This post, having been typed both on the bus and with added commentary in Singapore, may be a bit uncohesive, but please bear with me.
I’ve actually started typing this in the bus, and it’s 9:41am. We’re on our way from Osaka to Kyoto, and I have Paul sleeping to my right, Shuotian sleeping behind me and Bryan sleeping in front of me. The abject boredom is killing me, but the scenery is good. There’s a regular gambling den in the back of the bus, which is outfitted with chandeliers for some reason.
The view of Yodobashi Umeda from our hotel room window.
Osaka, rising out of the early morning, showing us its prime Umeda district
One glance and you can tell this is my bed
Something besides sushi and anime the Japanese are famous for is the high technology involved in their toilets
The hotel's basement, which also contains the restaurant, is lavishly decorated
This map thoughtfully located in the hotel lobby shows off the locality of Umeda and an overview of the rest of Osaka
Our bags, all packed and ready to go
The bus left the hotel and passed by Yodobashi, with its colourful adverts and information.
Osaka's unique architecture
Crossing a river in Osaka, on our way to Kyoto
Singapore has a clean, pristine look to it. Osaka has a different sort of beauty, more natural and organic, while Singapore looks so artificial.
I love spaghetti highway intersections
Our home on the many bus rides in Japan, and a comfortable one at that. The front of the bus was mainly for sleeping and mp3 listening, while the back became a casino.
My mother used to work for this bank
And so our bus continued on, and while Paul and Shuotian slept, and the J1s played their 10^4th game of bridge in the back, I sat back and soaked in the Japanese countryside
The noise barriers block the view, but I guess the residents prefer not to have the sound from the highway
Rolling hills dotted the landscape between Osaka and Kyoto
Rather than wind up and down the mountains, which I would probably have liked, the new highway cut straight through them
We then turned off from the main highway, which likely continued on to Nagoya and Tokyo, and reached the southern outskirts of Kyoto
And I’m now back from Kyoto. In summary, we first stopped at Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavillion. This is a beautiful gold-plated pavilion overlooking a lake. Following that, we proceeded for lunch and shopping near Kyoto Tower, where the three of us had Chinese food. After that, we proceeded to Kiyomizu Dera (Clear Water Temple), one of the 21 final candidates for the new 7 wonders of the world. I have very clear recollections of this place, and it was nice to revisit it.
I can’t describe Kyoto’s beauty in words, so I shall use pictures instead, and I’ll try to give you some account of the place along with the pictures.
Shuotian
Kyoto, while a major city, is not dense and has many low-rise buildings. This makes it a relatively comfortable place to live in, I guess, and I wouldn't mind living here at all
The streets of Kyoto
Kyoto deserves its reputation as the cultural center of Japan. This is an actual castle, in immaculate condition
The walls of the castle
The very traditional Japanese corner guard tower. Incidentally the castle was also surrounded by a moat
Small town houses, small but pleasant to live in, if Hamamatsu was anything to go by
Our dear Chuki Bus
Some things never change, and a prevalent use of Toyota Crowns as taxis is as common here as in Singapore and Hong Kong
Today was a crowded day at the Golden Pavillion, as many schools were carrying out a "Kyoto Montage" - Mr Oura
The outer walls of the whole area give an indication of the general colour of the place
The main gate to Kinkakuji itself. We walked a bit, rounded a corner and...
One of the most beautiful sights in Japan. Kinkaku, built about 7 centuries ago, is the centrepiece of Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion Temple), also known as Rokuon-Ji (Deer Park Temple). The upper two floors of the temple are covered in pure gold leaf.
For me, what I would have loved would be for the water to be still, as the reflection of the temple in the water would be brilliant. This was not to be, however, as you can see, it was still an awe-inspiring sight.
I wonder if you notice anything about this picture that sets it apart from the rest
Me standing in front of the temple, and the lake overlooking it
The 3 of us below a tree
The background shows just how crowded this place was
We later moved up a bit, following the path as it moved closer to the temple itself
View of the temple's roof
Paul looking philosophically at a well
Close-up of the temple and its gold plating
Shuotian and the temple
Paul leaning against the temple's fence
A white bird flying and landing on the lake surrounding the pavillion
Some kind of a dock by the side of the temple
Random signs
Traditional bamboo fence
We carried on walking down the path. I remember this part of the area well, for some reason. I believe I took the Momose-san jumping photo around here. There was also a scenic waterfall.
Another traditional looking sign
Stairway up to another lake, something to do with white snakes
Some white snake shrine
More traditional bamboo fencing used
If you get your money in the bowl, you get good luck. None of us succeeded
Jerald
The souvenier shop was mildly overpriced, but had some nice stuff. I bought a money box shaped like the pavillion, in faux gold, while Paul bought a photo collection. They also had more of the "pass exam" charms they sold at Todaijin, and we considered buying about 100 of them
Somewhat of a back gate.
Another view of the souvenier stand
An ice-cream vending machine, and what looks like Chester
Paul and Shuotian
A long stairway back down to where we started
Such a cute, short, squat little bus.
Kyoto city
A casino
We made our way to the city center, and stopped off at the imposing Kyoto Tower
Kyoto tower again. Inside was a shop and a large collection of restaurants
The souvenier shop in the base of the tower
Yet another shot of Kyoto tower, this one taken as we were wandering the streets looking for lunch.
