It was our last day in Japan. Our original plan was to go to Kobe and try Kobe beef, lots of tiny, delicate desserts and enjoy spa at Arima Onsen. But somehow we both agreed to give Kyoto another shot.
We decided to visit a Bamboo Forest, and it was well worth the journey. This is just one of the views we would come across.
We took a train from the train station near our hotel in Kitahama then we had to transfer once to get on Kyoto line. As you may already know, train lines in Japan can be very confusing but thanks to our virtual guide Google helped us a lot :)
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On the way to Arashiyama station, we saw snow, in fact lots of snow falling from the sky through the windows in train. We were getting excited like children. As if we were on our way to school excursion. The journey was quite far but not boring at all.
Finally when we arrived in Arashiyama station, walked out of the station, there is was - a beautiful little town completely covered in snow. It was like a winter wonderland.
We decided to go to Tenryuji temple first then look for the bamboo forest which was recommended by our instagram friend.
Walking from station to Tenryuji temple was another beautiful experience. We crossed a little bridge over a river and the views of the mountains in the distance were amazing.
The walk from the train station to the forest is around 30 minutes. Along the way there are many shops and sites to see, including shops selling famous Matcha biscuits with white chocolate inside, souvenir shops and restaurants. It was snowing really heavy and our toes needed to thaw out and also we were getting very hungry, so we decided to thaw out in this random restaurant, Saga Tofu Ine. At first we didn't even know what kind of foods they were selling but it turned out, it was specialised in Yuba which is tofu skin. Inside the restaurant was warm and the view outside was very picturesque. We ordered a set menu which let us try bits of everything. We have never been huge fans of tofu, but the food was excellent and I'd certainly eat there again.
After the meal we ventured out into the snow and continued our journey to the forrest. The small village is really beautiful with quaint shops, temples and traditional Japanese houses.
We finally made it to the bamboo forrest and it was really worth the frozen toes and fingers. The forrest is very beautiful and mystical. There is a small walking track through the forrest that is a easy walk with no steep hills or climbs.
Here is our map below show the route we took.
Here is a few extra pictures we took.
Train tracks through the bamboo.
Temple inside the forest.
Snowy mountains on the way back to the train station.
Snow covered restaurants.
Thanks you for reading our blog, hope you enjoyed! ;-)