Japan Trip – Day 12 Kyoto – Yasaka, Maruyama Park, Nishiki Market

I swear we didn’t mean to visit so many shrines and temples in Japan, but there were just too many of them and half of them are like, world heritage? Every time we got off a bus, we were bound to find ourselves in front of a temple. Day 12 is no exception as we stopped at Gion bus stop, at the doorstep of Yasaka Shrine.

Kyoto weather had turned rainy but thanks to our innkeeper who reminded us to take an umbrella with us. This allowed us to continue our walk to the more interesting Maruyama Park which is adjacent to Yasaka shrine. The landscape is scenic, even on a rainy day and without the cherry blossom it is famous for.

The cute duck kept posing for my camera.

I LOVE MARUYAMA PARK!

Next on our itinerary was Nishiki Market. If you don’t know what’s to eat in Kyoto, you should come to Nishiki Market. You will bound to find something that suits your tastebuds. At here, everything suited our tastebuds, from the grilled Unagi, matcha desserts, mochi to the baby octopus! For anyone staying in accommodation that allows cooking, the market will be your ultimate place to find fresh products.

All sorts of preserved vegetables. I thought Korean are the only with that much variety.

Without a doubt, Nishiki is full of people, locals and tourist alike.

Be careful of your shoes because wet, dirty floor is not uncommon. It is a ‘market’, after all.

Food in Nishiki are not cheap – a piece of grilled Unagi starts from 1000 yen and we had one baby octopus for 250 yen.

Then, we bought one more of it, then one more of it.

While there were a few stores selling fishcakes, this one gets our attention with the fishcake size and the smell. It was also the one with most costly price tag but it was well worth it. We had tried the other stores but none of them beat this!

Nishiki is linked to Teramachi and Shin Kyogoku Shopping Arcades, filled with interesting stuffs. There’s one T-shirt specialty shop selling shirts with Chinese letters like Eldest Son, Second Son, Youngest Son et cetera. The funniest pair of shirts we saw – Dog and Dog Owner, lol!