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we headed to kyoto with pottsie to check out their version of a matsuri festival. after fukuoka, our expectations were high, and the parade didn't fail to instantly disappoint: we lasted about 5 minutes before heading off to see other parts of town.
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as the japanese capital and home of the imperial family for over 1000 years, kyoto is chock-a-block full of temples, so we thought we'd space out our visit to one or two sites over the course of a long weekend so as to deaden the impact and not tip over into a temple-induced free-fall where our heads might explode.
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how cute are these little guys that we found on the choo-choo train between osaka and kyoto?! i want one. an asian baby seems to be a must-have accessory these days, and i'm ready to jump on that band-wagon. sign me up for one of those asian babies please sir, with the proviso that i can give it back when it either turns 5, starts crying, does something smelly requiring intervention or if i simply got bored with it.
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as the japanese capital and home of the imperial family for over 1000 years, kyoto is chock-a-block full of temples, so we thought we'd space out our visit to one or two sites over the course of a long weekend so as to deaden the impact and not tip over into a temple-induced free-fall where our heads might explode.
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.we headed to one temple complex called kiyomizu-dera, an impressive wooden structure hanging over a cliff edge in the middle of the forest. i imagine it would have been uber zen before the place was opened up to hordes of foreign and domestic tourists clamouring and clambering all over the place. as it was i found myself in a frenzy, just clamouring and clambering all over the place.
..there was an area in the temple grounds where two stones were set in the ground 18m apart. legend had it that if you could successfully walk with your eyes closed from one to the other, you would be assured of success in love! i thought it would be a snap, but within a few steps had already careened off into one of the nearby incense stalls :( i took (ironic) solace in my lover's arms!
..below the temple complex there was a cascade, whose sacred waters allegedly have healing properties. i need all the help i can get, so i retrieved my ladle from the UV-ladle-disinfecter, filled it up with magic water and gulped it on down and soaked my bung hip and leg in it.
..we even managed to spot a few geisha in some of the kyoto backstreets! there's some sort of law about approaching them or taking photos, so it was all a bit on-the-sly. our own geisha boys made a much more approachable pair.
..as the closest thing i have to an idol, human or otherwise, the astro boy museum at kyoto station was a must-see. the 'museum' consisted of a trinket shop and a theatrette showing old episodes of astro boy in japanese that left us struggling to keep our eyes open. what a travesty for japan's finest export!
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.how cute are these little guys that we found on the choo-choo train between osaka and kyoto?! i want one. an asian baby seems to be a must-have accessory these days, and i'm ready to jump on that band-wagon. sign me up for one of those asian babies please sir, with the proviso that i can give it back when it either turns 5, starts crying, does something smelly requiring intervention or if i simply got bored with it.
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..the following day kanami joined us for a frolic at arashiyama, west of kyoto city. we stalked about in the famous bamboo grove, but were soon treated us to an amazing tropical thunderstorm that seemed to come out of nowhere and went on for the rest of the evening. we dragged our sodden bodies from place to place, ending up in a kyoto backstreet restaurant sitting around a table ready to tear each other's throats out.
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the following day, g and i packed our things in osaka, farewelled our wonderful hosts and headed back to kyoto for one final day of site-seeing. three days in a row is a bit like banging your head against a wall, isn't it, but what can you do? g was keen to see the famous golden pavilion, so i surfaced from my general state of confusion and used my super-human map reading skills to take us right there. the raked sand was alright, but the pavilion itself seemed a bit small and not even golden. it was only upon leaving that we realised that we had actually been at the silver pavilion, but by then we simply didn't have the mental strength to seek out its cousin, gold or otherwise. what's the difference anyway? in the end it was just another (fucking) temple! golden pavilion, silver pavilion, or sidestreet 7-11: life anywhere with the frog is a relaxed, loving, damn good time :)
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the following day, g and i packed our things in osaka, farewelled our wonderful hosts and headed back to kyoto for one final day of site-seeing. three days in a row is a bit like banging your head against a wall, isn't it, but what can you do? g was keen to see the famous golden pavilion, so i surfaced from my general state of confusion and used my super-human map reading skills to take us right there. the raked sand was alright, but the pavilion itself seemed a bit small and not even golden. it was only upon leaving that we realised that we had actually been at the silver pavilion, but by then we simply didn't have the mental strength to seek out its cousin, gold or otherwise. what's the difference anyway? in the end it was just another (fucking) temple! golden pavilion, silver pavilion, or sidestreet 7-11: life anywhere with the frog is a relaxed, loving, damn good time :)
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our final destination in kansai was nanzen-ji - a zen temple with the bees knees of zen gardens surrounding it. the whole raked-sand business is something i'm definitely into, and it was a fitting, calming end to a weekend of kyoto culture.
our final destination in kansai was nanzen-ji - a zen temple with the bees knees of zen gardens surrounding it. the whole raked-sand business is something i'm definitely into, and it was a fitting, calming end to a weekend of kyoto culture.
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