the main course of breakfast was served.

This is the porridge. It’s just plain old porridge, nothing more, nothing less. Not that interesting.

Dish Verdict: ★★★☆☆

This is the Miso soup. It’s just plain old Miso soup, nothing more, nothing less.

Dish Verdict: ★★★☆☆

This is the Chawanmushi, or steamed egg paste. It’s just plain old Chawanmushi, nothing more, nothing less.

I think you can sense a pattern.

Dish Verdict: ★★★☆☆

This is the tofu pot. You’re supposed to dip the tofu into the ponzu sauce for taste. I’m not sure I like tofu cooked this way, but then again, our family in China eats tofu almost every day so I was kinda accustomed to expect tofu to be cooked in a certain way. Not my favorite dish, but that’s just me.

Dish Verdict: ★★☆☆☆

This is baked salmon and Tamagoyaki, or pan fried rolled eggs. I’ll let you in on a trick. To cook Tamagoyaki, you need to use a special pan; you first pour some stirred egg fluids onto the pot, wait till it solidifies, and then roll it up, so long and so forth. The problem with this traditional method, is that since you need to actually cook it on a pan, once the egg solidifies enough, dark spots appear on the part where it touches the pan. To know whether a restaurant cooks the Tamagoyaki itself by rolling it, or if the restaurant just used pre-cooked Tamagoyaki, just see if the one you got has brown spots on the outside. If it doesn’t have any, then it’s pre-made. Just some quick facts for y’all from a self-proclaimed “Personal Chef”.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★☆

The last dish from the breakfast course is the salad. The waitress provided me with a whole bottle of mayonnaise and told me to add to my taste. You eat everything with rice, though, so don’t worry.

Dish Verdict: ★★★☆☆

When I was finished with everything, the waitress came, took all the dishes away, and served dessert. Dessert is a pudding-like tofu, with something sweet, I would say, sesame sauce, and some bland sugar tossed on top. Oh my god it was amazing. I wish I would have more of those.

Dish Verdict: ★★★★★

Unlike normal hotels which has a mandated check-out time at 11 AM, Morizuya has a check-out time at 10 AM. That gave me one hour to try out the Goshono-yu before I needed to bolt out of there. I grabbed everything and went to most popular bathhouse.

Goshono-yu is rather different. First of all, it does not have a indoors Onsen. After you take the shower, you go to the outdoors one. I don’t know how they positioned the pipes, but the hot spring water comes down from the mountains into the Onsen pool. It was also well decorated, with flowers and stones creating a rather interesting scene.

I didn’t stay there long though, as I am still young, and a certain Mr. Jenson Hu texted me something to the effects of: “these stuff kills sperm count”. Well, I certainly thank him for caring so so much about me and my sperm count, but yes, it feels interesting for a while, but after that while, you get bored. Got out and took a cold shower before heading back to the Ryokan.

Bathhouse Verdict: ★★★★★

When I was walking back to the Ryokan, I saw a Chrysler 300C parked right in front of the Ryokan. I didn’t know whose it was, but I thought it was rather rude to park in front of someone else’s door.

When I was ready to check out, after me reminding the owner that I haven’t paid for the soft drinks I’ve had from the mini fridge, I checked out at exactly 10 AM. The owner offered to drive me to the station. I was going to walk to the station, but since he offered, it’s hard to say no to him.

Turns out, it was his Chrysler 300C. Gotta love that big American V8 huh. On the way to the station, the owner constantly took stops to take pictures for me. He told me that he loves to take pictures, and he loves to take pictures for his customers. I commented that he has great energy, and he replied that he has always been able to encounter lovely guests who are both lovely and interesting, so his job makes him happy every day. Wow.

He also told me that his daughter is currently in the Kinosaki school, and he drives her to school every morning. That explains why the car was parked right in front of the Ryokan. He also commented on my Japanese as “Kirei”, or “beautiful”. I was so flattered by what he said, and I said that if my Japanese professors were to hear that, they would be happy too. What a lovely, lovely guy.

