Kyoto part 3, Japan

Here we go, part 3 of Kyoto. Given the amount of interesting locations in Kyoto alone, we ended up spending quite a few days here. Plus, we're loving the countryside and friendly atmosphere of Kyoto.

When it comes to Kyoto, these two temples will definitely be mentioned. The shiny duo, Ginkakuji (not shiny & not even sure why it’s called silver when it’s definitely not silver) and Kinkakuji.

Even though the place is called Ginkakuji a.k.a. Silver Pavilion, personally, I think the sand dunes (?) and formation is much more interesting than the actual temple. But that’s just me.

Next we walk through the serene Philosopher’s Path. Seriously, everything is calm and peaceful.

There were even fishes and ducks in their ‘longkang’.

Sunbathing cats. :D

If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a bunch of cats lingering around. It seems common for the locals to feed them around this area.

Next up, we have Kinkakuji. The actual shiny temple covered in gold leaves. Here are some photos that you usually see online.

And here’s what you’ll actually see when you’re there. It made sense for them to ban the use of tripod (in most places, actually). I can only imagine people tripping and falling in to the lake.

Still not enough brown leaves..

When Scarlet was planning the trip in Kyoto, she was aware of the special illumination event at Kiyomizudera temple. And my god, if you think it’s crowded enough during the day, you absolutely cannot imagine the crowd when there’s a special event.

It was so crowded I didn’t even get to take any photos. There’s a 10 minutes hike from the main road up to the entrance of the temple. The line/queue of 4 lanes was formed near the main road that runs all the way up to the entrance of the temple. Holy Jesus, mind boggling! And the best part was, there bound to be some pesky tourists from you-know-where, cutting through the queue instead of lining up like a normal person.

We queued all the way up and got so tired of the crowd, we didn’t even go in. I only snapped some photos at the entrance and headed home.

It was lucky that we’ve entered the place previously, during the day. But some areas were closed down for reconstruction work.

More to come for Kyoto! (Actually a lot of places were left out, it’s too much to write about. If you’re looking for the complete itinerary, click here.)