Morning breakfast! It's become quite a routine.
We haven't got a chance to eat at the hotel because it's always crowded during breakfast.
A lot planned for today. 3 major locations.
Anyways this was the river where we had our melon bun breakfast on our first day here.
We were walking along when all these women came pouring out of the train
station and we were in the middle of it.
Was wondering where all the guys went? Was this a ladies only street?
Walked along for a while in the ladies crowd till we reach a
crossing with a sign: 'Women's University' Chey~!
Right, our first destination. Kiyomizu Temple. It looked near on the map. lol. 970m near.
After ALOT of walking, we finally saw touristy shops. Which means, we're near!
We were at the base, where the red words are.
Shops along the way up. Ice cream and beer.
Crowded with, kids!
Excursion. Their photgrapher was so cool.
Behind me was rows of tourist shops all the way down.
This is not the actual attraction of Kiyomizudera, but just the external shrines before the entrance.
Here we are, actual entrance plus the tickets.
They always have these at entrances to shrines.
Heading towards the famous overlooking point.
Whole place supported by wooden foundations.
Engravings on the pillars.
Why come all the way here? Because it was a Haromoni spot! lol.
You can see the same pillar in the earlier photo xD
We came quite early in the morning, and it was already quite crowded.
They sell charms on this level too. Luck charms, health charms, money charms, etc.
Group shot!
This entire building is considered a National Treasure.
Incense burning smoke thing. You're suppose to bath yourself with the smoke.
Donation box. It's a good place to donate your 1yen and 5yen coins.
More cute kids. The whole place was swamped for school excursions.
All along the pathways they have different shrines for different deities.
More water things!
View of where we were, from across another outlook.
If you can see the small red spec in the distance, that's Kyoto Tower.
More detailed map of the place.
Vintage lock ya.
That's where we were. The whole path was a big loop along the mountain side.
At the base of the temple, it is said that drinking the water of the three streams confers wisdom, health, and longevity.
However, some Japanese believe that you must choose only two —
if you are greedy and drink from all three, you invite misfortune upon yourself.
They were selling these Hello Kitty stamps along the way to the exit.
Which Wilson happily bought.
Back down the the entrance, where the rows of touristy shops were.
That's all for Kiyomizudera. Time for lunch!
Sidetracked into this place with beautiful tea cups. Wilson bought a set.
Stopped by the place to have...
Green tea ice cream in warm crispy pastry! Heavenly!
Further down the road.
They have tons of crafts shops. Handmade things that are way too cute, and costs a bomb.
Lunch! Not the best, a bit soggy.
Taxis' in Japan. Don't try to open or close the doors. The drivers will do it for you.
Walking to our next destination.
I swear they have only a couple dustbins every few miles.
A good part of our time was spent looking for places to throw our rubbish. lolx
After a half hour of walking, we're here!
Sanjusangendo is a Buddhist temple in Higashiyama District of Kyoto, Japan.
I lol'ed when i saw this.
Reminded me of guildwars when you portal out of town with a party.
Tickets!
The exterior. It was really, really long.
I thought this was just another shrine, but as soon as i stepped in, whoa.
The whole place was really still, very silent, the air felt really heavy. A bit eerie. Plus the statues had crystals as eyes, so they looked alive and stared right back at you.
Rows upon rows of life-sized statues.
The rows were so long, you can't see the other end of the temple when you enter.
In the middle of them all was this Thousand Armed Kannon. It was about 2 storeys tall.
According to the sign, this statue of the main deity was created by the Kamakura sculptor Tankei and is a National Treasure of Japan.
Outside the temple.
Natural non-drinkable spring water.
Photo taking outside the temple.
Another view from the other end. That's all for this place!
Well worth the entrance fee. 700yen i think.
What will we do without cute Japanese infographics!
Off to our third and last destination, to have our Memoirs of a Geisha moment.
Bought German chocolate waffles for the train trip.
Becoming experts at navigating the tracks.
Cute packaging on the waffle.
Tickets for tomorrow's trip back to Tokyo!
Feels just like our own MRT, except with CUSHION SEATS!
And we're here! Inari station!
I remember Wilson asking which way to go, then seconds later we saw this huge torii gate.
Just follow the gates!
After a quick walk, we're here.
The map of the place. The whole path spans 4km.
At this point we thought, why not? Let's walk the whole thing! lol.
It was strangely deserted. Maybe it was getting late? Or maybe because it started drizzling.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is the most famous of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari across Japan.
The main entrance. These are called torii gates. The first of ten thousand.
Oh look, it splits into smaller gates.
After a while we looked back and realized there were carvings on each and every gate.
We were all still jumpy and trigger happy.
It's still only the start of the path. We had no idea how long it was going to go. lol.
After every hundred metres or so there were temple stops.
That's where we were. Only at the start. Check out the top, it goes a huge loop.
Closer look at the engravings.
Along the way we would pass other tourists.
Group shot! After that it was just gate after gate after gate...
Inari is the Shinto god of rice, and foxes are thought to be his messengers.
So there were a lot of these fox shrines.
Much needed water to cool off. Lots of mosquitos.
Wilson disturbing this nice cat.
>More stops along the way.
>At this point it was no longer walking, but climbing. It was steps, steps...
And more steps.
Oh look! we're so high up already. Maybe we're at the top of the loop?
Took a breather here. It was a LOT of step xD
I can't remember how long we went on, or how many splits we took, but it started to get dark.
And worst, the maps weren't readable anymore. lol
Decided that was it for the day.
It will be a huge problem if it gets dark and we were still stuck inside.
Got a drink from the place above.
Can't leave without a blogging shot can we? haha.
And we're out! finally, back at the station. Sun was setting. Phew.
Quite sad that we didn't manage to complete the entire path.
Wilson promises to come back one day to jog the entire thing xD
Blogging on the train back to Kyoto station.
People here queue in two neat rows while bording the train!
Stopped by this anime shop at Kyoto station.
Our very first diagonal cross walk.
On our way back to the hotel. Popped into this Pachinko place.
It was really deafening inside. No idea how they could sit inside all day.
Dinner! This was about 10pm.
Really long day, walked more in the past 8 hours than i did for weeks back in Singapore xD
Anyways, that's all for day 4!