Last day in Thailand - Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

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Last day in Bangkok! We were trying to find a half day tour to go to because our flight is in the evening today. The only thing we found is the floating market! (Most tours are full-day tours....) There are a lot of floating markets around Bangkok and the one we went to is called "Damnoen Saduak Floating Market", which is actually the most touristy floating market. We hopped on a boat ride through the canal, and it was pretty cool. There are boats selling food, spices, clothes, etc. It was a very interesting experience and we liked the tour a lot.

Before we left, we found these little goodies! We don't know what it's called, but it's made with coconut batter and some corn and green onion in it. It is crispy outside, and very pudding-like texture inside. It's only very lightly sweetened, so I wouldn't called it a dessert. It tastes SOOOOOO GOOD! We wanted to order more, but it takes her quite a while to make a batch and we are running out of time. But, if you see it in Thailand, definitely try it! Very tasty. 

This ends our 6-day trip to Thailand. There is so much that we haven't seen and I hope we will have more time next time to explore ourselves instead of following tours. I can't believe that we didn't go to the beaches! Anyways, more reasons to come back!

Bangkok highlights

This is the only full day we have in Bangkok, and we are going to make the most of it! First thing we wanted to do is to see the infamous Grand Palace! We tried to go early so that it wouldn't be too crowded. Unfortunately, it's still packed when we got there at 9 am in the morning. It is a huge complex of buildings at the heart of Bangkok. All the buildings in there, as the name suggests, are very grand! It took us 2 - 3 hours to walk through all the buildings inside. 

Then, we found a very local place for lunch, and they have amazing noodles! I always prefer local dingy places over nice touristy restaurants. How else can you taste the real Thai food, right? And we tried one of those coconut ice cream for dessert! Perfect for the warm weather. 

Next, we took the boat across the river to visit Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), one of the oldest temples in Bangkok. Part of it is under construction unfortunately, but it's still very breathtaking. This is probably one of my favorite temples because it is not as ornate as other temples that we have been to. Instead, it is very unadorned, but still very detail-oriented. Every layer, every step, every tile, is beautiful. 

I have searched and searched and searched for the best Pad Thai in Bangkok, and this is one of the places that came up in multiple sources, so we decided to check this out. This place is called Thip Samai and it opens at 5 pm. We arrived at 4:30 and there is already a line!! A very good sign! We ordered two different Pad Thai, and we saw all other people order this orange juice, so we decided to try that as well. The orange juice is definitely THEE BEST orange juice I have ever had. I didn't know that orange juice could taste this good. The pulp in it was not really pulp, they were not ground up. They are all individual little whole undamaged orange bulbs (I don't know how else to describe it....). When you drink the juice, it's like eating oranges, and the oranges were so fresh and sweet. God, I wish I could have one now. The Pad Thai was sooooo good! We ordered one "omelet Pad Thai" and one regular Pad Thai, they were both so good that we thought we could eat another 2 of them. 

The very last Buddha visit! The four-faced Buddha of Erawan Shrine! It is right next to the Erawan Hotel and in the middle of a shopping mall district. We decided to walk there because we wanted to see Bangkok on foot instead of in a taxi or "tuk tuk", and as we walked there, we saw how horrible the traffic was, and we thought it probably wouldn't make a difference in terms of time if we did take a taxi. We have all heard about the unfortunate bomb incident that happened a while ago, but it's reopened, and it is very famous for its "wishes come true" deal. People pray to the Buddha and make their wishes. If the wishes come true, the people return to the Buddha and pay their respects with gifts. 

I know we just ate, but Thai food is just too good. We have heard about the delicious street food on Sukhumvit Soi 38, so we had to go and eat again! The best Tom Yum Gong I have ever had, so much flavor! The ones we had in the US were mostly just spicy, but this one is phenomenal. I don't know how they did it, and what's in there, but the flavors, oh my, it's just sooooo good. I could tell that there were a lot of different spices and herbs in there, and everything was added in a perfect balance. I am definitely having a food orgasm! We also ordered some curry, and of course could not finish the meal without my favorite Thai dessert, mango sticky rice. This was also the best one I have had in Thailand! Street food is soooo damn good and cheap here! I would get soooo fat if I lived here.  

