My theme for day 3 in Japan was centered on the Airbnb e-bike experience I had booked a few days before I headed to Japan. I knew that if I left it up to future Gemma, I wouldn’t get out as much as I would like, so I booked a few Airbnb experiences to keep me accountable during the trip.
Despite my reservations, the tour ended up being a lot of fun. It was nice having someone give some insight and history on shrines and temples as we viewed them. Plus, my tour guide gave a great recommendation on where to eat after the tour.
Also breezed through in this vlog, a huge splurge purchase that essentially made the rest of the trip a lot more bearable (hint: it made me warmer).
Enjoy and look out for the next part of my journey next week (hopefully)!
0:00 intro
0:21 Day 3 Breakfast at Hotel Kanra Kyoto
0:34 Taking the bus in Japan for the first time
1:20 Bike tour around Kyoto
6:48 Thoughts on Google Maps in Japan
7:58 Nishin soba at Kamishichiken Futaba
10:17 Shopping and snack break in Sanjo Meiten-gai
12:43 Thoughts on solo travel and finding moments of selfishness
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PLACES ✨
Kamishichiken
Kitano Tenmangu Shrine
The Golden Temple
Ichimonjiya
Daitokuji Temple
Zuihoin
Kamishichiken Futaba
Sanjo Meiten-gai Shopping Arcade
Sir Thomas Lipton – Shijo
McDonald’s
Full itinerary (with links) on my blog:
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filmed and edited by Gemma Acheampong
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#JapanVlog #Kyoto #SoloTravel
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day three started with breakfast at my
hotel I thought it was just okay I
always like trying Hotel breakfast even
if it’s just to say if it was worth it
or not this one sort of just
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depends this is my first day taking a
bus in Japan I was anxious about it for
some reason taking the bus anywhere just
feels more nerve-wracking but it ended
up being a pretty easy trip the
announcements and stops were all in
Japanese and English so I just used
Google Maps to keep track of my stop a
good thing to note was in Kyoto you paid
one standard for when you got off so
everyone enters through the back door
and leaves to the front this isn’t the
same for all of Japan so my advice is to
just watch what everyone else is doing
and copy
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them I booked an Airbnb ebike experience
for this day I knew if I left things too
open I might end up just lazing in my
hotel room the entire trip which
wouldn’t have been been the end of the
world but I know I would have regretted
it
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later kodo has a bunch of options for
bike tours I chose this one purely
because it uses ebikes so I could choose
how easy of a ride I wanted that day
which was definitely needed I was sort
of dreading the tour it was cold like in
the 40s that day luckily I brought my
bike gloves with me which made it a lot
more bearable
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temperature please give it
again I promise you the
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water you can go from anywhere
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so tooto is renowned for its very good
water good tofu because of that and good
sck as
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well almost every single one of these
plaques would have been written in
February oh for exam
season and and
uh you can see there’s almost the same
Ki written on all of them these this Ki
here it says G Kaku which means to pass
some kind of
examp actually if you if you in CYO
yesterday and you notice a lot of people
dressing uping kimonos it was more than
usual it was the graduation date a there
was a graduation ceremony and that’s why
I did wonder that
that’s a funny one volleyball and
studying volleyball I want to do my best
but it’s not really a
wish anyway
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this is also an original gate to around
400 years ago as
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well all in all I’m glad I B the
experience Sean our tour guide was very
knowledgeable about all the sites we
visited my group was super friendly and
I felt extremely safe riding on the Kyo
streets a lot of them are pretty narrow
but all the cards were respectful and
gave right away I knew Kyoto in Japan as
a whole had a large bike culture so
getting to experience it for myself just
made me wish I lived in a place where
that was appreciated more
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yeah all in all this was a great way to
see an array of shrines and temples
around Kyoto while learning a lot of
history behind them I had seen a few the
day before but was sort of just admiring
them without knowing much of their
individual history
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I think my favorite part of the tour was
stopping by this aburri Moshi shop it’s
currently run by the 25th generation of
the same family and has been featured in
a ton of news outlets it was a cozy spot
to enjoy snack and warm up in it was
definitely a place I would not have
known about or gone to on my own
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now this is a snack we’re going to be
