Tokyo 19/2

We woke up early to try and change our tickets to Shiga, only to find out that the earlier trains were all full. So we went ahead with Plan B and went to Asakusa instead, to visit the famous Sensoji Temple. Located by just a 5 minutes walk from Asakusa Station, it was pretty quiet when we were there. Probably because it was just past 7 in the morning? >.<

Kaminarimon, the outer gate

Along Nakamise, the shopping street

If we were there any later, I'm pretty sure we won't be able to see the ground in the picture. It would be filled with people, no doubt and taking a picture would probably be a battle! I'm so glad we got here early!! The only downside to this was that none of the shops were open. But it was something that I didn't mind. So make your own choice - early to enjoy the temple and it's quietness, or shop with hundreds other people and not 'feel' the temple.

Hozomon, the main gate

5 storey Pagoda in temple grounds

Sensoji Temple is built dedicated to Goddess of Mercy, also known as Guan Yin in Chinese in 645 making it the oldest temple in Tokyo. The temple is a hot spot among tourist, receiving thousands of tourist every week. *When we walked past the temple at about 10am, the place was flooded with tourist!* There is no entry fees to enter the temple and you basically walk through the first gate, then along Nakamise street before reaching the Hozomon gate. The main hall is located just after this, and was pretty quiet when we got there which was great as it allowed us to take in the quiet comfortable setting.

After Sensoji, we went over to Starbucks which was a little further down the road to have the caffeine fix. This was the first (and only) Starbucks that I felt made proper coffee. One that I can actually taste the caffeine. Anyway, given the cold morning, any hot drink was welcomed and we spent some time there since most shops weren't open yet.

As we still had a fair bit of time before we're due back at the hotel to check out and catch the bullet train from Ueno, we decided to tour around in Asakusa. We wanted to see a particular memorial there, but ended up detour-ing to a temple on our way there, which wasn't a bad thing as the memorial wasn't open to public that day. The temple that we visited was (I think), one of the branches of the Higashi Hoganji temples in Japan. Really pretty on the inside, but they were having some restoration/renovation works done in the gardens hence the lack of photos (plus my hands were too occupied with the takeaway coffee :P) .

Temple's interior

We didn't spend that much longer in the area after that as we needed to get back to Ueno in time to catch the train to Shiga. But when we walked past the temple again, it was a lot more lively than we were there before. It was as if it was a different place. There were many tourists, the rickshaws, the vendors, the photographers... it was just packed. Quite interesting to watch from afar :).

Tokyo 18/2/2009

We actually explored the north-east side of Tokyo when we first arrived in Japan 2 weeks ago. We thought that we wouldn't really have the time to do so, but it's all the matter of how much walking and sleep one's willing to sacrifice :).

By the time we left Narita and got to our hotel, it was past 4 p.m if I remember correctly. The express train from Narita took almost 90 minutes, and it wasn't the most comfortable ride I've ever had. Especially after staying over in Changi Airport the night before without any sleep.

Finding our hotel was a bit of a challenge. It's a pretty small place that's located on a street behind the main road. But good samaritans are everywhere :)! All I did was hold the railway map in my hand and I was approached by a lovely lady asking me if I needed direction to get to the station. When I told her I was looking for the hotel, she looked at my hotel map and tried to get her bearings. But before long, when we both couldn't make sense where it was, she whipped out her phone and rang the hotel for me for directions! Not only that, she then walked me to the hotel. That my friend, is the kind local hospitality that one dreams of when travelling. Not to mention it happening more than once :P. *I am beginning to think that it's just because I look perpectually lost!*

Anyway, after checking in, we decided to head to Lawsons to get our tickets for Ghibli Museum, the animation museum :). Getting the tickets itself was a laugh. While Gary printed off the instructions on how to get the tickets from the machine, it didn't exactly work that way. Someone needs to update that website that gave such instructions! We stood there for quite a while, getting stuck at one of the steps.. and when we got help, the lady started pressing all sorts of buttons *no way we could remember what she was doing & it was so much more than the 'instructed steps' *, and finally getting our ticket. And had my name printed in Japanese on the tickets (O.O) .

