Dan decided he didn't want to come with me today to see some of the temples and shrines on the list, not a problem, we all had our reasons for coming, he wanted to see the anime stuff and I wanted to see the temples and shrines. It's nice to get a day off, in all fairness in the 3 weeks we are here, we haven't really stopped being tourists and it really does take it's toll on you! I'm hoping to nab an "easy" day when I get back to Tokyo, mainly as there isn't much left to do there that we haven't seen/done
Back on topic, Kyoto itself doesn't have a sophisticated rail system like Tokyo and Osaka, but it has a very efficient bus system. I left here around 8am, as I had a lot of ground to cover today, as we didn't do philosophers path yesterday. I picked up my 500 yen bus pass from the reception, and set a course to the bus station, which conveniently is next to the train station. I got off my bus a bit prematurely, and ended up at Kamimiyano maecho rather than the station; Honenicho. This didn't set me back too far, once I eventually found a signpost I was back on track! I've entered the area of Kyoto, where they don't translate anything to English on the signs! And you need to use a lot of common sense or you will end up very lost, very quickly! I found Philosophers Path (Tetsugaku no Michi) and headed towards Honen-in Temple. Tetsugaku no Michi wasn't quite as philosophical as the guide book made it out to be, maybe it's because it's not the cherry blossom or Autumn maple, either way, it was a peaceful walk to the temple, the temple itself was a little run down, but it's more about what you feel rather than see, and whilst walking through the graveyards I could feel something, maybe it was that the stones didn't have any kind of identification on them, were they John Does? Anyway I headed to Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji which is also on the philosophers walk, this temple was closed to the public though.
I eventually found my way to the bus stop, and headed to the West of Kyoto, first stop was Kinkakuji Michi station, which lead me to the Golden Pavilion, or Kinkaku-ji as it's rightly called. This is a world heritage site, meaning that they are protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in regards to funding or protection. You pay like 400 yen to get in, but it's all about trying to get that spectacular shot of the golden temple, here is my best attempt with my Canon Ixus 220 HS
There are various other sites to behold around the temple, the lake is quite pretty as well. From here I headed to Ryōan-ji temple, another world heritage site, this temple boosts a Zen Garden. "To many, the temple's name is synonymous with the temple's famous 'Zen garden', the karesansui (dry landscape) rock garden, thought to have been built in the late 15th century. The garden consists of raked gravel and fifteen moss-covered boulders, which are placed so that, when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder." (Source Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%8Dan-ji) Something went wrong, I only saw 4 boulders! Just kidding, I went more for the view rather than seeing if I was spiritually enlightened, It seems from the picture I took, I could only see around 10, although I couldn't really get a good seat as a lot of people were there studying the rocks and what not!
Had a sneaky beer and watched the Strikeforce main event... DAMN! (I'll save that talk for my other blog!) Now slowly catching up with the blogging. Hopefully I'll get a lie in tomorrow and catch Fushimi Inari and A-Bar tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment