* to know which words are Nnylanna’s and which are Piberg’s, those written in bold and italic letters(like this one)are those taken from Nnylanna's travel diary and i wrote the rest, okie?
* and when you see this ---> [::] <--- it means, that whole paragraph was researched from the net.
15October2008
Arrived in Kyoto the ancient capital of Japan. Saw our hotel from the train station and got a bit lost locating it. We were on the correct street, its just that we took the opposite direction. We asked a lady and she was heading that way as well. “lucky us”.
…sis, “lucky us”? I think you forgot to mention how far we have already been dragging our luggage walking on the wrong direction, both of us stubbornly thinking I assume that we know where we’re going when in fact, we don’t. BTW, the Shinkanzen ride from Tokyo to Kyoto was as smooth as silk. A 9hr travel by conventional train only took 2hrs via Bullet Train, awesome ride and Kyoto Station is the BEST!…
The New Miyako Hotel, very good location, just across the street from the train station that includes a newly opened department store. We checked in at 1pm then headed across the road to have lunch. We have an afternoon tour at 1:30pm to Nara.
…since Nara and Kyoto are neighbor cities, Kyoto became our base and that's where our hotel is located. our Kyoto hotel room is not as luxurious as the others we have occupied in this tour but its an excellent location and its more than enough for the task we need it for, which is a place to freshen-up and sleep in. besides, good old Toto The Washlet is also there so what more can we ask for :) if any of you has plans of visiting Kyoto and maybe looking for hotel accomodations and is considering Miyako, i found and borrowed, ok, stole some pics from the net that are exactly like the ones we stayed in. in one of the photos, you’ll notice that instead of your regular bathrobe, they offer a yukata(cotton kimono). I have to be honest, we were tempted to take one of those as souvenier but NO, we’re both good and well-bred girls so we didn’t do that, we didn’t even take those small shampoo/lotion/bubble bath bottles, naaah, but that’s because it’s the type that they refill everyday…haha… Now that I think about it, we brought 2 cameras with us and took hundreds of pictures but still, there’s too many images that we forgot to take and one of those is us modelling that kimono, haaay, too late.
…i have to say this, 2 thumbs-up for the shops across the street, housed under Kyoto Station. some parts were newly opened when we arrived and the orchids that lined-up outside those shops are simply amazing. Mind you, im no stranger to orchids ‘coz my mother grows them for as long as I can remember, but this variety of butterfly orchids are humongous, i swear, some are as big if not bigger than my hands. Nanay would have been ecstatic to see this, haaay, she could have joined us, if only those knees could holdup with the endless walking and hiking that we did on this tour, haaay again…
[::] the city of Nara is the capital of Japan from 710-784AD and the city of Kyoto was its capital from 794-1868AD when the capital became Tokyo. Nara was modelled after the Tang Dynasty capital of China, Chang’an, now known in present day as Xi’an. It lies in the north end of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering itself to Kyoto Prefecture in its north side.
...Prefecture, in case you don’t know, is the japanese version of province. Don’t ask me where they got it, it doesnt sound like a japanese word to me, so if any of you knows why, please enlighten me :) ...
The scenery here is so different from Tokyo. Going towards Nara is more rural Japan. Our first stop is the most famous temple in Nara, the Todaiji Temple. Very old, grand, and impressive. The only downside is the “Deer Park” leading towards the temple. Home to a lot of “people friendly” deer and their “poop” is everywhere. Although there’s a few people trying to sweep them, it still stinks. Also, this time the “Japanese Army” in suits is not the office worker variety but the thousands of school students on their field trip. Not the best time to travel as the tourist spots were crowded with them, they are very friendly though.
…I did mention that my sister is a neat freak didn’t i? well, as we were entering Todaiji Temple, she was going on and on about those deer droppings, sis, I don’t think you can toilet train them so get over it. The deer is regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion. Anyway, enough poop talk, about my take on Todaiji(728AD), as soon as I saw Nandaimon or the Great Southern Gate, i was in awe. I thought that was it, that’s what we came to see, how was I suppose to know that was just the entrance. This imposing structure houses two 28-foot-tall sculptures which are the guardians of the temple.
