Kyoto II - The Sequel

Like most sequels, our second day in Kyoto was just not as good as the first. 

 We left a little earlier but we're still overwhelmed by the amount of places to see and the limited time that we had to see them. 

 Gf had a much better idea of where we should go. I did have a look at my Lonely Planet guide, but I wasn't sure which places were better than others. 

  SO.. First we went to Rokuon-ji Temple, otherwise known as Golden Pavilion for obvious reasons. 

 Today is the Labour Day holiday for the japanese, so it was incredibly crowded. 

 As you can see here, the maple leaves were as red as the ones in Higashiyama area. 

 Reaching this area is not very easy. It is really accessible only by bus. Being a busy day the buses were packed and moving so slowly that one could walk faster than this. 

 This made it worse, making us both feel lethargic and short-tempered.

  Next we went across to Ryoanji Temple to check out.. some rocks. Not wanting to take the unusual route, we took the usual one to the Rock Garden."The longer you gaze at it, the more varied your imagination becomes". At least that's what it says in the brochure. There are fifteen rocks in the garden. From every angle it's impossible to see all fifteen at once. Fascinating. 

 

To end off a hectic day we walked around Kyoto Station. 

 It's the 10th anniversary of it's existence. It's a very modern station, so it looks new to me. 

 After hours of getting all templed out, it's a nice break to see something different. 

  From the station we could see the Kyoto Tower, but we didn't go up there. From Kyoto Station's (free) Skywalk we had a great view of the large Kyoto area. 

What do you think this "ball" thing is? 

It's a Pachinko parlour! I just don't GET why japanese are so into this crap gambling habit.

Finally, we catch the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. 

 Shinkansen's are great. More space than I thought there'd be and super quick too. It's around about two hours to Tokyo. 

 I finally managed to take a pic as it was arriving into Kyoto Station. 

 As a final note, I just want to say a "Happy Birthday". 

 I don't want to make a big deal about it, but I just want to thank everyone for all the "Happy Birthdays" I got. 

 Just hearing it made me feel special for at least one day, even though I don't like the thought of getting older and feeling like I haven't accomplished anymore than the year before. That clock just keeps on ticking. 

 I am a little disappointed by some things that happened today. No matter what happened it was MY day, and I don't need anyone or anything to bring me down. OK?

Kyoto

I know I didn`t mention it before, but we are staying at the Luna Studio Hotel near Sanjo-Keihan Station in Kyoto.

I don't know what it is, but like in Hiroshima, there was a girl obviously enjoying a tryst in the neighbouring room.

We were supposed to get up to have breakfast at 730am, but I think it was closer to 8am before we were down in the lobby to have our free feed. We put a few extra rolls in our bag to eat during the day.

Luckily, I thought to bring an umbrella here as it was raining a little today.

First we went to Tofukuji Temple, in the east side of Kyoto, and checked out some amazingly beautiful autumn maple leaves. Pictures don`t do the colours justice. The leaves distracts you from bothering to look at the temples themselves.


DJ "Scratching" on the spinning thingies at Tofuku-ji. Hit my head on the corner there. Oops.


It was probably about a 20 minutes walk from Tofuku-ji to Fushimi Inari. Along the way I heard a small truck playing some music. You can see me here bopping my head to the music while eating.





The main attraction here at Fushimi Inari are endless lines of orange torii going around the mountain. We didn`t do the full circuit as this would have taken more time than it is worth. Is there such a thing as too MANY torii? Yes, I think there is.


This is my "running through the Torii" video moment. Note the touches on the last few ones, and a final Rocky victory pose. HAHA.

We also went through Gion, an entertainment area where it`s possible to spot geisha.

Apart from a single geisha, the only ones I think we saw were girls who got made up in costume, as they didn`t quite fit the image of japanese beauty, unless of course "sumo geisha are the "in" thing these days.

It's quite disappointing that they allow this. The last thing I want to do is take a picture of a "tourist" in make-up.

Our final stop for the day was Kiyomizu-dera Temple. This is a very picturesque elevated area. Here, we waited until dark to see the area lit up for a different perspective.

Losing My Shinkansen Virginity

Tonight we left on the Shinkansen, the bullet train to Kyoto. 

 I didn`t get a chance to take a picture of the front so this is just a poster of what it looks like. Sorry. 

  We didn't get a chance to have dinner before leaving home, so she bought a bento, and I got pork sandwiches (550 yen) to eat on the train. 

 A little bit expensive for one sandwich cut into three pieces but it was pretty tasty.

The train was super quick. 

 From Toyko to Kyoto only took about two hours to get there. This is us waiting to board the train at Tokyo Station. See how excited I am? This is my first Shinkansen trip, and the second trip outside of the Kanagawa and Tokyo areas. Kyoto should be really something!