11/8 - Back in Kyoto so soon

We hopped onto a green Keihan train to leave Uji for Kyoto.  We would have to transfer along the way, though.  We went back the way we came and actually did the train station transfers instead of walking the 20-30 minutes to transfer near Momoyama.  When we got onto the train for Kyoto, we were surprised that we would boarding the Ise-Shima Liner.  This is a fancier longer distance train coming in from Ise, which is 151 km away from Kyoto by car.  It looked very different from the regular urban trains that we had been riding.  It was more streamlined and had some very fancy seats in a first class area.  We weren't allowed on the first class car obviously, but the seats in the regular car were a little more comfortable to accommodate for a longer ride.  A train ride from Ise to Kyoto is 2+ hour ride.  Too bad we were only on this train for 10 minutes at most.  It would have been a nice comfy long distance ride.

We arrived back in Kyoto Station, but we were in a totally different part of this large train station and had to find our way back to the main entrance in order to figure out where we were.  Once we found the main entrance, we could re-orient ourselves and head into the underground mall for another round of takoyaki.  It was just as good as the first time.

After dinner, we wondered the mall for a bit, but there wasn't much that interested us.  So we went back up to Kyoto Station's Sky Garden.  To be honest, there wasn't much to see.  And you could see hand prints on all the windows that offered views of the city.  I didn't find it that impressive up there, plus it was feeling very cold this evening.  So went back down.  There was a piano recital going on in the large amphitheatre just on the way down from the Sky Garden.  There were all these school-age kids playing their songs.  I think we stayed for 3 songs.  Unfortunately, 2 of the songs were the same.  They must have the same piano teacher teaching the same piece.

And because it was nearly Christmas, there was a giant lit up Christmas tree that was just above the amphitheatre stage and could be seen by the milling transit riders below.  I think Christmas is more over the top in Asia than it is back home.  We just never see gigantic electric trees back home.

11/8 - Which way to the train station?

All right.  H here.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided not to follow the map as outlined on our Kansai Thru Pass.  We were on our way from Nara to Uji, but I saw that there was at least two transfers according to the Thru Pass Map.  However, I had seen on a different map somewhere that a station on the Kyoto-Nara Line was walking distance to a station on the Uji Line.  So why bother transfering twice when we could just transfer once with a small walk.

Hm.  Wrong decision.  We got off at Momoyamagoryo-mae Station on the blue line above.  According to the map, like on Google Maps below, it looked fairly close to walk to Kangetsukyo Station, but boy was it hard to figure out where the station was while on the ground.  No wonder the Thru Pass Map makes it look like it was really far.

We got out of Momoyama Goryomae station and walked east towards the main road.  However, that's where I couldn't figure out if I had gotten to the correct road or not.  So I decided to keep walking.  I found a set of train tracks thinking that it was our desired station.  However, I noticed that it was JR train station.  We weren't planning to travel on a JR train, so this was totally the wrong train station.  We would have had to pay extra if we hopped on a JR train today.

We double backed to the main road.  Road signs are so hard to read sometimes in Japan.  The road name on the map didn't correspond to the name on the street sign.  But this was the only main road, so we started to walk south.  There weren't many stores and the afternoon sun was beating down on us.  So needless to say, it was sunny and warm and I was anxious to find this station.

The busy road made it's way down the hill, but I still couldn't see the station.  I was starting to wonder if we were going the right direction.  When I finally saw a train running right beside a perpendicular road at the bottom of the hill, I felt we had found our desired station.  As we got closer, we could finally make out the station sign - Kangetsukyo.  Phew.

We crossed the busy intersection and we made our way into the station.  Double checked that we were on the correct platform (a very important detail) and waited for our train to Uji.

After an unexpected midday hike under the afternoon sun, we were really hungry.  Next station - Lunch!

11/4 - Back at Kyoto Station

Back at Kyoto Station, we had every intention of trying to extend our stay in Japan. We were originally booked to return to Vancouver on November 10, but we wanted to stay an extra 2 days. Somebody at K's House Kyoto told us to go to the travel agency in the train station to change our tickets, but after a 15 minute wait, we found out that we couldn't change the tickets there. We actually had to call JAL at a payphone. 

