Caffeine OD: Golden Week #1 : Kyoto

In Japan, Golden Week often abbreviated to simply GW is basically of a week of holidays that came about because there are a few public holidays that happen really close together. Every year, it starts on the 29th of April and ends on the 5th of May.

Last year, I spent my GW in Tokyo with Afyqah, Amira and Fatin. This year I spent it with fellow college mate, Angela, and travelled to the Kansai area. The Kansai area lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū.

Our journey began on the morning of the 29th. We were supposed to ride the 7.30am bus to Katsuta station but I had left my phone in my room and by the time I had gotten it and got back to the bus stand, the bus had already left. So, we had to wait for the next bus which was 50 minutes later. I hate myself :(

From Katsuta station we took a local train to Tokyo station. From Tokyo station, we got on the bullet train(新幹線、shinkansen) and headed towards Kyoto. Just imagine travelling around 500km in 2 hours, insane right? This was the first I had ever ridden the bullet train and was pretty excited. Angela even downloaded an app that could calculate the speed of the vehicle you were riding. The highest it reached was 303km/h, I think.

When we got to Kyoto, we went straight to our lodgings; Yuhata Inn. It was really cosy, the futons were dangerously comfortable(it made getting up in the mornings really hard), free breakfast, unlimited coffee and tea and hot showers. There were also rental bikes available, which was important since we were going to explore Kyoto by bike.

To sum it up, we went to the Nijo Castle (二条城, nijyoujo), the Temple of the Golden Pavillion (金閣寺, kinkakuji), The Philosopher's Walk (哲学の道, Tetsugaku no Michi), Sanjyou-Douri & Goujyou-Douri, cycled around the Kyoto University campus a bit, the Kyoto International Manga Museum, the famed geisha district of Gion and also a bunch of other places in between. I really can't remember them all. Should have jotted it all down in my phone. Damn.

While there, we ate so much green tea (抹茶, matcha) ice-cream. They were so delicious. Totally tasted like the real deal, none of that too-creamy feeling which totally makes it so not matcha.

We also bought and ate some Yatsuhashi (八ツ橋) that came in all kinds of flavours. Yummy, like for real, yo'. I also tried a Kyoto-fu udon dish that came with some sort of special tofu that is really famous in Kyoto.