So yesterday spent another day in Kyoto, and went to the Kiyomizudera (pure water temple), Ginkakuji, and also some park in Kyoto.
Kiyomizudera, or the pure water temple, is a temple built on the side of a hill in Kyoto. Like pretty much everything else in Kyoto, this place has been around for quite some time, and is famous for the water coming out of the temple. The bus stop is at the bottom of the hill, and you have to walk about 1km up a hill to reach teh temple proper. This road happens to be where all the tourist stalls are, selling green tea ice cream, and gifts for friends back home. It was a freezing cold day, and continuing the Kiwi tradition, I bought myself an ice cream. 250 yen later, I was eating a half chocolate/half soymilk ice cream. Tell you what, soymilk is a horrible flavour. Who ever came up with that was not onto a good idea. The only redeeming thing about this ice cream was the fact that there was a chocolate side.
After dodging literally hundreds of people, made it up to the top of the road, and to the entrance of the temple. Another day, another temple. This one was a little different from the others, being built up on the side of a hill, and pretty much on stilts, it has a commanding view of Kyoto. You can also sample some of the pure water if you like, but the lines to do so are pretty significant, and we’ve got some pretty pure water in New Zealand, so I passed on that.
I headed back down the hill, and found a place where everything inside was 1050 yen. Whether this was cheap or not was debateable, think of it as a $15 dollar store. Weirdly, the only thing I wanted in the store was a Yukata, which is a Japanese Summer Kimono, and was 2000 yen. Sure, that’s only $30, but it’s still $30. Flagging that, I continued to walk down the road. Another popular thing in Japan is buying lucky dip bags, and is a great way to buy presents for people back home. I bought a lucky dip bag for some of mine and Kathryn’s mates for 1000 yen, and contains 5000 yen worth of gifts, with the only pitfall of you not knowing what you’re buying. So Kate and Sam, I hope you enjoy your gifts.
Caught the 101 bus to the Ginkakuji, which is the silver pavilion. In contrast to all the bustle at the Kinkakuji, the Ginkakuji has far less people, and is a far more enjoyable experience. They’re a big fan of shaping sand there, and so you can see what looks like rivers in the sand flowing around bonsai trees and rocks. Also, there was a massive sand sculpture which looked much like an upside down bowl. I don’t know why or what it means, but it was pretty precise, and was amazing, if not a little bizzare. The gardens at Ginkakuji are pretty amazing, and are worth having a stroll around. Considering Ginkakuji is really the world’s sweetest retirement home, you can understand why everything is so peaceful and serene. It kinda makes you wonder why they’re all like this, and are instead the dismal places that they are. Anyways, you walk past a sculptured garden, and then head up through a bamboo forest, to see another view of Kyoto, before heading back down and around past the moss garden.
After all this, I was feeling a little hungry and decided to grab a bite to eat. Headed into a place selling Japanese food. My hot tip – if you buy food from a place that’s nearby a temple, expect to pay about twice the price you normally should. I ended up buying a Beef Ricebowl, or Donburi. It was pretty good, but not 800 yen good. If you’ve ever had say, a Sausage in Bread with onions and thought to yourself, man, this could do with like 10 times more onions, I recommend buying a beef Donburi. It was 40% rice, 50% onion, and 10% beef stuff. The Miso soup was not Miso soup, but instead a burnt tasting bitter water with rubber bands in it. Not super recommended. The green tea was delicious, as it always is.
After this, I’d had enough of hanging out with all the people around the temples, so instead I decided to catch the subway to the final stop, which happens to be where the Kyoto International Conference Center is. It seems like a weird place to go, but there’s an artificial lake there, and is a good place toe relax and escape the bustle of Kyoto. And Escape I did, except for the fact it was so damn cold. Of course, it is the middle of Winter, so it’s probably not a surprise. The place would be a lovely place to go in summer and have a picnic. In Winter though, it’s just a good place to relax by yourself, and regain your thoughts before heading back into the bustle.
By this time, it was time to head back to Osaka, and plan a New Years party. There’s a few different ways to you can from Kyoto to Osaka, either the Shinkansen, or the local train, or a rapid train, or even a limited express. They all have their pros and cons. The limited express is the best if you have a bit of time, and would like to do some sightseeing. It goes roughly half the speed of the Shinkansen, but doesn’t use tunnels, so you actually see Japan. The rapid trains go more often, but stop at a few stations, and the local would really be the last resort. Shinkansen are always a good idea, except the Hikari and Kodoma trains only go every hour or so, so you might be in for a bit of a wait – it could be shorter to just catch a limited express instead.
Anyways, ended up drinking with a whole bunch of people from the hostel, Casper the american guy, another american guy I forget the name off who lives in Japan and Germany, two finnish brothers and their girlfriend, and two Australian girls. Was a great time. Cans of Chi-hi, which is like Smirnoff Ice, 500ml for $3 just go down a treat. Then we decided to catch the train to JR Namba station, because that’s always where the party’s at. Turns out we could find any bars there, and we only had 30 minutes until New Years. In the end went to this small American Flag Place, and it turned out to be a great night.
The cover charge was one drink, which isn’t really a cover charge to be honest. Had a really delicious paradiso + orange, it just went down like delicious water, and it really hit the spot. Casper bought us all drinks which was nice, and we counted down for New Years. Once it turned New Years, there was a special treat – Michael Jackson. I thought he was dead. And not Japanese. But turns out I was wrong, and here he was in the flesh, singing and dancing his way back to success. Only in Japan, only in Japan. Anyways, had a ball of a time, caught the train back to Shin-Imamiya, and then had a midnight snack before hitting the sack at 3am.
Didn’t end up catching the bullet train to Himeji at 7am for some reason.