Kyoto (Japan)
From Beijing we flew to Narita Airport outside of Tokyo. After recuperating from our 10 hour lay-over in the Hong Kong Airport from 12 am to 10 am in the morning, we hit the road to put our JR Railway passes to good use.
As we discovered there are railways, subways and buses throughout Japan. Doesn't sound bad does it? We'll further elaborate. Railways can be Shinkansens (bullet trains), limited expresses, expresses, JR special rapid or local trains. Shinkansens can also be regular bullet trains or the special "Nozomi" (super express) bullet trains. As we discovered our pass did not cover Nozomi trains, just the regular Shinkansens and all classes beneath. Still not confused? Well, there are also different railway companies. JR is just one of them. To top this all off we haven't even hit the subways yet, which by the way usually run through the same stations that the railways and buses do. Try to find your way among that and a few million people, coupled with lack of English signage and you will start to understand stress.
That all being said, all countries can take a lesson from the Japanese rail system. It is the most efficient travel we have ever seen (once you start to understand it). Trains always leave on time and are incredibly fast. Shinkansens go about 300 km an hour. The faster Nozomi trains can exceed 400 km per hour. Think of getting from Regina to Saskatoon in under an hour!
Anyways...back to Kyoto. With over 2000 temples and shrines we knew we would only scratch the surface in the few days we had.
We arrived after dark and navigated our way from the long distance JR line to our hotel via the underground maze of subway lines. Unfortunately, we arrived only to learn our reservation had been cancelled and we had no where to sleep. Luckily for us the owner of the hotel was good enough to call around and eventually drove us to a nearby "Japanese business hotel" that had an available room. Not the last time a kind person in Japan would help us out. As it turned out this was a stroke of good luck for us. Although no one in the hotel spoke any English we did manage to get an authentic stay in a Japanese room complete with the tatami flooring. Sleeping and sitting on the floor is actually very enjoyable. Plus you can't fall out of bed!
After some tasty Japanese food and a good night sleep it was time to hit the sites. First stop was the Tenryu-ji Temple (The Temple of the Heavenly Dragon). The temple itself is ranked first of the "Five Zen Mountains of Kyoto". Apparently the site has been ravaged by fires 8 times since it was established in 1339. However, the Sogenchi Garden pictured here is the oldest in Japan and has retained its same form since it was designed in the 14th century.
Next stop was a shrine, Fushimi-Inari Taisha. It had orange corridors with Japanese writing and foxes everywhere...some of which seemed to be wearing bibs. It may or may not have been lunch time! Luckily for us this shrine was dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. Apparently, the fox is considered the messenger of the god of cereal grains.
From here we decided to have a look at another Zen Temple. This one is called the Ginkakuji Temple, otherwise known as the Silver Pavilion, because it was meant to be covered with Silver Leaf ... but it never was. We suspect out of pure laziness. Our guide book suggests death of its owner.
Final stop, and the FINAL temple, shrine, pagoda, etc, etc. for a long, long time....
Ryoanji Temple, the highlight of which is a world famous Rock Garden. There are no trees, just 15 irregularly shaped rocks of varying sizes. The rocks are arranged on small white pebbles in five groups in such a manner that visitors can see only 14 of them at once, from whichever angle the garden is viewed. In the legend, when someone attains spiritual enlightenment as a result of deep Zen meditation, he can see the last invisible stone with his mind's eye. It is considered the quintessence of Zen art. Some say the rocks are arranged in such a manner to represent the islands of Japan. It's up to each visitor to find out for himself what the unique garden signifies. For some, I'm not saying who, it signifies a happy Japanese Gardener laughing hysterically at throngs of tourists (each paying US$15) to ponder its meaning.
On the way out we bumped into Mary Poppins, singing in the rain.
And finally, the fascination with Rena continues. Here's one of a group of school kids who asked to have their picture taken with her. In an effort to fit in she decided to flash the peace symbol as everyone here seems to do in photos. Only problem is her hand is twisted the wrong way which has a slightly different meaning in some parts of the world. Silly Canadian.
