Last day in Kyoto. This morning we planned to go to Arashiyama which is 20 – 3o mins ride west of Kyoto. The main draw of Arashiyama is the scenic train ride through rivers & valley as well as the Bamboo Grove.

Before setting off to Arashiyama, we have a sumptuous traditional Japanese breakfast at the lodge. I am still not too use in having rice in the morning, however, the presentation of the food does make your palate wanting more for the meal. Jaydon is not as adventurous when it comes to food. Therefore, a Santa looking bun (which is cute) is sufficient to make him smile.

After checking out, and making arrangement the day before to send our luggage through TA-Q-BIN, we say our goodbyes to our hospitable hosts @ Hokkaikan Ohanabo and heads to the train station for Arashiyama.

We did a quick stop over Higashi Honganji temple, which was across our lodge. The temple is huge. We decided not to venture further into the temple, given that our main goal today is Arashiyama.

After a 20 mins train ride west of Kyoto, we reached Arashiyama. We head toward Torokko Saga Station for the Sagano Scenic Railway.

As we are too early, decided to bring Jaydon into a miniature train museum in the station. We were not exactly excited about it, given that we been to Kawasaki Good Times World in Kobe on day 3 which is definitely more fun then this museum.

Our ride on the Sagano Scenic train is at 11am. We have booked the Sagano Scenic train ride from JR Kyoto station 2 days before hand. It is recommended to pre-book your tickets as they are quite popular.

The Sagano Scenic Railway (嵯峨野観光鉄道, also known as the Sagano Romantic Train vor Sagano Torokko) is a sightseeing train line that runs along the Hozugawa River between Arashiyama and Kameoka. Its charming, old fashioned trains wind their way through the mountains at a relatively slow pace, taking about 25 minutes to make the seven kilometer journey and giving us a pleasant view of the scenery as they travel from Arashiyama through the forested ravine and into rural Kameoka.

Jaydon and Mummy was enjoying the autumn trees lining the river banks of the ravine, while Daddy was busy taking picture and filming the journey on the train. It was regretful that I spend my time filming the scenery and not appreciating the scenery.

On arriving at Kameoka, we took a 5 mins walk to the nearby JR station (Umahori Station) to take a train back to Arashiyama, since we did not get a ticket on Sagano Romantic Train on the return trip. It was windy & cold in Kameoka. Jaydon struggles with the cold wind and it resulted on daddy having to carry him to the station.

The train back to Arashiyama took 7 mins. Upon reaching Arashiyama, we make our way to the Bamboo Glove. We were hungry but it seems that the crowd heading to Bamboo Glove were also as hungry as us. All restaurant were full and we have no choice but to buy some takeaways and eat at any space we can find in the crowded entrance to Bamboo Glove.

After lunch, we proceed into the Bamboo Glove, we saw some lovely Bamboo but time seems to be not enough when you are on holiday. Daddy being a person who love to chiong during holiday, decided to proceed on a taxi to the Monkey Park of Arashiyama.

On reaching the Monkey Park, we realised that we need to climb up a hill to reach the top. Again being a chiongter, we bought the ticket and start climbing up the hill. At 5 mins of our journey, Jaydon stop and was reluctant to continue. So bo bian, we had to go down the hill. When the sales lady saw us returning to the ticketing booth, she offered to refund our money.

After all the chionging, we were tired. Mummy was frustrated and Jaydon was tired. We rested at the bank of the Katsura river. The flowing river and scenery surrounding Arashiyama, calm the family and soon we were smiling again.

This time, we took things slow and decided to have a slow walk across the Togetsukyo Bridge and along the banks of Katsura river back to Bamboo Glove.

On returning to Bamboo Glove, we were delighted that what we saw in the beginning was just section of Bamboo Glove. The highlight of the Bamboo Glove is deeper into the park.

It was 2.30pm, when we decided it was time to head back to Kyoto Station to catch the shinkansen to Tokyo. We bought our bentō at Kyoto train station, planning to have our dinner in the train on our way to Tokyo. As usual, Mummy love the Bento set. They are always so pleasing to the eyes and it always brings the smile to Mummy.

It was an 3.5 hours journey to Tokyo station. During the time, we had dinner and had some family fun in the train.

We reached Tokyo Station at 7.30pm. We navigated through the after-office crowd (which was not pleasant) towards JR Keiyo Line which took us to Tokyo Disney Land.

On arriving Tokyo DisneyLand, it was nice as it was  as though Christmas is welcoming us to Tokyo DisneyLand. We took the Disney train towards our hotel – Sheraton Tokyo Disneyland. On arrival at the station, there is Disney bus that shuttled us to the hotel (which was just 5 mins by foot).

On checking into our room, it felt like returning home when we saw in our room, were our luggage waiting for us (TA-Q-BINed from Kyoto) for another 2 days of fun in Tokyo Disneyland. Supper for the night is a muffin with a bear in it. 🙂