For lunch, we eventually settled on a Chinese restaurant, after wandering both the in This may seem a bit strange, looking for Chinese food in Japan, but it's not really Chinese food, somewhat more of a hybrid, and stuff you definitely can't get in Singapore
Shuotian and Paul at the restaurant
Chinese style Ramen
A sweet and sour pork set
Ginger chicken
Shumai, i.e. siew mai
We took a walk back to the bus, which was parked some way away. On the way, we passed by a construction site with this one the wall, highlighting something we'd all dearly love to do to Chester next time he tries to play in the Varese
Completely random shot
Scenic Kyoto
Our bus was parked outside what seemed like another castle, surrounded by a moat
Elegantly designed bus stop
Our bus was parked outside this
Same building
Heading down the road to Kiyomizu, and I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but there was a huge "da (chinese for big)" carved into the mountain. Mr Oura told us it was for a sort of hungry ghost festival-ish thing. There were apparently other designs too.
RI kid tire fast
The diamonds demarcate carpool lanes.
Another area that is firmly etched in my memory, the Kiyomizu shopping district. Also familiar to me was the bus park, although we didn't stop there because of lack of space
A view of the many shops that line the road up to the temple itself
The scenic gate that marks the entrance of Kiyomizu Dera, which translates as Clear Water Temple
It's us again
Shuotian refers to this kind of stuff as "Jade Empire-ish"
A pagoda in the temple grounds
Close-up of said
The entrance building to the temple
The surrounding scenery reminded me of Fangorn forest from the Lord of the Rings. Note the tall shrine in the background
A building in the grounds
The temple's main building peeking out from the left
It's us yet again
The interior of the main building
Paul and Shuotian. One feature of the temple is the large bronze gong you can strike to pray for luck, as well as the numbered fortunes. What happens is that you take a piece of paper from a dispenser. The lower the number, the better. If you get a high number, you can remove the bad luck by tying the paper to a pine tree
This shows why Kiyomizu was considered as a finalist for the new 7 wonders of the world
You can see Kyoto city center from here
The scenic main building yet again
A little shrine in the grounds
I remembered a lot of this place from my past visits. We walked down the main stairway to the 3 fountains offering drinkers longevity, love and wisdom (I think).
It is said that you should not drink from all 3, as this would be excessively greedy
A far-off look at the main building
Juxtaposition - traditional Japanese culture disguising a UV radiation steriliser
One of the pagodas in the temple gardens
We are now on the long, 4 hour bus ride to Fukui. I’m no stranger to long road trips, having driven across half of the United States of America, but still, I dislike them. More pics on the road, driving past the beautiful mountains, farmland, woods and oceans that Japan has to offer. Pity, my camera has no batteries.
And finally, we reach Fukui. I just came back from dinner, and man, was it good. To our joy, we reached the hotel to discover that there was free wireless internet in all the rooms. This was good news for me and my laptop, as well as for Paul and Shuotian with their iPods. The hotel room is slightly bigger than Osaka’s as well, and it has a Japanese-style public bath on the rooftop. But first, to dinner.
We walked along the streets of Fukui to the restaurant, which was a small corner place, although it had 3 or 4 floors. Along the way, we noticed that some of the benches had statues of people carrying instruments, such as a young girl with a flute and a fat, half-naked man with an alto saxophone.
Dinner was very traditionally Japanese. We sat on the floor, Japanese style, as the photos show, and had a wonderful dinner of soba, rice, tea and very classical Japanese dishes. I pity the proprietor though, a 70-ish woman serving the whole band…
The restaurant we had dinner in
Almost a family by now
After dinner we made our way back to the hotel, passing by a restaurant called “Jounetsu Horumon.” Due to the presence of Jounetsu Tairiku in A Tempo XIX's repertoire, this caught our eyes. As I found out from Bertrand later on, this restaurant was something like Seoul Garden, with the food cooked at the table. The main difference here is that Seoul Garden does not offer such delicacies as cow arteries, hearts, liver, lungs and basically the whole body of the cow.
Jounetsu Horumon
While the J1s were out at Jounetsu, the 3 of us J2s went to the public bath. It was very refreshing for me, as I’m used to Japanese style baths, although 45 degrees Celsius (that’s 318K) is hot. I’m not sure how Paul and Shuotian did at first, but after a while, they were nice and relaxed, as was I. I would have loved to stay the night in such relaxing water, with a panorama of the whole city, but we were quickly becoming the soup special for the next day’s dinner, so we got out before we got boiled.
Paul watching the TV
Today was for me one of the best days in my life. I feel in my element in Japan, and after experiencing Kyoto's cultural beauty, the gold plated Kinkaku glistening in the sun and the imposing wooden stage of Kiyomizu, which was followed by a traditional Japanese meal, I felt like heaven. The bath topped it all off, sitting in the water, relaxing and chatting with Paul and Shuotian. I was in heaven, heaven on Earth, and of course, it can't happen anywhere but here in Japan. Tomorrow will be rather full, with our rehearsal at Fukui Harmony Hall in the morning, followed by a trip to the coast, Tojinbo, in the afternoon.
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