Gorgeous sights: Kinkaku-ji and Arashiyama WIP - Kyoto, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Where I stayed
Small World Guesthouse
What I did
Arashiyama Kyoto
Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji) Kyoto
Monkey Park Iwatayama Kyoto
Ryoan - ji Temple Kyoto
I'm not sure I can fit all the awesomeness we saw this day in just one blog post! But I'll try!
Kinkaku-ji
In the morning we took the bus to the Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. This was the fist time since coming to Japan that we saw this many tourists. Before our little group of four stood out more amongst the Japanese. Now about the Kinkaku-ji: it's stunning and ridiculously photogenic. The water of the surrounding pond makes the golden temple glitter in the sun. After gazing with our mouths open at the temple we tried out hand at tossing coins into a bowl, and failed miserably. It's supposed to bring you good luck if you managed to toss a coin into the bowl. Being the cheap-asses that we are we used coins with a value of about € 0,01. A lot more expensive was the tea we had at the tea house. It wasn't a complete tea ceremony, but we got the traditional tea and a fancy looking sweet. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't delicious either. The tea did nothing to quench our thirsts so we went to the nearby vending machine for refreshments. One of these was different from the others we encountered so far: it dispensed the drinks in paper cups. More importantly, it had a new type of Fanta: Fanta Mellon Soda! Quite delicious. Japanese Fanta count: 2.
Ryoan-ji
Next stop was the Ryoan-ji. The Ryoan-ji was as un-photogenic as the Kinkaku-ji was photogenic. The temple itself is quiet plain (befitting the Zen Buddhism) but it's still one of Kyoto's top attractions, it's even UNESCO world heritage. Why is this you ask? The rock garden. You heard me, rocks. You see, it's a very philosophical scene. In the courtyard there are 15 rocks, but not matter which side you stand on, you can never see them all. It's a place for quiet meditation. The rock garden and temple itself might not have been very photogenic, the large surrounding garden and pond certainly was. The lilies were in bloom and allowed me to take some nice pictures. The trees in the garden gave plenty of shade for a nice walk.
Arashiyama
After two main tourist attractions the bus brought us two the quiet town of Arashiyama. Finding something to eat there proved quiet challenging. Eventually we settled for a fancy looking restaurant with a waterfall feature behind the window and a teddy bear holding the table number. So far so good, but this is also where the food let us down for the first time. I had cold soba noodles that were quite bland. The many tofu side dishes were even worse. Determined not to let the food set the tone for the rest of the day we went to the riverside to see the Togetsukyo bridge. The scenery was absolutely stunning. Clear blue water, an old bridge and foresty hills in the background. In the middle of the river there's a small island with a few buildings.
We crossed the river to visit the Iwatayama Monkey Park. We didn't know what to expect and the worn down entrance did not create the greatest expectations. A small and curvy path led up the hill. Halfway there was a small playground, not for people, but for the monkeys. It's also there that we saw our first monkeys! They came quite close but let us in peace. A bigger surprise was what was waiting for us on the top of the hill: a stunning view of Kyoto city. And monkeys, lots of 'em. We got to feed them peanuts, but only if we remained inside the feeding house. Any fences you see are not meant to keep monkeys inside, they're meant to protect us from hungry monkeys that are roaming free on the outside.
*to be continued*