Mysterious concoctions

Tonight we decided to explore a local bar with a happy hour. It's not just any bar. It's the sort of standing-up bar that the locals visit for a beer and snack at the end of the day.

It is easiest enough to order a beer (interestingly even though the entire menu is in Japanese, the word "beer" is written in Roman characters so we can always understand it). But we decided let's not play it safe tonight and we had spied this poster on the wall.

We have no idea what we were drinking, but it was delicious. Rich thinks it is the Japanese equivalent of sangria! Even better though, it was happy hour and so all of our drinks were half price even the random ones on the poster.  Score. 

We left our little bar and headed to a "Shaba-Suki" restaurant that Clare had read about. This is a bit like a "Chinese fondue", with "Shaba-Shaba" being where you cook in hot water and "Suki" being a delicious and sweet soy based liquid. We were each given 3 dipping sauces in front of us. The crushed sesame sauce was delicious but we weren't totally convinced by the raw egg that we cracked ourselves. 

Our obliging little waiter patiently explained to us exactly what to do to enjoy the dish and loaded up the water full of some of the delicious vegetables he had brought us.

Although we tried to follow his instructions we weren't entirely sure what to do when he left us to our own devices, but we soon got into the swing of things!

We decided to treat ourselves to the all you can eat wagu beef! It was very thinly sliced and so tender.

We had a little bell to ring when we wanted more meat. Clare wanted to make sure we got good value for our "all you can eat" price, so we kept ringing for more meat until the waiting staffs' expressions became sufficiently surprised that we were still going. From then on Clare was content that we had got our value and let Rich rest!

Of course, by rest I really only mean change on to the desert course. What? We're on holiday!

Clare attempted to order herself a desert.

"What is this?" She asked.

"Ice cream." Said our waiter.

"Chocolate?" She enquired, pointing at the brown picture.

"Bean curd." Said our waiter, sensing her disappointment. 

"What about the sundae?" She asked.

"Ice cream sundae." He confirmed, with a big smile. 

Clare's eyes light up. "Chocolate ice cream?"

Oh no, he smiled, shaking his head again. "Bean curd sundae", he enthused.

Crest fallen, Clare surrenders to the sake.

Not to be deterred we circle back round and make another attempt at the desert menu. The Beancurd and tofu surprise arrives. Once again the real surprise is how tasty it is!

It also came with a very small jug of sweet sauce, which Clare liked as (1) it was very sweet and (2) it was very small so made her feel like a giant!

After that it was about time to roll into bed, barely able to move under the weight of beef, Beancurd and tofu. The food here isn't bad at all! A fitting way to end a delicious stay in Kyoto as sadly it was our last night here before we head back north again.

Saga holidays

Hello from Saga Arashiyama. 

Although it's called Saga, it's not just for old people who like coach tour holidays and smell of wee. It's actually got a temple, a bamboo forest and kick ass monkeys.

First, Rich had a traditional Japanese breakfast of eggs benedict with crab cakes to fuel him for the day... By comparison Clare had a small dainty meal that was identical to Rich's.

We continued to use our JR Pass - I think Clare feels that, because we have it, we should use it every day.  On arrival at Saga Arashiyama we headed straight for the Iwatayama Monkey Park - it was slightly warm to say the least and an uphill trek.  Much more humid today. Luckily monkeys aren't attracted by sweat, only peanuts, otherwise Clare would have been surrounded.

There are lots of strict warnings about not stoping to take photos and not looking the monkeys in the eyes, until you get to the viewing area.

It might look like the monkey is in a cage. In fact it is the humans who are! No this is not some attempt at a clever metaphor. These monkeys really do come and go as they please and are totally wild, so if you want to feed them you have to do so from inside a cage - as they can get a bit overexcited when there is food about. The big ones in particular would always pick on the little monkeys and take their food.

There were even some cute little babies around four months old.

And for only Y100 you can feed them peanuts or apple pieces.

We of course obliged, like the tourists we are, and fed the greedy little blighters!

Once at the top, there were plenty of monkeys to see without the need of a cage - and the views were great.

Luckily a kind park guide took these excellent photos for us.

