What's in Kyoto?
Temples, temples and more temples...
Day 6
11+am
Based on sakura report in previous post, we decided to include Ninna-Ji temple (仁和寺）as part of our itinerary.
Made our way to Ninna-Ji (仁和寺）. The temple was founded in 888, but due to wars through out the years, none of foundation from the 9th survived. The oldest buildings such as the 5 storied pagoda are dated back in Edo period in early 1600s.
Ninna-Ji is also famous for their late blooming cherry trees called Omuro Cherries.
Yessssss~~~!!!! Lucky us : D
Am totally glad that we made a special trip there for the sakura :)
Here are some photos:
The place was simply gorgeous :D
Rows and rows of sakura trees~
And some of the different colours sakura as well
2pm++
Next stop we head down to Ryoan-Ji (龍安寺) which is about 5mins bus ride down the road
Ryoan-Ji (龍安寺) originally an aristocrat's villa, was later converted into a zen temple in 1450 that site the most famous rock garden in japan.
Here are some photos:
Miniature display of the rock garden with the full view of all the rocks positions
4pm++
As most temples closes around 5-6pm, we head out to our last temple stop for the day - Ginkaku Jin
Yessss all that "Gim Gim" (golden) goodness that one could imagine~ looks extremely beautiful under the evening sun
We practically rush through Ginkaku Jin as the PA system kept announcing that they were closing.
5pm++
Took a bus to Gion area.
Probably a note to self to rent a kimono if I ever have the chance to go Japan again :)
Verdict:
They only have one item on their menu.. So it is pretty simple to order.. Lol
Both the ambience and food were quite good, not to mention their pricing were reasonable too :))
6pm++
Walked along Gion shopping district...
My long lost twins?
Spotted Gion temple along the way and decided to have a look as it seems to be holding a festival..
To my surprise, it was actually a night cherry blossom viewing festival~!! Nice
The fish was really some worth trying :D
Despite being to a couple of festivals, this was probably the only place I saw selling it.
8pm++
Reached Gion Main Street.
And it seems to be quite quiet... :s
After walking inwards for a short while we decided to head back out as we thought most of the shops were closed..
Apparently, after checking with my friends, we realized the liveliest part of Gion is actually somewhere in the center of Gion which would require 10-15mins of walk to reach there...
As we weren't aware of it, we went ahead to explore other parts of Gion which we spotted while taking the bus.
For some reason I really love Kyoto alleys, as it always has a whimsical feel to it... Like a magical adventure waiting for me
We couldn't quite decide what to have for dinner, as everything seems so wordy with no images.
Until we came reached the last shop in the alley and we saw something familiar
ODEN was writen in japanese
Yes!!! My Pte ltd japanese has paid off pretty well
The food was decent.
But it was the experience that we had, that made it so special.
The staff and lady boss were friendly, and an uncle spoke to us about his trip to singapore many years ago, after we intro ourselves as a singaporean tourists.
PS: after knowing my brother was going to koyto for a visit. I printed out the group photo we took and sent him on a side quest to deliver photo if he was interested to visit the store for a meal :)
Am glad that they still remembered us after 4years (2017)