trying it’s called AB muchi which
translates to grilled mchi so much is
like a pound of sticky rice and then
they coat it in that brown powder which
is roasted soybean powder and it’s
grilled and then it’s coated in a really
sweet white nce sauce it’s quite a sweet
snack glutenfree there’s no nuts I don’t
think there’s much else but uh as
everyone know it’s vegetarian
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bye you see maybe
Google Maps and I became best friends on
this trip I was a bit worried about
navigating in Japan mostly because I’d
heard a lot of complaints about it
beforehand and mostly about how it
barely works when you’re there after
navigating the streets and station for 2
weeks I can say that’s a huge OV
exaggeration it works great I think it’s
not as robust as it is in the US for
example sometimes it doesn’t auto update
as I walk or when I’m down in a train
station but otherwise I would have been
so l L without it obviously I can’t
compare it to any other navigation app
someone else might recommend but it
definitely works just fine I’d say just
pay attention to the details around you
like what side of the street to be on or
even if you need to turn on some small
hidden Alleyway you might not have
otherwise noticed and read the signs
around you a lot of them are in English
and often ended up guiding me at my most
lost moment
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after the tour Sean my tour guide
recommended the local sub points I was
tempted to get the curry udon because
something I know I like but I figured
I’d try something new because why not I
chose a niching SOA purely because it’s
a Kyoto specialty which I found out by
Googling I found out later that most of
places in Kyoto will have it on their
menu but this place just seemed special
to me it had like a homey feel to it but
maybe that’s just me
projecting the SOA was amazing in my
opinion definitely one of my favorite
dishes the broth was
amazing I’m using amazing too much but
it was amazing ended up adding um the
provided spice to it most most to add
some Heat versus adding flavor and the
noodles are perfectly cooked the fish
was too sweet for my liking so was the
one thing I left behind I found out
later the dried Herring is simmered in
soy sauce mirin which is a sweet cooking
rice wine and sugar so it makes sense
that it was so
sweet I’m definitely going to try to
make this at home someday though other
things to know as you watch me eat the
seat that I got was a dam matte style so
I took off my shoes and sat on a cushion
on the dam mat floor they also had
regular seats and tables if that’s not
your Vibe so you don’t have to take off
your shoes and sit over there if you
don’t want to they have an English menu
available and everything they serve was
less than 1,00 Yen which is about $7 USD
so super affordable and filling like
many smaller restaurants in Japan they
only accept cash so keep that in mind
before you sit
down random interlude I love the ease of
public transportation in Japan it’s
really the small details like this bus
tracker that let you know when the buses
are approaching that make all the
difference to me so simple so
useful I loved
it anyway H the quick shopping Montage
of the day
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papaa papaa
p
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pap
spe
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I was really excited for this solo trip
after retirement I’ve been able to take
a few trips with friends family and my
partner I always had a great time but
after every trip I always imagined ways
I might have done things differently if
I were
alone maybe I’d stay longer or leave
earlier at one place maybe I’d skip it
all together and just rest longer
I’m the type of traveler that likes
bigger activities likees seeing bigger
tourist sites or going on a hike but I
also like to be well
rested traveling alone means you don’t
have to compromise which is what I think
I really
needed in truth I wanted to be selfish
and do it in a way where I wouldn’t feel
bad about it I think everyone deserves
moments like these when you’re making
decisions purely on what you want versus
what everyone else
wants I think traveling alone forced me
to slow down and think about what I
truly wanted every night I would look
over my plans for the next day then I’d
wake up and see how I felt about it if I
was still up for it i’ go and give it a
chance and if I wasn’t I just do
something
else if I wasn’t in the middle of
something and suddenly just wanted to
leave I left if I wanted to stay longer
I stayed in a perfect world I’d be able
to do that every day in reality I will
still try to take that feeling and that
lesson back with me even if it’s just
for one or two days of the week
I ended my day with an easy solo meal at
the closest
McDonald’s side note I did try to go to
two other places but they were both full
and I was
lazy personally I like to try the fast
food in different countries anyway they
often taste different and have different
menu items so it’s a fun thing to try it
felt like a great ENT to a fun day to me
I said fun many times there but
that was it thanks for
watching look out for the next one
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