Hearton Kyoto

... us around.

In the afternoon, Jordan and i walked around the shope some more, then headed back into the hills to visit to more temples.

Eat at a small restaurant for supper. Had Udon soup with beef. Ended the day at Starbucks. Jordan was able to go the Starbucks twice today which made him very happy seeing that he didn't get to one yesterday,

Well back to Tokyo tomorrow.

... rocks and white gravel are used in the garden. It is said that the garden was created in 1525.

- The Golden Temple - it derived this name from its main building which is covered in a thin layer of gold. It is simply beautiful.

- Sanjusangen-do Temple - in the temple hall their are 1001 Buddhist statues (1000 life-size statues of Kannon and one gigantic seated statue, placed at the center of the standing ...

... say the Japanese are reserved conformists!!);
- Our hostel, where despite staying in cheap dorm beds, has a marble entry, super helpful staff and plays Christmas carols in the foyer all day long;
- The bathrooms with automatic lights, soap dispensers and taps. And completely unfathomable control panel for the toilet.
- Awesome beer... which maybe I`ve had enough of for now.

... wrong no matter how bad your photo taking skills are. Too bad, they hadnt allowed us to enter the temple which was dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy. There was a crowd gathering in all the sourvenir shops which we of course joined the frenzy to get charms and wat have you nots. There was a cool fortune telling machine which gives you a slip/ note for 100yen ...

... from vending machines more enjoyable. We were in Kyoto over a Japanese long weekend so everywhere we went was quite busy. On our first night we had dinner in a very small local restaurant that was showing the sumo wrestling final - Pete was hooked on sumo wrestling so it was a great experience. Some pics here but more to come.

... en cualquier época del año. Poco a poco los paisajes cambiaban y se puede disfrutar grades siembras de hortalizas y arroz. El Hikari se detiene por dos minutos en Nagoya y nuestro destino final estaba aun mas cerca. Llegamos a la terminal de JR Kyoto la cual es la más moderna de Japón.

Después de salir por una de sus puertas uno de los iconos hace su aparición en su esplendor es “Kyoto Tower” una torre metálica construida sobre un ...

... t really come in handy when your town is under attack by an army of angry Samurai wielding flaming torches. Which is why almost everything is a reconstruction. Unfortunately, Todaiji was partially burned down during the first few years after it was made. Yet it still stands to this day and is gigantic. Whats scarier is that what stands now, is still just one third of the original.

Inside Todaiji Temple is the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen. It contains Japan's ...

... there. My fin*l word for this entry will be simply this; *lthough *ll the temples *nd shrines we visit *re spect*cul*r sites, I must s*y I grow quite w*ry of the J*p*nese tr*dition of removing ones shoes before entering such grounds. Not bec*use its * h*ssle *s such - *lthough my hiking shoes *re p*rticul*rly irrit*ting to do b*ck up *g*in - but bec*use *ll the s*nd*ls here seem like they were designed for leprech*uns to we*r *nd *bsolutely kill my gi*nt f*t-feet.

Until next time,
Tom out.

... it out. One all day ticket later I was on the tube My first stop was to be the Heian Shrine this is located on the east side of Kyoto where you can find lots of places of worship and a look at the older and more traditional side of the city. Heian Shrine is a fairly large place with a huge temple building and fantastic gardens. After about ten minutes of being there I was lucky enough to witness a ceremony with singing chanting and an amazing dance performed by orange and white ...

... was really long...We only got there at 5:30 and they were closing the main gate!! I promised one of my friend to buy some souvenirs at the Temple, so after taking some pictures outside and "almost" inside the Shrine, I got in the shop quickly and bought what my friend asked me to buy. She must be one of the fan of the Seimei-jinjya Shrine. She gave me Yen 10000 to buy her souvenirs and a NDS game ...