Japa....Kyoto....

We arrived in Kyoto in the late afternoon but were already famished. We tried to hunt for the Japanese restaurant that was recommended by the hotel staff to be more of a local fare but somehow we bypassed it. Being rather tired, we settled for good old McDonald's. Interestingly, the Japanese had quite a variety.

Next morning, we walked along the station mall and had some hot breakfast of soba and udon noodles. Somehow, our kids just loved the noodles and never got sick of them.

We visited the Kyoto Imperial Palace which was sadly closed. However, the palace ground was huge for the kids to run and they, of course, found some interesting things. We just loved the maple tree with leaves all red.

There was this little shrine that was on the palace grounds and we went by to have a look.

Next stop, the Toei Movie Studio whereby we experienced the settings for Japanese movies, see the samurais. Making our way there proved tougher than what we expected. It wasn't the usual tourist attraction site but was amidst some residential place. We settle for a local restaurant along the way and fed our rumbling tummies while trying to find our way there. Food was good. Oh yes, loads of raw stuff..

Yes, this was where the Movie Studio was!

We decided for the day to buy some prepacked meals from the supermarket and have a quiet dinner in the comfort of our room. Quite a spread though it's a pity there's not microwave to warm up the bento.

To market, to market, to see what the Jap sold in Nishiki Market. Load of pickled food stuff, seafood, vegetables and fruits and nick knacks.

There's this little temple along the market area and we took a drink to quench our thirst like what we see other Japanese did.

We wanted to catch sight of the Maiko so we walked along back to the Maiko Street in the Gion area we were on the night before as we got our way wrong and couldn't quite find our directions in the dark. Well, we didn't see any, aside from one that was doing some demonstration, but had the opportunity to admire the architecture of the place.

Yasaka Temple was just nearby and we popped by to sightsee. Coincidentally, we met a couple getting married in the traditional wear. Not sure how they could wear so little in the cold.

Wagashi is a traditional sweet, typical of Kyoto. We could actually go for a workshop to make some of our own. Well, our little ones weren't quite ready for it so mommies did the job. It was a good experience. Apparently, the white bean filling that we used are very costly. It could cost as much as 30,000yen per kg.