More of Kyoto - He Qi Update!

Are you tired of my Japan posts yet?

... I hope not. Because I took over 1200 photos. Not that I plan on posting all of them here... but I think that's the most photos I've taken in a 2 week period, ever. When I read travel blogs, I always want photos, photos, photos-- it's my way of reliving someone else's adventures.

I'm going to continue my Kyoto adventures.

Every prefecture in Japan has their "specialty" food. In Kyoto, they have special Matcha, resulting in special Matcha Kit Kats I did not want to afford, and these beautiful, dainty, triangular Mochi treats:

The mochi pastry (... is mochi is a pastry? I don't know) is rolled thin, cut into squares, and is folded around a filling. The mochi itself can be flavored as well as the filling. This particular one was Banana skin with Chocolate filling. Very tasty.

As we walked down from the Golden Temple, there was a street lined with little souvenir shops and food stands. One such stand was for this... Potatornado. lol


Potato that has been cut into a swirly shape, like 1 giant curly fry, then deep fried. It was ok. Sadly a bit disappointing since it was quite bland :(

We also got Sakura and Matcha ice cream & some mochi snacks-- it was good!


We went back to the train station, where you can see Kyoto Tower!


We went to another temple... at this point, unfortunately, I have started to lose track of the temples. They were all beautiful, but to my untrained mind, similar.

Then we began the ascent to the Monkey Park-- it was quite a hike, especially because it was actually quite warm-- blue skies, sun was out



And when we arrived at the top..
... so... many... monkeys...

They aren't held captive, but because they get fed here, they pretty much don't leave.

Baby monkey!


Then it was lunch time. Japanese portions, but, lots of separate "parts" and side dishes. I personally love this as it provides a bit of variety for the meal.

However, the Rice + Noodles with EVERY meal was.. getting to be a little too much, haha. SO much starch, not accustomed to it.

And off we went on the "Romantic Train Ride". During this season, Cherry Blossoms are supposed to line a portion of the train, but.. due to strange weather (storm) and colder forecast than usual, the Sakura did not blossom yet.

Cute offering area, in the Bamboo Forest!


We went back to Teramachi Dori and got some Takoyaki:

Delicious! First "genuine" Takoyaki I've had!

That night, we had our first "SUSHI" meal!
We had a variety of Nigiri, Tempura, Rice, Noodles, Tofu.

I half expected fish to be cheaper in Japan, but the price was the same as the US. Needless to say, for our two weeks in Japan, we spent a fortune on food since we ate out all the time.


UHHHH.. this was my meal. It was huge.

And this pretty much wraps up Kyoto.

He Qi news:
Very soon, I'm going to be doing 8 days of straight giveaways both here and on my blog.
Please keep checking back for updates!

I have also added quite a few new goodies, including these intense mystic topaz clusters:

Here's a custom phone charm:

And I really love these Golden Girl earrings, though they are brass:

Some classic Chalcedony earrings -- really perfect for work.

A simple version of the Faerie Forest:

And large CZ drop earrings:

I am also trying to clear out my inventory to make room for new goodies. Prices have been pretty dramatically decreased; please take a look at the CLEARANCE section!

And here is a sneak peak at the new project I've been working on-- more on it when I'm ready to release :D


I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! Summer is quickly approaching-- it's already almost May.


Lisa
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