So we had go back out to the 7-Eleven inside the station and buy a phone card in order to use the payphone. After about 20 minutes on the phone, N managed to get our ticket changed.  November 12 was already all booked, but November 13 was free for flights back to YVR.  So we rescheduled for that day.  I suppose not many people want to fly on "Friday the 13th."

It was already getting dark and we were looking for food. Luckily there's an underground shopping mall attached to Kyoto Station.  Wandering the halls aimlessly for food, we were getting hungrier with every step.  We took a look at many of the food displays in the windows, but the prices were fairly steep.  We eventually settled on takoyaki place at one end of the mall just past the entrance to the Kyoto Subway station. 

The place was not big and was really a fast food place.  However, they had cheese takoyaki on the menu.  Now I never thought that cheese would go well with octopus balls, but it was some of the best takoyaki I've ever had.  Being caffeine-intolerant (i.e. can't sleep with caffeine in my system), I was looking for my usual Sprite alternative to Coke, but all they had was a Melon Soda.  It was okay, but I think I prefer Sprite.

After having eaten, we went back topside and ventured down to one end of Kyoto Station where the Grand Theatre is.  Right beside the Grand Theatre is the Osamu Tezuka World. Most people in the North America know of Astro Boy (aka Mighty Atom in Japan) and Kimba the White Lion.  Osamu Tezuka (The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga) is the creator of these classic animation series.  There is a small animation theatre that you could go into, but we just perused the store itself and picked up a few small things.  We even got a photo of Mighty Atom himself. 

We were starting to be walking zombies at this point, I managed to get a night shot of the Kyoto Tower directly across from Kyoto Station.  Not a bad photo for being in a zombie state-of-mind.  Afterwards, we decided to call it a day and head back to Osaka for the night.  We caught the JR express from Kyoto to Osaka and caught some shuteye.  We eventually got back to Shinsaibashi and checked back into the Hearton Hotel Shinsaibashi.  We got our luggage back from behind the check-in counter and proceeded up to our new room.  Once again, it was the same as the first night's room - tiny.

At this point, we were hungry again.  The few pieces of takoyaki were definitely not enough.  We headed back out to shopping arcade of Shinsaibashi-suji.  We found a place called Manmaru (the Hiragana actually reads Hanamaru Udon). The dining experience reminds me of buying food at Ikea.  You line up cafeteria style with your tray and pick up things that you want.  Then at one window, you can order a hot dish. It was very affordable and was great cheap eat for two weary travellers.  After dinner and satisfying our hunger, we wandered the pedestrian arcade for a little bit and then headed back to the hotel.  We crashed and recharged our batteries for a long day ahead.

11/4 - Kinkaku-ji - the Golden Pavilion

The bus arrived and we were heading north from Arashiyama [嵐山] to Kinkaku-ji [金閣寺].  We were outside the regular Kyoto City Bus zone, so we had to pay the equivalent of an AddFare when we reached the bus exchange.  We weren't sure which bus we had to take and actually were able to ask a local.  Except I really had to think about what number she said to me.

The bus ride to Kinkaku-ji was quiet as we weaved through a quiet hillside residential area, but once we passed by a temple along the route, the bus was full.  We did, however, pass by a university with a familiar name - Ritsumeikan.  Ritsumeikan University is actually a sister university to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.  So it was neat to pass by the campus.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take a shot of anything. 

Kinkaku-ji was buzzing with tourists when we arrived.  We went in and were soon greeted by the gleaming facade of the Golden Pavilion.  Everyone was simply snap happy at the side of pond directly across from the Pavilion.  The building is simply stunning.  I think the building makes the picture more than the photographer in this case.  Interestingly, the building's three stories are built in different Japanese architectural styles.  Plus, only the top two floors are coated with gold leaf.  The bottom floor is just wood.  However, the wood does not take away from how awe-inspiring this Pavilion is.  If you are ever in Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji is a must-see.