Last stop before the night ends, we went to Patpong to experience the red light district. Photography is not really allowed, so I only got very limited pictures, but it was an interesting experience. A lot of people walking around with a list of apparently "appealing" performances to attract tourists/men to go in. All of them were trying to sell us this "ping pong show" that I have no idea what it is (not until I went home and google about it). There's one bar we walked past that features S & M, and outside there was a man holding a whip and telling us how we should really go in there because this is something you have never seen and would regret missing it. We thought about going into one of those places just for the experience, but we were worried about getting ripped off because we did not read too much about how it works inside, so we decided we would just walk around and peek (creepy huh? lol). One thing you got to careful about in the red light district is that you never know if they are real women or she-male, and it often shocks some guys who found out later. Just a warning. 

Thailand Trip Day 4 - We are in Bangkok!!!

Oh God. March is ending soon and yet this is my first entry...... shame on me! I was incredibly busy for the past month, so forgive me! Anyways, so we took an early flight that morning to Bangkok from Chiang-Mai! After checking-in with the hotel, we met up with a friend for lunch. We stayed at a really nice hotel because it is so cheap in Thailand to do so, which is actually so far away from the downtown area, so I really regretted that decision. It's just we never get to stay in nice hotels, therefore I thought we should do that for a change because it's so cheap! Wrong decision! Hostels are always better! Usually in better location, and with more information on tours and sightseeing. 

After lunch, we didn't have much time left for today. We went to the Wat Saket (Golden Mountain). There is quite a bit of steps to reach the top, and you can see a very nice view of the area from the top.

One last stop for today is the Wat Pho or the Temple of Reclining Buddha. It is one of the oldest temples in Bangkok. The Reclining Buddha is HUGE! The figure is 15m high and 46m long, and it is one of the largest Buddha in Thailand. There are also different buildings in the complex, and they are all incredibly beautiful.

We were not very productive today and it is already night time! We went to the "rice street" for authentic Thai street food, and you can see they are everywhere!! Cheap and delicious!! After dinner, we had a nice long Thai foot massage! It was such a great treat after an entire day of walking. We have planned a lot for tomorrow because we only have 1.5 days left in Bangkok, and there is a lot to see!

Thailand Trip Day 3 - A not-so-fun tour :(

Today, we joined a tour to explore the region north of Chiang-Mai. The tour includes the white temple, the golden triangle and the long neck village. We didn't have a lot of time, so we couldn't go around ourselves, but we really wanted to see the long neck village, therefore we decided to go with this tour. 

First stop: Natural hot spring
We have 20 mins to walk around. There are stores for tourists, and the "hot spring"! It really is just a really hot pond looking thing. They sell eggs, and people put the eggs in the hot spring to cook it. Honestly, nothing too exciting. 

Second stop: Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple)
The white temple is still under construction, and it is 10 years from being finished. It opens all year round and it is free admission. This is probably the whitest building I have ever seen in my life, and the carvings are amazing! They are so detailed. As you can see from the picture below, there's a bridge leading to the entrance of the temple. It is called the bridge of "the cycle of rebirth". You can see, below the bridge, there are all those skeletons, hands reaching out, symbolizing temptation, greed and desire. After you cross the bridge, there's the "gate of heaven", guarded by two creatures representing Death and Rahu (someone who decides the fate of the dead). It is soooooo crowded here, and it's not even open yet!

Third stop: the golden triangle
Basically, this is where the three countries meet, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos. Historically, this is an area for growing opium. Because the currencies are different, so they used to use gold for trading. The tour includes a boat ride on the Ruak river to Laos. The part of Laos we went is really just for tourists. They have a bunch of stores for different clothing, scorpion whiskey, etc. Nothing exciting. The very first thing I saw and made a huge impression on me is the child beggars waiting on the pier, begging for money. It really shocked me. I knew these countries are poor, but child beggars? This just reminds me of how lucky I am. I should really stop whining about my life. After the boat tour, we went to the Myanmar border, and there's a gate! And that's about it. 

