Woke up and had had HAD to take a shower in one of the dreaded shower stalls on the ground floor. Only three bathrooms between the however many of us in the hostel. GROSS. It did smell gross and I was quite please when I was done with my shower and out of the hostel.
Realised that it was Good Friday and as a devoted (not) Catholic, I was not meant to eat any meat.* So we went for a wander and found a nice modern breakfast place near the Kyoto train station. It was very clean and little AND more importantly, it had a vending machine which dispenses little tickets that you had to take to the counter so that they know what meal to cook for you. The food was very good and cheap, and we left feeling really quite satisfied. I had a clear udon broth with some inari. BARGAIN.
Anyone who has been to Kyoto will tell you that you have have HAVE to see the Golden Pavillion, or as the locals call it, Kinkakuji. So Jin Lee, Kok Siew, Yvonne and I made the journey to see it. Only one thing we overlooked. We decided not to listen to the nice Japanese lady who told us that it was "far" - she seemed to be saying that it was too far to walk. But did we listen to her? NOOOOOO.... :)
The upside about walking that much was that you got to see a lot of things on foot. We stumbled upon what I think is Hirano Shrine, girls - correct me if I'm wrong! But it was breathtakingly beautiful. I'm not sure whether breathtaking is the correct word for it, hell, I'm not a wordsmith! I always thought that breathtaking would be something grand and majestic. This was more dainty and beautiful, but nonetheless, it took my breath away. Rows and rows of cherry blossoms providing a bursts of pink throughout the whole area. There were stalls everywhere and gathering from the banners and stuff, they must have been selling food! The stalls were closed because it was too early in the morning, but that provided Jin Lee and I the rare, once in a lifetime opportunity to duck behind one of them and pretend that we were selling! Of course, I will give the credit to Jin Lee for the great idea - even though it may have been borderline illegal, but hey, whats another overseas offence, hey, Jin? ;)
There were two little girls who were dressed up and LOVING the attention that everyone showered them! They smiled for the cameras and posed for photos. Eat your heart out Paris. There were also some interesting characters dressed up and typical tourist style, I asked for a photo. :) Including some guys in their samurai looking get ups.
Onward to the famous Kinkakuji - I have been told that the Silver Pavillion was more stunning, Ginkakuji, but we found out that it was under construction and therefore, decided to give it a miss. Finally arriving at the Golden Pavillion and while it was pretty (big disclaimer there), I think the common reaction among us girls was "Is that it?" I have to say, that it was not as big, grand or as stunning as what you see in the photos! Oh well, we did a famous landmark and when someone says Kyoto, I can say that I saw the Golden Pavillion. Although having completely bagged it out, I will say that it was nothing like I've ever seen before, so I guess that is a plus!
After Kinkakuji, we made our way to Kiyomizu-dera. I must've read about it somewhere because it is extremely popular tourist attraction, but I did not have that much expectations for it, after the sort of disappointment of Kinkakuji. Anyway, it was BEAUTIFUL. The temple was set up a little higher than anything else, so it gave us a fantastic view of the Kyoto skyline (and the ugly Kyoto tower - yech). On the way up to the temple as well, the streets were filled with souvenir shops and food places, which we did not even STOP to look at to start with (upon hindsight, that was a BAD idea!) Took plenty of pictures even before entering the temple. Typical tourists!!!
The theme for that temple (and I find out later that it was a SUB-temple called Jishu-jinja was love. There were love charms everywhere and more importantly, there were 2 love stones. If you are able to walk between the two stones (which were 18m apart) with your eyes closed, then you will be lucky in love. Well, so we thought. But it turns out that being able to complete that task would confirm your loved one's affection (once again, after some research - AFTER the trip!). WELL, because we thought that it was going to make us lucky in love, we decided to do it. And cheat. And here is how we cheated:
Yes. We are not former ASEAN scholars for nothing. :)
Saw a couple of geishas (or were they maiko?) on the way out. Could NOT find anywhere to eat as it was already 3pm and we had decided not to eat at Kiyomizu (stupid decision - I think I was the person who thought that we shouldn't eat there - oops!) So we searched and searched for somewhere to eat and finally found somewhere to eat (they ran out of spoons that's why they decided to give Jin a ladle! ;))
Then onward to the famous Philosophers Walk – on the way, I was told that we are meant to be “one with our thoughts” there. (Which one of you girls said it to me – admit it now!!) THOUGHTS? THOUGHTS????? I don’t have any thoughts. I have ONE…. Maybe. :)
But you know, when I got there, it was so beautiful, the canal (which did in fact look like a giant longkang, but a clean and non-smelly one!) was strewn with fallen cherry blossom petals and the walk itself was once again lined with cherry blossom trees – very very pretty.
There was one occasion where the wind blew and all the petals came tumbling (ok floating) off the trees and it looked like it was snowing petals! Absolutely amazing.
