Friday, June 6, 2008

Gold and Holy Water

June 2, 2008

Plan to go to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) in the morning and probably head to Kiyomizu-dera with Ryan in the afternoon. I need to do some laundry. The smell from my socks could knock out a small child.

It's raining again here...

We grab breakfast from a combini (convenience store) called Lawsons. I got orange juice, an apple and two onigiri. Winston gets a mini okonomiyaki.

We head to Ryoanji first to check out the famous Zen rock garden. The rest of the tourists makes the place not very Zen. There's a moss garden to the side that I enjoy a bit more since everyone's crowded around the rock garden. I feel that it was a bit overrated but I bought a cute little souvenir. We walked around then went to Kinkakuji and learned that it was a rebuild because the original burned to the ground. Took pics. Saw a picture of Kinkakuji in the winter. It looks like it would be cool to visit when there's some snow. As we walked through the grounds Ryan managed to toss a coin into one of the fenced off bowls sitting around the grounds and our day of luck began.

Took a bus for headed back to Kawaramachi Sanjo station to find a place to have lunch. No bus wait time, thanks Ryan. We were looking for a place in Ryan's guidebook but decided to walk into place we were right beside. I got combo that consisted of udon, rice with tempura and some sour veggies. Went to Teramachi to kill some time as Ryan printed off some pics. We run across a massive manga/book store so we hopped in and I looked around for artbooks for Sean. FAIL. Next stop is Chicago clothing store. Jen and Ryan go around and try on a bunch of kimonos on. We spend a ton of time there trying on stuff. Asked about hakama and a Shinsengumi haori. FAIL. Looks like Jen got a kimono and some kind of haori. Ryan got a kimono undergarment and a belt tie but no actual kimono. They were all too small for him.

We head out so as not to miss Kiyomizu-dera since Ryan and Jen need to meet back at the hostel at 5:40 to head to Nara. Kiyomizu-dera is at the top of a hill surrounded on both sides by lots of shops. The surrounding area is full of trees and there's a really nice view of Kyoto. I go and wash my hands at a dragon fountain by the entrance. There's a pair of metal monk's staffs with rings just past the entrance for people to try and lift. Think Miroku from Inuyasha. The little one is pretty heavy but you can lift it one with one hand. It takes both Ryan and I to lift the second one and it sounds like it's a solid chunk of metal so it was probably over 150lbs. Just past that is the Kiyomizu stage and there is a group of old ladies doing Buddhist chants. Just off the path to the left is the love stones. They're a pair of stones spaced some distance apart (I can't remember how far it was) and if you manage to navigate from one to the other with your eyes closed, you'll have success in your love life. Ryan is successful. Hax I say. I decide to try it for fun and get bumped from behind by a girl. Apparently I almost ran into another girl headed to opposite way from the other stone as well. I end up wandering to the left. Is it an omen of things to come? To be sabotaged by women? I kid.

We return to the main path and see Kiyomizu stage in all of its tourist filled glory. It's raining and seeing as how the stage is full of tourists I decide I'll come back at some later time to take better pics. The path takes us down to the area where we can drink the holy water that's flowing from 3 streams of water. Ryan grabs some water from each stream, while I got crowded by old people and only managed to get some water from one of the streams. Holy water is pretty tasty.

Leaving Kiyomizu for the bus was nice because it all downhill. We tried some sample mochi along the way. There was peach flavor, soda flavor (yes soda) and a purple one with a leaf (kinda strange tasting). We get back to hostel with good timing by the bus again, thanks Ryan. Awesome timing even. We make plans for Nara and Thursday (it's Monday). Jen and Ryan head off for Nara for an overnight stay. We plan to meet up with them tomorrow and go visit Koya-san, a famous mountain in the area. Ryan books us a tour for Nijo-jinya for Thursday through the hostel. The staff are extremely helpful.

Did laundry tonight. Yay! No more smelly socks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

OMMMGGGGGGG LAWSON'S IS LOOOOVE! hahahaha you totally have to eat/drink "lemon C" its this jelly drink.. SOOOO GOOD i love it.. i want some right now! hahahah
-Linda