OUR KYOTO SONG (My Second Actually)

I've been to the cultural treasures of Kyoto except for the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest that I visited for the first time. 

For this second visit, I don't have to cheat on the fare adjustment from Nagoya, had a seafood lunch instead of the cold packed leftover breakfast I had 20 years ago, paid all the entrance tickets and got stamped, and brought along a happy wife.   

Not sure why I missed the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest the first time I was in Kyoto since it's been there since 794. 

It indeed has a legitimate claim of being picturesque spot for a thousand years and on Day 3 of our 2026 Japan Tour, the wife had her 3rd dongo at the forest gates while Balong opted for a fried mochi. 

Kinkaku-ji or the Temple of the Giolden Pavilion is a Zen Buddhist temple that was first built in 1399 and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I got in free 20 years ago by skipping through a distracted ticket seller but paid this time despite Balong's tantums. 

There's not much I can recall from my first encounter with the Ginkaku-ji, another Zen temple popularly known as the Tample of the Silver Pavilion that was first built in 1482.

Yes, there was a rock garden that is still there but a revelation is the wife who had a lobectomy several months back in 2025 and yet gamely took on the uphill hike for a panoranic view of the temple complex and the Kyoto skyline.

Our lunch at the crowded Nishiki Market, a seafood spread of tempura, sashimi rice bowl, oysters, a crab leg, and okonomiyaki --- remains to be our most expensive meal in Japan so far at 14,000 yen.

I had a highball and a Kirin beer before before indulging in a sake-tasting spree.

The wife had sweet potato chips.

The Nijo Castle's nighttingale floors are security devices to alert Tokugawa ieyasu of the presence of intruders,

At least that's what has been explained 20 years ago as I tagged along an English-speaking guided tour but this time, the story is different according to Bulan who heard it from a current day English-speaking guided tour, that the sound is created "from the movement of nails against clumps in the floor caused by wear and tear over the years". 

Another new discovery is that the castle actually has a massive garden where we got lost trying to find the exit and the eki stamp stand. 

Finally, the Kiyomizu-dera Temple, a wooden temple built without nails that traces its history to 805 and is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site where once upon a time, I had a dinner of ramen with a jar of sake.

The wife again showed her climbing prowess as we manevered through steep stairs and slopy streets.

But what is our hardest hike was greeted with a "Closed" sign because of the holidays in Japan.

So I peed on a manicured garden.

We walked (and took the bus) through Kyoto under a soft rain the whole day.

We were tired and I smelled of pee.

We needed a hot dinner and hoped from Bus 207 straight into an oden shop and hoped that we don;t get lost in translation.

The recommended radish, meatballs, beef, and tomato were excellent; the pork and cabbage super; the potato salad exceptional, and the ice crema nuggets superb.

I had my highball and Suntory beer... 

...and finally encountered Anthony Burdain's favority egg salad sandwich from Lawson.