Due to my overwhelming busy work schedule I have not been consistent in writing the travelogue for our Japan adventure 2 years back. I actually forgot about this one last post in Kyoto. Nevertheless, better late than never! :)
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Our last full day in Kyoto was spent exploring 3 Points of Interests. There are too many places to see in Kyoto and it was tough to choose which ones to go. We are grateful for the itinerary shared by traveler friends for somehow it made choosing easy. One picture, my friend Janice posted, really intrigued me why the Kinkaku-ji castle was a must visit. It was our focal POI on our last day and we chose the others near it.
Living in the outskirts of the city was already picturesque enough for tourists like us. Coming out to our own zen garden really is an experience to behold. The husband took one too many pictures and never gets tired of taking more.
Somehow we managed to to learn the bus timings better. This part of our journey is also nearer to where we stayed so we just go by bus and managed 3 major POI's on our last day.
We started with the breathtaking Kinkakuji, which means 'Temple of the Golden Pavilion.' I remember seeing a picture of the Zen Buddhist temple from my friend Janice post on Facebook and I remember commenting right away of its beauty. I remember Janice telling us that she look forward to my post with my family with the temple too. We never had plans to travel to Japan at that point, but somehow her wish for me came true and I am glad it did. There were too many tourist during the time of our visit and we can hardly get a good picture of the temple but that inconvenience did not dampen our spirits to enjoy the majesty of the place. We tried all the things we can do at the temple even down to the vending machines at the very exit to having a cordial conversation with one nut vendor outside the temple gates. He was selling wasabi coated peanuts which surprisingly was tasty even for my anti spicy palate. He loves the Philippines too he mentioned. Apparently his Dad frequent the Philippines for business and himself as well. He never gave us discount though. :)
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| Look at how aged and thick this plank of wood they used on the floor... yup, don't see any nails. |
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| Big boulders of stones neatly piled up is seen towering over the visitors entering the fortress |
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| Perched on top on one of the towers, is the only bridge we used to enter-- feels like in the movies of kings and knights |
Then one bus ride away was Nijo Castle. It was a crazy, big wooden castle complete with a moat!
This apparently is the home of the shogun. If my memory serves me right they say they never used nails in the construction of the wooden castle! Elaborate rooms to host different types of visitors is what I can remember but the most unique of them all were the floors.
As per Wikipedia ' One of the most striking features of the Ninomaru Palace are the "nightingale floors" (uguisubari) in the corridors. To protect the occupants from sneak attacks and assassins, the builders constructed the floors of the corridors in such a way as to squeak like birds when anyone walks on them.
Some of the rooms in the castle also contained special doors where the shogun's bodyguard could sneak out to protect him.
We walked on these floors ourselves and were impressed by the details of the building-- definitely an engineering marvel despite its age. No wonder it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We moved on to the gardens outside and ended our castle visit with a quick snack near the exit. They had interesting Japanese pancake of some sort that we eagerly tried before moving on to our last POI for the day.
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| Casey and Nina by the Kogetsudai, cone-shaped sand mound, at Ginkakuji Temple |
Our next stop was Ginkakuji, which means 'Temple of the Silver Pavilion'. From gold we went to the silver version. This one is smaller and we got there close to its closing time making it less crowded. From our trusted Wikipedia, 'Like Kinkaku-ji, Ginkaku-ji was originally built to serve as a place of rest and solitude for the shogun. During his reign as shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa inspired a new outpouring of traditional culture, which came to be known as Higashiyama Bunka (the Culture of the Eastern Mountain). Having retired to the villa, it is said Yoshimasa sat in the pavilion, contemplating the calm and beauty of the gardens as the Ōnin War worsened and Kyoto was burned to the ground.'
What I remembered though was the Zen sand garden. It's just amazing how they make something out of those boring looking sand. The street leading to the temple was also a sight in itself. The very clear waters in the canal. The stores who gave free tea and the ice cream stand that Casey loves. It was nice way to end our day seeing shop owners closing their stalls smiling at tired yet fulfilled tourists like us.
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| Yes, that's their canal... and those are tiny lobster-like creatures in it. |
We wanted to try their famous gyoza so we went to Gion again. This has got to be the BEST gyoza in the world! Seriously, I am not exaggerating. When I came back to Singapore I kept searching for gyoza. I ordered every gyoza I see in a menu but nothing tastes like this small-hole-in-the-wall gyoza place in Gion. They do not sell anything else in that store but gyoza and drinks. I can definitely live with that! :)
We tried walking around Gion at night hoping to bump into a geisha-- no luck on that. So we decided to go back to our ryokan. While we were waiting for our bus, Casey took selfies with Japanese ladies. From that day I know Casey has an inclination to like Japanese girls. When he is big enough to read this post, I hope I am wrong. I prefer having a blond-haired, blue-eyed grandson/daughter but if I am right, Japanese is not bad too especially if she knows how to make that gyoza. ~wink
To end the day, another beautiful picture of our very own Zen garden at night. :)
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