In this month, the tooth fairy came thrice, once in ah mei ah yi’s house and when no one knew what to do, grandpa came to the rescue and helped shake it out

Huaihao excelled in the Rubik’s cube, solving the scramble in 38s, but he was also on a buying spree as his past cube purchases could no longer satisfy him

we also did a few tastings and had lots of fun having sweets

but the highlight was really the trip to kyoto. huaihao prepared a list of To-pack

and before long, we were on our ANA flight to Osaka via Narita. He’s so well travelled he is at once at ease in the cabin, and now that he is older, he can help with luggage too. He got a nice surprise when ANA shared with him little gifts, he got little wooden toy plane too. Needless to say, he loved the child meal on the plane.

At narita, i got them tokyo bananas

We headed straight to arashiyama once we arrived, got our car, the drive was slightly under an hour and whilst looking for our hotel, we drove twice on the togetsukyo bridge, and was so wowed by the strawberry full moon

then we headed out for supper and had kushikatsu. The next morning, we rose early and headed to the bamboo grove, the air was really delicious and fresh and song birds were everywhere welcoming the summer morning with lovely tunes. We chanced upon playground and the huaihao and qinzhi had some fun with the swing

Then we headed towards the river and curved back upwards along the shops before heading to Tenryuji- and the Shigetsu inside for a vegetarian lunch

Needless to say, we were all SO happy to be back

There were so many nice desserts we came across previously strolling the streets and so we decided to head out to get some, we had a matcha eclair , and ice pop and a namafu and dango! then it was time to head out of the city – we drove to Ine.

The village of Ine is one of Japan’s Most Beautiful Villages. The last winter we headed out to Gokayama and Shirakawago, they were also in the league.

Without much room to build between the mountains and sea, the villagers created this village right along the waters of Ine Bay (in Kyoto Prefecture), one of UNESCO’s World’s Most Beautiful Bays, and the 230 “funaya” (boat houses) that line the bay trace their origins back to the Edo period. 

We had the opportunity to stay in one, and the beautifully renovated funaya had 2 levels of fun for the kids

Dinner was at a beautiful restaurant by the bay and there were lots of fresh catch . Huaihao enjoyed fish so much for the first time. Then we headed back for our cypress bath in the funaya! It was so good you could get whiffs of the elegant cypress as you enjoyed the bath. In Japan, cypress is precious wood used to construct temples.

What was eye opening this time at Ine, was the presence of swooping seagulls and beautiful black kites who glide and soar and come at food. One got so close it skipped just past Huaihao’s shoulders and scratched Qinzhi’s hand.

The next morning, we drove to Amanohashidate, one of the top three scenic spots in Japan.

For the record, Japan’s “Three Scenic Views” are comprised of Matsushima in Miyagi, Miyajima in Hiroshima, and Amanohashidate (here in Miyazu, Kyoto).

And Amanohashidate is an iconic land bridge that straddles the Aso inland sea and Miyazu Bay which connects to the Sea of Japan. The land bridge itself has thousands of pine trees of all different varieties with beaches on both sides spanning 3.6K. From one of the scenic overlooks, you can get a unique perspective of the scene by looking upside-down between your legs. The sea and bay reflect the sky and the pine forest turns into a winding green dragon crossing the heavens. 

After lunch of more fresh catch, we took a ferry to the other side, or the Kasamatsu Area (far side of Amanohashidate land bridge). The ferry was amazing because the seagulls and black kites were flying right above us to get the crackers passengers fed them,

We did not visit any temples at this side of Amanohashidate but took a chairlift up the Kasamatsu Park, to get an overview of this area. The kids had some fun bending down and looking out at the viewpoint then we took the chairlift down and strolled back towards the land bridge. In the midst, taking a stop to feed more seagulls and black kites, while taking note of some spectacular pine trees

The stroll was an easy one and we walked back to the Monju side and treated ourselves to more japanese sweets!

Before long it was dinner time, we did not have the foresight of reserving for dinner, and a lot of places could not take in more reservations. We walked to a few opened restaurants but all of them were full. So we had to drive out to Miyazu and dined at one of the restaurants in a shopping mall.

