Darren weblog

So the exact order of this post and the Hiroshima post are a little mixed. We arrived in Kyoto from Tokyo to make camp and explore Kyoto and surrounding areas from here – to make full use of our Japan rail pass. So we first had a couple of days in Kyoto, getting a feel for the place and then our trip to Hiroshima. When looking to book accommodation in Kyoto we left it late, so we could not get into our first choice and our second choice only had availability for our latter 4 nights – so we needed another hostel for nights 1 & 2. The first hostel was expensive & not the cleanest and the host would not stop talking. Even when checking out, and throwing him a line about us going to Hiroshima he told us that was not wise: “A day trip is enough” – we didn’t have the heart to tell him the truth! However, near to this first hostel we did “Onsen” again, though not as luxurious as Tokyo, it was good and we are both Onsen lovers!

Once back in Kyoto we had a day for temples. Now, Kyoto has approx. 1300 temples and a few hundred shrines in case the temples are overrun. We chose, from the book, two temples to go visit. The first it turned out was under scaffolding – typical and not cheap to get into. The gardens were spectacular though which made up somewhat. The second temple was more a collection of small temples which formed a huge complex. At neither temple did we see the temple we wanted, the one shown in the book! The afternoon plan was to go visit the ??? shrine which is essentially 4km of gates (some may have seen them in the film ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’). The sight & feel for the place was special and a delight to visit. Having identified the temple we wanted to see we set out – but time was against us and half way there we conceded defeat and instead went for dinner!

The next day was planned to capacity. We had an early start (8am!) to get to the Kinkaku-Ji Temple and it was worth the alarm clock. The temple was AWESOME. Pictures below.

From here we made our way to Nara for a day trip. Nara is home to the largest wooden building structure in the world and I was excited to see it. We decided to best spend our time in Nara we would following the walking tour (which passed said large building). We had read also in the book that Deer’s are plentiful in Nara as historically they were messengers from God in pre-Buddha times. Well, they are certainly revered and plentiful – they simply stroll around the streets/parks in the heart of Nara begging for food off young children!

Said large building was above all expectations. It was rebuilt late 1700′s to, apparently, 2/3′s the original size – OMG – it is massive enough today! Inside said shed (!) is as usual a large Buddha. Around the back of the Buddha is a hole in one of the support pillar’s which is said to be the same size as the Buddha’s nostril – and those that can pass through the hole are blessed. So there was a huge queue of people waiting to try. I tried to persuade Karen to try – but she wouldn’t – or was that here fear for trying?!

On the way back from Nara we made aquantances with two yanks on a day trip from Tokyo – the guy had survived eating Fogu the night before but was feeling ill that afternoon and definitely green – I hope he lives?!

Out last full day in Kyoto before a day of travelling form Kyoto -> Tokyo -> airport for Shanghai, we ventured to the coast, it was like a trip to Blackpool! Fortunately for us when we got there the sea was only a 40 meters away not 67 miles like at Blackpool AND the sun was shining! This second fact didn’t actually register with myself nor Karen and under the thin clouds we bathed – without cream, and yes you guessed it, BURNT! doh! Anyway, it would be a tan in a day or two! A day on the beach was very welcome, I finished Karen’s book (yes, Karen’s book – ‘Pride & Prejudice’) and then listened for hours to the iPod – awesome!

Next we return to China and briefly Shanghai – Part 1!