Hirobun

Photos from our Hirobun nagashi somen experience in Kibune, Kyoto, Japan.  Kibune is about an hour train ride from Central Kyoto.  It is a beautiful rural mountain area.  

Here's the skinny on this place.  It is almost at the end of the road.  Seems like we walked forever, but it wasn't really that long.  It was probably around 4PM and we were the last people served somen around 5PM...then the workers cleaned up and started prepping for dinner.  The cost is still $12 per person -- it's not a lot of food, but delicious and a fun experience.

Unfortunately and fortunately we arrived a few seconds after a large Chinese tour group.  The unfortunate part, we waited over 30 minutes to be seated as the group took turns at the table.  There is only one long table for somen, it sat maybe 8 people across.  The fortunate part, after the tour group left, it was just the two of us.

If you're here on a rainy, overcast day, you may want to bring a jacket.  It was pretty cold at 4PM up there for us anyway.  

Hirobun

Hirobun doesn't have any signs in roman characters.  Luckily we saved a similar photo to this one on our iPad.
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Waterfall

Just above the somen bench area.
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 Leaves

Just above the somen bench area...waiting for our turn.
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Chinese Tour Group

Part of the Chinese tour group.  Some of them waited up at the top with us.
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Still Waiting

HDR shot of the waterfall.
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 Instructions

A few minutes before we were seated we were handed these instructions.
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 Finally

Finally seated.  The waitresses started to set up our place settings so we took advantage of the "photo time".
Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

 Mochi

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Somen Water Channel

Small batches of somen come flowing down these channels in increments.  It's enough time for you to pick up your noodles, let them drain for a couple seconds, dip and eat.  
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Dipping Sauce

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 Multi-Tasking

Here I am trying to take photos with two different cameras and pick up my noodles.  I lost a couple pieces of noodles in my last batch and ditched the DSLR camera after a couple of somen bundles.
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 More Somen

We were concentrating on the noodles, I couldn't even tell you how many bundles came to us.  
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The End

The last bundle is this pinkish color, signifying the end of your meal.  Then you gobble up your mochi, take more pics, then hike back down the mountain.  We had every intention of walking all the way to the train station but it started to rain again, so we took cover at a bus stop and ended up catching the bus back.
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