Finally, we tend made our way to Ueno Park, which was fairly near where we stayed. The park itself was pretty big, and the Ueno Zoo was located next to it. We had some trouble finding it as it was actually a little uphill from the Ueno Station exits. It was almost sunset when we first got there, so there wasn't that much time to explore.

Kiyomizu Kannon-do
My first picture in Japan :)

Behind Kiyomizu Kannon-do

Twilight in the Park

The pictures in the park after this... let's just say I don't really have an idea of what I was taking. No park map and no lights - makes me a very lost person.

Walking to Gojoten Shrine

The shrine.. *I think* Or maybe it was... outside the shrine.

I honestly have no idea what the picture above is suppose to be, but it was surrounded by other praying statues/buildings. There was also an area that is something like a cave, with a lot of cat statues. It was a little eerie when we got there, partially because it was pretty late at night. But it was a pretty interesting sight. It was... to the left of the shrine above.

5 tier Pagoda

The Toshogu Shrine

I hate taking pictures when its dark! This photo so does not do justice for the place - not to mention it was closed by the time we got there *sigh*. The Toshogu Shrine was built in honour of Tokugawa Ieyasu by his grandson, is a counterpart from the one in Nikko. The 5 tier Pagoda is located just about next to the shrine, though I think one need to enter the zoo to get nearer to the Pagoda, which we obviously didn't.

By then, we were walking in the dark and hence decided to leave the park for dinner. Now, dinner was another totally new experience (as it was our first night). Never have I walked so long and far to look dinner. Our criterias for finding a place :
1) Japanese food
2) Hot meal
3) Picture menu (This is the most important one!!)
4) More than 5 customers in the shop

Let's just say we walked a very long walk, though it wasn't too bad as there was plenty to see and the lights, GOSH!! The lights... I am amazed with the lights.

Streets in Ueno

Mangasssss!!!
It wasn't just one row.. there was at least 3.

We ended up at a chain food restaurant, where the food wasn't too bad although a little pricey as we discovered later. But it was a hot meal, I had my picture menu and the place was packed! :)

Kyoto day 3

It started off as a gloomy morning, with grey skies and light rain. But that didn't deter us from heading out early to maximize our day. We started off with Nijo-jo which was about 20 minutes walk from our hotel.

Nijo-jo entrance

Just after the main gates of Nijo-jo, there's a 'tent' where 'language guides' camp. For a moment, it felt like people were coming up to us to sell us stuffs like how it's sometimes like in a tourist area. Took me a while to realize that they were volunteering their language skills. Hehehe. So we got ourselves an English guide, but as they don't start for 30 minutes we were told to take a walk in the castle, specifically to a garden which apparently was very beautiful with the blooming flowers.

Inner moat of Honmaru Palace (which was unfortunately close when we were there)

The Plum-tree Grove

We went a little trigger happy here with our cameras. The sight of the blooming flowers was so breathtaking that it'll be a crime not to go crazy with the camera! We didn't really have that much time to spend between then and the guided tour, so we only hung around in the area intead, taking in the beauty.

One of the many pretty trees

White plum blossoms

Pink plum blossoms

Blooming white blossoms

One with the trees

Finally, after I forgot how many shots and sniffing at the flowers, I dragged my feet reluctantly leaving the grove. Our guide was an elderly lady who speaks fairly average English but with a very heavy Japanese accent which made it a little hard to understand. Had to really concentrate to understand what she's saying, but she was really nice. So that compensated for it :). It's a nice gesture anyway for them to do these free guided tours for tourist.

Ninomaru Palace

Made UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994, Nijo-jo was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto Residence of Shogun Ieyase Tokugawa. The castle displays characteristics from the Edo Period and the Momoyama culture which is recognized from it's building's architectures, paintings and cravings. The castle became a property of the Imperial family in 1867 when Yoshinobu, the fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun returned sovereignty to the Emporer - which took place in Nijo-jo itself. The castle renamed Nijo Detached Palace in 184 before it was donated to City of Kyoto and renamed Nijo-jo in 1939.

