Kyoto: Arashiyama
This is the eleventh recap for LOHOjapan, my 3 week trip to Japan with my boyfriend. After feeding deers in peaceful Nara, we head off to explore Arashiyama.
Arahiyama is a district on the outskirts of Kyoto. It is famous for its bamboo forest and monkey mountain – exactly the 2 things on our itinerary.
Gion
Lunch: Ippudo
Ippudo is another large ramen chain in Japan. Ramen are Japanese “pulled noodles”. Think of it as a bowl of instant noodles but way better.
Unlike Ichiran, you do not order through a vending machine. Instead, you order through your server. They have basically 3 ramens for you to choose from: Shiromaru classic, akamaru modern and the ippudo karaka.
Akamaru modern ($12 USD)
The akamaru modern is a special blend of miso paste and oil broth. They still use a tonkatsu base for the soup, but they use thick noodles for a more springy and chewy texture.
We add on some gyoza to make it a combo.
Shiromaru classic ($8)
The shiromaru classic is Ippudo’s original tonkatsu ramen. The tonkatsu broth cooks for 18+ hours and is left to “mature” for another 24 hours. They serve it with Hakata-style thin noodles and char siu.
Arashiyama
From Gion, it takes 1.5 hours to transit to Arashiyama.
Things to do: Monkey park
My boyfriend is very excited to see some Japanese monkeys. We walk to the entrance of Monkey Park because it is quite close to the train station (just a 10 minute walk or so). Once you arrive at the entrance, you have to pay $5 per person to enter.
The park closes at 4:30 pm and it takes 20 minutes to get there from the entrance. I would not consider it a hike, but a steep trail is a good description. Definitely don’t come in high heels and a skirt.
Once you get to the top, you will see monkeys scattered everywhere. In total, there are around 170 Japanese macaque monkeys in this park and they are all wild and free. You will see staff situated around the park, monitoring your interaction with the monkeys.
There are several rules when interacting with these monkeys:
- Do not feed the monkeys
- Don’t touch the monkeys
- Do not stare at the monkeys in the eye
- Don’t point your camera/smart phone directly towards them
- Do not crouch down
- Keep more than 2 meter distance from monkeys at all time
The first two make sense, but the rest are very intimidating. Especially the one where you cannot look at them in their eyes. Apparently, they will fight you. We try our best to follow these rules but we do end up crouching down (2m away though!) to take photos with them.
There is a building at the top of the mountain where you can view the monkeys up close through windows that are protected with wires. These wires allow the monkeys to climb up and down the wall of the building and you can feed them through the little gaps.
If you are bored of looking at monkeys, the view of Arashiyama below is quite spectacular as well. For $5, it is a fun experience.
Things to do: Arashiyama bamboo forest
Lol ok so I am actually quite sad because for some reason, my boyfriend’s phone started malfunctioning and all the pictures we took at the bamboo forest became just black squares.
Arashiyama’s bamboo forest/bamboo grove is a natural forest with several pathways for you to walk and enjoy. It is very beautiful and serene. The bamboos stretch high up into the sky and gives a pale green lighting into the paths.
It can be busy because of tourists, but if you come on a less busy day, it is a beautiful back drop to take photos while wearing a yukata or kimono.
Gion
After visiting the bamboo grove, we head back to Gion because we have plans to eat dinner with our friend. We take a local bus that takes us back to Gion in 1 hour.
Dinner: Yamachan
Our friend takes us to Yamachan, a restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken wings. These famous chicken wings are seasoned with lots of pepper and a spicy kick. They are originally from Nagoya and are not super deep-fried (no thick batter).
1 Serving has 5 chicken wings and cost $4.80 USD. We order about 20 servings lol.
Some other things we tried:
- Dressed cucumbers and steamed chicken ($4)
- Yamachan special salad ($7)
- Takoyaki ($4)
- Deep fried gyoza pot stickers in Japanese style broth ($4)
- Croquettes ($4)
- Chiki ch iki nanban (lol basically just popcorn chicken $6)
- Mini curry bread ($4)
For the most part, items in this restaurant are cheap and we order a bunch of random things. You can view the exact English menu we looked at on their website.
Things to do: Chill and drink by the river
One thing I have been wanting to do but we never had time to actually do is to just sit by the river and relax. We pass by the river every day and every night but we are always too tired to do it.
I originally hoped we could relax and watch the sunset at the river, but it is dark already. We head to the river anyways with some alcohol from 711 and sit down on the slope and chat.
There are a lot of young people chilling there and sometimes there is live music.
Final thoughts
Like Nara, Arashiyama felt like a peaceful little town in the countryside. There is a lot more nature, fresh air and open water and trees. I really enjoy these aspects of Kyoto.
The monkey forest turned out to be a lot of fun even though I hated the little hike up to it. My excuse is that I am very unfit.
I am very disappointed the photos from the bamboo grove didn’t work out. We tried to walk all the way back to re-take the photos but the sun was setting and we got lost (lol). That part was very disappointing. BUT we make up for it in my next travel post 😏
Stay tuned for my next post and follow along with the other recaps!
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Sincerely, Loewe
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