Day 2 starts off....... 
this is when we came down to Kyoto from Arima Onsen. Pictures from 2nd Day Arima Onsen.  Breakfast.... we had thought to wake up at 8 to watch mochi pounding session.... but overslept and missed it. Not surprisingly =D This Salmon seen above is cold. I thought it was a cold dish!!! Mana tau...  You see that string??? You have to PULL on it to activate the heat/steam. So the dish is heated up like that. But I smartly ate everything cold. It was only halfway through the meal my dad discovered the heat up method =( How would we know!!! Normally things are heated up in the kitchen!!! 
More side dishes during breakfast. As usual, meals are huge esp for kaiseki types 
Part of breakfast too. bamboo shoots/veg shavings and some noodles 
Tamago! yummy.  Fruit and yoghurt 
Refreshing lime juice  Greedy me with swollen eyes  How on earth do japanese stay so slim!!!  ooo they even had Mua zhee (mochi in chopped peanuts and sugar) top right of the picture So they expect us to eat everything including that big bowl of rice! Lastly  Soup with tofu, mushrooms and pork balls heated up mini steamboat style. After breakfast we packed up and left amidst all the friendly goodbyes from the staff. They were all so nice and friendly!!! Stuffed our baggage into the hired van and slept all throughout the journey to Kyoto. Several hours it was! We reached our destination, hiragiiya ryokan where we were shown to our rooms and unloaded our luggages. Our rooms were awesome! but more on that later !!! We immediately set off to trawl Kyoto for sakura. Since it was a little early for the season, we werent greeted by sakura petals blowing everywhere. Instead we saw a few sparse trees lining roads and rivers with small pink buds =( Thank goodness the driver knew of some good places for flowers 
The behind is peach blossoms!!. But it's like an entire garden of them right in Kyoto Imperial Palace. So gorgeous! We were right in the middle/end of the peach blossom/ plum blossom season. Everyone was out for a picnic/photo taking session with the plum and peach blossoms. 
Gorgeous flowers  i loveeeeeeeeee the downy petals!!!  My mom  Yes, when we saw everyone else having a picnic under all the flowers we decided to have one too! Doreen/Derick and Rose went off to get some food and we spread it out on the grass. 
Noodles, coke, sandwich, am not sure what else there was. If only the sun wasn't so bright!!! 
Finally a nice picture =D 
After eating 
At this point we were wondering if we could ever catch a glimpse of some early, full bloom sakura. Rose suddenly disappeared to look for some sakura and left us clueless as to where she was. 
This was while waiting for her to return   she was gone for so long ok =( But then she came back with good news! She found two"weeping willow" cherry blossom trees =DDDD 
Derick sulked in this picture so we made him take a second one SMILING  yeah erm... not much improvement either ahem  during the long walk to the sakura area, we came across a magnificent magnolia tree 
these huge soft flowers smell amazing! Sweet and soft fragrance. 
(actually they smell like soap/perfume...the delicate kind) 
HELLO THERE~~~ <3 sakura~ This weeping cherry sort is called shidarezakura. There are many other types of sakura of course. This is one of my favourites! 
Gorgeousssssssss 
Looks like a shower of pink sprays Nothing beats being there to see it and to actually experience the atmosphere. The gentle swaying of sweeping branches laden with whitish pink, followed by a subtle breeze carrying forth petals from the flowers. It was magical I could almost attest to it!  obligatory family photo minus dana (muahahah sweet revenge)  Rose and I  Organizers for this Japan trip  Mom and a sulky derick =D  Couple appreciating the cherry blossoms  While snapping this photo, a japanese couple (yes the same one above) walked past and commented "Indonesian tourists, most likely" in Japanese. I delighted in giving them a nice shock when I replied back that we're Malaysian in Japanese  mom and dad 
Can't get enough of those flowers! Of course they are most gorgeous when they are out in full force in Kyoto! Imagine walking down a path lined with pink (Ok so I'm not the greatest fan of pink but this is an exception!)  Grabbing the sakura branches for a photo   Not sure if I was allowed to grab them like that to take a photo 
But after we were done taking photos, the Japanese couple decided to follow suit and took photos at the exact spot and with the exact pose that we did HAHAHHAHAA Quite funny since while people from around the world would want to copy the Japanese, these Japanese couple copied a bunch of Malaysian tourists. Then again there's Tadashi who knows more about Malaysia than me -___-" We walked around looking for a place to eat. Derick needed some meat ==D Ventured into some place nearby hiiragiya ryokan. There were small shops, Nishiki Food market, Isetan, takashimaya on one of the main roads. Good arrangement *sly smile*
 I'm proud of this shot!!! 
Inside the katsudon place we ate at  At the food market where we bought some Japanese snacks to bring back  The lantern spells "Yakitori" and hangs outside a small eatery 
I have no idea what this is, but I like how this picture turned out! The lighting is pretty and the stick divider is a nice touch Then we returned to the Ryokan for dinner 
Our room! (mine, doreen derick and Rose's). So huge isn't it? It's one of the party rooms apparently The bathroom.... I didnt take a photo of it... cuz it was dark and i was scared HAHHAHAHA It basically consisted of an ofuro and shower, and wooden stools to sit on while you wash yourself. The clean, fresh scent of pine and sandalwood was very strong I remember.... plus our shower gel/shampoo etc was made up of those things. Another thing I noticed of these Ryokans.... there are fresh flowers everyday. In many forms of ikebana (flower arrangement). I loved how detailed and meticulous everything was in the Ryokan. 
Derick playing his gameboy. The paper shutters beyond him and the table actually slide open to reveal a large wide screen TV. 
Yes, this and the garden is also a part of our living space. =D Beautiful!  This is the Nakai-san (attendant) who attended to us the whole trip. She's really nice/cultured/well-mannered In this photo, she is setting out our dinner. Mom and dad join us in our room for dinner. It's strange to eat in the same room you sleep but it's normal in Japan? Doreen loved it too I'm sure =p  Seated for dinner. 
Our menu for the meal... as before, the entire list is served to each and every one of us And so the parade of food begins:- 
Pea soup, peach cocktail, yubu (i forgot the rest)  Some sashimi  some more seafood  grilled seafood   soup and rice  can't remember!  Fruits Again... I almost exploded after eating. 
Me and derick with one of the flower arrangements in the room  The Nakais setting out our futons. We get to watch this time!  Fluffy futons!!! 
Sooooooooooo nice and fluffy I love it!  Doreen again flew onto her futon after they were done. The pillows too were nice and plump. Love how everything is nice, downy and cloud-like!  Mom and I in our yukata provided by the Ryokan. You can wear this to lounge about and sleep?  and the overcoat.... hmm i forgot what it's called  In the garden with our geta After this Doreen, derick and i just hung around, transferring pictures and watching movies on Doreen's laptop End of Day 2 | 
