Kiyomizu-dera Part 2

From part 1 ....

From the fountain, you could either took a hike up a small hill where more shrines were located. Halfway up there was a pagoda. We ventured there but unfortunately, the pagoda was closed for repairs. We then took an alternative route to the main exit, taking us round the base of the verandah of the main building around lakes and shops. I then realised how old the buildings were. The base of the verandah was made purely of wood, and these were huge and sturdy.

Say what? No photographs? But .... but ... but ....The base of the verandah. All wood!Fancy some tea?

There were tea shops along the route to the exit if you fancy some drink …. or even some meal. Since we were on a schedule, we gave these a miss and continue on towards the lakes. A small one but the reflections of the sakura tree made taking photographs just irresistible. And since the crowd were still light, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Through the exit, it was time to shop. The small shops here sold cute little souvenirs, and I soon found myself spending equivalent to RM500 on these cute little stuffs alone! Not cheap.

I must say that it was a great idea to get here first and enjoy less of the hassle. The place really looked crowded but he time we flagged off out cab for the next destination ….

The first part of the entry here. More photos from this visit on my SmugMug site of Flickr site. Alternatively, click here for a slideshow within this blog. More write-up on the Kyoto trip here.

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.

Boarding at Kansai

The Kansai Airport was much smaller than expected for an international airport. But the place was certainly geared for high volume I passengers as it showed this morning.

Since I bought a few items in Kyoto which I could get tax reimbursements for, I thought I had to show them to customs. It turned out that I didn't have to. Therefore, I had to do a bit of repackage before I got my luggages checked in. That took a bit of doing, especially taking some of the toys out from the bulky boxes.

The check-in queue was long, and that was not half the story. The next line up was to get through security. There were easily a couple hundred people in front of me, but the arrangement was so tight that there were no queue cutting. And the queue went through very fast. They had six X-ray machine to service us, and the staff on duty was very good at getting the lines moving. The instructions were also very clear.

Once we were through security, immigrations came next. Again another long but efficient queue. I would imagine KLIA would struggle to service such volume of passenger. Certainly these Japanese were very good at managing the traffic.

Next came breakfast. It was either Japanese of Western. Of course it was Japanese ....

I finished the rest of my yen buying sweets and chocolates. Luckily I managed to get everything cramped into my bag, as otherwise I might have to pay some tax at the customs when I reach KLIA as the shopping bags may look rather suspicious ..... More on my Kyoto trip here.

The First Half

My shopping was halfway done. Most o the boys' toys had been bought and next non the card would e shopping for Puan Anita. I had to get back to the conference centre by lunch to attend a couple of afternoon sessions. So, the other half of my shopping would be for later.

Went to Kyoto Station this morning, and spent the morning shopping around there. There was an Isetan at the station, but I decided against going there. I went to a toy store instead. To avoid the rain, I just used the underground passageway to get to the supermarkets.

For lunch, I met up with a couple of Pharma friends who were with me during the Atlanta trip last December. We had some tempura before hauling my shopping back to the hotel before attending the afternoon session.

More entries from my Kyoto trip here.

Day Full of Walking

I was just back from visiting not one, not two, but three attractions in town, all in one morning. I went with my current and previous boss, and we managed to squeeze all this in one tiring morning. We got back to the conference centre in time for lunch, and as expected, I was dozing away right after despite picking up a cup of latte coming into the hall.

I will blog a bit more about the places individually as I would have to refer to some notes as I was not familiar with their names. None the less, I took tons of photos, and those would keep me busy on the coming weeks.

I was still struggling to get hold of the local currency. I had to rely on my credit cards to make purchase and paying for taxi. But not all the shops accepted credit cards. My USD were also staying put as there were no place able to use it.

I would probably do a bit of shopping later tonight. I managed to get some titbits and souvenir, but would be looking for some clothes for the boys and something nice for Anita. That would take some time. I would likely go to one of the main shopping centres for that, maybe tomorrow. I have probably done enough walking for today .....

More entries from my Kyoto trip here.