Kyoto City Tour

Date of Visited: 27th October 2010

Kyoto is the first city we visited for our Japan Trip. The journey from Fukushima, Osaka to Kyoto took less than 40 minutes by train.

Reminder: Japan train station is so complicated. You can't simply jump in the train.

Once we arrived Kyoto Station, the weather changed dramatically. It became so cold and I just wore a normal jacket. Me and Nicole a bit lost (we are not lost in our way), just we unsure which transportation should we took; either by bus or by train. Thanks to the courtesy of Japanese policeman. He is so kind to help us and even recommend us to take bus as there is 1 day pass to tour around Kyoto which only cost 500 yen. So we took his advise as we think it is reasonable to do so.

Following are the place we visited in Kyoto:

Kiyomizudera Temple

Also known as "Pure Water Temple" is one of the most famous temple in Japan. Must visit temple when you are planning to Kyoto.

Entrance gate to Kiyomizudera


This is Kiyomizudera during autumn

There is another shrine which known as Jishu Shrine which located behind Kiyomizudera's main hall. This is the place for those who plan to search for perfect love and matchmaking.

In front of the shrine, there are two stones set about 10 meters apart, which they called as "love-fortune-telling" stones. According to the Japanese, if a person walks safely from one stone to the other stone by closing their eyes, his/her love will be realised.

I touched the stone and I will find my true love???

Yasaka Shrine

Yasaka Shrine, also known as Gion Shrine is located in the Gion District of Kyoto.

Entrance of Yasaka Shrine


The main hall


The stage, decorated by the laterns and bear the name of the sponsors

Gion

Gion is one of Kyoto's famous attraction. If you ever heard of geisha, this is the place which famous for. But since Nicole and I went during daytime, the possibility to catch a glimpse of a geisha is low or can I said is ZERO.

Hanami-Koji, place to dine

Since nothing much can we see, there we moved to our destination. Nicole suggest to one of the place (sorry, I can't recall what is the name of the place) but too bad, out of our expectation, we being asked by the bus driver to pay extra 200 yen as we stop outside the route.

I guess we are out of Kyoto City. So, without thinking too much, we just visited whatever we saw surrounding us.

As the day is getting darked, so we decided to go back to Gion in order to try our luck in searching geisha and find the nearest train station. Before going back, I decided to buy matcha ice-cream. Everywhere I go, should got this matcha (green tea) ice-cream. I decided to have a try on this as there are 3 different layers of colours.

I love this pic...

The Geisha??? NO! It's just those Japanese ladies who work in restaurant.

Seems like no luck for both of us to see geisha before we leave Kyoto :(... Too bad...

Goodbye Kyoto! Hopes we will meet again!