Last stop: Karen Long Neck Village
It is just unbelievable to me that there are still people doing that! They are originally from Myanmar. In their culture, the longer the neck, the prettier you are. And you know how women are, we all want to be pretty! Whatever it takes! They start putting on the brass coil around the age of 5, and more rings get added on every year. According to the tour guide, kids that were born there have a choice of receiving an education or becoming a long neck, but if they don't go to school by the age of 5, then they will have to be a long neck. Those coils are SUPER heavy! I held one, and I underestimated the weight and I almost hurt my wrist! Because of the weight, you can see from the picture below, their shoulders are pressed down. They only take it off when they shower or sleep. This is probably a very touristy version of the real long neck village, but it's still fascinating to see these people with my own eyes.

This tour started at 7:30 and we were back in the hostel around 9:30. It was a whole day tour and most of the time, we were in the car. When we were out, most of the time, we were in places with a lot of tourist-oriented stores. Honestly, I wasn't very happy with this tour, but without the tour, I could not have seen the long neck village. Anyways, I can't get everything, right?! 

Thailand Trip Day 2 - Elephant riding and tiger petting

Second day in Chiang-Mai. We decided to go on a little wild adventure and meet some new buddies - elephants! I've always thought that elephants are one of most beautiful animals in the world and I finally get to meet and play with them! So excited! A lot of animal protection groups argued that elephant camps promote animal cruelty, but in fact, the elephants are very well cared for. 
We didn't have much time, so we did a half day tour, which included transportation to and from the hotel, feeding the elephants, elephant riding and bathing with elephants! It was so much fun! We each had one elephant, and before riding them, we were taught different commands so that the elephants would understand us. For example, "pai pai" means going straight, and that's exactly what we said the whole time when we were riding the elephants. Pai Pai! Pai Pai! We also fed them before the morning stroll! There are two ways to feed them, and it goes with different "commands". "Kep Kep" means you give them the food and they use their trunks to grab it from you and put it in their mouths. "Bon Bon" means you feed it directly to their mouth. We fed them so much sugar cane and apparently those are just their snacks! They eat 100kg of food every day! That's just CRAZY! We saw a baby elephant too, and it was just soooo adorable and playful. It kept pushing me <3 so cute!

After the tour, we went back to the hostel and we found a random restaurant closeby. We saw mostly locals in the restaurant, so we figured it should be good! (And cheap!) It was indeed delicious! We ordered some sticky rice, some smoothies, papaya salad, a pork dish and a soup. A random place in Thailand is so much better than any place in LA! And I am certainly missing the thai food....... 

Next thing on the schedule! Tigers!!! We went to the Tiger Kingdom, and it was VERY expensive. They have different prices for different sizes of tigers. We saw the "big cat" and the baby tigers. I was so scared that every time the tiger moved, I just jumped a little. It was a very cool experience but I was slightly disappointed though because you don't really get to spend too much time in the cage with the tigers, and there were only a few cages with tigers in them. The setup is not what I would have imagined. I later found another place called Tiger Temple near Bangkok that seems to be more fun! The tigers are being taken care of by the monks in the monastery. You get to feed the tigers, spend more time with them, and they seemed more playful. 

Last stop before dinner! Wat Umong! This is a 700-year-old temple with an underground structure! It is located at the foothill of Suthep Mountain, and there are a lot of different kinds of chicken/birds running around. The word "Umong" means tunnel, and you can walk around the ancient tunnel built hundreds of years ago with little buddha statues along the walls. This is one of my favorite wats in Chiang Mai. 

