After the body-breaking Fuji climb, the onsen town of Kami Suwa was perfect for some healing before returning to the Kansai region for the last few destinations on my list. I actually had no idea that Kami Suwa was known for onsen, and was mainly looking for the lake that Kimi No Nawa’s famous Itomori lake (that got blasted by a meteor) was based on :O
Quite lucky to have gone at a downtime and getting the entire onsen to myself 😀 (Which allowed me to film without objections!)
Super cute train station too, reflecting the town’s pride in their onsen by having a mini foot onsen right within the train station! Bestest way to wait for your train hehe
Reached Kyoto late at night, and thankfully snagged up a nice ryokan hours before. The owner wasn’t around, and left me a cute note at the entrance to welcome me.
The next morning, I was faced with the confusing task of finding a good way to travel around Kyoto and deciding on what to best spend my time on. Bought a Kansai pass of sorts, and spammed it throughout the rest of the day.
Walked around aimlessly, visited the Imperial Palace, enjoyed some fancy (pricey) dessert Toraya Karyo Ichijo 虎屋菓寮. Why’s it so special? It’s known that this store has been operating at this place since all the way back 1628!!
Racing against the sun, I somehow managed to squeeze in one day, the iconic Golden Temple, Bamboo Forest, and the hypnotising seemingly endless vermillion torii of Fushimi Inari Shrine.
The sun set while I was exploring Fushimi Inari, which surprisingly gave the place a unique and mysterious charm in the night! Coupled with the bonus of very very few people. I guess most people wouldn’t have thought that there’s much to see at night.
Kyoto’s a really pretty city with a fine balance of old and new, held together in a surprisingly neat and charming way. Just by the feel of cities alone, Kyoto’s probably my favourite.
Nara. Deers. Super cute!! Reached super early since it was my last day and I had a plane to catch, and well…. people who sell deer crackers don’t appear till around 8am ._.
Grab a pack, and start showering yourself with the loving, cuddly (sometimes overly aggressive) attention of all the deer!
They’re literally everywhere, like the moment you step out of the train station. Chilling by the roadside, chilling by the pond, chilling outside a building, chilling… everywhere :3
Kobe. Yeap went there just for the beef. Mmm very flavourful, intensely fatty, could almost describe it as melting in your mouth mmm. Not a huge fan as it’s too heavy on taste, but defo worth one try to blow your mind on just how vastly different a chunk of beef can be
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