Visiting Traditional Kyoto
I’ve been tardy, leaving my Nihon trip escapades as they are after the Haru experience. Can hardly remember Kyoto. Ahem.
Sister’s picture compilation.
Sister and I were hunched almost double when we reached our Kyoto accommodation - our bags were killing us! The hotel staff rushed to help us out [did I spot amused looks on their faces??] and got us settled down at the lobby while they did some paperwork for us.
Service at the lobby: the bowls of green sake looked really dubious but it tasted alright. Potent though - sister told me she felt a bit spinny 5 minutes after consuming it.
Hotel Matsui was the most expensive accomms for our Nihon trip [17420 yen / night!]. Every other hotels, inns, whatever else in Kyoto were fully booked for the New Year.
Peek!
After some oohing and aahing, we left the place quickly for Kiyomizu-dera, which was closing at 6pm.
My heart was sinking as rapidly as the setting sun when we alighted at the Kiyomizu bus stop. There was less than 1 hour before the temple closed, and it was as dark as 7+ pm back home, meaning we would not get to appreciate the view much. I had visited the temple back in 2004 when the trees were sprinkled with sakura in spring, and had wanted to show Sis the 2 Love Stones there. However, our luck this time was not good. We had to do a very brisk walk through the grounds after the dismal photo-taking and barely saw anything in the dark. What a waste of the entrance fee of 300 yen.
- sister
What a pity indeed, that we didn’t get to enjoy much of the Kiyomizu temple. :( Still, some camwhoring was in place, to remind ourselves that we did go there.
It doesn’t look as eerie in real life as this. Blame it on my bad photography skills.
I’d wanted to try this but there was a queue as long as the Great Wall of China, so…
The night view was breathtaking, but difficult to capture.
The Kiyomizu grounds. I asked sister how much we have walked and it was merely… a small fraction of the place! What a waste!
To compensate for the rush at the Kiyomizu grounds, we took a leisurely walk down the hill from Kiyomizu [and ended buying touristy stuff. Again!]. Kyoto was chilly at night. Brrrr…
The place was festive and pretty with all the lights.
We snacked [a lot] on our way down the hill. This shop was selling delicious cream puffs; they taste much better than our Beard Papa puffs.
Dinner was at a random cosy shop in a quaint street [yes yes, we were constantly eating].
While waiting for our food to be served, sister and I did some girl-bonding activities. Ahem.
Women in black.
There was a couple seated beside us by the counter, and while we were meddling around with the menu, the intimidating big-sized black man decided to talk to me. -__-”
Him: Hi.
Me [taken-aback]: Hi..
Him: Do you speak English?
Me: :/ Yeah?
Him: Oh, where are you from?
Me: Sg.
He unceremoniously turned back to his partner, ending the convo [!!].
Me [bu4 shuang3, but determined to end the convo properly]: So where are you from?
Him: L.A.
Both of us smiled briefly at each other.
Me [whispering furiously to sister]: I don’t know why he spoke to me..
Sister: This always happens to you!
Me: Huh?? What! No?
Sister: Remember the woman in Asakusa who’d wanted to hug you?? [There was a small incident of a shop staff who 'welcomed' me into their shop in Tokyo in an overly-friendly way] And now him!
Some chicken thingie.
And a very filling okonomiyaki.
I got caught filming him.
Our beds were made when we returned back to the hotel, O Heaven!
This was found on both our pillows. Nice touch and interesting information!
It was in Hokkiado, Kyoto and Osaka when we watched the telly everytime we were home. Laughs. That was how we learnt about Nodame Cantabile [Chiaki senpai!!], marathons in Japan, and other random stuff. In Kyoto, we caught a variety programme where children were secretly filmed going on errands by themselves [they were all very young! I bet Sg children cannot do any of those things AT ALL] and it was so touching sister and I teared, along with the hosts of the show.
We were supposed to visit another shrine and Gion the next day, but got side-tracked by people everywhere carrying huge shopping bags. While we were having our breakfast, a couple of guys came in and sat beside us, dumping their [I-cannot-remember-the-shop-name-but-it-is-some-high-end-place-like-the-Gucci-Prada-type] bags on the seats beside them. Each guy was carrying at least 4 big bags!
Succumbing to pressure from everybody we saw, we err. canned the shrine idea and went to the nearby Daimaru to ‘check things out’.
Behold the crowd and mad rush for Lucky Bags!
Lucky/Fortune bags are traditionally available at New Year; bags would be filled with mystery items from the respective shops and be sold at lower prices than the usual total sum of all the items.
Trippin’ and stumblin’, and being herded along by the crowd.
What are these you may ask? Actually I cannot remember what they are called [heeelpp, sis!], but they are traditional Japanese beds. Sister and I had wanted to buy one each and have them shipped back home, and we had a ‘discussion’ about situations that may happen.
Sister: Mom would be like, what’s this!? Throw away!
Me: She’ll cart them down for the cleaner to clear away before we even return back. Horrors! Or maybe she’ll say, must be this Dad again, always buying nonsense!
Sister: And then still throw them away!
Me & Sister: Oh no, our money! Haha!
Gion Shimbashi was a total opposite from modern Kyoto city; a calm, quiet place with traditional surroundings. I’d wanted to see a Maiko!
Guess if this the bird is a live one or a sculpture. Oh, reflections!
How much more zen can it get? Mandarin ducks paddling in the river.
*Alert: Lots of cam-whoring pictures ahead!*
Those pensive shots.
Weeping willows.
Why were all the shops closed? 
Sister was really good with the pensive shots.
More emo shots.
Picturesque.
I’d wanted to do something here, but people were walking by, so I leaned and Sister snapped.
Halfway through cam-whoring and enjoying Gion, we saw a Maiko! But….
Is she a real Maiko? “Is she even a she?” <- from Sister.
Photographer + lots of cam-whoring - sure doesn’t fit my impression of a true-blue Maiko.. :/
Somehow she reminds me of… this video I saw some time back.
After following the maiko for a wee bit and doing some last-minute shopping, we hurried back to the hotel to get our belongings and it was time for our last Nihon destination - Shin-Osaka!
Goodbye Gion, Hello Haru Shin-Osaka!
More Nihon reads:
The Amazing Race [Nihon Version]
Let’s Become Lost Children Together
- the lost traveller
s t a r m | s t May 11th, 2008
[...] realised my Japan [mis]adventures have been the only entries properly written the past couple of months; others were [...]