We woke up at a fairly decent hour (in the 8 am hour), and then caught a taxi straight up to Northern Higashiyama. Had a nice breakfast in a cool little coffee shop (Toasted lettuce sandwich, anyone?), and then headed to Ginkakuji - the Temple of the Silver Pavillion. Our goal was to beat the crowds a little, and it actually kinda worked!
Ginkakuji was really spectacular. It had this amazing moss garden, which was just a sight to behold with the beatiful red maple leaves providing a perfect contrast to the lush green moss carpet. We had a goot hour or so wandering the garden grounds before the crowds really caught up. We all bought a few bits and pieces of souvenirs on the way out, before we stared walking south on the Philosopher's Walk.
The walk was beautiful and serene. There were a few highlights - a fantastic art shop run by a lovely lady who gave us tea and old movies, watching an egg roll down the stream, composing silly haiku as well strolled the well-worn path, meeting a nice Japanese lady who lived in New York, seeing the fantastic crafts along the way (insects made from wood, a guy who did amazingly detailed pencil drawings, a watercolour painter who was making momiji cards). Overall, it was just a pleasant way to see Kyoto. As we got to the southern stretches of the walk, there were larger and larger crowds, until we found ourselves in Nanzenji Temple.
Nanzenji had a wicked evil-looking gate that you could go inside of. Instead, we foolishly chose to listen to the Lonely Planet guide and tried to find a waterfall shrine up the mountain somewhere. We came to the conclusion, an hour or so later, that it didn't exist. But the journey really was more important than the destination in this case, because our side trip meant that we saw a huge viaduct, a Japanese scout troupe, and A MOLE (もぐら)!
After our mole encouter, I was STARVING (and Dad was quoting Austin Powers), and it was definitely time for a break. We found ourselves at the Kyoto International Association, where we ate curry rice, drank some pretty decent coffee, and listened to Jazz in the courtyard under red leaves. The jazz duo turned into a trio turned into a quartet as more members turned up, and listening to the husky-voiced Japanese singer perform a lovely, smokey version of "Autumn Leaves" under an autumn coloured tree was probably the most autumnal experience of my life.
We wandered back towards Souther Higashiyama, passing a HUGE Torii Gate outside of the Heian Shrine, eating fantastic citron tart at a French patisserie with real Italian hot chocolate, watching the Koi in the small stream we were following, and eventually wandering through the large Maruyama Park. In the park, I stopped and did a survey with school children who were learning English, Anna got her photo taken with some geisha, and Dad made friends with a country singer (who may have been from Pennsylvania, but my memory may be wrong) who sang "Waltzing Matilda" for us and talked about Eric Bogle.
But alas, all good thing must come to an end, and the sun was setting as we got back to the ryokan and I picked up my bags and headed back for the station. The train ride home was a bit miserable - partly because I knew Mum and Dad and Anna still had another awesome day ahead of them in Kyoto, but mostly because it was packed to the rafters, really overheated and I was hungry. Was glad to be off the train, but sad to have left Kyoto, by the time I got home.
Food Highlight of the Day: Yatsuhashi. This is a Kyoto sweet treat - thinly rolled mochi wrapped around something sweet (generally red bean paste with cinnamon, but in recent times, chocolate or strawberry jam too). I really liked these - particularly the nikki (cinnamon) flavoured ones. The sesame (goma) flavoured ones were great too!
1 comment:
Ah yes! I remember it well.
Great photos, those autumn leaves were spectacular.
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