Time to search for food again! We went to the westernized area between Huay Kaew Road and Suthep Road, and the entire strip is filled with coffee shops, bars, restaurants, foot massages, etc. As we walk around to search for our dinner, we walked pass a coffee shop, so we had a coffee. Then, we walked past a dessert place, so we got mango sticky rice and thai tea shaved ice. We found some gift shops, so we bought some souvenirs. At last, we saw a restaurant with a huge line! Huge line = must be good! So, we decided to wait in line and try the place. The place is called TongTemToh Northern Thai Cuisine! There are so many things we wanted to try, so we ordered 4 dishes (just the two of us....). We ordered grilled pork shoulders (it's being grilled right outside of the restaurant..... while we were waiting for the table, we were already drooling over the grilled meat!), Burmese style pork stew, bamboo shoots with munchy pork, stir-fried pork with spicy herb. We wanted to order fried sweet leaves with eggs, but they were out :( The dishes were SOOOO GOOD! Best thai food I've ever had! It was spicy, but not just flat spicy, it's spicy at a different level. Each dish had different spices in it, and the different spices excite your palate in different ways. It was just a very exciting dining experience. 

Before heading back, we once again, had a foot massage. I think we are addicted to it now! We both just fell asleep! Wish we could have had it at the hostel so we could just pass out there! 

Thailand Trip Day 1 - Wat Hopping in Chiang-Mai

Shot in Wat Phra Singh. I thought it was a real monk at first, because I have heard some monks do that as part of their spiritual path to meditate without any movement or influence from the environment. But I found out later that it was just a wax model of a real monk. I actually was worried for a while whether I should take a picture because I didn't want to be disrespectful, and it turned out he was not real LOL 

We took a super early flight to Chiang-Mai from Hong Kong, and arrived at the hostel before 9am, which means we still had all day to explore the area! We got a map from the hostel and it had all the attractions mapped out! We normally don't like to take taxi, we usually either walk or take public transportation, but in Chiang-Mai, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of public transportation going on. Everybody owns a motorcycle to get around. So, we decided to walk. On the way to our first destination, we walked past a lot of street food and markets, and they all looked soooooo good. We got a couple of things without even knowing what they were because they are all in Thai, but they all taste FREAKING good! The mix of the different spices in my mouth is just indescribable. You have never had real Thai food until you go to Thailand!

Wat Hopping

There are so many Wats that you cannot possibly go to every single one of them in one day. But there are a few must go! Wat Phra Singh (Temple of the Lion Buddha), Wat Chedi Luang (Temple of the Big Stupa), and Wat Chiang Man, which are all located inside the walls of the ancient city (You can actually see the moats!). My favorite is the Wat Chedi Luang. It is an impressive dilapidated temple from the 14th - 15th century. Temples in Thailand are very different from temples in other countries, they are very grand, very ornate. This is their way of showing respect to the Buddha. Talking about respect, you are not allowed to wear shoes in the temple. You take off your shoes, leave them at the door, then you go in. Also, you are not allowed to wear revealing clothes in the temple. For men, you can get away with shorts that's at knee length, but for women, everything needs to be covered! No shorts, no tank tops, no low-V shirts, etc. But, it is really hot in Thailand (27 - 30 Celcius in December, can't imagine the summer here.....), so most temples have clothes for you to borrow to cover up before you walk in. 
I have noticed this creature (pictures below) that always shows up at the entrance of the temple, a 5-headed snake. I don't really know the origin of this creature, but it is probably believed to protect the Buddha inside of the temple. 

Wat unknown - temple found on the way to Wat Phra Singh

Wat Phra Singh

Wat Phan Thao - temple of a thousand kilns

The only temple so far that has a simpler design. 