In the end, I thanked him for a great stay and for such an amazing experience staying at a Ryokan. According to my father, I’ve been to a Ryokan in Japan when I was younger, but this is the first Ryokan that I will have such a pleasant memory of. Strongly recommended!

These are the pictures that he took of me en route to the bathhouse. He constantly stopped along the way to suggest photo ops. Love that guy.

Snapped this pic before I went in and bought my ticket. Now I knew I needed to buy the reserved seat ticket, I just bought it just to be safe.

One interesting thing about me and the platforms. Since I drive in China and in the U.S., and when I need to travel far away, I’ve always taken airplanes instead of taking the train. My only experience with metro before this trip to Japan has been a one-route back and forth metro from Dalian to my high school in Jinshitan, and the one trip that I took while I traveled from Foshan to Yangshuo, which was rather easy. I didn’t know the difference between platforms and that some platforms needed to be accessed by going up to the connection bridge.

When I got onto the platform after showing my ticket, I asked the first staff member where my train car will be. I didn’t quite understand what he said, but I caught something about “left”, so I walked left. The markers on the floor didn’t quite match his description, so I went back, and asked a second staff member. He told me that it will be on the right, and through my lousy Japanese, I thought that I will know where my train car is when it arrives. So I just went right and waited there.

2 minutes later, the second staff member ran towards me, told me that the train has already arrived, and that I need to go to the connecting bridge on the left to go to the platform on the other side to board the train. Holy shit. If he did not run towards me to tell me where to go, I will have missed the train and my expensive ass ticket will go to waste. I thanked him, oh so so much, and I ran towards the bridge and got on the train.

I later transcribed this story to my Dad, he got silent, and he said that only Japanese people can provide that level of service, to come all the way to make sure you don’t get on the wrong train. Needless to say, he was impressed. So was I.

Kinosaki Onsen Verdict:

★★★★★

The train ride was boring, and after a while, I got to Kyoto. I headed straight to my hotel, which was a 10 minute walk from the station.

Hotel name: Ala Hotel Kyoto

Address: 518 Shiokoji-cho, Shichijo-dori, Higashinotoin-dori, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto

Price: 419.18 RMB (60 USD) [Breakfast Included]

Verdict: ★★★★☆

The price wasn’t bad, considering that this hotel has not only breakfast included, it also has a rooftop Onsen as well. I wasn’t planning on really using the Onsen since I literally just got back from an Onsen town, but since it was included in the price, might as well use it, right? The check-in time was 3 PM, so the staff took my luggage for me and gave me a receipt. That’s my cue to head straight to Kinkakuji.

I don’t have any memory of ever being at Kinkakuji, the house “made of gold”; but we have a family picture there when I was 9, so what do I know. I went back to the train station to get on another train headed towards Kinkakuji, and once I got out of the station, it took a 10 minute walk to reach the magnificent building.

This is the entrance of Kinkakuji.

Once I paid the admission fee, I got the ticket. I smiled immediately when I received mine. Unlike all the other tickets I’ve gotten this far, this one is a spell for good luck. It was the only ticket that I’ve kept with me all throughout Japan, as I don’t tend to keep tickets, I keep pictures.

After some more walking, I got to the Kinkakuji. It was filled with people. I mean for crying out loud, our family picture from 2009 did not have so many people in the background. I had to really stick my phone in there so I don’t get anyone else into the frame. Seriously.

These are the photos that I’ve taken of Kinkakuji and some of the other buildings that survived through history. I took a lot of pictures, but only because I really like the Kinkakuji. I also bought a lot of souvenirs, well, 3. One little hammer that has Kinkakuji’s symbol on it, one backpack that gives you good luck in school, and one little thing that has the Kinkakuji and a piece of gold flake in it.

