I had shortlisted a few Kyoto photographers before my trip and finally decided on one just a few days before the scheduled shoot.
However, I could not make up my mind about the kimoto rental. Initially, I wanted a shop with make-up services but it seemed very few shops offered them so in the end, I decided to go with a shop that offered kimonos I fancied. As it is, it was not easy to even decide on the shop as there were quite a few if you dig deep into it but most kimonos did not look pretty to me!
I finally decided on Okamoto Kimono Rental and booked a 9.30am appointment at 11.45pm just the night before the shoot!
Kimono rented at 11.45pm at Okamoto 4980 yen for ah ma and me.
We arrived at 9.45am in a cab from our hotel at the Main Shop near Kiyomizu, about 15 minutes' drive.
The staff ticked my name off and led us to the 2980 yen kimono section. I told the staff that I would look through all the kimonos, including the ones that were priced at 3980 yen and 4980 yen, before making a decision, and we started choosing.
I noticed that the cheaper kimonos were plainer and duller in colour and found a few pleasant-looking ones at the 4980 yen section.
My mother also found what she liked at the same section.
Most first-timers would be happy with any design and would opt for the cheaper options I reckon but I wanted to make sure that we were happy with our choice.
Unfortunately, the children's selection was very limited. Baby said she was given 4 options to choose from and she had to pick the best out of the worst.
We met up with the photographer in a McDonald's at Gion and cabbed to Nanzenin Temple after I briefed him that we preferred to have autumn foliage in our pictures.
I found Boon Cheng on Airbnb website. He was very approachable and friendly. It was a fuss-free photo-shoot at the temple and we were done in about an hour.
After the shoot, we cabbed back to Gion and walked along the street to check out the shops.
When we were shopping in Shinsaibashi, we had realised that Made-in-China goods had invaded Japan as well. Most, if not all, clothes that we had bought were imported from China, so we had to buy a few things from this little shop that had its card holders, purses and bags made in Japan.
Then we walked on. Along the way, we picked up a few accessories and knick-knacks and marvelled at the pretty or realistic food displays at the shop front.
After some walking, I realised that we were not making good progress in getting to the streets near Hokan-ji Temple or Yasaka Pagoda, so of course, cabbing was the answer.
Tons of people were taking pictures at this place!
Then we stumbled upon this part of the temple where young ladies were tying little wish pouches on a structure.
Some creatives along the street
We were making our way out blindly when I noticed the crowd streaming onto the left alley so I followed suit and found the famous Higashiyama streets often featured on the internet. However, by then, we were too saturated with photo-taking at the Yasaka Pagoda that we didn't bother taking any picture.
We hailed a cab at the end of the street to get to Kiyomizu Temple since it was not early anymore.
As overcrowded as ever!
Wished I had been more determined to slim down before the trip!
The last time I visited the temple was in June and it was lush greenery everywhere. This time, the temple was set against a beautiful colourful foliage. Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy the foliage for long as night fell at 5pm.
We popped into shops trying to check if there were things worthy of a purchase
My beef pau that I had missed on Miyajima! I had to eat it - and premium Kyoto beef it must be!
We returned to the shop before 6pm to return the kimonos
We cabbed a lot in Kyoto since we were not familiar with their buses and we wanted to save time and the hassle of figuring out what buses to take. Naturally, we took a cab to Kyoto Station for our dinner before heading back to the hotel.
We decided to give this a try
My mother's curry rice with a soup of her choice while mine was just a bowl of rice and lobster soup
While the soup was tasty, without the usual fishy taste of lobster bisque, meat was lacking in my meal. It was practically just soup and rice. I would recommend getting curry rice as meat chunks present in the curry would act as side dish and would be more filling than just plain soup.
William simply had to try one of the matcha ice-cream. It has a bitter taste of green tea. Of course, he had to finish it up.
With that, we shopped a little for Kyoto tidbits before taking a train back to our hotel in Nijo.
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