Day 3: Path of Philosophy

2nd July 2007

Another early start. Our schedule for today was to knock off and complete the right hand side of Kyoto. First stop was Ginkakuji aka Temple of the Silver Pavilion. Yesterday's excursion to the Golden Pavilion had our hopes up for its Silver Cousin. Unfortunately at some point in time while being built the plans for it to be coated in silver were abandoned and like that it was converted to a Buddhist temple. Talk about lacklustre performance! Nonetheless this compound also managed to get UNESCO stamp of approval for World Heritage Listing. These UNESCO guys go willy nilly with their approvals. The surrounding gardens were very decent. In fact they were "tranquil, serene and awesome" as so aptly put by my travel partner.


The walk we had prescribed for ourselves was called "Along the Old Canal". Despite reading forums and reviews on the "not so spectacular" Path of Philosophy we still decided to take it. It was a leisurely stroll. Worn and definitely more traveled path that meandered along a quiet stream that gushed along at a steady pace. There was a romantic feel to walking along the path, dodging low hanging branches we ducked into the neighbouring Honen-in Temple (by pure accident). Our next stop was the Nanzenji Temple, where would we be without our trusty map? It was at this point in time we were beginning to realise that these tourist maps were grossly not to scale. Half way through we managed to get lost.

Nanzenji Temple houses one of Japan's more famous Rock Gardens. The garden although fairly basic and probably simple to reproduce was extremely calming. We sat along the edge of the feet dangling over the edge and let the garden absorb us. We left the temple to grab some tucker and it was then we stumbled upon our first Ramen Noodle house.

"Arashaimusu!" the workers chimed in unison as we entered. It would only be much (much) later in the trip we would come to realise what that meant. It was a neo-urban style restaurant with modern decor, faint Jazz background music, young enthusiastic staff and a menu with pictures! After lunch we headed to the Heian Shrine and walked down to the Yasaka Shrine (What was notable about these places I don't remember). It was almost 3:00 pm as we Walked up towards the Ryozen Kannon and grabbed some dessert outside the Kodaiji Temple.

We walked through the Higashiyama district along Nienzaka and Sannenzaka Slopes passing numerous street venders. Taking this path we also passed the Yasaka Pagoda and eventually reached our last stop before dinner. This was the place I was recommended to visit and the place I was looking forward to the most in Kyoto. Kiyomizudera also known as the Pure Water Temple. People from around the world, around Japan, around Kyoto were here talking photographs and soaking in the more celebrated UNESCO Heritage Site listings.

The temple consists of a huge wooden balcony that overhangs over the hills of Kyoto. The view was stunning even though all we got was mostly overcast mountain views. At the bottom of the temple there is spring which is funneled into three streams of water. Apparently drinking from this spring has therapeutic powers. As lame as this sounds I can't help myself from being a sucker for novelty. We each granted ourselves with the mystical water and almost instantly (through the power of placebo) we energised and ready to power on. Up and atom!

As mentioned we dined in Gion that night. Gion is supposedly one of Kyoto's more heavily Geisha districts. The main street, Hanami-hoji is lined with many shops and restaurants boasting traditional Japanese architecture. At one intersection we noticed a small crowd (of mainly foreigners) congregating. After much confusion we were finally explained that there would be Giesha sightings at this corner. Sure enough within 30 minutes of loitering we spotted many a gieshas. As exciting as it was it felt some what demoralising for the actual Gieshas. Behind the clothing and makeup looked to be nervous and almost annoyed people. They were being hounded by people taking photographs and being interviewed by camera crews. They were an ancient Japanese Tradition enveloped by paparazzi-esque nature of curious minds.

Before I wind up this post i'll make brief mention to one of the Kyoto delicacies that we enjoyed. Takoyaki or octopus balls. Best way to describe them is, grilled goo balls with a chunk of octopus strategically placed in the centre. Mmm goo...

Day 2: Golden Temple et al.

1st July 2007

The next two days (or so) are somewhat a blur to me. Partially because I failed to make note of what occurred during our Kyoto days. My memories of Kyoto went along the lines of "Heaps of temples, even more shrines and plenty of walking".

The day before we had visited a Tourist Information Centre (TIC) inside Kyoto station. Given our previous interaction with Japanese people we fumbled about the foyer looking for maps on Kyoto and possible sightseeing activities. Eventually we approached the desk for help, we were given an English map of Kyoto Prefecture, a walking guide pamphlet and a hand-drawn map of Kyoto downtown. We were set for Kyoto!

Since Kyoto had two full days of activities we needed to book another night of accommodation here at the APA. We enquired and found it to be approximately ¥18000 for the extra night. Which was quite the premium on the previous nights we had spent there. That was also without breakfast! It would have seemed that Asiarooms had hooked us up nicely with budget accommodation. Given that all our luggage was already in the hotel room we obliged and took on the extra night.

It had been decided that our first full day in Kyoto would be spent exploring the left hand side of Kyoto with the right hand side being left to day 3.

Our first stop was Kinkajuki Template aka The Golden Temple. We walked over to the bus stop which was conveniently situated right outside the station and caught a bus to the temple. Despite having maps at our disposal we were immediately lost the moment we stepped off the bus. Thankfully another group of foreigners were also sightseeing that day. We found the temple and paid the admission fee (the first of many). The Temple was stunning, set upon the banks of lake situated in the middle of a delectable Zen Garden. What would be a reoccurring theme we felt a slight injustice to our trip with the photo capture ability of our point and shoot cameras. If only we had access to a Digital SLR!

Unfortunately the whole first temple experience had a slightly organised feel to it. Crowds were taking turns to get that 'perfect' shot of the temple. People were ushered about following signs whilst herded around the garden. Nonetheless the temple was a nice little gem that impressed us both.

Following the instructions on our printed "walking guide" we followed the road down to the Ryoanji Temple. This temple contains a Rock Garden with the quipe "It is up to each visitor to find out for himself what this unique garden signifies" (Ryoanji Temple Guide). Talk about gender specific! This would also be our first interaction with a Pagoda (which isn't such the rarity in Japan). One thing about this trip is my grown appreciation Asian gardens. Japanese gardens are lush and exhibit almost every possible shade/tone of green textures and if you're lucky there might be an extravagant water feature.

5:00 pm By this stage the temperature had become an annoyance and walking had perhaps taken a toll on my poor feet. We had completed the left hand side and we were off to complete Central Kyoto. We walked around the huge Nijo Castle complex albeit closed we promised to come back another day. A short stroll down we winded up at the National Garden and Imperial Palace. It was rather disappointing. There's nothing spectacular about walking down gigantic pebbled roads in 28 degree heat on an overcast day. Tired wanderers dragging feet around the like a zombie with a checklist of 'must sees'. So gave way to our other catch call "This would be nicer in another season".

I'm not entirely sure but it may have been that we ended up at Ponto Cho that evening for dinner. What we ate and what the place looked like I can't really tell you.