When I reached the last building before the exit, they sell candles that you can burn with your wishes on them, and they sell the incense. I bought both. I bought the “match-making” candle, hoping for some good matchmaking in the future. They sell the match-making Omamori, or charms, but they didn’t look very good, so I didn’t buy them there. Needless to say that I eventually bought those charms, but it’s further down the story.

I also bought a Omikuji, or written prophecy, from the same building. It says I have luck, so at least that’s good.

Kinkakuji Verdict:

★★★★☆

Since I only had breakfast and didn’t have lunch yet, I was hungry. I didn’t want to get those Japanese desserts on a stick, and I saw that they sell ice cream. Turns out, their ice cream was kinda special. It was matcha ice cream covered with matcha powder, and if you pay a little more for the “premium” one, you get some edible gold flakes tossed in. I think that’s the theme of Kinkakuji, gold flakes.

Anyways, when I started to eat the ice cream, I did not account for the fact that the matcha powder might get into my windpipe. When I eat ice cream, I involuntarily breathe in air whilst my mouth was aiming for the first bite, it’s involuntary lol. So yes, the matcha powder got into my windpipe, causing me to cough out loud, and the powder went everywhere. Not my proudest moment.

Restaurant Verdict:

★★★★☆

After fully devouring the ice cream, I headed towards the next attraction.

To get to the next attraction, it was either by feet for 15 minutes, or by bus for 8 minutes + the time you wait for the bus. So of course I chose to walk for 15 minutes. While walking towards the next attraction, I saw a political campaign truck with “Japanese Communist Party” written on top. That was funny.

My next stop is Ryoanji. It is a temple that has many dragons.

On the outside, it has a pond, and a unique Japanese garden set.

Once you reach the Ryoanji building, you must take off your shoes. There are rooms where the doors had dragons drawn on them. Ryoanji’s full translation would be “Temple where Dragons rest peacefully”, so having dragons on the doors are reasonable.

Ryoanji also has a gigantic rock garden that is very Japanese.

I sat there for a while, trying to collect my thoughts. Then I realized that it was 4:30 PM, and if I am to make it to the next attraction, I must move my ass now. That’s when I got up and rushed towards the exit.

Snapped this picture while in a hurry.

Ryoanji Verdict:

★★★☆☆

Google Maps also has bus hours, but unlike the metro system, there is no guarantee that buses will be on time. I learned that today when I rushed to the bus stop, only to wait there for 10 minutes before the bus took its slow turn. Got on the bus, and I stood next to two blonde girls of caucasian descent. They taught me something valuable.

When it was one stop until my stop, one of the blonde girls pressed a button marked “get off here” on the bus, and only then, did the bus driver stop at the bus stop. In other words, if they didn’t press the button, I would’ve missed my stop. That’s when I knew that you must press a button to get off. These buttons are located at every seat and at every corner, so there’s no fear of you not being able to reach one. That’s a handy trick, thanks, blonde girls.

I snapped this picture before I crossed the street to Ninaji.

When I arrived, the temple was about to be closed, so there was no one at the ticket issuing booth. So I just waltzed in.

I love that since it was about to be closed, no one was there. I was able to take so many pictures without having to strategically position the camera in a way to not let anyone else in the frame. It was so easy.

There were also a group taking wedding photos. I’m glad I didn’t get into any of their wedding photos like how I might be when I visited Korea in October.

The PA system kept announcing that it was going to close, but I took my sweet time before I walked out. After all, it’s not like they were going to lock me in. When I got near the exit, there is a place where you can get Omikuji, or fortune telling, like the one I got from Kinkakuji.

When I finally got out, the big door was closed shut, and I had to exit through a small door on the side. Grabbed these pictures while I was waiting for the stupid bus to arrive, which didn’t happen for another 20 minutes. Waited in the wind for 20 minutes.

Ninaji Verdict: ★★★★☆

It was a normal bus ride once it eventually came, and I got off at my stop. Since I didn’t eat lunch and only ate an ice cream in the afternoon, I was famished. I didn’t want to search for a dinner spot, so I was looking along the street for food. Right near the bus stop, there was a restaurant that has deep fried wagyu. At first I didn’t give it much thought and passed it; but on second thought, it did look interesting. I’ve never had deep fried wagyu before, might as well give it a try right?

So I went inside, telling the waitress that I am dining by myself, and was pushed out. She told me to wait outside, while it was super cold. There is a waiting area inside the restaurant, but it was occupied by a family with a stroller. Still, it’s rather rude for her to ask me to wait outside while there’s still space for me to wait inside.

Still, I waited. If the service is this bad, the food might as well be good. So I waited. After waiting in the wind for a while, that stupid waitress came out, asked me if I was dining by myself, so I followed her inside, only for her to push me out again. WTF. Waited in the wind for a full 20 minutes before she finally let me in and put me in a corner. I hate her. The restaurant isn’t even that full, there were spots everywhere. I hate her so much.

Anyways, I sat down, and began to order. I just ordered their most recommended Wagyu set, and started to wait for the food to come.

According to the menu, there are 7 ways to eat this deep fried wagyu thing. There are curry, radish, soft boiled egg, soy sauce, bbq sauce, cumin. There are only 6 dipping sauces, but the other way to eat it is to pan fry it a little bit more on the little frying pan they provided.

I first tried the wagyu cutlet by itself without anything else, and it tasted like nothing. Of course, they didn’t add anything while deep frying it, so of course it tasted like nothing. Still, kinda disappointed that it tasted like nothing.

Then I tried it with everything else. It wasn’t very good. I think the medium of Wagyu should never be deep fried to start with. When you deep fry it, the original oily part of Wagyu becomes deeply saturated with whatever cooking oil they used to cook it, so it just tasted like nothing. When you dip it in curry, or any other sauce, the other sauce overtakes whatever that is left of the original wagyu and just becomes dipping meat in sauce. Even if it is Kuroge Wagyu, it tasted bland. Didn’t like the dinner very much.

Of course, the awful service I received before being seated also made it less delicious, but it nevertheless shouldn’t ruin good food if it was any good. It wasn’t. Do not recommend.

Restaurant Verdict:

★★☆☆☆

Anyways, after dinner, I got back to my hotel, and paid for a photography service. After all, I did come to the most ancient and popular capital of Japan, a prime place for photography. I paid for the service on China’s Taobao, which was rather quick and convenient. I did ask them to take photos on the 10th, which will be my last day in Kyoto; but then I realized, the photography place will take photos of me near Kiyomizudera, which is where I wanted to explore more fully myself. So I told them if I could move it to tomorrow, and they said yes. Great.

Also tried the hotel’s Onsen, despite the fact that I literally just got back from Kinosaki Onsen, an Onsen town, in the morning. The difference has nothing to do with quality, but with the one in this hotel, they have a standing shower, whereas in Kinosaki Onsen, you have to sit on a little stool to take a shower. A Standing shower is much more convenient in my opinion, plus, you won’t need to sit on someone else’s wet butt print.

Bathhouse Verdict: ★★★☆☆

My hotel room wasn’t very big, but at least everything, the environment, the included breakfast was kinda nice, so I figured that I would just rebook the same hotel so I could leave my stuff here in the morning and head straight to the photography place; but then I checked the price. December 8th was a Friday, so when I booked it on Thursday, I saw the Friday price, which was about 420 RMB, or 60 USD. When I want to rebook for the 9th, a Saturday, the hotel updated the price to Saturday pricing. It was double the price for Saturday. WTF right?

Wasn’t gonna pay double for the same room and the same service, so I opted to go to a cheaper hotel tomorrow. This will make my journey to the photography place a little bit more convoluted and difficult, but saving money is also very important. Anyways, with that information in mind, I slept like a freakin’ baby.

Kyoto Verdict: ★★★★☆

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