if you're coming to Japan you can't miss out on visiting Kyoto a city that is known
to be a melting pot of Japanese culture from thousands of temples and shrines incredible
natural beauty and its historic geisha culture and tea culture we only have 2 days
here so we'll show you all the top things you should do while you're here in Kyoto
[Music] so the first thing on our list is the Hozugawa River boat ride which is in
the Arashiyama area we recommend coming early so you don't have to line up too long we're
here at 9:00am when they just open so we're going to be hopping on a boat soon and how
much are the tickets the tickets are 4500 Yen each which is roughly under like $40 USD
but it is a 2hour long boat ride and it goes all the way down the Hozugawa River
towards the bamboo forest so we will get wet maybe maybe
you can fit like
24 people including the the boatmen I think close to 27 yeah there are 3 boatmen
let's go yeah
here we go
barbecue it's cute and delicious the front two rowers they're doing all the
hard work and then the one in the back is controlling the directions and telling us
how delicious all the birds are so if you're even more adventurous you can do the rafting
instead of the boat tour they're just practicing back there because this is
the starting point for the more exciting part of the river hold on here we go
are you hungry you want anything yeah Dango maybe Dango and if you're hungry
you don't have to worry because there is floating market floating 7eleven floating
Lawson
do you want odango no you go ahead
diet diet
okay this look amazing I got grilled squid and three odango all for 1,000 Yen
yeah it's just grilled with some Japanese soy sauce on
it that is delicious
after a short 10 minute hike from where we got off the boat we are now at one
of the most popular attractions here in Kyoto Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
there are a lot of people here and I thought we came here early already no I don't think you
can ever be early enough yeah I think it's also cuz it's free to enter you don't pay an
admission and it's just a beautiful walk you can go back all the way to the river area as
well it feels very romantic when you're walking through this path and when the
wind blows and you hear the bamboo sing yeah I think it's so beautiful it's worth coming to visit
we are back in the city and we are now at Nishiki Market also known as Kyoto kitchen
it is a great place if you're looking to grab some fresh sushi some traditional
Japanese snacks and if you wanted to buy some souvenirs to take home from Kyoto
what you got there this is too cute to pass this is a a tiny octopus and inside is a quail
egg oh I was wondering why it's so round yeah I think you have to eat the whole thing
that was actually really yummy it mostly tastes like quail egg outside is a little bit sweet
there are so many options here it's overwhelming oh my goodness yeah that
looks good Gyoza of Thunder God it has the Michelin guide as well should we
get it [Music] yeah fresh off the pan and he said it tastes better without sauce so let's
just try it as it let's go over here I can't get it to focus I have to cover your
face you got it [Laughter]
cheers that's delicious it's so juicy he's right you don't need sauce for
this wow that's the best gyoza I've had here I love this market
so we now made it to
Gion District which is a famous area for wooden houses tea houses and if you are lucky you may
even spot a Geisha walking down these streets and if you don't know what a geisha is they are
traditional Japanese entertainers skilled in dance music and even conversation and there
aren't that many geishas left in Japan so you got to be really lucky to see one
so after so much exploring and walking around Kyoto we
are now lined up here at Tsujiri Tea House to try some matcha desserts
wow I love good matcha
wow yours looks a lot
ice cream um vanilla ice cream hojicha jelly wow and I don't know matcha jelly it's fully loaded
it's so yummy nothing is overly sweet so it goes really well together
so your trip to Kyoto won't be complete without coming to the Fushimi Inari Shrine it is famous
for the tunnel of red torii gates that lead up to Mount Inari and to get here was pretty
easy as well we started at Kyoto Station and we hopped on the Nara line for two stations
to Inari station and the shrine entrance is just outside the train Inari like the food
like the tofu skin with the rice it's funny you mention that because this shrine um is
dedicated to the Shinto God called Inari who is the god of rice and his messengers are foxes and
that's why you'll see foxes everywhere kind of around the shine I saw a few just at the entrance already
and the fox's favorite food is fried tofu is that how they came up with maybe Inari yeah
the fried tofu skin with the rice inside Inari was one of my favorites when I was a kid
this place is beautiful isn't it with all the contrast of the colors the bright
red colors make it such a photogenic place but one thing I noticed about anywhere
in Kyoto is that there are a lot of people and no matter how early we try to get up to go to
a place it's always busy so our tip is just to go at your own pace everywhere is going to be
packed but you'll always find you know a spot to enjoy things and don't be put off when it's
like too many people because I think it's this is just a very beautiful and um a bit touristy place
you cannot come to Japan and not come to Kyoto but if you're looking for something more quiet
than where we were in Takayama and Shirakawa-go that was more like countryside quiet and also beautiful
you see all the writing behind the torii gates yeah they carved into the wood so all the
torii gates like a thousand of them are donated by individuals or companies and these huge ones
guess how much the donation is $10,000 oh I don't know how much that would be in Yen 1 million Yen
I think at least 1 million Yen for one gate for the big ones yeah okay let me check real quick
hold on hey I was close $7,000 USD then that's actually not too bad to have a huge torii gate with
your name or your company on there should we get one no they're so beautiful yeah they kind of get smaller
and smaller and like tighter like the gap between them get less and less as we walk up
as you walk down from the torii gates you're going to walk by this place on the left
side and what they serve is amazake I think it's called amazake it's a traditional sweet
non-alcoholic drink made from fermented rice you can smell it as you pass through her tiny house
and when you get here you just have to go "sumimasen" and then she'll come out and greet you let's sit down
ginger in here and then mix and then drink this spicy spicy and then this is tea oh
okay wow this is so cute I didn't know you mixed ginger into it I like it even more
would you like the cold one we can swap after you try the hot one first I want to taste
it without the ginger first it doesn't smell much it almost the texture is like rice porridge like
congee
that's very comforting
probably very nice during winter it's sweet and thick and yeah
it's like a winter drink but I think the ginger is going to make this really
yummy it's better it's perfect with the ginger that's delicious it not only is delicious but it
has lots of health benefits as well because it's fermented so it's good for your gut health it also
has like antioxidants has B vitamins from the rice like there's a lot of good stuff with this amazake
that's so good this is so good even the texture the consistency is so yummy I don't
know how to describe the taste sweet cold congee that's what it tastes like that doesn't sound
good no that doesn't sound good but a good version
so the final place on our list is the Kiyomizu
Dera Temple which is known as the pure water temple because there is a waterfall that's kind
of flows right next to it it's quite high up to get to this place you have to hike we hiked
about 30 minutes through the street that is so crowded there were thousands of tourist we thought
this is the perfect place to end our day and end our list because as you walk all the way
up this temple you get a beautiful view of Kyoto and right now it is getting close to sunset
so maybe we're lucky we're going to see the sunset from the wooden terrace up top
so we changed our minds instead of going to the into the temple where you have to pay 400 Yen
per person because it looks super crowded yeah we found this spot where we can see the Kyoto Tower
and pretty much the whole city from here it's kind of neat that you can walk all
the way up here and enjoy the view and don't necessarily have to go into the temple but
it is a UNESCO heritage site since 1994 so if you are interested in that of course go enjoy
uh the view from inside I do have some final thoughts about Kyoto what I really like about
the city is that it is very beautiful and a lot of the attractions aren't actually that
far away from each other it doesn't take a long time to get to places but the amount of people can
be overwhelming I think for us Kyoto is even more crowded than Tokyo we have a lot on
our list so you can pick and choose which ones you want to visit thank you again for
watching and as always have a wonderflo day we'll see you in the next one
bye-bye