…as you step inside this huge complex, that includes a lake, a vast garden, etc., another imposing structure will greet you inside, the Daibutsuden or the Great Buddha Hall. It is reputed to be the largest wooden building in the world and we were speechless when we first clapped eyes on it. To think that this is 30% smaller than the original structure, some of which was lost to either earthquakes or fire, still, a building this size, using just wood and not a single nail…hats off to the ancient asian builders, you have definitely gained my highest respects on this trip :)
Next stop is Kasuga Shrine with its impressive collections of 3000 antique stone and bronze lanterns. Headed back to the hotel and had a quick take away at nearby McDonalds.
…Kasuga Shrine(768AD) is the shrine of the Fujiwara family. It is located up the hills of Nara under lush vegetation so one would get this dark/gloomy almost like a horror movie set “feel” to it. Don’t get me wrong it is unique and I have this feeling that ancient spirits are haunting the place. During annual festivals held in February and August, all the lanterns are lit and I could only imagine how beautiful it must be.
... we approached the hotel door man to ask for directions on how to get to that antique’ish/touristy-looking place we passed by earlier that day. This door man was just “too” happy to give us directions in english, I assume its because he rarely does that. We also noticed that his name tag bears a spanish sounding surname, Romero if im not mistaken, turns out he’s from Peru. I just have to mention him ‘coz he was soo helpful and even drew us a map on how to get to that place we were referring to earlier. It looks pretty close to our hotel and it doesn’t seem to be included in our itinerary. Well, it turned out to be a special place indeed and what’s more, its walking distance from our hotel. So my sister and I agreed that since our tour group will pick us at 8:30am the next day, we have to be up at 6:30am and check out that place on foot, its called TOJI Temple…
16October2008
Early start again, went on our own to Toji Temple, about 14mins walk from the hotel. So good that the streets are still empty and no army of students yet. We enjoyed the beauty, grandeur and serenity of this beautiful temple. Took some photos then headed back to the hotel for a whole day tour of Kyoto. So, its going to be another hectic and tiring day
…I like going on walks in my foreign travels, it gives one the real “feel and smell” of the place youre visiting. Tourist destinations has a some sort of a fancied/unrealistic perfection to them, which is also ok for me but taking a walk and be among the locals seeing them doing their everyday stuff is also a must for every tourist.
[::] Toji Temple(796AD) means East Temple and it once has a twin temple called Sai-ji or West Temple. They are the only 2 temples allowed to be built in the capital to curb the political influence of these large Buddhist institutions. Unfortunately, Sai-ji was burnt in 990 and 1233AD and never been rebuilt.
...My sister is right, there is something eerily beautiful about this place specially when its this quiet and the structures are this old, again, i have a feeling that a lot of spirits are wandering/ haunting this place, love it to the max!
…the most impressive structure on the Toji Temple complex is the 54.8 meter pagoda. Ive seen a good number of pagoda in this tour and I have to tell you, nothing beats this one. This pagoda has been and continous to be the symbol of Kyoto, as far as im concerned, its an honor it trully deserves.
…before i end this first part of my Kyoto/Nara travel blog, to those of you who plans to visit Japan someday, this little bit of info may be of help to you. You would need a quad band mobile phone ‘coz your regular cellphone will not work there. I dropped my nokia phone and broke it’s LCD a few days before our trip so I had no choice but to take my old O2 PC-Phone to Japan. What do you know, with its touch screen and PC features, my O2 is antiquated by Japanese standards, the darn thing doesn’t work there and my sister said even the pickpockets will not be interested in my phone…sis, you’re so mean :)
…meantime, how are we suppose to call home now, to at least let Nanay know that both of us are still in one piece. Well, this is how my sister described our predicament in her diary…
The last hurdle for the day was to call home, after half an hour, we have worked out how to use the phone card. Instructions were not user friendly. Nanay was already asleep, so we just left a message that were ok and we’ll call again tomorrow. We still have one problem, charging our cameras, its 240v and Japan’s is 100v. we might have to borrow a transformer, weve decided to do it tomorrow.
…sis, was it just half an hour? I remember going in and out of that phone booth several times, trying out different ways to make that public phone work, that couldn’t be just half an hour. As far as I know, my sister and i have enough gray and white matter between our ears so why cant we make that phone work? Well, eventually we did figure it out but I swear if I have to go back and do it again, I wouldn’t know where to start :)
A whole day to see Kyoto awaits, so, I’ll see you on the 2nd part of this travel blog…
