I've had an incredible week. I went on a whirlwind excursion in the Kansai area. On Tuesday, I left Okayama and stopped in Himeji in hopes of some pretty pictures of cherry blossoms. No such luck - they weren't out yet. So I continued to Osaka, where I spent a night. Namely because my favourite hotel, the Toyoko Inn, was all booked up in Kyoto. No biggie, my hotel in Osaka happened to be right next to Osaka Castle, so I walked around there for the evening.
I headed out bright and early on Wednesday for Kyoto. I had a short list of things that I really wanted to see. I got a day pass for the transit there, and I hopped on a bus to Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion. I think it's SO golden that it looks tacky and fake! Like too much bling on someone. That's just my two cents. Kyoto also has Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion, but I decided against going there since they ran out of money during the Onin war and it's not actually covered in silver.
Then I hopped on another bus to Ryoanji, world-famous for its Zen rock garden. It's smaller than I imagined it to be. It's about 25m long and maybe 5-10m wide. And you can only sit on one side of it and you're not allowed to walk around it or anything. So you're just supposed to sit and contemplate it somehow. Right. Next stop: Kyoto Imperial Palace.
I really only walked around the gardens because you need to register with the tourist office in order to get in on the tours inside the palace, and they were booked up. :( So I walked around the palace walls, which only looked about 10 years old and highly non-historical. There were many beautiful trees (peach, plum, lotus) in bloom, so I took more pictures of flowers than anything else.
After that, I mustered up some more energy and hit up the Heian Shrine. It has one of the largest torii in Japan, which was a relief, because if that wasn't the biggest, I don't think I can even contemplate what is! It looks a little Chinese-y in architecture, and overall quite pretty (except that it's a gaudy shade of reddy-orange).
Last stop for the day: Gion. Famous for geisha. So I was wewwy-wewwy quiet and went geisha-huntin'. I saw 2! One was with an attendant, or perhaps a maiko (trainee), and they were both dressed in yellow kimono. Gorgeous. I managed to steal a picture of the second one I saw. I must say that the geishas are the one thing I saw in Kyoto that were much more beautiful in real life than in pictures. Aside from that, Gion's nightlife was really great and the shopping was pretty good too! I finally bought the shoes I'd been eying for a few months, so I was pretty happy at that!
That was all I could cram into one day! I wanted to hit up one more temple, so I did it early in the morning. Thursday after breakfast I went to Sanjusangendo, a temple famous for having 1001 statues. This place was absolutely creepy and gave me the heebie-jeebies! I should've taken it as a hint of foreshadowing.
That was all I really wanted to see in Kyoto, so I whisked myself off to Nara. I had only two things I desperately wanted to see here: Todaiji and Horyuji. Todaiji was just incredible! I, the one who never shuts up, was shut up. I was absolutely speechless. Todaiji is the largest wooden building in the world, and it houses a rather large Buddha figure inside it. The building is just cavernous, and the detail of the woodwork is just astounding. Oh, and the giant Buddha is interesting just because it's THAT big. In fact, the gates of Todaiji themselves are massive as well. And inside the gates are two large (creepy) guardian figures. The whole experience was just whoa.
When I'd gotten to Nara, I asked where Horyuji was, and was surprised to find it was actually OUTside of Nara! I figured I'd regret it if I didn't go, so I hopped on a bus which, as it turns out, took an hour to get there! It was pretty cool too, just because there is a pagoda and another shorter squatter building next to it. It's quite unique, and I'm guessing that's why it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. There's also a museum of sorts, housing many Buddhist artifacts.
So yeah, by the end of Thursday, I was pretty temple'd out. My brain had been onslaught with a zillion Buddhist figures in all different sizes. I couldn't help but be marvelled at the sheer dedication with which the old Japanese folks back in the day laboured and toiled to create these things. Not just the buildings and the statues, but the bowls, the scrolls, the paintings, and anything else culturally significant. I think I need to go to Europe to be awed by similar culturally-important works that involve churches and not Buddhist things. If only the foreigners weren't cast out of Japan (or relegated to Dejima) it might be a different story indeed.
