Sunday, September 24, 2006

Kyoto Trip Day 2

One of the big missions (for Mike) to come to Kyoto this time was to see the Himeji Castle, which is at Himeji, an hour further away from Kyoto by Shinkensen; therefore, we made sure we DID go to visit this biggest castle in Japan on the second day of our Kyoto trip.

Second day - Himeji (姫路城)

Himeji Castle is the biggest castle in Japan. The whole city of Himeji was built because of this castle.
















































It turned out that the outer part of the Himeji Castle was a lot more impressive than the inner part (will tell you why in a second).
So... Mike took extra shots of its outer awesome looks to make the admission fee that we paid worthy.





































There are many doors and gateways in the caslte. Kind of fun to walk around and pass through.









Guess the people in the old times were much shorter than a white guy nowadays, huh?! =)













The only part that was opened for public in the castle is its central tower. In order to get in, everyone has to take off their shoes, wear the provided shared slippers, and CARRY THEIR OWN shoes the whole time!!! (yea, did I tell you that Japanese people are obsessed with rules and processes?!?!)





The inner of the tower was this 5 story wooden tower. Even though they re-constructed the tower so that it can be open to public, much of its structure was un-altered, including the wood used to built the thing. Therefore, they didn't let too much light into the tower, since that might destroy the old woods. As a result, much of the tower was very dark and gave people a grim feeling...




A model of the reconstructure of the castle tower, in the scale of 1:20.







Weapons.... very old ones....















All the stairs in the tower were very steep. Mike's theory was that since the Japanese people were so short in the old times that they had a much lower center of gravity; therefore, they could still balance well with all these steep stairs. (i.e. On the other hand, Mike didn't balance that well on them) =p




You can see a lot of unrested spirits died from the war period running through the dark hallways of the castle. Don't worry, they are usually very quiet and just give you a cool chill.

J/k - the truth is Mike messed up this picture and created all these "special effects". Though... I wonder if there were really spirits remained in the castle, they would....






















The sharp contrast between the darkness inside the wooden tower and the brightness outside created these seemingly "glamorous" shots =)











At the very top of the tower is this small resting room that you can see the pretty view of the surrounding areas of the castle. However, as you can see, it's SMALL and thus is crowded with all the other tourists.







View from the tower top windows.










The boundary of the Himeji Castle was pretty, surrouding by a river; a bit similar to the Tokyo Imperial Palace.























Koko-en 好古園 (Ko Garden)

Though Himeji Castle was a bit of a small disappointment, we discovered a nice surprise next to the castle, Koko-en, a spendid, must-see garden for any serious Japanese garden freaks.

Koko-en is split into nine main gardens based on the Edo period style.










































Why am I holding an umberlla? Well... no, raining... I forgot to bring my sunblock and don't want to be a fried BBQ pork at the end of the day.... =p






I love these small stones across the shallow river band. I kept running back and forth on them and almost couldn't stop.







Tiny door for tiny people....?








My favorite garden of the nine - the Bamboo Garden!!! Love its simplicity and.... greeness!!!








"Cheeze..."








We took a slow train back from Himeji back to Kyoto which took about an hour and a half. I was sleeping the whole way ;)

We grabbed a quick bite near the Kyoto station and walked around a bit. Saw the Kyoto Tower at night.








The conclusion of the day is that - I think I like English castles much more than Japanese castles. =)

Kyoto Trip Day 1

We went to Kyoto last weekend. It was a long 3 day weekend, and we asked off 2 days to make a 5 day trip. It was the nicest break so far after we started working!! We like Kyoto!!


After the 3 hours of Shinkansen train ride, we arrived Kyoto. Taken at a street with a pretty river and bridge.







"Why is there a river in the middle of a street?" Mike was confused...







Kyoto was very pretty. Some of the places actually looked a bit like my image of Hang Zhou in China?! (well... yea, haven't been to Hang Zhou yet... so just imagination for now...)




"Hello, everyone!!!~~~" Carol waved and said energetically.

"Stop it, you are scaring all the Japanese people!!!" Mike replied.

"Oh...."



Kiyomizu Temple 清水寺 (Pure Water Temple)


This is our first stop in Kyoto - Kiyomizu Temple. This temple is one of the most famous, must-visit places in Kyoto, because of its nail-less wooden terrace.






No nail was used in building the terrace
supporting the temple (which was up on a high mountain). Pretty amazing!!





From the top of the temple, you can see a water fountain at the bottom of the mountain. The water there is supposed to be some "magic" spring water, which has healing power and also gives the temple the name "Pure Water Temple".

I can't really imagine the water running through some not-so-clean-looking stone pipes, and you drink it using the same wooden bucket that everybody else uses will have healing power...




Kiyomizu Temple - taken from the bottom of the mountain.








Can someone tell me why Japanese people like these stone baby Buddha with red bibs so much??!!







There is supposed to be some hiking trails near the temple, but we couldn't find it... oh well.... may be next time...











You can see temples everywhere in Kyoto. And for some reason, Japanese people like the color orange... (it's true!! think about Tokyo Tower!!)











Higashi Yama District (東山) - East Hill District


Higashi Yama Area is the eastern part of Kyoto, where a lot of famous touristy temples are located, such as the Kiyomizu Temple (清水寺) and the East Temple (東寺).









Happy us!!!












Mike and Temple




























Very pretty view of Kyoto. (and thx for the nice weather!!)
















Story of a successful shot and a ... failure shot!!


Success~







And failed.... =)














Me in front of a Pangoda.












Back to Central Kyoto


River along the Gojo district (五条).









Mike and I - Evening view of Kyoto.










Central Kyoto at night looks a bit like Hong Kong...











Interesting Streets/Alleys - Kyoto Collection

We saw lots of intersting-looking streets in Kyoto: modern, anicent, busy, quest, etc...


A windy street in Kyoto with signs of some tofu gourmet of a small restaurant. (taken while we were getting lost, haa...)







Doesn't this street look like from an anime or an old-school samurai movie?














A secret alley behind some resident's house.
















Very straight street with shops on the side!! (sounds like some kind of food description!!?)













Streets with people in Kimono (Japanese traditional clothing).

Actually, this is one of the street on the way to the Kiyomizu Temple; Crowded with tourists and lots of shops selling snacks and omiyaki (souveniors).












Street with yummy green tea, vanilla ice-cream. hehe... yum yum....







Street with lots of fancy, expensive restaurants (near Gojo District)














Kyoto alley at night.


















And now - Something random....



Geisha crossing the street - i have never really seen a Geisha anywhere else. (Well... "Memory of a Geisha" does NOT count as a real Geisha!! And FYI - I refuse to pay money to see that movie!!!)






A very weird looking building in the middle of Gion district 祇園 (central Kyoto).















Hmm.....














Oh My Gosh... ain't this adorable? A bunch of yarning kitten cats...... stuck together?!?!








And that... concluded our very busy first day in Kyoto !!!!