We quickly toured through the rest of the grounds and were back out to the temple entrance.  We weren't sure where the bus stop was and we had to ask for directions again.  N was delighted to be using her Japanese and understanding people. We found the bus stop easily along with a few other tourists.

The ensuing bus ride back to Kyoto Station was truly a milk run and it was a busy milk run.  The bus took one of the main north-south roads in the west side of town.  I think it took almost an hour to get back to Kyoto Station.  When we were lucky enough to have a seat, I was exhausted and found my head "fishing" as I started to doze off a little.  It didn't help that it was really hot and muggy on the bus.  I literally had to de-layer and hold my many layers.

11/4 - Arashiyama, Kyoto

After the Torokko Train, we ascended up from the station and promptly found another stamp station.  Stamps have been our personal mission on this trip it seems.  Like I said before, it feels like Expo all over again.  But it's fun to have something to collect as we travel.  It's a heck lot cheaper than collecting thimbles or teaspoons.

After collecting our stamp, we followed the signs to Tenryu-ji [天龍寺] temple. The signs lead us through the bamboo forest that surrounds the temple.  As the Lonely Planet guide points out, this bamboo forest is a dead-ringer for the bamboo forest in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".  Just waiting for Chow Yun-Fat to suddenly start jumping from bamboo to bamboo. It's all very serene walking along the path through the forest.

We entered Tenryu-ji from the north entrance and walked through the temple grounds.  This Zen Buddhist temple is most famous for its gardens.  The temple was serene and beautiful, but not as awe-inspiring as the Kiyomizu-dera [清水寺] temple that we visited the day before.  Tenryu-ji is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so at least I can say I've been here.  I just don't think I was in enough of a garden state-of-mind that day to truly appreciate Tenryu-ji.

From the temple exit, we made our way to main road in Arashiyama [嵐山].  The road is exactly where the Keifuku Arashiyama Station ends and it also leads onto the Togetsukyo Bridge [渡月橋].  We walked down to the bridge and could see the Hozu River flowing from the mountains in the west.  Arashiyama is clearly a tourist area so the place is pretty clean and sanitized.  Plus, there are plenty of souvenir shops to peruse.

Both our cameras were low on batteries, so we rationed whatever shots we took in Arashiyama.  We would be saving up our battery life for Kinkaku-ji [金閣寺], or the Golden Pavilion.  With little to shoot and all the stores perused, we were getting pretty hungry at this point.  We searched the street for restaurants.  Some were a little on the pricey side.  We found an udon place with reasonable prices and ducked into the restaurant.  So I had a simple Ebi (shrimp) Tempura Udon while N ordered a Tonkatsu set.  All for roughly ¥1500, it was a good deal in touristy area.

Now that we were well fed, it was off to our next destination by bus.  However, I think we must have missed our bus because we waited like 10-15 minutes.  At least I got a rickshaw photo op while waiting. 

11/4 - Sagano Romantic Train (aka. Torokko Train)

November 4 was a regular weekday Wednesday and we were off to the little known Sagano Romantic Train, also known as the Torokko Train in Japanese.  This particular attraction is not even listed in the Lonely Planet.  We must be onto something if the Lonely Planet doesn't know about it.  I think the reason it's not well known, to English travellers at least, is that there is very little info available in English for this attraction.  The official website is totally devoid of any English.  So if you don't read Japanese, good luck.

Our morning started with a visit to Kyoto Station.  We didn't want to be carrying all our stuff around, so we went looking for coin lockers in the bowels of Kyoto Station.  Luckily, it wasn't very hard to find them.  For ¥300, it was not a bad deal in exchange for lightening our load.

Then we went back up to the JR platforms in search of our JR train towards Umahori [馬堀] in the northwest sector outside the main town.  Luckily, we got some breakfast at the local Lawson (a popular convenience store).  I got a onigiri (rice packed together in a triangle and wrapped in dried seaweed), while N bought a whole bowl of hot oden (a winter dish with a variety of ingredients in a soy-sauce flavoured broth).  On the train, we were about to eat the oden, but once you took off the lid of the bowl, the fragrant aroma of hot food permeated the whole cabin.  I think in Japan, it's highly frowned upon to eat on the train.  So the oden would have been way too obvious that we were sneaking a bite to eat.  So we quietly munched on our onigiri instead.

