Day Trip to Kyoto - Golden Palace, Fire Ramen, Okonomiyaki

Yesterday was another early start. We were off to Kyoto for the day to see the sites and eat fire ramen.

We met up with Eric's old uni/study abroad friend Yuki and were immediately glad to have a native speaker with us.

Kyoto may have the most world heritage sites in one city but it is a humongous sprawling metropolis. It took us maybe twenty minutes by bus to get to the golden palace. The palace is covered in gold leaf and if I were a bit more cunning and evil I'd have found a way to come back at night and break me off some of that hold leaf. We took lots of pictures and even a group shot where, thanks to his above average height, Eric's head blocked out the palace in the background. Oh well. A quick walk around the property and we were back on the city street looking for the bus to catch for fire ramen.

Fire ramen shop in Kyoto (photo by Clocks)

Fire ramen was Denise's find. Back when we were planning this trip she sent Jordan and I a link to a video of someone creating a volcanic burst of flame over a bowl of ramen a mere inches from the patrons face. It was honestly the only thing in Kyoto that we decided early on we must see or do. And the experience did not disappoint.

We arrived at the ramen shop which was the only restaurant on this city block. It was empty, with only two people sitting at the counter. We sat at a table and waited for Yuki to figure out how to get us all fire ramen. He eventually did and proceeded to tell us that it's not actually called fire ramen. We didn't care we were getting ramen that's lit on fire.

Fire Ramen experience in Kyoto (photo by Clocks)

We were told to sit at the counter and handed paper bibs which I'm sure were not flame retardant. The owner proceeded to take wet towels and cover his register and other items behind or around the counter. After some preparation of the food he explained the rules by holding up placards that were translated to English. Basically they were lean back, don't run, and keep your hands behind your back. He then proceeded to close all the doors in the small shop an put on a pair of welders gloves. A pot of oil was lit and he carried it from bowl to bowl pouring the oil into the ramen. As he poured an enormous burst of flames rose up right in front of you. It was scary and crazy hot but amazing. I walked away with my eyebrows and hair intact, and a full belly and free hair tie as a souvenir.

Afterwards it was another bus then we decided to start walking back to the train station and stop at any sites we saw along the way. Yuki assured us that we were only 20 minutes away. It was a really long time and an even longer distance on foot later that we realized his gps probably meant by car. We gave up and got on the subway then parted ways with Yuki and headed home.

You could've knocked the five of us over with a feather. All these early mornings and exercise left us sore and exhausted. We decided it was nap time. I resisted for about an hour, knowing I'd wake up groggy and miserable but I eventually gave in to the sweet temptation of sleep. I awoke to Eric's face poking through my bed curtain telling me it was time to get up. 

Delicious okonomiyaki in Osaka (photo by Clocks)

It was off to Osaka proper to meet up with another uni friend, Yo. She was meeting us from work and guided us up to the top of the department store for dinner. We had delicious okonomiyaki and enjoyed our time with Yo. She left us after dinner since she had work in the morning and couldn't join us for kareoke.

Originally our plan was to stay in Osaka proper for kareoke but by the time we parted ways with Yo it was already eleven and the trains stop at midnight. The prospect of walking back to the hostel in the middle of the night, drunk, with my busted knee was not gonna happen. We headed back towards the hostel instead and found a really nice kareoke place just down the street from the hostel.

Karaoke in Osaka (photo by Clocks)

When we walked into the place there was a group of very very drunk business men one in particular was curious to k ow where our diverse little group came from and how we wound up talking to him. I had never seen anyone quite so drunk and so excited to see an English teacher from Sendai and his friends. We got a room for two hours and proceeded to start drinking. Then singing while drinking. We had Eric ordering for us and Jordan taking shots of sake with both Eric and myself. By the end of the two hours we were all sufficiently drunk. Eric headed down before us to pay before we got charged for more time only to find the bill was 13000¥ and he only had 2000¥ in his wallet. Jordan and I thankfully were just behind him and we got settled up in no time. We stumbled down the block to McDonalds for food. Thankfully it is open 24hrs. There's nothing like a burger after copious amount of beer and singing.