At Ninomaru Palace entrance

No pictures were allowed in the castle, which was a waste as there were quite a few pretty paintings on the walls. The floors in the castle were pretty unique - they were called the nightingale floors. Built in the way that allows floor nails to rub against jackets/clamps to produce creaking sounds under pressure, it acts to prevent any uninvited guest to eavesdrop at any time. A pretty cool architecture briliance! *and it still works*

The castle itself is made up of quite a few rooms, but mainly has 5 or 6 parts. The guided tour will take you to most of the place. One tip is to take up their slippers even if they are too big as the castle is absolutely freezing cold and the floor was even colder and my feet were struggling as I only had my socks on. I was literally brisk walking to carpeted areas so that I can spare my feet from the cold wooden floors!

Ninomaru Garden

The garden is located to the back of the castle, with a large pond that had 3 islands - 1 large and 2 smaller ones. The larger island is called the Horai-jima - Island of Eternal Happiness), the smaller 2 : Tsuru-jima (Crane Island) and Kame-jima (Turtle Island). On the left to the pond, there was some sort of tree that was being protected from the weather ( far right in the picture above just in front of the building) with hays (or something). I initially thought it was some sort of garden design that was quite pretty. But apparently, someone/country donated hundreds of that particular species of trees, but all of them died with the harsh weather and so, only those handful were left - hence they get very special treatments.

By the time we left Nijo-jo, it started snowing lightly which was kind of nice in a way, but it also meant that the we were going to be wet and cold. Nevertheless, we marched (or rather, took the bus) to the next spot : Toji Temple.

The famous pagoda in Toji (the highest wooden tower in Japan)

By the time we arrived in Toji, the rain/snow, whatever you call it, had gotten heavier and we were getting quite drenched to be honest. So we rushed from a sheltered place to another, trying to take pictures in between. The entrance fees to Toji Temple was actually quite steep compared to the other temples, and because it was raining quite heavily meaning we weren't going to spend much time there so we didn't get tickets to enter. Instead we went around the temple grounds, which was relatively big as well. And because all we did was run around, I have no idea what is what in some of my pictures :( .

Jikido of Toji Temple, I think

Established in 796 AD, Toji Temple was initially built as a guardian temple for the city of Kyoto. The Pagoda was last rebuilt in 1643 after being burnt by fires 5 times in the past.

Compounds of Toji Temple.

Look ma, I found more flowers!! :P

By the end of Toji Temple, we've had enough of the bad weather and decided to hop on a bus and ended up at Kyoto Station for lunch. We had a pretty good lunch when we first arrived in Kyoto the first time, so we were going to try our luck in the station again and we weren't disappointed. My hot soba and prawn with egg was absolutely delicious! Maybe it was partly due to the cold weather.. who could resist a hot meal!?! I know I couldn't!

Lunch.. yummsss!

Right after lunch, we decided to give the weather another chance so we walked back to the bus stop from the underground pass, but as it was still raining heavily and windy, we decided that we should just hang out in the train station. As uncool as it may sound to hang out in a train station, Kyoto Station is something totally different.

Kyoto station

Not your any average train station, this futuristic looking station was completed in 1998 but still looks really new and well cared for, and is the second largest station in Japan. It has a shopping centre, restaurants, theatres and hotel. It even had a walkway called the Skywalk on the 11th floor. Accessible from the food court called The Cube, it offers the view of Kyoto to a certain extend. Me, I was more impressed with the design.

Skywalk

Part of the Skywalk design

Our companion while looking for Skywalk

Now, let's go back to The Cube. Before heading off to the Skywalk, as we got lost in the process, we stumbled across The Cube, which is the food court. It had either 2 or 3 levels (my memory failing me now), but the upper level(s) had the more expensive diners. The lower of them all had cheaper food and that was where we got a sidetracked from looking for the walkway. We have yet to have a proper decent takoyaki since we got there, which by the way is one of my favourite Japanese snack food. (The last time we had takoyaki in Japan was when we were walking in Kyoto on the night before. That takoyaki had no mayonaise I think, *sigh*). So when the other guys saw a place selling them, I was more than happy to put a hold to my Skywalk hunting process.

