No excuses. Just story here. Enjoy.
So last we left off was the second day of my parents trip in Kyoto. Now, I doubt that I have mentioned this in my other posts but if I have, I'm still going to say this. The Japanese love to travel, I am told. If ever they get a chance, they like to take off for whatever destination they have in mind. That would mean that whenever there's a long holiday, you can expect to find places packed with people. Why do I bring that up? Well, my parents decided to plan their trip around my schedule so as to create as few problems for me as possible. So they chose a weekend with a holiday. A national holiday. "Oh" you might be thinking. Yeah.
Well, dawn of the second day. We're up early again, I believe it was eight or so in the morning and off. This time we decided that skipping breakfast was not on the agenda and so we went off to the nearest place we could find. Mom wanted a typical western style breakfast and since I myself hadn't eaten one in a while I was all for it. A nearby bakery served just what we wanted. Eggs, toast, bacon and a salad in a light dressing. Mmm, tasted like home with an extra salad.
And then it was off to the 金閣寺 (Golden Pavilion). It was a long bus trip from where we were, around twenty to thirty minutes, until we arrived. It was a line to the entrance door, then a stream of people on the path around the temple grounds and we were just a couple of drops in it. It was a quick tour as we passed along the buildings with the urgency for movement that is found all too easily when surrounded by people. Even though the Golden Pavilion is one of the most prominent attractions of Kyoto, I found the whole experience profoundly disappointing. On the ride back I managed to catch a little sleep which turned out to be a great thing. Why? Well I'm about to tell you.
Back in the hotel I laid out where I wanted to go to next. A temple called Fushimi Inari Taisha. The name doesn't stand out much, but I bet you know of it. It's the famed tori gate temple, thousands of red-orange gateways that mark out an ascending pathway that reaches the heights of Kyoto's mountains. The temple itself is dedicated to a patron spirit who oversees business and merchants as well as rice. That being said, every business man who wants to get on the good side of this spirit can buy himself a tori gate and have it placed somewhere on the path. That said, this temple is a hike. It takes an hour just to reach the end at a shrine on the top of the mountain. And the entire walk is gorgeous. After you start the trek up you are quickly lost in the trees and there is much and more to see. Small shrines, forest scenery, awesome views of the valley Kyoto rests in as well as the city itself, and the whole time you are surrounded by tori gates. Very worthwhile and perhaps somethings I will keep with me forever. Made the trip without Mom. She was still ill. Dinner that night was some of the worst pizza I ever had. Started to get cold, for once, so I really regretted not bringing a jacket.
Well it's getting late here so I'm going to sum up the last day in a few, succinct sentences. Woke up later than usual. Felt ill so I stayed in bed a while longer and Mom brought me up some sweets from the bakery a block away. I finally put my Japanese to the test and bought some medicine for the both of us. After that it was a bus ride out to the Kiyomizudera, a notorious temple and comparable to the Golden Pavilion in terms of cultural import. It is built without the use of a single nail and it has a large veranda from which much of Kyoto can be seen. It, too, is built on a mountain slope. The people there were burning a great deal of incense and below the temple itself was a fountain that split into three streams of water. The water there is believed to grant wishes. Went back to the hotel and relaxed. Tried to get into a restaurant near the hotel but failed to do that. Dinner that night was a return trip to the conveyer belt sushi.
That's all for now. The next one will be up when its up. Night.
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