First shots in Kyoto, just outside Kyoto station. The second photo is of Kyoto Tower, just across the street from the station, and the third photo is from the major pedestrian crossing on the north side of the station, with the view of the interestingly designed station complex (there's a high-class hotel and a huge shopping mall attached).
K's House has become a very popular hostel chain in Japan, and I decided to stay at K's House Kyoto based on how clean K's House Tokyo was (and of course the great reviews the Kyoto branch received). You'll notice I took a photo of almost all the hostels I stayed while in Japan except for times I stayed at K's House, because they were all designed to have the same general appearance, so they were nothing special (and because it's so popular now, you can easily find pictures of its locations online). But of the different K's House places I stayed at, I have to say the Kyoto one was the best one in terms of facilities (and it's also the biggest of the chain). It was new (opened in 2008), very clean (obviously), had a huge common area, a clean and fully equipped modern kitchen, a balcony, an attached bar, and was so big it actually took up two adjacent buildings. It's pretty close to the train station too, but for some reason I found my first walk there quite difficult...they say it's an 8-10 minute walk from the station, but it took me 15 minutes with my 23kg pack.
After checking-in, I decided to spend the rest of the day hitting the most popular temples of Kyoto. If you don't already know, Kyoto can definitely be considered a cultural capital of Japan based on the vast number of temples and shrines it holds. So I headed back to the train station to first grab a quick lunch, and then catch the bus to my first destination: Kinkaku-ji (commonly called the Golden Pavilion in English), the famous golden temple. I probably just didn't know where to look, but I found it surprisingly hard to find a place to eat! I spent a good half hour looking for a place to eat in the station and mall area before deciding to finally head to the basement of the mall to grab a bento box lunch.
Based on the convenience and coverage, if you were to say the subway system ruled Tokyo, then the bus system rules Kyoto. It's definitely the most convenient way to visit all the major tourist attractions of Kyoto, and tourist office know it. There is a very handy bus system map available for the public (with English for foreigners) which shows how all the routes connect, similar to the subway map of Tokyo (why can't the TTC come up with something similar?). And while it was confusing at first glance to look at (because of all the different coloured lines going in all directions), after a few seconds of looking it over, it was very easy to navigate the complex bus routes.
Overlooking the stairs spanning 8-stories in the open-air section of the mall attached to Kyoto station. You can partially see the escalator on the left side for those who choose not to walk the steps (most don't) which stretch over the entire 11 stories of the mall (it's broken up in sections to allow access to every few floors). You can see most people just use the stairs to sit and hang out. That day, there was a high school band competition going on here (which is why there's an audience)...the ones I heard sounded a whole lot better than the St. Robert band ever did hahaha.
Riding my first bus in Kyoto. Look how advanced they are! The screen at the front displayed information in Japanese and English (very helpful!) such as current stop, next stop, fare and payment info (in case you're new to riding the buses in Japan), and general route info. And the bus drivers wear gloves (I noticed this too in a few other places when I was in Hokkaido)!
The Kinkaku-ji was spectacular - I was definitely impressed with how scenic it looked. It must have been quite a feat to construct - a multistory temple covered in gold foil and surrounded by quiet waters. It was the first temple I paid to see, but I was not disappointed.
A view of Okitayama (also called Hidari Daimonji) from outside the entrance to Kinkaku-ji. As you can tell, it's a giant kanji character written on the side of one of the 5 mountains that surrounds the city. It's lit up with fire once a year during the yearly festival of Gozan no Okuribi, along with the other characters written on the other mountains. The character means big. I didn't expect to see it, so I was impressed before even seeing my first temple!
Kinkaku-ji. I especially like the first photo, as it reflects off the water.You can see in the third photo the gold rooster(?) perched on the top of the roof.
I didn't know what those little rock statues were when I first saw them, but there was a crowd standing around them with some people trying to throw coins into the little bowl in the middle...I guess it's good luck if you get the coin in the bowl.
My next stop was the nearby temple Ryoan-ji, known for its distinctly styled rock garden. Unfortunately, the usual view of the garden was blocked due to construction and there was no way I was going to pay for a different view (since it's the original view that became the popular tourist attraction), so I didn't get a chance to see the famous rock garden. Luckily, the area outside the rock garden was free, so I spent my time walking around the area and taking in the view (which was still nice).
The long entrance walk to Ryoan-ji.
Some of the sights in the area outside the rock garden. There was a giant pond that was quite scenic, as seen in the first photo.
Ryoan-ji...as you can see it's under renovation.
There was another temple in the area, but I only had a few more hours before sunset, so I hopped back on the bus to the other side of town to a district called Higashiyama, where a large number of the temples were located. My plan was to first head to another popular temple in Kyoto called Kiyomizu-dera, and then to work my way up north through the side alleys to some of the other main temples of Higashiyama, which is an often recommended tourist walking guide. Despite not entering the inner grounds of Kiyomizu-dera (because I didn't feel like paying for another temple), I wasn't able to visit everything I wanted to see before nightfall...there was a lot to see.
Up Chawan-zaka (known as Teapot Lane in English), a tiny uphill street lined with tea shops and souvenir shops selling the usual fare, which leads to Kiyomizu-dera. It was a surprisingly long uphill walk.
At the entrance to Kiyomizu-dera.
Approaching the entrance to the inner grounds. The first photo is of the pagoda on the outer grounds.
In front of the admission gate, overlooking the forest that's viewable from the inner grounds.
Kiyomizu-dera is situated on a mountain, so it offers awesome views of the city. As you can see, the sun was already beginning to set by the time I was about to leave Kiyomizu-dera.
