Also known as Kikaku-ji Temple, the Golden Pavilion is indeed golden and we took quite a few pictures of the temple itself, the many wishing “wells” – see below pics and the koi in the pond. We also bought a few trinkets here. We selected some good luck medallions and pouches containing slabs of wood with good luck symbols on them. I got one for good health, for a friend, who had been recovering from some heart problems and a golden pendent for myself.

Another bus ride and we were off to Nijojo Castle for the evening and dinner at Immedegawa. (Sandy was forever grateful for Mos Burger!) As much as I love Japanese cuisine, we tended to go to restaurants that also had alternatives for Sandy. After days of noodles, miso soup and chicken cooked so raw I feared salmonella etc… I was ready for another burger LOL

We headed back to the temple for some peace and quite. It’s quite odd walking through temple grounds late at night. Everything is eerily still and we felt like interlopers.

Imagine this at night!

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Day 5 -Shunkoin Temple

Posted on May 9, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays | 4 Comments

Five days in, it was time to do the laundry, which was free due to the new annex of K’s House being complete next door. Unfortunately, free isn’t always good. We killed our clothes. Something in the brand new machine turned all of our light coloured clothing purple!!

Sandy was gutted as she had a few rather expensive new tops in the wash while I had some old t-shirts that weren’t that affected.

After a brunch of waffles at the UCC cafe, we lugged our baggage all the way back to Kyoto Station and boarded the train headed for Shunkoin. On a side-note, I will never, ever again take luggage on a trip where I move location more than once. A back-pack, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 t-shirts and a jumper. THAT’S IT!! Dragging unwieldy baggage over sidewalks, gravel and cobblestones to get to the temple where we were staying (in the centre of huge temple grounds housing about 10 other temples (none of which you could stay in) was a task I prefer not to repeat.

Shunkoin

Our room at Shunkoin Temple

We met our host Rev. Taka, who spent some time in America studying and therefore spoke rather good english, who showed us to one of the two rooms available for hire in the temple. It was beautiful. Georgeous hardwood floors, heated carpet under the futons, private ensuite and rock pillows. Yes, I said rock. Ok, I lie. Not rock but plastic pellets meant to simulate small river stones. A bit like a bean-bag but harder…lol.

That might have taken some getting used to but we were only there 2 nights so I never did get the hang of NOT bunching it up under my head while I slept.

We took a small tour of the Myosin-ji Temple grounds before it got dark and returned to our room to figure out where to get dinner.

Temple on the grounds

At this point, I turned to Sandy and said “Where’s your pen?” Sandy replied “Yay! We’re in Japan!”

“Huh?”

Didn’t you just say “We’re in Japan?”

“No, I said W h e r e’ s  y o u r  p e n?”

Laughter ensued….

From this point forward, anytime Sandy didn’t hear me and said “What?” I would reply “We’re in Japan!”

We wound up having dinner at a place called Raku Raku as recommended by Rev. Taka and it was a great experience. The host cooked us up a feast and him and his daughter were fascinated by us. We taught them some english and they taught us some Japanese. They took pictures and so did we!

The gang at Raku Raku

I’m pretty sure that our picture is on thier website (it was the last time I looked) but it’s VERY unflattering so… no link for you!

Sandy won a notepad on a scratch card that we got with some sort of alcohol - the name escapes me now, but the guys at Raku Raku were pretty excited about it. The evening ended with us lying on our heated futons, listening to the rain beat on the roof of the temple and chatting away trying to stay awake until Mum woke up so we could call her to wishe her happy birthday. Our girly giggling, led to the French guy in the next room, (the only other accommodation in the temple) holler “Lights out!”

Guess he was grouchy from all his walking!

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Day 4 - Osaka & Himegi

Posted on May 2, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays | Leave a Comment

Himegi castle was one of the sites that was on the top of both Sandy’s and my list to see while in Japan. It is the oldest authentic (not restored) castle in Japan and is certainly a sight to behold.

It was well and truly worth the 2+ hours on the train to get there and Sandy and I thoroughly enjoyed climbing up and up through the keep and towers, looking at all of the family crests and tombs in the walls of the castle. At about the halfway point, you come to a landing where this is the view.

We continued to climb all the way to the top of the castle where we received a stamp to prove we’d done it. You’d be surprised how many places offer you a stamp! We of course, got them all!

View from the top

On our return to Osaka, we decided to pay a visit to Osaka Imperial Palace & Museum.

The bridge to Osaka

The Palace/Museum

It was getting a bit dark when we left and we got this shot of the palace.

After spending some time sitting at the fountain in the Palace park,
 

We tried mostly unsuccessfully to get some night shots and headed home for dinner and to send some flowers home for our Mother. It was her birthday the following day and we wanted it to be special seeing as both her daughters were halfway around the world.

On getting back to the hostel we met Fred and Lisa. Two Americal girls who were on virtually the same path through Japan that we were.

Lisa (Portland, Oregon)

Fred (Pheonix, Arizona)

In fact, we had actually booked the temple that they had wanted to stay in and were the reason they got turned down. We recommended Himegi as a great place to visit and marvelled over the fact that though we met in Kyoto, our paths would cross again in Mt Fuji-san and Tokyo!

