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Day 5 - Kyoto Temple Hopping II, the Sequel
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More rain overnight, and as we set out in the morning a slight breeze was blowing, which was a welcome relief from the heat. It was still hot though, and we were once again sweating by the time we got down to the bus stop to catch the bus to Kiyomizudera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera).
After we arrived there at about 10am the crowds were already massing, and about half way up the steep narrow street leading to the temple I began to wonder whether it was going to be worth the effort.
I could not have been more wrong.
This shrine is beyond amazing. Set on the side of a hill, the scale and the imposing stance of the buildings, painted in bright red against the greenery of the mountain behind it was absolutely staggering. To add to this, there were so many different buildings and structures in the grounds, and from each one the views back over Kyoto were absolutely stunning.
This place made Ginkakuji which we visited yesterday seem like an absolute dump, even though the guidebooks praise the views from the Ginkakuji mountainside.
Without lingering too long in any particular area, and making our way through each of the pavilions, and onto the walking trail up the side of the mountain, this shrine took up nearly 3 hours, which amazed us.
Thoroughly satisfied, but pretty much all templed out, we hopped on another bus and made our way back to the centre of Kyoto's southern Higashima shopping district, which is about 8 blocks from our hotel.
We gave the girls a treat when we came across a McDonalds, as they hadn't seen a chicken nugget since leaving Australia, and they had been good enough to put up with being dragged half way across Kyoto in the heat. Happy meals are identical in japan and Australia, only the Japanese version seemed hotter and fresher.
We continued on to the Nishiki market (http://www.bento.com/phgal-kyotomarket.html), which is apparently famous for it's eclectic variety of foods. Basically it was just one massively long covered alley, which consisted of small market traders on each side, 90% of which dealt in a variety of fish, lightly killed and smoked/fried/battered/crumbed/skewered/shrinkwrapped or bludgeoned, and all of which smelt equally as bad. Basically if you were to open a bait freezer at your local fishing tackle shop, and leave it open for a few days with the power off and a gas heater running nearby you would have some idea of what these markets smelt like.
Needless to say we pushed through the crowds and got the hell out of there. It was a shame because there was some tasty looking deep fried looking stuff on sticks, but I sure as hell wasn't stopping to buy it and try to eat it when the shops either side were dealing in whole shrinkwrapped snapper heads and smoked mystery fish.
So out for coffees at a nice little americanised cafe, before heading back to our Hotel for a rest.
Before leaving the hotel, Charlotte, while attempting to put something in the bin, trips over the chair in the room and takes the second of her spectacular dives for the trip. No fire extinguisher this time, but this time she landed on a double adapter sticking out of a powerpoint on the desk. The nett result is that Charlotte now has a massive scratch down the bridge of her nose and under her eye, and the Gimmond hotel have one completely shattered powerpoint. It still works, but the plastic surrounnding the powerpoint is in about 50 pieces.
Later on after the girls had a sleep we decided to head out for some lunch/dinner. I convinced Veronica that since we had been to the little 24hr place a few doors down for the last couple of meals, that we should go to the shop a few blocks up the road that I had seen. A few blocks turned into about 8, but we eventually got there, got our tickets and found a seat.
Customers were already sitting there with no food, which was already a bad sign, and instead of water they served iced tea, which was neither iced or good. 2 strikes for this restaurant already, and about 20 minutes later our meals came out.
Quite good quality, although not quite as good as the place near our hotel, plus they don't serve kids meals, so there was no option of 180 yen sausages and potato wedges like at the other restaurant. Strike 3. I bought chicken nugget type things for the girls, but they didn't like them so we ended up eating them.
All in all the restaurant was ok, but nothing in comparison to the other one, which is about 1km closer to the hotel.
After the meal we walked outside we realised it was now pouring rain. Very pleasant temperature wise, but not great when you have two tired girls, one of which refuses to walk under her own steam. So we walk/run back to the hotel and are dripping wet by the time we get there. Bit of a laugh though.
Stated in for the rest of the night, and packed ready for our early morning trip to hiroshima tomorrow.
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| 6. | Day 5 - Kyoto Temple Hopping II, the Sequel - Kyoto, Japan Aug 25, 2008 (  10 ) |
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