Man making takoyaki :)

Takoyaki!!! :D

Yungwi had some okonomiyaki

From there, we then decided to part ways, with the two of us leaving to Tokyo whereas the other two will continue on in Kyoto and Hokkaido.

One in the subway station just because I can :

Kyoto day 2

Day 2 was a real achievement. Like a real real achievement in comparison to all my travels (not that I have done that many!). We visited 6 temples and 1/5 of a garden in A day. ONE day. And we thought we might only do 4 at max.

Anyway, because Kyoto has countless temples & shrines (17 of them UNESCO recognized), we spent the night before planning out our journey (as we always do :P). Since I only had 2 days left in Kyoto, I highlighted the place that I thought we should really cover to make the trip 'complete'. I personally only had 2 places on my list that I must visit, which was Kinkakuji temple and Kiyomizu-dera. Kinkakuji because it's absolutely breathtaking and Kiyomizu-dera because I've seen it on someone's photo album.

Being a big city with multiple tourist spots scattered around, they have something called the sightseeing bus which accepts the 'City Bus All-day Pass' at only 500 yen (A single bus trip cost a flat rate of 220yen). As we wanted to go to quite a few places, we decided to go ahead with the great bargain and got ourselves the day pass from our hotel's reception. The only downside of it was, we had to walk to Nijo-jo to actually get on the bus as there was no bus routes near our hotel.

There are 5 areas of interest covered by the bus -Arashimaya, Kinkakuji, Okazaki, Ginkakuji and Higashiyama. We started our day with a visit to Kinkakuji temple which is located northwest to Kyoto Station.

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji is also known to us as the Golden Pavillion, a famous icon of Kyoto. It is the temple that one see in every Kyoto brochure. Built in the compounds of the Rokuon-ji Temple, the whole compound was made World Cultural Heritage in 1994.

When we first got there, it was fairly quiet with a group of students which made it easy for us to take pictures of the pavillion. But not long after that, the place was crowded with tourist who wasn't all that polite or gracious. *sigh* Lucky for me (or them), someone got me a hot coffee on that cold morning, otherwise I might have lost it when I was pushed to the fence as I was walking out!! Needless to say, we spent the rest of the visit trying to avoid the group.

Fudo-do, hall dedicated to God of Fire

The wish/thanking 'board' next to Fudo-do where one of us made a wish

Couldn't resist a picture with the fortune machine

Without a doubt, this place must see a lot of tourist!! Look at the fortune machines. There's actually 4 there, one in Japanese obviously, but look at the other 3 I took a picture with. One in English, Korean & Chinese. Talk about marketing skills. I obviously got the English one. Apparently, if the fortune that one gets isn't good, one's suppose to tie them to the strings in an allocated place nearby. Lucky for me, I got to keep my 'paper'.

Along the way to Ryoanji Temple

Ryoanji Temple, located a few minutes away from Kinkakuji by bus, is yet another heritage site. Famous for it's zen garden, this temple was originally the Fujiwara family's. The entrance is a gate called 'san men' which brings us a lake into view on the left. The lake is Kyoyochi Pond, made in the late 12th century which used to house mandarin ducks making Ryoanji also known as Oshidoridera, temple of mandarin ducks.

Kyoyochi Pond

The famous rock garden

This is the famous garden of the Ryoanji Tepmpe, a rectangular shaped dry garden consisting of just 15 rocks and white sand. This garden ws apparently laid out in in late 1400s by Soami, a painter and gardener. It is said that what one sees in the garden depends on how one interpretes the layouts, and one of the famous interpretation is a mother tigress leading her cubs away from a dragon by swimming across a stream (or that's what I can roughly remember). To be honest, all I could 'see' was... random rocks on a prettily raked white sand. *I obviously have not meditated in my life :P* No doubt the raked sands make the place looked extremely zen.