Instead of going back to the hostel to rest and whatnot, we decided to then head to the Gion region for some food. Found this restaurant and I thought that I should try the tempura. Never really liked it when I tried it in Australia, it always had very thick batter and very oily. Nevertheless, I thought that I should try it, because let’s face it, you can never go wrong with something fried.
Heaven. Absolutely heavenly. I love the tempura in Japan. Really light and fluffy batter, and the tempura sauce that was drizzled over the rice was absolutely AMAZING. Thoroughly enjoyed that dinner, although I think Jin Lee might not have enjoyed hers so much. :)
Walked around the Gion region, which was interesting in itself. What was more interesting was walking in a lonely, dark back alley (who’s fault was that!!!). Managed to asked about English books in a bookstore, (there were a total of ZERO books that I would have bought).
Another funny incident. We were quite lost and were trying to make our way back to the hostel. I saw the Pig and Whistle bar and said to the girls – we can ask them in English and they will understand (you know, being an English pub and all). The guy at the pub spoke perfect English and proceeded to give me instructions. But I must’ve had a blank look on my face, because he then decided to TAKE me to where I needed to get the bus from. We walked PAST the girls, who were looking at me, quite amused, and proceeded to take me down to the subway station. By the time I got back, it was a good 10 mins that I had been gone and the girlies were teasing me about it. That I could’ve been raped and killed. IF THAT WAS THE CASE, WHY DIDN’T ANY OF YOU FOLLOW ME???? Biatches. :) But that was Japanese hospitality for you – always willing to go the extra limb to help someone out. Amazing.
Thus was the end of Day 2.
Kyoto. DONE.
*Well, not intentionally anyway. I did eat meat on Good Friday in 2004 and again in 2008. 2004, the boys and I were hungover as all hell. Biggy got a call from Timmy (or was it Brendon) to pick them up from wherever they had passed out. Paddy and I got Biggy to get some Maccas on the way back. Halfway through breakfast, Timmy said "F**king good lot of Catholics we are - eating meat on Good Friday!" To which we were horrified (for the record) but figured that the damage was done. The other time was in 2008, when we were in Canberra and Nicole had made us beef tacos, quite forgetting about Good Friday too! Oh welll.....
Then onward to the famous Philosophers Walk – on the way, I was told that we are meant to be “one with our thoughts” there. (Which one of you girls said it to me – admit it now!!) THOUGHTS? THOUGHTS????? I don’t have any thoughts. I have ONE…. Maybe. :)
But you know, when I got there, it was so beautiful, the canal (which did in fact look like a giant longkang, but a clean and non-smelly one!) was strewn with fallen cherry blossom petals and the walk itself was once again lined with cherry blossom trees – very very pretty.
There was one occasion where the wind blew and all the petals came tumbling (ok floating) off the trees and it looked like it was snowing petals! Absolutely amazing.
Instead of going back to the hostel to rest and whatnot, we decided to then head to the Gion region for some food. Found this restaurant and I thought that I should try the tempura. Never really liked it when I tried it in Australia, it always had very thick batter and very oily. Nevertheless, I thought that I should try it, because let’s face it, you can never go wrong with something fried.
Heaven. Absolutely heavenly. I love the tempura in Japan. Really light and fluffy batter, and the tempura sauce that was drizzled over the rice was absolutely AMAZING. Thoroughly enjoyed that dinner, although I think Jin Lee might not have enjoyed hers so much. :)
Walked around the Gion region, which was interesting in itself. What was more interesting was walking in a lonely, dark back alley (who’s fault was that!!!). Managed to asked about English books in a bookstore, (there were a total of ZERO books that I would have bought).
Another funny incident. We were quite lost and were trying to make our way back to the hostel. I saw the Pig and Whistle bar and said to the girls – we can ask them in English and they will understand (you know, being an English pub and all). The guy at the pub spoke perfect English and proceeded to give me instructions. But I must’ve had a blank look on my face, because he then decided to TAKE me to where I needed to get the bus from. We walked PAST the girls, who were looking at me, quite amused, and proceeded to take me down to the subway station. By the time I got back, it was a good 10 mins that I had been gone and the girlies were teasing me about it. That I could’ve been raped and killed. IF THAT WAS THE CASE, WHY DIDN’T ANY OF YOU FOLLOW ME???? Biatches. :) But that was Japanese hospitality for you – always willing to go the extra limb to help someone out. Amazing.
Thus was the end of Day 2.
Kyoto. DONE.
*Well, not intentionally anyway. I did eat meat on Good Friday in 2004 and again in 2008. 2004, the boys and I were hungover as all hell. Biggy got a call from Timmy (or was it Brendon) to pick them up from wherever they had passed out. Paddy and I got Biggy to get some Maccas on the way back. Halfway through breakfast, Timmy said "F**king good lot of Catholics we are - eating meat on Good Friday!" To which we were horrified (for the record) but figured that the damage was done. The other time was in 2008, when we were in Canberra and Nicole had made us beef tacos, quite forgetting about Good Friday too! Oh welll.....
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