Kansai Day 3 (22/10/07): Kyoto

We were originally suppose to visit Nara today but because a museum we wanted to see was closed on monday, so we swopped our schedule and deceided to go to Kyoto instead. That's another thing abt museums: some of them may be closed on certain days of the week, i have seen a couple which were closed on mondays, so always check beforehand.

it was the first time we experience the morning rush hour in Japan since we came. Everywhere u see men in black suits and tie walking briskly. of course there were ladies rushing to work too but their dressing did not seem as 'uniform' as that of the guys. we took the subway to Umeda where we will change to Hankyu railways to go to Kyoto. At Umeda, we had to change trains and change stations as well. the trains / subways in japan can get quite confusing cuz at one place, eg Umeda, there can be a few different railways and their individual stations, e.g JR Osaka, Hankyu Umeda as well as Hanshin Umeda, and then there were the subway stations as well (nishi umeda, higashi umeda and umeda). and while hanshin umeda is linked with the subway station, Hankyu Umeda (above) was in a separate building. confusing? it was a matter of getting used i guess.

we got off at Kawaramachi and took a bus towards the Ginkakuji (silver pavilion). oh buses in Kyoto are flat fare (220 yen), so best to take longer distances to make it worthwhile. if not get the day pass for 500 yen. i almost couldn't believe that was the ginkakuji - where was the 'Gin' (银)? it looked quite old and run-down, yet it was supposedly one of the must-see sights in Kyoto. on the temple grounds we came across a maple tree which half of the leaves have turned red. sigh... twice i have been to Japan and both time i have missed the seasonal sights. ok but half a tree of red maple leaves is better than nothing... haha.

today we saw quite a lot of shrines and temples - the Yasaka shrine (八阪神社), Ginkakuji, Chionji (知恩寺), Kumano Jinja (熊野寺), Yoshida Jinja (吉田神社), kiyomizu dera (清水寺) and Heian Ji (平安寺). i thot it was quite funny that some of the shrines were just along the main road, alongside the normal buildings, they juz looked so odd and out of place. JY said that the shrines were built first, then the buildings around it came later.

to summarize the route today was Kawaramachi --> (walk) Yasaka shrine --> (bus) ginkakuji --> (walk) Chionji --> (walk) kumano and heian ji --> (bus) kiyomizu dera --> (walk) Karasuma / Hankyu.

we should have gotten the Kyoto bus day pass but we din, so we had to do a lot of walking and saved the bus trips for the longest distances. for Kyoto buses, u board from the back and pay at the front when u get off. on the way from Chionji to Kumano jinja we passed Kyoto University. one thing abt Kyoto is that there are actually quite a lot of pple who cycle around on bicycles. this is esp the case around Kyoto University. as we walked along the path that led to the uni, there were many students cycling with a bag in their bicycle baskets. outside the uni there were many pushcarts selling bento sets, sandwich, bread at very reasonable prices (380yen for a bento as compared to around 500 in the supermarts). from the outside the uni looked quite university-like - very tall trees along the entrance and a very high entrance door, and a very large square when u just enter the gates. anyway there were so many cyclists, i told JY they should have a separate cycling track, like what they have in Amsterdam.

At Heian Jingu, we witnessed the once a year 时代祭 whereby there were pple dressed in costumes that represented the different eras in Japan, starting from the current and gg back in time and there were curious onlookers and spectators standing on both sides. but if u are not familiar with Jap history, after a while u will probably start feeling bored cuz the different period names and costumes may not seem different to u. Anyway, JY sat thru the whole parade right up till 4 pm (we were there at abt 2.10pm) while i ran off halfway to look at the stalls after a while (which was equally boring).

by the time we reached kiyomizu-dera (after squeezing onto the bus) it was close to 5pm. the temple was crawling with students there on excursion. while temples are suppose to be buildings of peace and quiet it is never the case except maybe during the first 15 min after opening.

Today was really a day of walking, we were both beat by the end of the day. to make things worse, we lost our way at Umeda Station. For both yesterday and today, we had problems finding our way from Hanshin / Hankyu railway station to the subway station Nishi Umeda. that place is like a maze! we followed the signs that pointed towards Yotsubashi subway line but halfway we lost the signs and ended up at Higashi-Umeda subway station (nishi means west and Higashi means east). i think we must have spent something like 15-20 min gg round and round the Umeda stations.

my legs actually felt tired today. but HK was still worse. i can still rem what i told my travel companion Jernice then. i told her i rather run a marathon than to walk like this, i think i will feel less tired. and she said 'u are kidding!' i was really really really tired then. today's walk was not quite at the same stage, but close to it.

today i tried sth new. i tried Sakura ice cream. on the first bite it wasn't nice at all. i thot it tasted a bit like medicine and i regretted immediately. i shld have just gotten sth like caramel which i was familiar and which can't taste that bad. but JY immediately said, if i dun even try i won't know if it's nice or not nice. at least i gained the experience. after eating almost to the end, i realized that it wasn't that bad after all. i still din think it was nice but it was bearable. i've kinda gotten used to it. food for thought?