We alighted the train about 20 minutes later at the JR Umahori []station and walked to the Torokko Kameoka [トロッコ亀岡] Station (the leftmost station on the orange line on the map presented).  It was only a 10 minute walk and the air was fresh in this very rural part of Kyoto.  We were very early for the next ride.  The station wasn't bursting with tourists yet.  There was your standard gift store attached to the station and thankfully, washrooms.

We washed up and finished off our breakfast.  I was really starving at this point.  I was very happy to have food in my stomach at this point.  The oden was still pretty hot, so that was a bonus.  We were about 30 minutes early, so we just took our time.  However, as I looked out the window, I could see a tour bus pulling up.  Our solitude was not long lived.  It was a Taiwanese tour group that suddenly flooded the station within minutes.  I was hearing Taiwanese and Mandarin left, right, and centre.

Luckily, N had already purchased our tickets for the ride.  She already knew beforehand that Car No. 5 on the Torokko train is the best car to be on.  Why?  Well, because it is the open air car with no glass getting in the way of your view of the Hozu River and the rest of the scenery.  She had read all about it in her Kansai Travel Book from Sky Publishing of Hong Kong.  Eat your heart out, Lonely Planet.

Pretty soon, the train came into the station.  One group got off the train and we got on.  We were greeted by a masked ojisan - a mascot of some sort.  I think I'll call him our onboard entertainment.  Not a very pretty face, but he was there to mingle with the passengers.   He even joked around with a group of young Japanese schoolgirls and took a group photo with them.

The entire Romantic Train ride was about 25 minutes through some breathtaking scenery.  Unfortunately, the red leaves were not out in full force.  I guess the autumn had been pretty warm up to this point.  However, the view of the Hozu River below was very enjoyable and relaxing.  When you think of Japan, you often think of giant metropolises towering over the land.  It's nice to enjoy the nature side of Japan for once.  Even our little Miga got to take in the scenery.

 

 

 

Some people who take the Torokko train in the opposite direction from Arashiyama to Kameoka will take the Hozu-gawa River Boat ride back to Arashiyama.  N said we had time to do it, but I think 2 hours on the boat ride would have taken away our time from doing other things in the Kyoto area.  From the train, we could see a few boats in the river below.  It looks fun, but I think 2 hours was too long.

We got off at the Torokko Arashiyama [トロッコ嵐山] Station with most of the tourists.  The train was a nice way to start off our 2nd day in Kyoto.  A totally different change of pace from urban Japan.  Luckily, it was not busy season for the train.  The cherry blossom, or sakura, season in the spring would likely be the busiest time for the train.

The Arashiyama Torokko Station put us right at the entrance of the bamboo forest and within walking distance of Tenryu-ji [天龍寺]

11/3 - An Evening in Kyoto

We got on the bus to head to Central Kyoto. After a few stops, it was really crowded. It looks like everyone was going to the middle of town tonight. It was a national holiday after all. We managed to nap a little on the bus because we were fortunate to have a seat. We got to a major intersection in the middle of town and got off the bus and wandered. However, I was so tired that I had no idea where we were heading and N was apparently just following my lead.

We eventually found one of the shopping arcades that N was looking for.  N originally wanted to visit the Nishiki Market [錦市場] in the morning in order to get some extra fresh fish for breakfast.  But it just didn't work in our schedule.  We wandered part way down the Nishiki Market.  Most of the shops were in the process of cleaning up for the night.  There were a few places selling some things, but there was not much left.  All I could do was get a photo op and say that we visited the Nishiki Market.

We then went over to Teramachi [寺町] which is another long shopping arcade in Central Kyoto and is just perpendicular to Nishiki Market.  One of the famous sites in this shopping arcade is that there is a stone torii [鳥居] that is literally embedded into the buildings on either side.  They managed to preserve a piece of history, but I guess the builders didn't care if they encroached on that piece of history.  Right across from the torii, was the entrance to a street temple.  The temple looked much bright and exciting with the dozens of Japanese lanterns that decorated the entrance.

