[Travel] Kyoto, Japan – Nishiki Market

I love markets, I really do. I make it a point to visit the local market whenever I’m in a new city. I just love basking in the hustle and bustle, the smell, the sight, the noise, the interaction between the vendors and the shoppers. For me, you can tell a lot about the locals and how they live their life through their markets. So when I was working on my itinerary for Japan, I knew I had to visit a market or two.


Also known as Kyoto’s Pantry, Nishiki Market is located in downtown Kyoto. As soon as we entered the market which is actually 5 blocks long, it became apparent that it’s become too touristy and I seriously doubt if locals even do their shopping there. On that thought I asked my guide where they actually do their shopping, for fresh produce and all that, but I guess because of the crowd and we were kinda lost in translation I never got my answer. It was still fun though especially if you are a foodie. There were a lot of Japanese snacks, souvenirs, wines, vegetables, and pickles. I’ve never seen so many different kinds of pickles in my life. There were also a lot of food tasting for free and so I tried a few pickles. They were really good! Here are the ones that I tried.






So here are the photos I took during my visit. 










Honestly, I didn't  notice all the No Photo signs until after I was reviewing my photos back home.



We exit out of the market and arrived at Nishiki Tenmangu Shrine. I wanted to eat something, somewhere where we could finally sit down. I was actually craving for ramen. We started looking around but looks like we were at a shopping area for clothes. Anyway, we did come across a popular ramen restaurant but I’m gonna blog about the food separately so more on that later.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seoul Korea Day 2 - Night Stroll Around Samcheongdong

Image
As you already know, I heavily use Couchsurfing to meet people when I get to travel. It's a good venue to meet like minded people and I've had good experiences with it so far. Well, there's two in Tokyo that are not so stellar but that's for another post. So anyway, I met a girl and we decided to meet tonight. We had been talking through Kakaotalk as well weeks before my trip. She was gonna show me around Samcheongdong and walk from there to Bukchon Hanok to Insadong. She said the area around Gwanghwamun Square is really scenic so I was really looking to meet her. A few days before she said that she met a French guy through the same website who'd like to join us so it became a party of three. We met at a subway exit. Actually, the moment I came out of the exit and waited for Hye, I noticed a foreign guy standing by himself and who looked like he was waiting for someone. I kinda sensed that he was the guy Hye. was talking about so I walked over and introduced myself...
Read more

Kiyomizudera Temple

Image
It's my last day in Kyoto so I wanted to visit Kiyomizudera Temple before the day ends. Thankfully, I was on the right bus and was at Nara train station in  no time. I was starving so I dropped by a supermarket there. I was trying to catch the train that leaves in 5 minutes so I just bought the first bento meal that I could get my hands on. Okay, so I know that it's a no no to eat while walking in Japan. I also know it's considered  rude to eat while on the train. But I was sooooooo hungry like I've never felt so hungry in my life. I sat down on the train and there was an old lady in front of me. It was a toss between me dying of hunger and try and be polite while my stomach growls. Sorry grannie, but it was really hard to be polite at this time. I threw politeness to the wind and started surreptitiously eating each piece of sushi. I guess it was delicious but I can hardly taste it due to embarrassment. The old lady was looking at me nonchalantly but I know she could...
Read more

Isuien Garden in Nara

Image
Located right next to Yoshikien garden but this one isn't free. The admission fee was a bit steep and I debated for a minute whether to go in or not since I already saw glimpses of it from inside Yoshikien. I read somewhere that it's one of the top 10 gardens in the world. That might explain why it's pricey? In the end though, I decided to go in since I'm already there anyway, and I'm glad I did. The garden was really beautiful. It has a man made pond, colorful bushes and a mossy area. Really nice landscaping on a hill and one can see the mountain in the background. There were ceremonial tea rooms too but they're not open to the public. I had a really nice time strolling around. Surprisingly, there weren't that many people around. I guess they traveled to Nara just to see the deer? Too bad. Here are the pictures I took but they totally don't do the place justice. The weather was overcast too so it was a struggle getting good photos. ...
Read more