When we got to Kyoto it was raining... not that a bit of rain is going to deter hard cores like ourselves. So we battled through it for 15 minutes to find our hotel. Bursting through reception doors like a pair of drowned rats. After the adventures of the Hiroshima Hog we were pretty keen to get us on two wheels as it had proved to be the best way to get around the city.
After saddling up our sweet new beasts, we set off to check out the gigantic shinto temple called Hongwan-ji, we had seen in our mad dash to the hotel. If we have our facts straight this was started by a guy who was preaching an alternative message to the Imperial Dynasty of the time and was on of the last remaining teachers as many of the other we executed or exiled. The construction and materials of this temple are awe inspiring. If you are a budding carpenter, architect or designer you must check these temples out. We were unable to take photos inside the building so we couldn't capture the intricate detail in anything except our minds eye. Unfortuately the Japanese still haven't invented the brain USB plug so these pictures might be a little while on the waiting. But here are some plain old "photographs" of the outside:
We spent the afternoon and evening discovering some kilometers of market streets in Kyoto so it was glory days for Boos Boos. One notable find that afternoon was a traditional Katana shop which left Doodles drooling everywhere. We had been trying to find a shop like this the whole trip. It became quickly apparent by the price tags that if Doodles got a sword it wasn't coming from this shop. With prices ranging up to 40,000 AUD per sword, all he could was put on the little white museum collector gloves and hold them for a minute, dreaming dreams of Beckett's destruction.
The next day dawned bright and sunny so we took the opportunity to jump our bikes and head to the Imperial Palace Gardens. These are 1300m x 800m, containing the Imperial palace and its compound, and two other smaller compounds. Around the outer walls are wide pebble covered roads, meaning the palace guards could see any intruders before they got to the walls. The walls themselves, unless your starring in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and are seemingly unaffected by the laws of gravity or you have Bond type super gadgets, it would be pretty much impossible to get over. The compounds themselves all contain amazing gardens but unfortunately the general public are not allowed inside.
Much to Boos Boos delight we came upon a bunch of trees that looked to be the beginnings of Cherry Blossoms. We found out later that they were actually cousin trees of the cherry blossoms, with smaller flowers and bloomed earlier. We were super happy to seem them, as we had resigned to the fact that we would miss the Cherry Blossoms by a few weeks. We spent the afternoon lazying and napping in the sun soaking up some Vitamin D as we had not seen the sun in some weeks.
The next day, our last day in Kyoto, it was raining yet again but we only had a finite amount of time so we got out there and checked out another area called Gion on the east side of the city. This was a very traditional Japanese area with tiny streets not built for cars, amazing gardens and ponds stocked with golden carp. We spent the morning there wandering around those little streets and up into the moss covered foot hills that surround Kyoto. Boos Boos had organised a treat for herself that afternoon but more on that later. Doodles spent the afternoon honing his point and shoot photography skills in nearby gardens, so here are the pick of the bunch.
We had heard from some people in Hiroshima of a place in the hills nears Osaka which was one of the oldest centers of Buddhism in Japan and that we had to go there. Easy decision.
On the train and off to our next stop - Koyasan...
Peace and Love
Doodles and Boos Boos
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