Kiyomizu-dera Temple

Heading abroad to attend a conference sounded more relaxing that it actually ever was. Not only that the traveling could be a haul, trying to stick to the schedule once you arrived at the destination was another thing. For the Kyoto trip, I actually traveled in late - the lectures were already starting on the morning I touched down in Japan, and I actually missed the last day since my flight was early morning on the Sunday. It couldn't get any tighter than that!

So, I decided to make my escape on one of the morning when the schedule was a bit lax, and I was lucky that the weather was gorgeous that morning. Only one morning, that was the only time I could afford to do the sightseeing, and the rest was all business. And I hooked up with my current and previous bosses for the quick trip. According to the plan, there would be three shrines that we would be dropping by - at least according to my "Top 10" book on Kyoto which I bought before going to Japan.

The first spot - it was well before the place was crowded was the Kiyomizu-dera temple. A big complex housing dozens of shrines, and should you only have only one place to visit here in Kyoto, you could not go wrong with this one!

The main entrance complex "deva" gateMessages for good luckMy two bosses by the entranceWe set off from my boss' hotel near Kyoto Station, and the taxi ride took about 15 minutes. Alighting, we had to walk up a small hill lined by cute little gift shops - they were yet to open on the way into the temple. We quickly shuffled in and snaps some photos by the entrance. And the place was huge.

The entrance took us to the main complex where there was a huge verandah overlooking the city centre, and on this sakura season, the scenery was heavenly ….

Looking down on the fountainOne have to realise that this was a Buddhist temple after all

The main complex also housed a temple with a big Buddha statue. From here, one could just exit or venture further in. This would take you down the valley where the otowa-no-taki was located. This was a fountain with soothing water coming down the hill. Legend has it that it would give calmness to whoever who took a sip and true to the Japanese etiquette, there was a queue to get to the fountain.

More on part 2. You can see the slideshow of this trip here. Alternatively, you could also enjoy the photos on my SmugMug or Flickr sites. The blog entries for the whole Kyoto trip is hosted here.

Rain!

The original plan was to have an afternoon by the pool this afternoon after coming back from lunch. But, soon after we returned, the heaven opened and it was raining heavily at the apartment. And with the rain, the urge to sleep was too great, and I was soon snoring away in front of the TV … why not eh?

TWG Revisited

After almost a year, we returned for a spot of tea at Twining TWG at Pavilion. The place has certainly became more popular compared to the last time we were there, and there was actually a queue to get in - for sure as it was Saturday evening then. luckily we didn't have to wait for too long.

So, off we went onto a table of four. And we waited for almost ten minutes before we were attended to, despite indicating that we wanted to know a bit more about the tea on the menu. Unfortunately, the staff that came around later was a foreign worker who spoke bad English and basic Malay. I couldn't believe it that a restaurant of such caliber had staff who struggled to communicate. And sure enough, he got the order mixed up …..

We were not in the mood to argue and just took up what was offered - and he forgotten that we ordered for two pots as he brought only the one. We were quite surprised that we had enough teacups. Then came the tricky part when the tea was finished in the pot. Apparently the tea was brewed off the pot, so refilling with hot water would not do. So, just remember that there would be no refilling when your pots were done. You need to order another pot.

The food was not bad, as we just ordered light dinner. I had wagyu burger, which was well cooked - with a tea infused sauce of some sort. I had some cocktail - lychee with tea - which was a big mistake. It tasted …. disgusting!

So, even though the quality of the food and beverages were still up there, TWG would need to pay more attention to their service. Because after all, not everyone went there solely for the food. They would like to enjoy the ambiance as well ….. suffice to say that the visit did not go as I hoped for.

Work Started

The evaluation of the amount of work needed doing on the apartment had already started yesterday and the real work would start by the middle of next week. More on that by the start of the week when the insurers come over with all the forms for us to fill.

Luckily, the work would not disrupt water supply to the rest of the apartment. And the boys and I would be staying until Monday. School would only open on Tuesday.

Leaking!

The boys were having their school break this week, and after the cancelled trip to Lumut, we decided to spend some time at the apartment instead. Or at least the weekend.

So, slowly we were populating the place, making it homey but after that, we discovered a leak. Hmmm! Looked like there would be a lot of fixing for the weekend by the developers. The piping on the shower in the master bedroom sprung a leak, and water seeped into the flooring and tiles. Not good.

More on that later as we were expecting the plumber to drop by tomorrow. Luckily we did not have to put up the bill ....