The next morning we headed back to Kyoto via Miyama, a quaint village of thatched houses. Kayabuki no Sato is the most visited attraction in Miyama. Almost the whole village is composed of old thatched houses and is carefully maintained as a cultural heritage site. But the kids did not want to get down, so we only drove past! So we only checked out the shops and had ice cream before I did my usual round of checking out farmer’s markets!

It’s unbelievable that produce is so affordable in japan, a cauliflower or broccoli costed maybe just under $2. And a bag of potatoes would be a dollar to two. It felt like people ate well and really close to nature.

Before we knew it, we were in kyoto, I managed to get a reservation at a ryokan in kyoto and we could do the onsen.

Dinner was spectacular at Warajiya, which served only unagi porridge and soup, something more homey and comforting. And it was rainy that evening in kyoto so all was good.

The next day was spent wondering around town but first heading to Kiyomzudera temple then shopping our way pass Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka towards Gion.

Huaihao had a first experience drawing a lot, and he got an auspicious one!

Then we strolled the winding narrow streets of Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka towards Gion. There was so much to explore, and to eat here. We popped into almost every sweet shop and had so much fun seeing how matcha was reinvented into flavours with contemporary flair.

We actually found our way at Okutan Kiyomizudera, an institution serving tofu course. And we had to, just had to pop in for lunch even if we were not at all hungry.

And a short walk after and we were soon at Yasaka shrine and Gion

We headed in , paid our respects and came out of the Shrine into the 1km-long Hanamikoji Street, Gion’s most famous street, lined with machiya (traditional townhouses) which have been converted into tea houses and high-end restaurants. A notice here reminded that photography is not allowed.

Even if it felt like we ate a lot, we still had kakigori when we took a little break

Then dinner time came. We headed for Nanzenji Junsei and had another tofu course. The nanzenji junsei restaurant is set in this manicured zen garden which was so beautiful it felt like there was so much to derive in every corner.

And before we knew it, we were in the last 2 days of our trip.

The first thing we did in the morning was to head out to early lunch at an old soba restaurant- Honke Owariya which supplied to the Imperial family before strolling to Nishiki market, there was even soba wasabi mochi!

We headed to Nishiki market for a stroll but before long we felt like its time for dessert! And- at Saryou Suisen, this Kyoto based traditional teahouse, cafe and shop specializing in Japanese matcha desserts serves really high-quality desserts. They claim to use only the freshest matcha directly harvested from Kyoto surroundings. So we had wasabi mochi and a freshly made hot version with tea, while the kids had cold sweets.. !

Then we shopped the kawaramachi area and had a very good unagi rice for early dinner nearby at Kyo Unawa

And Huaihao was so adamant to find his rubiks cube he really found some, even if they were not to his liking. In the afternoon, he found some at Tokyu Hands, and when he did the unscrambling, fellow customers were so wowed. Then he insisted we had to take him to shopping centres, which we did, but he couldnt find anything,

even when the shops were closing, he just walked into a mall and found a toy store-and in it, rubiks cubes

He is showing me what could be achieved if i had a clear focus in my mind, if a child could do it, so could I

And I just marvelled at this teaching he delivered. Of all places in kyoto, he found the things he wanted. He just didn’t buy them because they were not good enough for him

The last day in Kyoto, we checked out early nad drove to Kurama, and did the kurama kibune hike, for Qinzhi and Huaihao, this was to get to the nagashi somen or flowing noodles that were characteristic of summer.

We were all actually taught a lesson each by Mt Kurama. Huaihao had a leech on his little finger at the start of the hike -a leech is quite difficult to let go of once it attaches to you, so he had a scare. At another location, Qinzhi slipped and hurt her bum and we had to make a stop.

But all was good, we had a beautiful yuba rice lunch once we got to kibune and then drove to kansai and headed to Rinku premium outlet for last minute shopping before heading to the airport for our flight back.

And before we knew it we were packing for our trip to Taiwan with grandpa and popo ah yi! But first, a trip to Gengyan jiujiu’s house and he cooked us a Tachiuo donabe and we had a feast of durians! Huaihao took the chance to show off his cubing skills of course!