Crazy Digest: Japan2012: Kyoto 5D/4N Itinerary

Date of travel: 2-6 April 2012

Entrance to Nishin Honganji Temple

To start the day, we decided to try out the closest temple to our hotel, which is Nishin Honganji. The moment we entered, we saw about 1000 women on the grounds, all dressed in suits and heels. Turns out that it was some orientation for the Kyoto Women's University. The temple is known for its gardens, but the temple itself was nothing to shout about. Would have skipped this on hindsight.

The main temple inside, very huge

Intricate carvings on the doors

At the temple toilets, I found a 3-in-1 sink. Wash, soap and dry in a single basin!

In almost any country we visit, we somehow end up at a neighbourhood area of the city. This time, we were in search of Cycle Eirin, a reknown bicycle shop selling second hand bicycles. I accidentally remembered the name of the street wrongly, and we were plopped in the middle of a neighbourhood along Marutama Street. We found a local pet store with the cheapest dog treats we could find in Japan. Luckily we bought 2 packets for dog. For lunch, we ventured into a shop whose waiter is a vending machine. Followed the pics and got our food delivered by another waiter. It was super delicious!

Taking our slow walk along Marutama Street

Many quaint neighbourhood shops like this florist

Choose your food from the top, and put in your money

Select your food number, and get a ticket. Hand the ticket to the counter

Saba Shioyaki for 590¥. Yummy!

Pork Katsu Don. So huge! So great! hehehehe

Having enough of a slow day, we decided to head to one of the star attractions - Ginkakuji (Silver Temple). It's one of my favourite places, very serene and beautiful. It has a much smaller path compared to Kiyomizudera temple, but the gardens are really nice. Be sure to check out Philosopher's Path prior to entering the temple.

Philosopher's Path, that would have been filled with cherry blossoms

Can you spot us?

There we are again!

Too tired to walk in? Ninja men are here to save the day!

The Silver Temple isn't quite silver

Look at the beautiful moss

At every attraction, there's bound to be someone dressed like this

The hike uphill towards the Silver temple. It wasn't that crowded when we came up!

Hey cat, stop staring!

On the way, lo an behold I spotted Cycle Eirin a few streets down :) So that's where we went after the temple visit. Unfortunately they didn't hv many folding bikes. Only one used Dahon boardwalk for RM1200.

Finally found the bike shop! But nothing we could bring home.

On the way back, we stopped by Takashimaya at Shijo street because we're curious what a Takashimaya in Japan would look like. We were disappointed. It looked old, bare, and small - not like the glitzy ones in Singapore. Still, we got our stock of phiten products here, much cheaper than in Malaysia. The supermarket was no fun, overly crowded with old women buying seafood and vegetables. Very hard to jostle my way to find interesting foods.

After such a tiring day of walking, we headed back to unload. This is the night where we chanced upon a great restaurant nearby our hotel. There were 5 floors to choose from, and I coincidentally picked Floor No.4 on the lift and this was my review of the restaurant : Macchaya

Yasaka Shrine entrance

This is the junction of Gion and Yasaka shrine at night

Since it was great weather, off to Gion after dinner. The bus dropped us off in front of Yasaka shrine, which was open even till 11pm. It has many lighted lanters and some stalls selling snack foods, which I think were temporary. After getting some great pics, we walked along Gion to the old town street known for the geishas and managed to spot a few of them. But there were soooooo many taxis zooming past, that it was hard to get a good shot!