Wat Chedi Luang - the ruined temple 

Wat Chiang Man - the oldest temple in Chiang-Mai

Wat Bupbharam - temple close to the night bazaar

Last stop of the day! FOOD!!!! We had some fried rice, green curry, and we found this AWESOME STREET DESSERT! Banana Roti with Nutella! I was very resistant to it at first because it didn't look particularly appealing, but OMG, it was so good!!! First, the banana in Thailand really tasted different. It is hard to describe, but it's just more flavorful, it tastes more like banana compared to what I have been eating in the States..... those sugary sweet taste banana-looking thingy. So, they made the roti fresh from dough, pan fried it with fresh cut banana wrapped inside. Then put some nutella on top, OMG, it's heaven!!!! This is definitely a must-eat! After dinner, we walked around the street vendors and got swimsuits for tomorrow's elephant ride!
Before we head back to the hostel, we saw this foot massage place, only 100 Baht for 30 mins. We have been walking all day, and our feet were so sore, so we decided to try it. Man, it felt so good afterwards! I feel like I have my feet back! We are definitely too far away from the hostel right now to walk back, so we decided to have a "tuk tuk" experience! And it was pretty fun! They drive like F1 racer, and we were back to the hostel in no time! 

Happy New Year - Thailand 6-day Trip Overview

Shot of the Floating Market close to Bangkok

Happy New Year everybody! New Year Revolution: Try my best to travel as much as I can! Travelling is definitely addictive. The more I travel, the more I want to travel! It's an amazing experience! The most recent trip was the Thailand trip before Christmas. I always think that there's a difference between a tourist and a traveler, and because of the limited time I had, I was probably more like a tourist than a traveler on this trip. More reason to go back there to get the real Thai experience! 

An overview of the Thailand trip:
Day 1 Chiang-Mai Wat Hopping
Day 2 Chiang-Mai Elephant ride and Tiger petting
Day 3 Chiang-Rai White Temple, Golden Triangle and Long Neck Village
Day 4 Bangkok Wat Hopping + Street Food
Day 5 Bangkok Royal Palace + Wat Hopping + Best Pad Thai
Day 6 Bangkok Floating Market

I didn't do as much as I wanted to and there are still TOO MUCH things I haven't done. I can't believe I did not go to any of the national parks in Thailand! And BEACHES!!!! We haven't seen the beaches at all!!! But we did have a fun and relaxing trip compared to the South America trip we took last year (that was more like an adventure). It's nice to be a tourist once in a while although I do miss the challenges and excitements I experienced last year. I am really debating where to go next for the annual big trip, should I go for Europe? Africa? Or back to South America? The world is just too big!  

Our crazy 5 day Japan Trip Recap - Day 5 Highlights

I didn't realize until I was writing about this Japan trip that I really did not take too many pictures, and most of my pictures were taken from my crappy phone. Sorry!!!! This is the last day in Japan, and we decided to spend it on a great onsen experience. We got up super early and took the very first train possible to Yurari, which is 2 hours from Tokyo. After the train, we took a taxi to the final destination. It was SOOOO EXPENSIVE!!!! But we really couldn't find any other transportation to get there. We chose this place because it is known for its Fuji mountain view! 

For those who are not comfortable with being naked in public, they also have private rooms. We picked one of the private rooms (Each room have different types of bath) and as you can see from the pictures above, each room has a big window so that you can enjoy the bath with an awesome view. We took some pictures in the private room, but for the public baths, you cannot take pictures (for good reason). For the public bath, they have 2 levels, and there are different types of bath that has different effects. Unfortunately, it was very foggy the day we went, so we couldn't see the Mt Fuji, but it was snowing!!!!! Bonus!!!! Although we cannot enjoy the Mt Fuji view, we got to enjoy the hot spring in the snow! It was pretty awesome! 

After the hot spring, we decided to have a slightly luxurious meal since it was the last day in Japan! We got a private dining room, and ordered the pork pot! The food came in a little train through the window!!! So cute!! They have an electronic device for ordering so that they won't interrupt you unless you ordered something. It is really nice to get to have your own dining room! This is such a perfect place for a couple! Private onsen, private dining room! Definitely make a pretty good date! We went back to the public bath for a little longer after the meal before we headed back to the city. We found a bus that might take us back to the train station, but we ended up waiting for it in the snow for 2 hours (I got sick the next day), and we never saw the bus!!! We ended up calling a taxi back, and we felt like we wasted so much time!!!! 