We went up and down Teramachi for about half an hour and we were really hungry.  We originally wanted to have dinner at Watami [和民], but the restaurant was all booked with business parties.  N didn't really want to eat any Western food while in Japan, but I kind of wanted to try some.  We came across a French restaurant called Paris 21e.  It was on the second floor of a building along the Teramachi shopping arcade.

I ordered a glass of Suntory Half-Half beer to start.  It's basically a Japanese version of a Black and Tan.  So half dark and half light.  In this case they took Suntory's dark and light beers and mixed them together.  We don't get any Suntory drinks in Vancouver, so I thought this was worth trying out.  Even N liked it and she really doesn't like dark beers. 

For our food, we ordered a salad, charcoute, and a seafood paella.  The salad was really good.  It had a mix of egg and shrimp.  The charcoute is an Alsatian dish of sausages and veggies in a pot.  This dish wasn't bad, but it was a little salty for our taste.  Then there was the seafood paella.  It was not what I expected.  The sauce was really weird.  I can't even begin to describe the flavour.  I was expecting more of a tomato flavour.  In the end, the salad was the best and dinner seemed to go downhill from there.  At least I had my Suntory to wash down the food.  And like Bill Murray in Lost in Translation says:  it's Suntory time!

After dinner, we took the bus back to K's House Kyoto.  We got into our spartan guest room for two.  We dropped off our gear and went downstairs to finally get some Internet access.  While N was checking her messages, I noticed that the bulletin board had an introduction to a sento right across the street.


A sento [銭湯] is a Japanese bath house where you pay to go in.  The sento is divided into men and women's sections and we paid around ¥300-400 for the one we went into.  We took advantage of the tiny sento across the street.  The showers at K's House Kyoto are shared, so we might as well do the Japanese style of bathing.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.  All I knew was that I must wash completely before bathing in the actual baths.  The man at the bath house spoke no English, so it was a little hard to figure each other out.  I really had to mouth out to myself the cost that he had quoted me for admission.  It wasn't all that busy as far as I could tell.  The man had a television running on the men's side of the sento. He was watching the Japan Series, the Japanese baseball championships, between the Yoimuri Giants and the Nippon-Ham Fighters (mmm...Ham Fighters :P).  Fortunately, there were a couple of other men who came in with me.  So I just followed their lead.  The men had their own towels and wash basins; whereas, I had to borrow from the bath house.  Thankfully the towel, soap, and shampoo were all complimentary. 

As I took my seat on a stool by one of the many faucets along the wall, I peeked out the side of my eyes to see what the other men were doing.  They would fill up their wash basins with the gloriously warm water.  It was a bit chilly tonight, so the warmth hit the spot.  Both men had brought their toothbrushes and shaving kits.  So they were brushing their teeth as they used their wash towels and wetted their naked bodies.  They would then lather up their hands with shampoo and wash their hair.  The body was next.  So foreign me just followed their lead minus the brushing and shaving.  The best part is when I fill up the wash basin with the warm water again and just pour the whole basin over my whole body. 

After a thorough cleansing, I got into one of the two baths.  The introduction at K's Kyoto House had already warned that the baths are usually hotter than what foreigners are accustomed to.  They weren't kidding.  Holy smokes!  It was really hot.  I had to really ease myself into the tub slowly.  After the bath, my whole body felt warm and pulsating.  I bought a bottle of milk, which is apparently one of the things to do after bathing in Japan.  I thought wtf at first about drinking the milk, but it felt very refreshing to drink the milk.

When I walked back to the guest house, the wind just didn't have the same chill anymore.  I was warm all over and felt as bright as day.  So if you don't mind bathing totally naked in front of complete strangers, I would highly recommend partaking in a sento.  It was a glorious feeling and I felt more connected to Japanese culture by just experiencing it. 

And that was the end of our first full day in Kyoto.  And what a full day it was!  The sento really helped to usher me into a wonderful slumber for the night.  Tomorrow would be another busy day with an early start again.