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Day 3 - Kyoto Imperial Palace

Posted on April 26, 2008
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Heading off fairly early again on foot, we decided to find the Nishiki Markets on our way to the Imperial Palace.

Ever notice that distances on a map never look quite as far as they really are? Even with your ratio [————-] = 1 kilometre. It still seems closer than what it really is.

W popped into quite a few little shrines along the way (that we never would have seen had we bussed everywhere) and finally reached Daihatsu where we did a little girly shopping - hey, what’s a vacation without shopping? Some make-up and hair accessories later, and a browse through the Nishiki Markets, we took our time wandering through the Imperial Gardens, taking photos and searching endlessly for a bathroom with a western style toilet.

The true test of how badly you need to pee lies in deciding whether you have to use a Japanese toilet..LOL

Thankfully Mos Burger (Japan’s answer to Hungry Jacks) is fully equiped for western tourists both facility-wise and food-wise. Filled with burgers and melon soda (Yum!) we continued our walking tour of all the little local shrines before heading back to the hostel for a wee rest before dinner.

Stupidly thinking we’d dress up a bit, Sandy and I donned our heels and headed off by metro to Ponto-Cho, the night-life spot in Kyoto. Little did we know that Ponto-Cho is mostly cobblestone (Arg!) AGONY of the feet after another day of 15+ km of walking.

Did I mention that I had Plantar Fascia in BOTH feet? For those of you out there who are not podiatrists, that is a torn tendon in the feet. It feels like you are standing on bruised heels all the time and it particularly excruciating early morning, late at night and after lots of walking…I digress.

We were looking for a restaurant with an english menu and saw one that had pizza on it not far down the alley. Sandy is allergic to fish so that limited our choices. Pizza sounded good so we headed inside the Italian restaurant with a french name ( I forget what the name was but remember it was french) in Japan.

Inside was tiny …and empty except for 1 guy in jeans and a T-shirt smoking a fag.  A little concerned, Sandy and I breifly discussed how to leave politely but woulnd up sitting down for fear of hurting the guys feelings. We braced ourselves with fuzzy navels and proceeded to order.

“We’ll share a pizza.” I said confidantly. He started walking away. * Second thoughts* “Wait!” I called, “What’s on it?”  I had realized there was no listing of ingredients on the menu.

In stilted english he replied “Onions, capsicum, mushrooms, olives, cheese…” and with a flourish worthy of a french waiter in a 5 star restaurant, he wisks what looks to be a dish towel off of a leg of ham on a wooden chopping block, complete with big bite mark out of it as he says “and raw ham!”

Sandy and I control the urge to flee quite impressively and I change my order to steak. At least if that’s not cooked through, I can eat it! (I like my steak rare.)

Then, the waiter’s face lit up. “Vegetarian?” he suggests. “Yes,thank you!!” we both agree.

And thus begins one of the best dinning experiences we had in Japan.

Food…great! ( We wound up with both steak and pizza, both delicious.)
Atmosphere…cozy and friendly
Company…superb
After hobbling home, wincing and complaining laughingly the whole way we played cards in the common room with some fellow aussie travellers (Andrew & Brandon) to the wee hours of the night and then slept like logs in our bunks. This was the night we discovered the heating in the room…lol

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Day 2 - Kyoto

Posted on April 20, 2008
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Bright and early after a HEAVY sleep in our bunkbeds, (I got the top bunk…boo) Sandy and I got up and decided to set out exploring on foot.

Sandy in her bunk.

We looked fruitlessly for an open breakfast restaurent before stumbling apon the biggest blessing in Japan…the vending machine.

Tasty warm and cold beverages on every street corner

Coffeed up (mine hot and Sandy’s cold) we headed in the general direction of some nearby temples. Along the way, we got our very first glimpse of a real geisha. Dressed in an exquisite pink silk kimono, she minced out of her house and walked (hobbled) in front of us to the street corner. I was so enthralled, I was bumping into people because I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Then the most surreal thing happened…

She reached into her little matching silk bag and pulled out…a mobile phone. *FLINK* She flips it open with expert precision and calls herself a cab.

Mouth agape, I stared, transfixed by the wrongness of what I had just seen. That did NOT just happen! Struck by the oddity of old world tradition meets new-age technology, we continued on our way.

Our first stop, Higashi Otani Mausoleum. There was lots of people around and the air was filled with the smell of incense. I got a great picture of Buddha in here. It’s a bit blurry but I love how he fills the picture.

Next stop, Yasaka-jinja. Not the best place for those nervous on stairs or in tight spaces because it has both! Another few geishas were on thier way to temple and were nice enough to stop for photos. My favorite is one I got from behind. LOVE those kimonos.

From here, we walked through a large market area (LOTS of great souvenirs - Sandy bought a geisha doll) and onto Kodajai Temple…

Dragon Path

and Ryozan-Kwannon Temple. Here we found our very first cherry blossoms and one giant Buddha!

Great big Buddha

After a 15 kilometre walking tour, we were pooped and hungry. Someone in the hostel had recommended a nearby restaurant so we headed there for a HUGE meal. Well worth it just for the atmosphere but the food was great too.

Still a little jet-lagged we made an early night of it, picking up some stuff for breakfast the next day and watching a movie. I’m not sure either of us saw the end of it!

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