Our flight is early morning tomorrow, so before we headed back to the hotel, we decided to wander around the city just a little longer. We went to the China town and we also made it to the Tokyo Skytree!!! We didn't make it to the top because we got there a little too late, but we were glad that we made it there because it is REALLY TALL!!!! It was cloudy that day, so you can actually see the tower covered by a low cloud. Tokyo Skytree (634m) is the tallest structure in Japan, as well as the tallest tower in the world! We ended our Japan trip on a "high" note, and we both felt like we didn't see enough! We will be back! 

Our crazy 5 day Japan Trip Recap - Day 4 Highlights

Meiji Jingu Shrine (明治神宫)

The Meiji Shrine was built in 1920 and was dedicated to the emperor Meiji. The main complex is located near the Harajuku Station. This is almost like a forest in the middle of the city, and the 100,000 trees surrounding the shrine were planted during the construction to create a sense of tranquility in this shrine. They have different ceremonies and events throughout the year, there are annual, monthly and even daily ceremonies, and we happened to see the daily morning food offering and prayers for world peace and everybody's prosperity. 

Akihabara 

Akihabara is a district in central Tokyo, and it has a nickname of "electric town" for being a major shopping center for household electronic goods. More recently, it has become the center of Japan's otaku culture, and there are many anime and manga stores in the area, as well as theme cafes. 
We wanted to experience the Japanese culture as much as we can, so we decided to go to a maid cafe. If you are interested in going to a maid cafe, be prepared that it is going to get expensive. They have a minimum money you need to spend in there, and the money you spend determines the time you can stay there. All the waitresses (there are only female servers) are dressed in cute maid costumes and there is occasional dancing and singing performances. The customers are predominantly male, and the male customers are called "master" and also being treated like one. I think it is a way of fulfilling certain male fantasies. Very interesting. They also have other themes like dominatrix, vampire, butlers, cat, owl etc., anything you can or cannot think of.   

Gundam Front Tokyo

I am not a gundam fan (what!?), but I am in Tokyo, how can I not see the gundam front, right? It is located in Odaiba, a set of man made islands. You can see a life-sized gundam, which is pretty impressive! Next to it is the Gundam Cafe, where you can buy all kinds of gundam souvenirs for your geeky friends! Besides the Gundam Front, there are other things to see in Odaiba, including Fuji TV building, the Palette Town, the telecom center, the Oedo Onsen Monogatari (We are planning to go somewhere cooler for onsen, that's why we didn't' do to this one, but if you don't want to go too far, this is a very cool place to go in the city), and the rainbow bridge (we saw the rainbow on the way back to the city center on subway).  There are still a lot of places in Tokyo or close by that we wanted to visit, but time is limited, and we wanted to have relaxing onsen day tomorrow, so this is last day we actually wandered around the city, and the thought of it already made me miss the city! 

Our crazy 5 day Japan Trip Recap - Day 3 Highlights

woho!~ WE ARE IN TOKYO!!!!!! Although we arrived at almost midnight last night, that did not stop us from waking up early! Below are some of the pictures we took wandering around Ginza(銀座) in Tokyo early morning on our way to Tsukiji Market (築地市場). It is just so cool to be in Tokyo! 

Tsukiji Market（築地市場）

This is definitely a must-go when you are in Tokyo. It is famous for its biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world, but we didn't get there early enough to see that. Besides that, it is also known for its food! Restaurants there were originally for dealers and chefs who visited the market for purchasing ingredients, but recently, those restaurants are getting a lot of attention among Japanese citizens, as well as tourists for its fresh and high-quality food, especially seafood!! There are endless rows of fresh seafood, seafood products, all kinds of street food, ramen, etc. We had some sashimi grade octopus, sashimi rice bowl (chirashizushi), tamagoyaki, tried tons of samples of different things that I can't even remember what they are, but I remember them to be delicious..... I was stuffed! Price was very reasonable and this is a place that I would definitely recommend for anyone who wants to go to Tokyo. If I ever go back to Tokyo, this is a place I must visit too.

