Kyoto Trip

Friday afternoon was spent in Downtown Kyoto. We had student guides from KGU to bring us there. So, it was 4 of us, and 3 of them, cos Laura wanted to come along too :) Walked from KGU to Gotenyama station (the station that I will be frequenting quite a bit due to my host family living outside of the immediate vicinity). The second picture is the ticketing machine. And I also took a picture of my first train ticket in Japan! haha. Firsts are very important you know.. :)













Here's me and my 3 compus tour guides. The one with her eyes closed on the left is Sayuki. The one beside me is Tomoko. The one on the far right is Tomi. :)









Downtown Kyoto is about 20-30 minutes away I think. I wasn't really paying attention to my watch, so I'm not sure how long exactly. But it was shorter than I expected. Kyoto is a pretty place, but where we went to, it had the normal city kinda feel to it. The first thing we did was to walk to a jinja (shrine).











In all shrines and temples I think, they have 2 dogs on guard outside. I forgot what they are... Something something inu (inu = dog). haha. My japanese is really weak, I tell you. And I forget quite often my vocabulary, even after being reminded 10,000 times. :x Anyways, from left to right: Laura, me, Tomoko, Ann, Sayuki and Daryn. Sayuki has her eyes closed in all my pictures of her i think. haha.

Upon entering the temple, we did a purification ritual. So we scoop (fresh mountain) water with the ladle, pour it over our two hands, pour a little into our cupped hand and rinse your mouth with the water. purification ritual, I think. I accidentally drank right out of the ladle *whoops*! haha, Daryn said that defeats the purpose of purification!!! Instead I contaminated the ladle! *whoops* My guides laughed when I did it. Typical, "What a silly gaijin" kinda reaction, I'd guess.

I have other pictures of the jinja, but I didn't upload them cos it's just too many. But this was interesting. My guides threw a coin, shook the long string with the bell attached above, clapped their hands twice and did a little prayer. It was quite cute to watch them. In this picture, Sayuki has her mouth open I think, and Tomoko is praying.







We were fasinated by the number of lanterns, and thought it was for warding off spirits, or honouring the ancestors or something. So I asked our guides, "What are these for?" They stared hard at it, and finally saw one of the lanterns which said, "Beer" in katakana, with 3 kanji words. Then they looked enlightened. "Sponsors! Names of sponsors of the jinja!" haha. what a total disappointment.





I think I mentioned before, that the houses in Japan are very nice, and very green. Here's a picture of one somewhere outside the shrine. Well, maybe it's a restaurant, cos to live so close to the tourist spot would be really expensive. But anyways, it is a really pretty picture of the house :)




You practically can find anything and everything in vending machines. This is a vending machine for alcohol. I also had a picture of a vending machine for cigarettes... haha, and on campus, there's a vending machine for icecream, drinks etc. Rather cool.








At a corner of the road, I saw a rickshaw man. Once again, Daryn has better pictures. I stole her pictures but am too lazy to go hunt them down. It's somewhere in the evicted baggages. So, make do with mine at the moment, please.

I like this temple/shrine (don't know what it is exactly since we didn't go in). It's 4-5 storeys tall and very pretty. :) There was a mask shop outside where the temple/shrine was and these were some of the really scary/queer displays! :x

It was a very very long hike up to Kiyomizu Temple. But Daryn and I stopped to take a look at this pair of very cute (fake) cats that are staring into the shop, selling full of cat stuff. Haha. Both of us like to meow a lot. :P And we like cat stuff. So it was a common thing between the two of us to stop and look at the shop.

Tadah! Kiyomizu Temple! :)

Admission is 300yen, but we didn't go in. Daryn and I will come by and hike around some other day. But it's a beautiful place, overlooking the entire city area. We can see Kyoto Tower from the Temple (am lazy to search for that particular the picture now) =P

And then, we walked down. On our way down, I passed by this store selling yukata.I so wanted to get this yukata. It's pink and so pretty! And only 2100 yen. Well, the obi (sash) is more expensive, so in total, I have to pay like a little over 3000. But the material is coarse and uncomfortable :( So, NO. No. I will just spend a little more to get better quality yukata or kimono or something. It was very funny because initially, Tomi went in with me to ask the lady for me to try the size. Tomi tried to explain to me in simple Japanese, but I cldnt get it. So I got Daryn. Basically, shopkeeper explains to Tomi in Japanese, Tomi explains to Daryn in simple Japanese, Daryn explains to me in English! hahahahahaha. so funny :P

And being the greedy old me, I ate a lot of samples for this. I dont know what this is called in Japanese. But apparently, it's some flour with red bean in it. A kind of wagashi (?) BK has to correct me on this! :)

So anyways, down we went, to a cafe nearby cos we were all hungry. It was a very small cafe, maybe about 5 tables. There is a beautiful garden at the other side of the glass door. Japanese love flowers etc. :) So pretty! I ordered a matcha cheesecake. Between Daryn's Japanese and my knowledge of Kanji, we figured out what mine had (before we ordered lah). So mine was: cheesecake (top layer), red bean from Hokkaido and matcha filling. Daryn's was milk crepe (which is not featured here).

After the (not so filling) dinner, we walked back along the way to the jinja, where our guides did the ... erm, i forgot what it's called in chinese even! haha.. I'll post the picture and u see for urself what they're doing. Anyways, apparently, they dont only have hu shen fu, they also have CARD hu shen fu. it's very funny!!! Maybe its for guys who dont want girly stuff lah...













The tour guides asked if we wanted to go back straight away and I decided for the group and said no. So, we walked to the shopping areas at Downtown Kyoto! :) Passed by this canal (?) where lovers were sitting by either side of the bank. haha. Also saw ducks and chased after them frantically to take pictures of them :) It's a pretty place, right in the heart of Kyoto!

Here's a picture of Ann at the claw machines (where u try to grab a softtoy). Personally, I think its a freaking waste of money, but well, whatever floats ur boat. Maybe she thinks that me buying a uniglo dress is a waste of money also? haha. But she spent at least 13-15 dollars on it!!! I was so horrified to see coins dropping down (down down down down) and her keep trying to get the cute bunny. :( Sighs, I wanted to say, "If you got so much money, please donate to the 'hueyinjapan fund'." -___-|||

Anyways, here are some random pictures. haha. Saw a kinokuniya and stopped just so I can take a picture of it :)

My alignment sucks. haha. But anyways, so, yeah, that was Kyoto, for a 1/2 day trip. I must read the travel guide lah. Or else will be walking aimlessly. But, school starts soon, so, no more travelling! :( *sobs* Well, at least not as much sight-seeing as I'd like to. Oh wells!