[sento image from pingmag.jp and originally from "Sento - the Japanese Bathhouse.” © Julia Baier]

11/3 - Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto

From Kiyomizu-dera in the southern part of Higashiyama, we had to take a longish bus ride to the northern part of Higashiyama to find Ginkaku-ji　[銀閣寺], aka. the Silver Pavilion. Along the way, we passed by what seemed to be a museum district and a giant red torii [鳥居].  A torii is one of those traditional Japanese gates.  But this one was massive.  It straddled a four-lane road and simply towered over us as we passed underneath it.  We didn't have time to stop and figure out what it was, though.  It was getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to get into Ginkaku-ji before it closed.

The bus dropped us off on the main road and we had to walk a few blocks to Ginkaku-ji.  The sun was starting to set and a warm glow was washing over the streetscape.  We bypassed all the shops on the way to the entrance to Ginkaku-ji.  We got to the entrance, bought our tickets, and entered.  After a twist and a turn through a corridor with bamboo walls, you come instantly face to face with the Silver Pavilion.  It's actually amazing how close you actually are to the building itself.

The only bad thing during our visit that day was that the Pavilion itself was under renovation.  Seeing part of Ginkaku-ji covered was simply anti-climactic.  We must not have seen the signs telling us that it was under renovation.  Or perhaps we had seen the sign, but it was all in Japanese and we did not take any notice of it.  In any case, we had paid and we were here, so we were going to make the most of it.

The garden surrounding the pavilion is quite special.  There are a few special sand gardens, called kogetsudai [高月代], that are a part of the garden.  One "garden" was a giant pile of sand in the shape of an upside down cone.  Another garden had been specially-raked in a pattern of alternating of even and uneven sand.

 

After walking the lower portion of the grounds, the sightseeing route takes you up the side of the hill and the trail then overlooks the Pavilion and the gardens below.  You can also see outside of the Ginkaku-ji grounds to some of the surrounding buildings.  It was almost sunset, so the sun was shining straight into our eyes as we looked westward over the grounds.

Then just as soon as we were up above the grounds, the trail took us back down and we were soon by the exit.  We stopped by the gift shop and bought some bookmarks as souvenirs for some of my coworkers.  That's when we discovered the first of our many stamps.

For Vancouverites, you may remember all the stamps you had to collect during Expo 86.  Every single pavilion had a stamp and you would run around and try to collect as many as you can.  In Japan, almost every single tourist attraction has a free stamp somewhere on the grounds.  The Ginkaku-ji stamp was just outside the gift shop (and not too far from the WC).  So this was our first of many stamps.  Then after stamping our books, we realized that we totally forgot to look for one at Kiyomizu-dera.  That was a total downer.  Well, at least we got the stamp for Ginkaku-ji.

We exited the Ginkaku-ji grounds and walked back down the street towards the main road and passed many shops.  Some of them were already closed for the day because it was already late in the afternoon.  We walked down a little further and made a turn somewhere and stumbled across a neat little store called the Chirimen Craft Museum.  We didn't know at the time, but this was one of many stores around the Kyoto area.  The store sold beautiful cloth crafts of various sorts including animals, nature, and Japanese festival icons.  It was a beautiful store with beautiful crafts, but if I bought something, where would I put it.

N had a hankering for walking through a Japanese supermarket.  Fortunately, near the bus stop to go back to Central Kyoto, there was a supermarket.  We wandered around a little and picked up some drinks.  We were getting very thirsty at this point.  I also bought some Kleenex because you never know when my nose is going to act up.  Also, you can't always get napkins everywhere you go.  Although I would say napkins are more scarce in restaurants in China and Hong Kong.

After the supermarket, we waited shortly for the bus to Central Kyoto and we were on our way again.  Nightfall was definitely setting in at this point.  So was the fatigue.

11/3 - Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto

After a short bus ride south from Gion, we arrived at the bus stop at the foot of the hill to Kiyomizu-dera　[清水寺].  Kiyomizu literally means "clear water."  So it's the clear water temple?  Maybe that's too literal of a translation.

