A night bus is a night bus, even though I had really comfy seat, we were woken up every 2hrs for a stop so I slept very little (and badly).
I arrived in Kyoto like a zombie: I fell in the middle of a convenient store after getting confused about how to walk, took me a while to find the ryokan (probably passed the street 4 times) but hey! I found it, the people are lovely, the ryokan itself is very nice, the weather lovely so, after splashing cold water on my face, off I went to the discovery of Kyoto.
Kyoto is organised a bit like New York in the sense that streets are like a grid. It's really easy to navigate, proof is I didn't get lost. I decided to walk to the north west of the city to see Nijo-jo, a big castle with lots of traditional paintings (loved them), a nice garden perfect for stroll and lots of beautiful buildings.
After that I headed east toward the Nishi-dori market. I love walking in the little streets, parallel to the avenues (so I don't get lost): very little tourists, little gems of house, curious architecture...Love it. Talking of tourists that what shocked me first here, the number of chalk faces compare to Fukuoka. In Fukuoka they stand out, you notice them, but here, they're everywhere. Also the city is much more urban than Fukuoka, everything is scattered around the city and the distances are much bigger. I don't know yet if I like it or not, will see tomorrow after a good night sleep.
Anyway back to the stroll...I popped into my first temple, Rokkaku-Do with its octogonal shape and multicolored decoration.
After a quick stop for a so-so sandwich in a so-so place, I finally arrived to this market, a covered arcade with lots and lots of curious products (below: octopus with quail egg in their head (em), pickles,...). Very interesting sights, smells and here again, you better not be a live-fish-lover (to the difference of a dead-fish) because life for fish here is pretty grim (but oh god it looked yummy).
Then, heading back south, I went to see Bukkoji Temple, which was a bit of a non-event apart from the way they painted certain parts of the beams in white so some highlights are even lighter and some shadows disapear. very strange sight.
Still standing, I reached Higashi-Hingaji temple, a huge temple nearby the ryokan. Unfortunately, it is in renovation so the exterior wasn't much but the interior had beautiful altars. The other noticeable thing was the display of a rope made of hair. It seems that ropes at the time were not very solid so hair was preferred. So lots of fidels cut their hair and gave it to the temple so they can use the rope to lift the beams. freaky!
Then I went to a Shosei-en garden, a japanese garden at the east of the previous temple. I love japanese garden but can't help thinking it might have been better in the summer when there's a bit more foliage. It's been a while I haven't visited one so still very happy I went.
After that while I was heading to Nishi-Honganji temple, at the west of Higashi-Hingaji, my legs kind of gave up so I went to hunt for a restaurant. ended up at the station, on 11th floor, with a tempura set. Yum yum yum. After dinner the eyes started to give up too so I headed back to the ryokan. There hot bath, this update and now heading straight to bed.
More tomorrow.
Oyasuminasai
No comments:
Post a Comment