Walkways in Ryoanji's compounds

To be honest, I wasn't that all impressed with Ryoanji (and subsequently the other zen temples), so we didn't spend a long time there. We moved on to Ninnaji which is located even more northwest compared to the other two temples. Once again, we made full use of our day-trip pass :).

At Omuro Gosho of Ninnaji

Ninnaji was found in 888 by a Emporer Uda and was initially started as an imperial residence. We didn't actually pay an entrance fees into the garden *I think we couldn't find any though we weren't looking hard enough*. Most of the compounds seem to be free to public as there wasn't booths or 'entrances' as of such.

Don't know what this is called. It just happened to look very pretty :)

The Pagoda in Ninnaji

It started snowing lightly as we were leaving Ninnaji. Being cold and hungry, we decided to stop for lunch before continuing the rest of the day. We took the bus back to the central area of Kyoto and started looking for a place to eat. It's annoying how everytime we decide to look for food, we can never see one. It's either they're closed, dessert shops or they're fastfood/westerns. And when we are looking for desserts, all we see is food. *sigh*

We spent a really long time wondering before finally settling for a small shop in a side alley near the main road. Although the shop was old and small, there was a pretty decent crowd of customers and they had picture and english menus!! :). Sweet.

Noodles with rice krispies *Seems to be popular over here!!*

From there, our next stop was Chion-in. The entrance to Chion-in isn't the same as the one depicted on the map, but instead one has to go through the San-Mon gate which is located just next to the Maruyama Park. Chion-in is the head temple of of the Jodo sect, built in 1234 and is one of the oldest temples around. Standing at 24 metres tall, the San-Mon gate is the Japan's largest temple gate.

The main colossal gate, San-Mon gate

Chion-in

I was only convinced that this is Chion-in after asking a security guard that was standing nearby, as the it looked to be on a different spot in the tourist map that we were holding. The power of hand language and my years of experience communicating with NESB patients and family, has finally come of use.

Chion-in is made up from a very large area, with many smaller temples/shrines surronding the main temple itself. Entry to most areas were free, which was really good seeing that there was many pretty sights to see. The only part that I dreaded about this temple was it's multiple stairs which was huge and everywhere. Definitely something that I wouldn't mind on any normal day, it was taking a toll on my sore knees after the week of skiing.

More steps to another smaller praying area

Inside the praying area Aren't those things pretty? :0)

Somewhere inside Chion-in

From there we walked into Maruyama Park as recommended by the JNTO walk-route. It was located just next to the temple which was really convenient. However, the park didn't look at pretty as we expected it to be, there was not much flowers but just trees and the park looked rather bare. Perhaps we were there in the wrong season (again!). *I didn't personally take any pictures due to the freezing weather. I decided that my fingers were more important than pictures :P*. So we made our way towards Kodaiji Temple instead.

Rickshaw & Kimonos (both man & woman)

The walk to Kodaiji from Chion-in was a fairly nice walk. It was filled with both locals and tourist, and some of the locals were dressed in kimonos, both males and females. It was like a game of 'spot the kimonos*. Lucky for us, we spotted a couple of geisha/maiko walking down the street opposite us. We took several shots of them while they were walking from afar and then contemplated asking them for a picture. Lucky for us, they obliged and so we had a picture with them :)!! They were absolutely gorgeous, made up just like what we see in tv, adorned with all the pretty accessories on their hair and their traditional slippers.

One with the geishas/maikos

No thanks to us, the two poor girls was then stopped by multiple people for photos after us. We think everyone was just too polite to ask them for a picture before, and when Elvira asked and we got one, everyone started asking them. As we were leaving the area, the geishas/maikos were still standing there taking pictures! *I apologize if you were late to your engagements :(*

After that, four (or rather 2) very happified people walked towards Kodaiji Temple. Formerly known as Kodaijusho-zenji Temple, it is located about 30 minutes walk (with distractions :P) from Choin-in. Established in 1605 in memory of Toyotomi Hideyoshi by his wife, the construction of this temple was financed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of the famoous Shoguns in Japan.

