Our first full day in Kyoto started around 4am local time. Thanks jet lag for giving us an excuse to visit the downstairs convenience store at 5am for fried chicken and instant Raman. More on convenience store food later – it’s better than it sounds – and incredibly popular with the Japanese.
We feel fortunate that it wasn’t raining today. Last week the forecast predicted rain for most of our time here so any day without it feels like a gift. As we headed to the foothills of the mountains on the outskirts of town we had mid 50s and clouds with occasional patches of sun. Our first destination was the Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Established in 788, it is a Bhuddist temple that is a World Heritage site and in 2007 was a finalist to be named one of the Seven New Wonders of the World.
It’s easy to see why. The temple complex is tucked into the side of the mountain and feels connected to nature. One of the primary concepts of Bhuddism is Impermanence. This temple, surrounded by the changing of seasons Kyoto experiences, is the embodiment of that concept.
Winter snowscapes, cherry blossoms in the spring and lush greenery in the Summer. And in the autumn, blazing red maples and bright yellow ginkgo leaves.
We’re here in the early part of Kyoto’s annual autumn foliage display but had enough colors to create a striking scene.
Most of the buildings date from the mid 1600s and continue to stand despite being built without nails, including the famous veranda holding hundreds of people this morning.
After enjoying the tranquility of the temple, we walked through the tourist hustle and bustle of a couple of ‘preserved neighborhoods’. These streets have restored shophouses and no overhead power lines to better evoke ancient Kyoto.
We worked up quite an appetite with all our walking so we were happy our afternoon activity was cooking school! As we have before, we wanted to get hands on with the food of Japan, an activity the kids are always quite excited about.
Instead of a sushi class we opted for one teaching Ramen, Gyoza (potstickers) and our new favorite snack, Onagiri rice balls.
We were joined by a single traveler from Australia for the class as we cooked our way through each dish. Brian ordered a matcha IPA beer which looked like cough syrup but he said tasted wonderful.
Finally we got to enjoy the fruits of our labor and everyone loved what we had made.
It was a fun way to make yummy food and good memories for our second day in Kyoto.
5 Adventures Together 