Evangelion Store

A little geeky lol But I do enjoy this anime, and I think it would be cool to visit the store in Tokyo. I didn't get anything, on the other hand, guai lo got some souvenirs for his geeky friends back home, no judgement. The Evangelion store is located in the infamous shinjuku, meaning there are other things to do too!!!! First of all, ladies!!! Shopping!!!! It is a great place to shop, but it can be a little overwhelming! From the moment you step out of the train station, you can already see endless stores lining up. Definitely a shopping paradise! 

Shinjuku Golden Alley(新宿ゴールデン街)

We were walking around the area, and saw a lot of crazy things as you would expect in Japan! The red light district, some bizarre sex toys stores,  a 3-story building full of different anime porn....... anything you can or cannot imagine lol We bumped into this awesome alley called the golden alley, where there are over 200 tiny shanty-style bars, clubs an eateries. Each bar has a particular theme, which makes it sooooo interesting! These bars open late, around 9 - 10pm, and a lot of the bars have an "entrance fee". We didn't want to spend too much money, but we really wanted to go into some of the bars, so we picked 2 that doesn't have the entrance fee, one with a flamenco theme, and another one with the 60s theme. Because those bars are so small (around maybe 8 - 10 seats max), the owner/bartender of the bars actually interact with the customers, and they serve some complementary snack to the customers, which goes well with the alcohol.   

Our crazy 5 day Japan Trip Recap - Day 2 Highlights

Fushi Inari Taisha (伏見稻荷大社)

Woke up super early again to explore Kyoto before we head to Osaka today. It's not easy to find a nice cafe this early in the morning, but we found one close to the Inari station. After yummy coffee and breakfast, we were ready for the short hike through the orange gates! The shrine sits at the base of the mountain, and the trails go through the tunnel made by hundreds of orange gates, and there are viewpoints that you can get a nice view of Kyoto. It took us around 2 hours round trip. 
The earliest structures were built in 711, and got re-located in 816, and the main structure you see now was built in 1499. You really don't get to see things this old in the US. The whole city has so much history, and that's what makes this city so beautiful. 

Before we headed to Osaka, we went to a famous chain ramen place called Ichiran Ramen. At the time, the Hong Kong location just opened up, and people in Hong Kong were lining up crazy to try this ramen place. While we were in Kyoto, having a bowl of ramen in Ichiran without a line, and probably more authentic than in Hong Kong. I would say, I won! 

Osaka Castle

After lunch, we took the bullet train to Osaka to see the Osaka Castle. Guai lo really wants to see the Osaka castle, and that's mainly why we made such a short stop in Osaka. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks. Unfortunately, the original castle was destroyed in WWII, so the castle we saw was a restoration. A lot of the original historic structures in Japan were destroyed in WWII, and I found this very pitiful. *World Peace* There are two moats around the castle, and this is my first time seeing a real moat. It's hard to imagine those moats are what's keeping the castle safe back then. With the weapons nowadays, it doesn't really matter how many moats you have, one bomb, and it's all gone. 
The castle itself is very pretty, and we did go inside, which turned out to be a very disappointing experience. We should have done more research before we went to Japan, then we would have known that it's just a museum inside the castle. We were expecting old architecture inside the castle as well, but turned out there's elevators, and TV screens, and all kinds of modern stuff that you would not expect to see in a castle. The park around the castle was very pretty as well! We went there in early December, so it's like the transition of fall to winter, and you can still see some color, as well as bald trees. There are little snack stands in the park around the castle, and we had some takoyaki (たこ焼き) and taiyaki (鯛焼き), which are some of my favorite Japanese street food. <3 Yum!

Then, we were trying to get to Dotonbori for some good food. There's a proverb in Japanese "Dress till you drop in Kyoto, eat till you drop in Osaka" (京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ). Unfortunately, we did not make it there because we couldn't figure out how to get there. We tried to ask for directions from several people, but we just couldn't figure it out. So, we gave up (which I REGRET SO MUCH NOW), and took the bullet train to Tokyo. 