Kodaiji Temple

Twirling thingy at the temple grounds

The temple also had a garden just like all the other temples. Redesigned from an older garden located on site by a renowned landscape architect Kobori Ensyu, this garden has been designated as a Place of Historical Importance and Outstanding Scenery by the Japanese Government. A small pavilion is also located next to the pond to allow viewing of the moon's reflection on the surface of the pond. This pavilion is called Kangetsu-Dai, the Moon Viewing Pvabilion.

In the temple garden grounds

Our last temple stop for the day was the famous Kiyomizudera ( Ching Sui Chi or Pure Water Temple). Built at the edge of a steep cliff, the wooden structure receives a lot of tourist everyday and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site (yes, another one) in 1994. To get to Kiyomizudera, we had to walk uphill but the walk was fairly pleasant as there was many quaint shops selling souvenirs and food along the way.

Entrance to Kiyomizu-dera *Isn't it a pretty picture? With the gate, the tree & the sky*

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the flowers.

Although we were there fairly late in the day, the place was still packed with tourist and I could definitely understand why. Being at the top of a cliff, one could also see the town from it's famous wooden terrace. The famed veranda is supported by hundred of wooden pillars. It was also here that we saw more girls dressed in kimonos and took more pictures! :)

One of the famous terrace

Another picture with the ever friendly people :)

Behind the main hall was a shrine dedicated to the deity of love, also known as Jishu Shrine. I think the place was actually closed when we got there, but because they did not block off the stairway and also as people kept entering, we followed them. And I am glad we did.

Stairs to Jishu Shrine

Jishu Shrine

Slightly off the opposite of the shrine laid to rocks opposite each other several metres apart, which apparently grants wishes if one is able to walk from one to the other with their eyes closed. A lot of people were just staring at the two rocks (us inclusive) and debating about if it was possible to do. In the end, I tried it out but I was so focused on getting there without falling flat on my face that I forgot to make a wish until I left the temple. Talk about being forgetful. LOL. Luckily, it was just for funs :P.

Another picture with the temple

The 3 streams & us

At the bottom of the hall, there was a waterfall, Otowa-no-taki, that channels into 3 streams before entering the pond. These 3 streams are said to represent health, longevity and success and one can only make 2 wishes from the streams as making 3 would symbolize greed and misfortune will happen instead. When I first saw the place from the terrace, it was packed with people but by the time we got there, maybe because it was fairly late, there wasn't much people. I couldn't resist having a go at it and of course, a compulsory photo shot of us while we were there :). Me being not greedy, only had water from 1 stream :P. Although I have no idea which one I took it from.

Walking back to town

The umbrellas really caught my eye

I was walking down the hill with half-held expectations as I wanted to see a shop that we've passed by while going to Kiyomizudera. Thinking to myself along the way, "Please still be open, please still be open". *I'm such a kid sometimes. SIGH.* And it was still open :D.

The shop that I'm talking about? It sells :

Totoro
Ponyo
Kiki's delivery service

We obviously spent some time in the shop but didn't end up getting anything from there. For some reason, Ponyo doesn't seem as cute in... 3Ds. Not entirely sure if the shop has any affliation witht he director or the museum, but the stuffs that was sold there was pretty similiar to what we saw in the museum a few days later. At the same price too.

And one with Totoro with the famous bus stop

Our dinner for that night was kind of a snack-around type. We weren't really starving at dinnertime so when we went back into the city, we just wandered around and we came across this shop that had.... decorations which was quite... unique. We didn't take much notice until we were inside after ordering our food. There was mannequins in the shop that sat with the customers.. and some of the ornament, which were dolls, had their clothes torn apart. A little too bizarre and eerie I have to admit. We left pretty much as soon as we finished our food. The shop sold mainly okinomiyakis and we ordered 1 to share between the 4 of us, as we only wanted to have a try and it actually wasn't too bad.

Okinomiyaki

We finished off the day with another dinner at another izakaya. Man, I can really get used to eating at izakayas :).