My walk north along the tiny walking alleys of Sannen-zaka and Ninen-zaka, lined with old wooden houses, shops selling traditional snacks and souvenirs, and small teahouses and cafes. I really felt like I was in Japan as I strolled through, and the atmosphere was only enhanced with the approaching night.
Further up along the path, at Ryozen Kannon, a giant 24m tall, 500 ton statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. I didn't get to walk right up to it to get a good look at it since it was getting dark and I wanted to see if I can catch another temple before nightfall.
Looking at Gion Tower of Daiun-in (another temple in the in the district, one of the less visited ones...I didn't visit it either haha).
At Yasaka-jinja (also known as Yasaka Shrine), the last temple I visited for the day. It's considered the guardian shrine of the adjacent Gion district. The second photo is of Haiden, the shrine's stage with many many lanterns hanging from the roof...it looked very nice at nice, as you can tell. Since I was coming through the side streets, I actually entered through an alternate entrance (in the first photo) and exited through the main gate Ro-mon (in the fourth photo).
Overlooking Shijo-dori (the main street extending into the horizon in the photo) running through the famous Gion district. The view is from the steps of Ro-mon.
I stopped in at the Lawson (one of the convenie chains) in Gion, originally looking to pick up some water, but I ended up walking out the store with these little treats! I'd never seen them in any other Lawson, and they were of obviously inferior quality compared to the specialty stores, but I had to try them. The one on the left is kinako daifuku, daifuku that is covered with kinako - toasted soybean that is ground into powder, which tastes very similar to powdered peanuts. The one on the right is sakuramochi, pink mochi with anko (red bean paste) inside (so like a pink daifuku) that's wrapped in a sakura leaf - you eat it with the leaf. They were both delicious! The sakuramochi was quite a surprise - the sweetness of the anko and pink mochi made a great contrast to the saltiness of the sakura leaf.
After grabbing a quick drink from the Lawson, I headed south of Shijo-dori into the main Gion district in search of one of Japan's most famous icons, the ever elusive geisha. The people at the hostel had mentioned to me that walking through the streets of Gion would allow me to experience the atmosphere of old Kyoto. I guess I must have been expecting something else because I didn't expect the streets to be so quiet and dimly lit...it definitely evoked a feeling of old Japan, with its small wooden traditional-styled buildings lined the narrow streets. Most of these buildings were very pricey restaurants and bars, which makes sense, as Gion was (and still is) known for its high-class restaurants where people with money could dine and hire geishas for entertainment. Well, I ended up walking through the streets for a good 15 minutes or so without any luck of spotting a geisha, so I headed back over to Shijo-dori, which I had noticed was lined with many restaurants and shops. I was going to search for dinner but instead was met with two very unexpected surprises. When I got back to Shijo-dori and stood at the corner trying to figure out where to go, I heard 2 familiar voices pass by. It was the two Australian girls I briefly talked to in Osaka! Sufficed to say we were very surprised to bump into each other! So we started to chat for a bit and I was telling them how I had come to the Gion district in search of a geisha, when (wouldn't you know it) I spotted in the corner of my eye a real-life (as opposed to a fake) geisha crossing the street towards us! Someone told me earlier that it was considered bad luck to take a photograph of a geisha, but I didn't care. I tried to grab a few quick pictures but she was walking so fast that they ended up pretty blurry (you'll see pretty soon below). The girls had already been in Kyoto for a day or so, so after our geisha sighting, we headed off along Shijo-dori in search of a place where I could grab an affordable dinner (since even the "cheap" restaurants in the Gion district required expensive, and the girls already had dinner plans). Well we couldn't find one (finding a place to eat in Kyoto seemed to be a problem for me for some reason) before the girls had to leave for their dinner, so after we said our goodbyes, I caught the bus back to Kyoto station, where I finally grabbed some dinner at the Ramen Alley - the name for the 10th floor of the connected mall that only had restaurants selling ramen. It was my first bowl of ramen since I had left Hokkaido, and it was definitely different (as each area of Japan has its own variation on ramen). The soup obviously had a different flavour to the miso ramen of Hokkaido (I remember it being not as salty), and even the texture of the ramen wasn't the same - it wasn't as chewy, which I had really liked. But that's not to say it was bad, just different and similar (in terms of toppings) at the same time. I planned a long day for the next day, so I headed back to the hostel to grab as much sleep as possible.
Along the streets of Gion. The fourth photo is of one of the many high-class whiskey bars in the area, but I had to snap a picture of this one I stumbled on because of the sign out front...Big T!!!
My only photos of the geisha we saw! She was walking so fast, and I was shooting at slow speeds since it was nighttime, so I could only grab the 2 blurry photos. She walked right past us though, less than a metre away when she passed us! I remember a look of nervousness or anxiety on her face as she walked towards us, which one of the girls noticed and mentioned it was probably because of the tourists taking photos of her (you can see one in the first photo walking behind her). The girl in the 2nd photo was one of the Australian girls (sorry I forgot their names)...she looks scared because she said the geisha looked directly at her and it gave her chills hahaha!
Some shots along Shijo-dori. The second photo is of homemade kushi dango (the mochi balls on skewers dessert) being freshly cooked. The banners of geishas with skulls for faces caught my eye as I passed the souvenir shop in the third photo.
Kyoto Tower at night, outside Kyoto Station.
From the 10th floor of the open-air section of the connected mall at Kyoto Station after finishing my dinner. Much quieter at night (obviously)...seems to be a popular date-night spot though. I saw quite a few young couples just chilling out on the steps as I walked down.
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