Kansai Day 6 (25/10/07): Kyoto


Today was Kyoto day again, which means we had to go to the confusing Umeda station again to change to Hankyu Railways. finding Hankyu Umeda was never a problem, it was finding Nishi Umeda subway station that was a problem (when gg back). Anyway today we reached Kyoto nice and early at around 8 plus. we realized to our horror that actually the Kyoto city bus was covered by the Kansai thru pass. and we had almost wanted to get the Kyoto city bus day pass for today. and the first day we were in Kyoto we paid for 2 trips when we could have saved the 440 yen....


so with our pass, we happily took the bus to anywhere it takes us. we first saw Nijojo, a castle. after Himeji and Osaka-Jo, Nijojo was like a far cry. anyway by now we already could tell a castle when we saw it from far - the moat, the thick walls, the high steps (for strategic purposes). we took photos from the outside then left. the highlight of the day was the kinkakuji金阁寺. unlike the ginkakuji which was no longer 'gin', the kinkakuji was certainly worthy of its name. it was shimmering with gold and with the water around it and the evergreen pine trees and the occasional maple tree that has turned red, it was a sight perfect for photography. i finally got a chance to write a 绘马 which was a wooden plaque on which u can write ur wishes for urself and loved ones and frens, then after that u can hang it on a large board. all shrines and temples have this.


besides the kinkakuji, we also visited the ryoanji (龍安寺), kitano tenmangu (北野天满宫) and heian jingu (平安神宮). JY absolutely loves temples and she can appreciate the beauty of them. for example she was very impressed with the rock garden at Ryoanji. in fact everyone there was impressed by the rock garden, but to me it was just a rock garden, i think i really have no flare for this. anyway the special thing abt the rock garden was that it consist of 15 rocks which are arranged in 5 clusters, each comprising 2,3 4 or 5 rocks and no matter which angle u view the garden from, u can only see 14 of the rocks at any one time. u can only see the 15th when u "attain spiritual enlightment as a result of deep Zen meditation". by the way i only realized this was wat the garden was famous for when i came back and looked at wikipedia. so that was what everyone was staring at , they were trying to spot the 15th rock. and i was staring at the rock garden trying to figure out what they were staring at. doing research before a trip is most certainly a necessity.


i noticed that there were many old folks around. they are everywhere - on the bus, on the subway and esp at the temples and shrines. I asked JY and she confirmed that Japan indeed has the fastest ageing population. i felt quite uneasy to be sitting down on the bus when there were so many old folks around me, so i decided that it's best to stand. there were many old folks but they were still very active at their age, as i have mentioned before.


we splurged on ice cream dessert which cost close to 1000 yen per item, but it was nice and definitely enjoyable. again i ate marron flavour ice cream. after all this was not common in singapore so i should eat it while i am here.





we shopped a bit at Kyoto Gion area that night. Gion is suppose to be the place where the Geisha and Maiko (apprentice Geisha) hang out. we ventured into a dark street which had some shops that apparently close at night and only open for the training of geisha for performing arts (at least this is what we guess from the jap words on the door) and some restaurants which were very expensive and we were wondering is it because entertainment was provided by geisha. we did see a few geisha or maiko taking cabs and alighting there. along the main street there were a number of shops. the things here were not hip and trendy like those in Osaka but they were quaint and handicraft-like. it was the first time JY really spent since we came here. so this was what she had been saving up for. hmm...


ok today was the last of the temples. tmr we will be in Osaka :)