Japan Day 1: The day we hop into sushi-land,

Hello there,

I'm back for an update for my Japan trip! Shall hop onto Day zero and one now! :)

Oh, before I proceed, just for memory sake. I dyed my hair to ombre red one day before my trip! It was an online lucky draw contest with Fayth and Black Hair Salon! Super thankful to be one of the 3 selected winners! Woots! Totally free for the colour that I've been wanting to try!

Day 0: Overnight Flight

I used to apply makeup when before left home for a flight because... Which girl doesn't want to look good once you step out of your comfort zone? However, during the recent years, I've learnt that it is best not to apply any makeup when you're travelling via plane because the air up there would be super dry and erm, dirty which will cause a breakout / acne to appear. So I'll always bring my specs along to "cover up" my very bad dark circles.

I would usually wear my makeup only after I reach my accommodation. I find it a hassle to hand carry my makeup and skincare pouches up with me to the flight because, why bring along when you can put them in your luggage?

One thing that I always look forward to during my flight is their in-flight meals! It takes about 7 hours to travel from Singapore to Japan. Imagine if you have nothing to eat during this 7 hours of flight...

In-flight meals are also a surprise for me as I have no idea what my food would be. I'll always make a special request for my meals because I am allergic to seafood. There was a time when my in-flight meals were the same for HKG & BKK flight so I was kinda sian upon opening the aluminium foil. Thankfully, my meal was different during this trip! Even the entertainment on movie section was different too! :)

Breakfast #1

Breakfast #2

Always pack pills up to the flight because you never know when you need them. My bag would always have a strip of flu tablets in pink, gastric and diarrhea pills. No idea why but my gastric would always act up during my flight.

Day 1: Tokyo > Kyoto

We landed in Japan, Narita International Airport at about 10am. Collected our JR Passes at a station (I can't rlly rmb where)

Reached Kyoto Station

 Took the subway from Kyoto station to Gojo station. Our apt was located just 2 minutes walk away from the station. This is really very convenient because you wouldn't want to stay far away from the station when you're travelling. Convenience will always come first!

Settled down and put on my makeup before we started on our #zachleentravelogue in Kyoto! We passed by this lake and the view was superb! The sun was rlly scorching hot but the weather was good! The view made it up to it! :)

Our first stop in Kyoto was Kiyomizu-dera Temple. We headed there by foot. We walked past one station (as seen in the 2nd image of this entry) but we didn't take their subway.

We purchased two tickets to take a look at the temple. We even paid to pray to draw lots. I got a positive lot. Dear God, please make my prayers come true!

We visited Jishu shrine which wasn't far away from our first destination. The reason why we inserted this into our itinerary was because of the Love Stones at Jishu Shrine! Researched upon this myth, though not sure about how true it is, individuals who are seeking for true love can try walking from Stone A to Stone B that are 18 meters apart with your eyes closed. If you were to succeed walking to Stone B, you'll find your true love.

Stone A

Stone B

Dry blood, because of the burden eczema

Headed to Gion District in the evening hoping that we'd meet Geisha. But luck wasn't on our side on our first night in Kyoto. Walked around to check out what's there to eat. Checked out the menu outside each restaurant before deciding to enter one called Gion Kanto. Actually I'm not sure if that's the name of the restaurant but since it's written on the cloth at the entrance, I shall assume it is?

I have no idea what we ordered because I didn't take any photos of their menu. If my memory didn't fail me, I think the first image as shown below is okonomiyaki! It's a Japanese pancake that comes with different ingredients, depending on what you have chosen from the menu.

We also ordered yakisoba, Japanese fried noodle, usually cooked with sliced pork and vegetables. I can't rmb which dish I preferred more but one thing that I can say is, both Mr. Z and I have many praises for these dishes.

This was also the first restaurant we entered in Japan so it left a deep impression in me for quite some time though I had better okinomiyaki in Osaka.

Then guess what! We went by foot from Gion District back to our apt!! It was a gruelling 30-45mins walk and I think I was on a high tide mode that time. Thankfully my bladder could hold my liquid all the way till we reached back home!

That's all for our first day in Japan, Kyoto! Goodbye!