A lot of people were visiting the temple and the surrounding shops today.  We had to go up a narrow street with an even narrower sidewalk.  We were basically walking almost single-file up the hill to the temple.  The street had a few shops, but it was actually more of a residential street if anything.  Lots of cars were making there way up the hill.  Some were lucky to find parking spaces off to the side.  We, as pedestrians, just had to make sure we got out of the way if a car was coming up the hill.

We arrived at the top and were greeted by the giant red gate that marks the entrance to Kiyomizu-dera.  Then we looked down the other street that lead up to the table and realized that we missed all the shops.  So instead of going into the temple grounds right away, we decided to peruse the shops and stalls first.

There was quite a bit of food and snacks available on this busier stretch and so we partook in some of the local flavours.  There was the mochi snack with seaweed.  There were a variety of souvenir food gifts.  And, of course, good old fashioned souvenir stores.  I bought some souvenir food box for work.  When I tried it, the biscuit tasted savoury at first, but then the cinnamon-like sweetness kicked in after a sitting on the tongue for a while.  However, that first bite was a skull-cracker (just like my coworker said after she tried one).

We ventured into one little laneway and discovered a Hayao Miyazaki [宮崎 駿] theme store. Basically the store is full of Totoro and other Miyazaki film characters.  That was a neat little find nestled in behind another gift store.  At a fork in the road, there was a set of stairs that went down to more stores.  There was a store right on the corner that specialized in spices.  You could actually ask for samples of some of the different spices.  It reminds me of trying ice cream samples at Mondo Gelato, except the flavour was far from sweet.  N got a special Hello Kitty spice for herself and a friend at the store.  Is there any product in the world that doesn't have a limited Hello Kitty edition available?

We ventured down the set of stairs and came across a different store that sold a lot of cloth products with Japanese prints.  The store was halfway down the staircase.  Some products were meant to be handbags.  Some were cloth specially meant for bento boxes.  Others were just plain handkerchiefs.  That was a neat little shop halfway down the stairs.

We walked down a little further and made a turn somewhere.  We had another snack or two, but we were starting to become really hungry.  Lunch was in order, especially since it was around 2 in the afternoon by now.  It also happened that it started to sprinkle a little rain.  Many were now just standing under the eaves of different shops along the side of the street, but we decided to press on.  Eventually, the rain got worse and we just decided to hop into a restaurant and get some grub.

After a 10 minute wait, the server took us to the back of the restaurant that was separated from the front by a neat little garden piece with a overhead opening.  We ended sitting right beside a French family of five.  The couple had 3 boys and the youngest was probably about a year old.  We ordered our food and all. Eventually, at the table behind us, a pair of Canadians was seated.  N was looking at the embroidered Canadian flag on the guys backpack and they must have been staring at us once N whipped out her decommercialized Miga (Miga sans the green Vancouver 2010 scarf).  So basically all the foreigners in the restaurant had been effectively placed in the back of the restaurant.  I didn't feel discriminated in any way, but I just thought it funny that all of us in the back of the restaurants were "gaikoku-jin."

Once lunch was done, the sun had started shining again. It was time to finally make our way to the temple itself.  At the temple entrance, we hesitated a little wondering if it was going to be worth the price of admission.  I reasoned that we would not be in this part of the world for ages.  So it was now or never.

Were we ever glad that we paid to go in.  You round the corner from the ticket booth and are greeted the grand view from the grand balcony of the temple.  It was a beautiful view of the trees below and the Main Hall above it.  It was a busy day at the temple, but there was still plenty of room to move around.  As with many temples, there is a giant cistern for incense.  Some young foreigners had bought some incense sticks and were in the process of lighting and planting them in the cistern.  Just around the corner from the giant Main Hall, there was a section where you could pay into a box and ring a bell.  I'm not clear what the ringing of these bells represent, but it is cute to see little kids try to ring those bells.

 

 

We eventually made our way down from the Main Hall to an area where people were lining up to collect water from 3 flowing fountains overhead.  It was a long line up and we didn't understand what it all meant.  So we passed on the water thing, but it did offer a good photo op.

That was it for the temple.  We were soon exiting the temple grounds and making our way back to the main road to catch a bus to our last tourist attraction for the day, Ginkaku-ji, or the Silver Pavilion.