3rd Day- Kyoto

November 29, 2012

3rd Day- Kyoto

We woke up in the morning with the fresh air of Kyoto. On our 3rd day, we had one full day to explore Kyoto. If you have a chance to visit Japan, do not miss the chance to visit Kyoto. I remembered the story of my friend that Kyoto was one of the target of bombing by US during the final stage of World War II. However, since Kyoto has many historical places and beautiful scenes, the General who chose the target changed it from Kyoto to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Our schedule for the 3rd day was looking around till night and we had to go to Kyoto's station to get the bus to Tokyo (we took overnight bus to go to Tokyo). So after checking out from our hostel in Kyoto, we went to Kyoto's station to drop our luggage in the subway's locker (again hehe). Finished by dropping our luggage, we went to tourist information which is located inside the station just to ask some information. Actually our fist destination was the Imperial palace which is located really closed to our hostel the night before. Unfortunately, the tourist information officer told us that we could not go there unless we already registered. So, we decided to visit another interesting places which do not take so much time hehe.

Our first destination was bamboo forest, we took JR Line subway to Saga-Arashimaya. From Saga-Arashimaya we walked about 15 minutes until we reach the place. Near the bamboo forest there is Kodaiji Temple only 5 meter away from bamboo forest.

The Shrine Ninomiya

Here are the pics of Kodaiji Temple

We took the randen tran to get the next destination Kinka Kuji

then took a bus

Our lunch Menu " Tempura Udon"

Entrance Gate

Candle for praying

near the bus stop

KINKA KUJI..the Golden Temple Yeay

Actually, there are many interesting places in Kyoto, as we only had one day to explore Kyoto so that we just visited some places which for me and my friend Kinka kuji is one of must visited places in Kyoto. After seeing around Kinka kuji, we decided to go to Kiyomizu dera, but before going tp Kiyamizu Dera I stopped by in souvenir shop buying T-shirt for my brothers. Yeah, I guess it was right decision to buy Japanese T-shirt in Kyoto the price for one t-shirt was 1,050 JPY for all types of size which I could not find it in Tokyo. This is another tips that if you travel to Japan, do not buy any souvenirs like t-shirt or Yukata in Tokyo, because the price in Tokyo is more expensive than in other cities However, buying small souvenirs like key chain, or magnet there is fine.

Getting into Kiyomizu Dera from Kinka Kuji, we had to take bus. It took us 30 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, it was heavy rainy on that day T_T. Kiyamizu Dera itself located on the hill. That's why we had to walk up to the temple from the bus stop. What makes this temple interesting is because the architecture. The temple was made from the woods which also has strong pillars to support the building. The main hall has large veranda where all visitors can take a seat and rest. We spent around 1 hour to look around the temple.

Our next destination after Kiyomizu Dera was Gion District. This place is popular with traditional Japanese houses and geisha performance. If you are lucky, you may find Geisha walking around the district and since it was rainy, we did not have a chance to see them.

Our time was limited and we had to get back to Kyoto Station. We forgot that we haven't had our dinner, so we decided to have dinner around Kyoto's station because the restaurants located in Gion District are quite expensive where the price are mostly above 1,000 JPY.

After having dinner, we wanted to see the Kyoto Tower. Yeah, Kyoto tower is located exactly in front of Kyoto Station, but unfortunately we finished our dinner at 10.00Pm and it's already closed when we reached the place. But there's a bar inside the tower where you can see view of Kyoto from there and since we only had one hour cause we had a schedule to take a bus to Tokyo, we thought it wasn't worth to get into the bar.