Kyoto, oh beautiful Kyoto, i love you!
I spent just two days in Kyoto, had lots of mountain/stairs climbing and lots of sweating, but i just totally loved it! And i already wanna go back. I didn't manage to see lots of things that i wanted even with my super turbo pace, but that's just another reason to come back, right?
It's really interesting city and a really old one. I knew that Kyoto is old, but it did take me by surprise that it is still so old! There are many many traditional buildings, many nice cozy shops. There are no skyscrapers, so it's a nice rest for your eyes after big cities like Tokyo or Osaka. There's couple of rivers flowing through the city, so in the evening you can just take a walk along the river, enjoy the view.
Every day i imagine myself living in Japan more and more, i feel well here, even though it's sometimes way too hot, humidity feels nice on my skin, i enjoy the sun. What an irony - in the country where most of the people try to stay white, i finally got the need to get brown - probably the first time in my life. I'm afraid i wouldn't be a good girl and wouldn't follow some of the rules, since i couldn't work 24/7 or not tell the truth when i'm asked, but i like how things look like in Japan. I'm studying japanese, but i hate the question "why" and lately i've been telling people it's more of a personal reason, than a carrier and it might be true... Probably i won't work as a teacher or in the embassy, but i might end up living or at least settling down for a while in Japan. Wouldn't it be nice..?
After these two days in Kyoto my feet totally hurt and i feel physically a little bit tired, my shoes fucked up, because of climbing, but i'm overjoyed! I already have couple of things i must remember for the next trip to Kyoto. First of all, do not go there in summer, because it's just terribly hot! Even though it has lots of greenery and rivers, it's really difficult to handle the heat there, especially when you're travelling and doing sightseeing, which means lots of walking, a backpack and maybe a camera. So i will avoid Kyoto in summer by all means in the future.
Another thing is closing times. You should do a double check on that one, coz you might end up in failure and arrive somewhere which is already closed. Shrines and temples close pretty early, around 4-5 pm, so you have to be careful in Kyoto. If you're up to a late sight seeing, there's not really much to do.
You also have to choose wisely your transportation... You can do lots on foot which is cheap, but you're gonna be tired in the evening. You can go on bike, which is again cheap, but again tiresome. Advantage of it - faster. Or you can go on trains, Keihan Line day pass is 1000 Yen and subway day pass is 600 Yen, there's also Bus day pass for 500 Yen. I went for the bus, even though it was slower than the train, but for me it was way better on the second day, because train doesn't go anyway to the places i visited.
So the first day i did completely on foot. I visited couple of shrines, a park, went to a beautiful beautiful Zen temple. And went back home through Gion. Most of the temples and shrines have admission fee, so don't mumble about it - it's just the way it is, so money goes fast in Kyoto. Admission fees vary between 200 Yen and 600 Yen. I'm staying at a friend's brother's friend's. And she's a really nice girl! I'm happy not just because i had a roof above my head, but also that i could meet her!
On the second day i visited the famous Golden Temple, went to another Zen temple, the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine with lots of orange torii gates, Toufuku Shrine, did some mountain climbing and went to botanical garden. After that, together with the girl i'm staying at, we went to Kurama Shrine which was really beautiful! It was again on a mountain, but it was really worth going up. We were basically the last ones to enter, so we enjoyed the peace and nice view without lots of tourists. The Kurama Shrine is pretty far away from the city, so there's not many tourists in general, but we had it in a special way - without people at all. It's just a pity, that all the facilities were already closed.
I would need one more day for Kyoto, but i'm happy i had at least 2 days here. The best places were Koudaiji (Zen temple in the east of Kyoto) and Kurama (shrine in the mountains, in the north of Kyoto). A place which i could have skipped was Ryouanji - the other Zen temple with famous rock garden, that i was looking forward to. But i was disappointed, since the ticket was pretty expensive and the famous rock garden was really small and, i'm sorry - no offense, nothing special. Koudaiji temple had way bigger rock garden which was really beautifully made.
It's amazing just to wander around in Kyoto, because even if you get kinda lost, you'll definitely find a nice spot, a park, temple, shrine or something else old and interesting. So i would just go somewhere without really looking at the map and i did just fine! In a blog it seems pretty simple and usual, this Kyoto trip, but it's just hard to tell about it... I guess, you have to come and experience it, since it's not just what you see, but also what you feel, how you perceive it. I enjoyed the temples and shrines, it was so old and beautiful! And the architecture was really impressive... It seems divine sometimes, because you're nearly out of ideas how it could have been built.
So i have to say good bye to Kyoto today and get in the night bus which brings me all the way to Chubu are, Shizuoka prefecture, Omaezaki - a small town at the ocean, i'm looking forward to it, because the host seemed so friendly and because i really wanted to see the ocean... I hope it all goes well!
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