Sunday, February 7, 2010

So, when I was in Japan, I went to Kyoto.

Hey
So I could just do a time machine post, but meh.
CBF today. Seriously.

Anyway, let's get it started.
When I went to Kyoto, we got up really early to catch a cab, to catch a flight to Osaka. From Osaka, we caught a bus to Kyoto.
On the way there...
I saw this.
Nintendo?!
Thats right. It says "Nintendo". Why? Because it's the original Nintendo building.
Awesome, right?

After we arrived the first place we went was Kiyomizu Temple (Kiyomizu-dera), which basically means Pure-water Temple.

This is the entrance;
The entrance

Basically, the main part of the temple, which was built more than 1000 years ago is made entirely from wood, and is beautiful.
A feat of not-so-modern architecture

I went with my host parents, and host brother.
He was taking the picture so you can't see him, but this is me, with them, and with a backdrop of Kyoto city (his finger is totally in the picture grrr)
Me, Mum and Dad

Kiyomizu Temple is called so because the water which flows from the mountain here has been running for thousands of years.
At this waterfall, you can line up to drink it.
Water from the mountains

I didn't want to line up and feel like a tourist, but I did anyway (Mum made me =/)
Then I drank it.
It was really quite nice, it tasted clean and just sorta fresh. It tasted like...happy.
It tastes better than you'd think

Next we went to see the Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-ji).
This is a shrine covered in gold leaf, and looks divine.
On the way there, we saw this;
The 'big' letter
Now, this is the character for "big" (大) and it is burnt into this hill annually. I'm not entirely sure why, something to do with the coming of a certain season (I think summer). Not to be confused with 犬, dog.

As we walked towards the Golden Pavillion, I saw this traditional-looking building.
Japanese Traditional (maybe) building
I thought it looked pretty so I tooked a pick-cha.

Finally, after quite a bit of a walk, I was here, at the Golden Pavillion.
In this photo, I look really cold. That's because it was really bloody cold;
Kinkakuji+cold

If you wanted to see it without me, here you are;
Kinkakuji, a little bit away
I think I'm a mighty photographtaker.

For some reason, there was a bush shaped like a snake there;
Snakebush

After that, we went to Ryoanji (The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon). I fell over (grr). It has a fantastic rock garden, and for some reason, a little model of it;
Rock Garden in Miniature

And the real thing;
Rock Garden

Over the other side, I took a beautiful picture of Japan in Autumn;
The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon

Finally, it was time to go home.
We headed back to Kyoto Station to catch a bullet train;
Kyoto Station

And the bullet train was awesome:
Me on the Bullet Train

Those are my Kyoto photos.
More to come :)

Aidan

2 comments:

Laura said...

I tagged you on my blog. :D.

Nice pictures, btw~.
I likes the Nintendo one.
(There was a Nintendo one, right? RIGHT?).

(Haha, the word verification that I had to type in to submit this comment was "sucki". /immature).

Laura said...

You won some awards on my blog. :D.