京都 (上) [Kyoto Pt 1]

On Saturday, we went to Kyoto. It was so much fun!

First, we went to 金閣寺 (Kinkakuji) Temple. The Golden Pavilion is its most famous attraction. I had to disappoint, so below is a picture of the beautiful pavilion.


I also have a picture of the my favorite part of the Kinkakuji, where the money is at. :D


Lastly, there are pictures of Ava-san reading her fortune.


She's reading it in Japanese... because she can!


We made her show us the English side, as the rest of us are less proficient in Japanese. :)

Afterwards, we went to 龍安寺 (Ryouanji) Temple. It has a super nice rock garden!


That's me going through my very first 鳥居 (torii)! It was exciting business.


Above is the rock garden at Ryouanji, but it doesn't do it much justice!


In the temple, they had had a miniture rock garden, too. I overheard a tourguide say that you're supposed to be looking for the large rocks that are submerged in the sand. That's the beauty of the rock gardens. For instance, he counts 15 large rocks upon first inspection, but upon closer examination, he pointed out a few more that were mostly submerged. Deep, huh?

We also went to 仁和寺 (Ninnaji) Temple. It was really nice. All the temples in Kyoto were so amazing~ It really gave me peace of mind.

On our way to ninnaji, we stumbled upon a small temple/cemetery. There, I saw my very first Japanese bell! It might be made by 香取正彦 (Masahiko Katori), who is one of Japan's Living National Treasures. But... I need to double check my sources.




While we were meandering through the small streets of Kyoto, a nice obasan (auntie) tried to direct us to the nearest temple. She was so cute! However, we were just heading towards 妙心寺(Myoushinji) Temple via smaller streets. It was very nice of her though!

We called a night and went through more shopping districts. I was taking pictures of the very first Pachinko place I went in, but they told me it wasn't allowed. Well, I don't think they knew enough English to ask me to delete the photo. w00t

We stayed overnight at J-Hoppers. It's a very clean & economical hostel, for those that are interested. It comes highly reccomended by me!!!