As we discovered there are railways, subways and buses throughout Japan. Doesn't sound bad does it? We'll further elaborate. Railways can be Shinkansens (bullet trains), limited expresses, expresses, JR special rapid or local trains. Shinkansens can also be regular bullet trains or the special "Nozomi" (super express) bullet trains. As we discovered our pass did not cover Nozomi trains, just the regular Shinkansens and all classes beneath. Still not confused? Well, there are also different railway companies. JR is just one of them. To top this all off we haven't even hit the subways yet, which by the way usually run through the same stations that the railways and buses do. Try to find your way among that and a few million people, coupled with lack of English signage and you will start to understand stress.
That all being said, all countries can take a lesson from the Japanese rail system. It is the most efficient travel we have ever seen (once you start to understand it). Trains always leave on time and are incredibly fast. Shinkansens go about 300 km an hour. The faster Nozomi trains can exceed 400 km per hour. Think of getting from Regina to Saskatoon in under an hour!
Anyways...back to Kyoto. With over 2000 temples and shrines we knew we would only scratch the surface in the few days we had.
We arrived after dark and navigated our way from the long distance JR line to our hotel via the underground maze of subway lines. Unfortunately, we arrived only to learn our reservation had been cancelled and we had no where to sleep. Luckily for us the owner of the hotel was good enough to call around and eventually drove us to a nearby "Japanese business hotel" that had an available room. Not the last time a kind person in Japan would help us out. As it turned out this was a stroke of good luck for us. Although no one in the hotel spoke any English we did manage to get an authentic stay in a Japanese room complete with the tatami flooring. Sleeping and sitting on the floor is actually very enjoyable. Plus you can't fall out of bed!
After some tasty Japanese food and a good night sleep it was time to hit the sites. First stop was the Tenryu-ji Temple (The Temple of the Heavenly Dragon). The temple itself is ranked first of the "Five Zen Mountains of Kyoto". Apparently the site has been ravaged by fires 8 times since it was established in 1339. However, the Sogenchi Garden pictured here is the oldest in Japan and has retained its same form since it was designed in the 14th century.
Next stop was a shrine, Fushimi-Inari Taisha. It had orange corridors with Japanese writing and foxes everywhere...some of which seemed to be wearing bibs. It may or may not have been lunch time! Luckily for us this shrine was dedicated to the gods of rice and sake. Apparently, the fox is considered the messenger of the god of cereal grains.
From here we decided to have a look at another Zen Temple. This one is called the Ginkakuji Temple, otherwise known as the Silver Pavilion, because it was meant to be covered with Silver Leaf ... but it never was. We suspect out of pure laziness. Our guide book suggests death of its owner.Final stop, and the FINAL temple, shrine, pagoda, etc, etc. for a long, long time....
Ryoanji Temple, the highlight of which is a world famous Rock Garden. There are no trees, just 15 irregularly shaped rocks of varying sizes. The rocks are arranged on small white pebbles in five groups in such a manner that visitors can see only 14 of them at once, from whichever angle the garden is viewed. In the legend, when someone attains spiritual enlightenment as a result of deep Zen meditation, he can see the last invisible stone with his mind's eye. It is considered the quintessence of Zen art. Some say the rocks are arranged in such a manner to represent the islands of Japan. It's up to each visitor to find out for himself what the unique garden signifies. For some, I'm not saying who, it signifies a happy Japanese Gardener laughing hysterically at throngs of tourists (each paying US$15) to ponder its meaning.
On the way out we bumped into Mary Poppins, singing in the rain.
And finally, the fascination with Rena continues. Here's one of a group of school kids who asked to have their picture taken with her. In an effort to fit in she decided to flash the peace symbol as everyone here seems to do in photos. Only problem is her hand is twisted the wrong way which has a slightly different meaning in some parts of the world. Silly Canadian.
posted by The Adventures of Rena & Wade | 6:47 AM
1 Comments:
Who knew you had to go to Japan to see Mary Poppins! She's one hot lady that Mary.
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