Our crazy 5 day Japan Trip Recap - Day 1 Highlights

God, I miss Japan. This was one of the craziest trips we have done, partly because we didn't plan it out very well but still wanted to see as much as we can. We flew from LA to Tokyo, and flew to Hong Kong from Tokyo. We arrived on an evening, and first thing we did was take the bullet train to Kyoto. (If we have planned the trip a little better, we would have flown to Kyoto and left from Tokyo) Anyways, then we stayed in Kyoto for 1.5 day, then took the bullet train to Osaka, and spent half day there, and then took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo. We spent 3 days in Tokyo, and took a super early flight to Hong Kong. We, on average, slept for not more than 5 hours for 6 nights in order to maximize the 5 days we had. It was absolutely crazy, but we saw so much, and it was worth it. I wish I had more time to explore more, and I will definitely go back to Japan one day. 
* Excuse my pictures, it was more than 2 years ago, and I didn't take pictures of everything we saw...... (how could I? Why? I didn't have a blog back then.... I guess....?)

After a long flight from LA to Tokyo, and the train to Kyoto, we woke up at 6am to explore Kyoto. We got some breakfast from a bakery, and got some warm drinks from the vending machines. There are vending machinese everywhere in Japan, with great varieties of drinks, warm or cold. Kyoto is definitely my favorite city in Japan (so far). It is absolutely beautiful, everything was how I imagined Japan would be. All these gorgeous temples, small streets, small houses.... I don't know how to describe it, but it was just..... very Japan!!!! 

Nishi Hongwanji (本願寺)

This is built in 1951, and it is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites. It was just a beautiful wooden structure. Before you go into the temple, you need to take off your shoes, and it was very peaceful and quiet inside the temple. Besides the different buildings, the garden was gorgeous. We went in December, so it was in between fall and winter, you can still see a little bit of fall color on the trees, and most of the leaves are falling. We went early, so  there are not a lot of people around, and we had the most amazing morning stroll. 

To-ji (東寺)

Another UNESCO world heritage site, and is located not far from Nishi Hongwanji. This is the symbol of Kyoto and originally dated from 826 but was then rebuilt in 1644. The five-story pagoda of To-ji is the tallest wooden tower in Japan, and the entrance into the pagoda is only permitted a few days per year. On the way to the next destination, we went to some tsukemono shops in the afternoon. Tsukemono is basically different pickled vegetables, and they were once made at home, but nowadays, people do not have the time, but it is still vital to Japanese food culture. They have samples for almost all the different kinds of pickles (there are more than 50 different kinds, it's crazy!), and they are all delicious! I never like pickles, because I think vegetables should be eaten fresh, but I have to say, I love those tsukemono. 

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove (嵯峨野・嵐山)

The subway system in Japan is very very extensive, and you can go almost ANYWHERE with it. We took the subway to arashiyama station and spent an afternoon there. There are a lot of little restaurants, souvenir stores, and of course some temples and the bamboo forest. We had lunch, shopped for some souvenirs, saw the infamous Togetsi-kyo Bridge, walked along the bamboo forest path, and another UNESCO world heritage site Tenryu-ji. 

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺)

Kyoto has too many awesome temples, and we couldn't make it to all of them. The last temple of the day, we were struggling between Kinkaku-ji or Ginkaku-ji, and we went the Kinkaku-ji. The whole structure is covered in gold leaf, and houses the relics of Buddha. 

At night, we went to Gion (祇園), Kyoto's most famous geisha district. It is filled with shops, restaurants and teahouses, where the geisha entertain. We walked around the area, and saw one geisha. We were super excited when we saw her, but she seemed to be in a hurry, so we didn't bother her for a picture. That pretty much concluded our day. It might not seem like we went to a lot of places, but we took our time in each place, and it takes time to go from one place to the next, so I think we did good.