Anyway, that is my Kansai Adventure in a nutshell! The pictures are up on my yahoo album, so go take a look!
I headed out bright and early on Wednesday for Kyoto. I had a short list of things that I really wanted to see. I got a day pass for the transit there, and I hopped on a bus to Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion. I think it's SO golden that it looks tacky and fake! Like too much bling on someone. That's just my two cents. Kyoto also has Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion, but I decided against going there since they ran out of money during the Onin war and it's not actually covered in silver.
Then I hopped on another bus to Ryoanji, world-famous for its Zen rock garden. It's smaller than I imagined it to be. It's about 25m long and maybe 5-10m wide. And you can only sit on one side of it and you're not allowed to walk around it or anything. So you're just supposed to sit and contemplate it somehow. Right. Next stop: Kyoto Imperial Palace.
I really only walked around the gardens because you need to register with the tourist office in order to get in on the tours inside the palace, and they were booked up. :( So I walked around the palace walls, which only looked about 10 years old and highly non-historical. There were many beautiful trees (peach, plum, lotus) in bloom, so I took more pictures of flowers than anything else.
After that, I mustered up some more energy and hit up the Heian Shrine. It has one of the largest torii in Japan, which was a relief, because if that wasn't the biggest, I don't think I can even contemplate what is! It looks a little Chinese-y in architecture, and overall quite pretty (except that it's a gaudy shade of reddy-orange).
Last stop for the day: Gion. Famous for geisha. So I was wewwy-wewwy quiet and went geisha-huntin'. I saw 2! One was with an attendant, or perhaps a maiko (trainee), and they were both dressed in yellow kimono. Gorgeous. I managed to steal a picture of the second one I saw. I must say that the geishas are the one thing I saw in Kyoto that were much more beautiful in real life than in pictures. Aside from that, Gion's nightlife was really great and the shopping was pretty good too! I finally bought the shoes I'd been eying for a few months, so I was pretty happy at that!
That was all I could cram into one day! I wanted to hit up one more temple, so I did it early in the morning. Thursday after breakfast I went to Sanjusangendo, a temple famous for having 1001 statues. This place was absolutely creepy and gave me the heebie-jeebies! I should've taken it as a hint of foreshadowing.
That was all I really wanted to see in Kyoto, so I whisked myself off to Nara. I had only two things I desperately wanted to see here: Todaiji and Horyuji. Todaiji was just incredible! I, the one who never shuts up, was shut up. I was absolutely speechless. Todaiji is the largest wooden building in the world, and it houses a rather large Buddha figure inside it. The building is just cavernous, and the detail of the woodwork is just astounding. Oh, and the giant Buddha is interesting just because it's THAT big. In fact, the gates of Todaiji themselves are massive as well. And inside the gates are two large (creepy) guardian figures. The whole experience was just whoa.
When I'd gotten to Nara, I asked where Horyuji was, and was surprised to find it was actually OUTside of Nara! I figured I'd regret it if I didn't go, so I hopped on a bus which, as it turns out, took an hour to get there! It was pretty cool too, just because there is a pagoda and another shorter squatter building next to it. It's quite unique, and I'm guessing that's why it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. There's also a museum of sorts, housing many Buddhist artifacts.
So yeah, by the end of Thursday, I was pretty temple'd out. My brain had been onslaught with a zillion Buddhist figures in all different sizes. I couldn't help but be marvelled at the sheer dedication with which the old Japanese folks back in the day laboured and toiled to create these things. Not just the buildings and the statues, but the bowls, the scrolls, the paintings, and anything else culturally significant. I think I need to go to Europe to be awed by similar culturally-important works that involve churches and not Buddhist things. If only the foreigners weren't cast out of Japan (or relegated to Dejima) it might be a different story indeed.
Anyway, that is my Kansai Adventure in a nutshell! The pictures are up on my yahoo album, so go take a look!
