Woohoo. It's going to be a "one layer" day today.
We had planned to get a bus into town and explore the Nishiki Market and the Gion area.
Like all good plans, it was a plan not a commandment.
What follow are pics of the day.
Entrance to Nishiki Market
This is the start of a very long and diverse market.
I could eat from this place alone for the rest of my life
and never get bored or be unhealthy
Matcha tea mill
This guy sells fish and teaches people how to say "O"
These ladies make and sell baby octopus with a quail egg,
and doused in teriyaki sauce, on a stick, served cold.
They do love their food and drink cold, if they can get away with it.
Me, showing off my ¥250 purchase
Me, enjoying said purchase
SUPERMILK
That's an obvious name for a CD and DVD shop
So much could be said about this ............ but will remain unsaid
My new girlfriend, Foo Woz Hia, at an Indian restaurant in downtown Kyoto
There's a story to tell about this lunch, and I do hope my friend Duncan reads this.
First of all, any of you that know me would ask -
"Why would you go to an Indian restaurant in Japan?"
I would say "Why not? I eat Italian food in Australia!"
If that doesn't satisfy as a plausible answer then I would blame my girlfriend, Foo.
She doesn't like Japanese food.
Anyway, they had a lunchtime special which seemed quite good with a choice of chicken or shrimp as the protein.
I choose the chicken and the gf choose shrimp.
It all came with a whole bunch of the expected accompaniments and it was all quite nice.
The point I need to make here, and mainly for Duncan's sake, is that there was a distinct lack of Butter Chicken on the menu, but I am pleased to say that the shrimp dish, although not called anything with the word "butter" in it, tasted almost exactly the same as the revered dish we all know and love - Butter Chicken!
The naan is better where we come from, there wasn't a lentil to be seen nor was the rice basmati. Aside from that it was not a bad feed. Foo liked it.
Finally, and certainly worthy of a mention, no beer-ru nor nihonshu were consumed.
Foo chose mango lassi, and I followed her lead.
We finished off the meal with smoothest bowl of mango flavoured yoghurt
that has ever graced my palate.
Tiz, by the Kamo River on the way to Gion
This is the entrance way to the Gion area from Shijo Dori
The following pictures are all taken in the small Gion area borderd by
Shijo Dori, Higashi Oji Dori, Yasaka Dori and the Kamo River
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Real Geishas
Not Real Geishas
I could not pass up this opportunity to throw in a reference
to one of the best album names and cover,
in my opinion, of all time. I like the irreverence of the pic as well.
The music was period appropriate and is still listenable today, depending on mood.
Double headed dahlias!
Why have included this shot?
'Cos they're beautiful, and rare!
"Hey geijin, look this way!"
This guy, on the left, was looking at the menu! How clueless.
The way you tell if a place is worth going into is the queue.
Does it have one? Yes? Then get on the end of it 'cos the food inside will be good.
Two Kyoto Gion girls on the way home from school
One was telling the other how much she was looking forward to miso ramen.
I found it so cute.
Teenagers, everywhere in the world, want to eat after a "hard" day of learning!
Fresh cedar panels.
They smelt as good as they looked
Stunning orchids
They were the size of my hand
ZEN
Of course
***************************************************
At the end of the day we sat here in warm comfort wondering what we were going to do for dinner.
We had 3/4 of a bottle of nihonshu left and not a big appetite. We agreed we would head down to the local super market and get some snacky things to eat with our spirit.
this is what we bought for under ¥1100 ($12)
From top left - little (size of a thick thumb) vegetable fritters, pork buns with a ripping hot mustard satchel, little fried chicken balls (the little browns balls, obviously), a salad with its own very tasty dressing, two creme caramels, and finally the green triangular "thing" .
When we bought all of this stuff we weren't too sure what any of it was or was going to taste like, with any certainty. Least of all this "triangle" thing. We had seen it at train stations quite a bit and it seemed popular amongst our local fellow travellers.
I can now report that it's like a DIY large triangular cooked tuna sushi roll.
Open the packaging, unwrap the nori seaweed from its envelope, which helps it stay dry and crisp, wrap it around the rice triangle and hoe in!
It was an excellent dinner made all the more enjoyable by the uncertainty of what the next course was going to taste like, and the odd glass of nihonshu.
The creme caramel sits in the fridge, but I'm sure it will be delicious.
So, on that note, we wish you all a good night from Kyoto and the next time you hear from us will be from Osaka.
Sayonara
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