We headed back down the hill and went to visit the Tenryuji Temple, which is a Buddhist Temple and a UN World Heritage Site. First of all we visited the Temple itself. We wondered why visiting the Temple was so much cheaper than the Gardens - well it turns out there wasn't much to Temple and you could see it all from the Gardens anyway.

Before visiting the zen Gardens we thought a quick stop for lunch was in order. More pointing at pictures and smiling to place our orders. We weren't quite sure what it was we were eating, but it seemed to be something like "Beancurd and tofu 7 ways" including these little wobbly Beancurd lollipops! 

We would never normally really enjoy these ingredients but lunch was delicious!(Addition: Rich loved lunch because Clare  gave him bits of her food - this is the first and hopefully last time this will happen.  Give Clare a piece of beef jerky over a beacurd lollipop any day.)   

Lunch demolished we headed into the gardens. Rich took lots of photos. Clare hid in the shade and squeaked every time she had to run through the bright sun. Probably the hottest day yet.

Gardens. Tick.

Next - the Arashiyama bamboo forest. 

Rich took photos. 

Clare took photos of Rich. 

Japanese people conducted repeated takes of what seemed to be full on fashion shoots.

The bamboo itself was quite impressive but as far as we could tell it was just a small forest planted for tourists to walk a few hundred metres through. As it's the weekend there are lots of Japanese here as well as foreigner tourists.

Fortunately the little high street here has lots of little gift shops and restaurants. So, in return for putting up with Rich taking lots of photos, he had to buy Clare a chocolate ice cream as compensation. Ice cream number 6 of the holiday... Then off back to the hotel - obviously by using our JR pass.

Himeji Castle

Today we are off to Himeji Castle on the Shinkansen (bullet train) again.

More importantly Clare would like everyone to note how colourful and lovely her outfit is! And how she ate a piece of bread as big as her head for breakfast.

Rich is sad because his outfit isn't anywhere near as colourful.  To cheer him up Clare bought him a snack with a picture of herself on it.

This is Rich looking excited after I promised him food.

Once we arrived we went off and borrowed some bikes from a rental shop - unbeknownst to us our Japanese railway ticket included free bike rentals too. What a great idea! If Sadiq Kahn is reading this...

Off we went exploring - we looped around the castle and headed in to the Koyen Gardens, which were very nice.  Lots of bridges, ponds, posh looking trees and a nice restaurant. Our kind of garden.

Rich is a little bit bored of noddles and so had steak frites last night.  However at lunch while Clare chowed down on rice, eel and noodles, Rich got a fancy box of tempura vegetables with his eel and rice. We have decided we quite like eel, it is really just like a strong fish with no annoying little bones!

Rich was pleased and declared it "delicioozo" - the highest of Honour a Hakes can bestow on food.

After lunch, we had a potter around the pretty little garden. There were lots of well stocked ponds and waterfalls - by far the best park we've been to.

Then we went to explore the main event. Himeji castle was built a long long time ago over 6 floors.  

It was built to protect it occupants and had lots of solid defences that Clare told Rich about. Rich explained he could breach all of them and wasn't impressed. The one defence that may have stopped him were the doorways...

Inside the castle's keep it was nice and shady. Clare thought about moving in. Very spacious.

Views weren't bad either.

Then off home to Kyoto again on the bullet train.  Clare made fast car noises most of the way back.

In the evening we went out to find a Japanese restaurant near our hotel.

But first off a quick stop for a refreshing fish bowl of punch!

We found the restaurant but I don't know who was more surprised, us or the proprietors, as despite the hotel's publicity material telling us all about this place in English it was a very Japanese restaurant. The waitress spoke no English at all and you are often turned away from restaurants like this as they do not want to offend you with their inability to talk to you. There were not even any pictures on the menu for us to do our usual trick of pointing an smiling. The chef was summoned from the kitchen and he had the clever idea of pointing to which part of the body each but of meat came from!

As you can see we were sat right next to the kitchen and enjoyed an outrageously cheap and very delicious meal of meat skewers (mainly chicken) cooked right before our eyes using a myriad of special flavourings. I think we counted 9 flavourings and spices going onto one skewer alone!