Waking up at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, I prepared for leaving my home to Kyoto. (You don't have to wake up so early, just I'm a early person ;))
I forgot to bring a guide book this time....Only I'd got was a flyer of Kyoto which Japan Railway published, haha...
So....Let's take a walk ;)
I started with walking around Arashiyama ("yama" means a mountain), where is located western Kyoto, takes about 25 minutes from Kyoto station by local bus. It was first time for me to visit there.
I had longed for visiting Kyoto in the autumn for many years. What made me so hard to make this real was a rumor that Autumn in Kyoto is a number of, or numerous, people gathering for sightseeing.
Since I'm a person who detest crowded places (you know that!), I had avoided to go there such a long time. But this year, many people told me that autumn leaves in this year will be surprising ever, probably once a few decade, some said to me.
Well, I suppose it could be nice if I would go to the finest place to see the finest autumn leaves.
I went to Hogo-in temple at first. As it turned out, this place has an astonishing garden.
I tend to take a glance or two when I see something, not seeing carefully. That's what I usually do. However, this temple was tremendous, beautiful, you can't miss it when you go to Arashiyama, especially when it is Autumn.
I had taken pictures nearly an hour there. I can't believe my ability to concentrate is that good, haha.
This kind of man-made garden, such as this, such as gardens I told you before usually have some meanings. Every single stone has sometime its own meaning. I studied this stone carefully, but nothing come across to me ;)
Even a bench which is usual aspect looks beautiful...!
Look up to see foliage, then turn my face to down, and up, then down.... My neck was tired by then :D
It's a tea house, I think. they require additional fee to be inside, I gave up :(
How come this season is soooooo beautiful in my country! :D
An old gate which is not used any more.
Leaving Hogoin temple, I went around Arashiyama again.
Red foliage, yellowish foliage. Everything is beautiful for the time being in Kyoto :)
It's not exactly a gate, but close to it. It's a symbol of a religion as well.
I'm sick of taking photograph by then, I put my SLR in my bag, just enjoy watching autumn begin to change into the winter.
I'm terrible with winter. Cold, everywhere seems in silence, I don't like silent place neither :( And talking about snow, I like snow, but I don't like lots of them.
I consider autumn leaves as gifts from autumn. This thought may be odd, but I like to think that way :)
Last place I visited was Daikaku-ji. Before I arrived there, I ate lunch nearby and a chef in there told me Daikak-ji is a must to see. But after I left the gate of this temple and walking to a bus stop, I couldn't help thinking whether it's such a great place to visit.
Probably that's because the first one (Hogo-in temple) was so overwhelming that rest of temples looked less attractive to me.
Well, that's all for today. I put so many pictures on this post, you may be tired of reading it. Hopefully you enjoyed to see it! :)
Konnichiwa!
ReplyDeletetoo bad you cancelled your trip to Nara, I had grown rather curious about it. But Kyoto looks as nice as ever. Autumn in Japan seems like a whole other world compared to autumn in Holland. Of course we have parks and gardens with trees that are slowly losing their leaves, but it isn't as beautiful as in Japan. November looks like the perfect time to travel! I'd love to come visit you once :)
Mata ne! ;)
Konbanwa, Suzanne :D
DeleteYes, I'm very sorry I couldn't introduce about Nara. Despite Kyoto and Nara are neighboring prefectures, I wan not able to reach Nara :( Next time...! Suzanne, next time! ;)
Today I have nothing in particular to write, but I will pick a picture for a new post :)
Hi Iko84 ^^
ReplyDeleteLong time no chat, how are you doing?
As usual, u always shared amazing breathtaking pics with us! :D
Actually, i just returned from Japan this week
Completely exhausted to the max
I went to Kyoto's Kiyomizudera & i think i understand what you meant about autumn leaves
When i went there, it was super crowded & unfortunately, most of the leaves had already fell (or maybe i should say fortunately instead, coz at least i still had chance to view some autumn leaves there ^^)
Too bad, i didn't saw much in Japan
Most of my destination are Univ. Studio, Tokyo Disneyland & Tokyo DIsneysea
Not that they were bad, but if given choices i prefer to go to places where i can enjoy the nature & sceneries
And, hell yeah, i totally understand what you meant about the cold weather, lol
It was already cold back then.. (well, maybe not that cold, but i couldn't stand it)
Especially when our tour guide took us to eat popular ramen in Akihabara in the middle of the night
We had to wait almost one hour, which was fine by me if only the weather was not THAT cold, sigh
It felt like i was freezing to my bones, lol...
Good morning! Long time no see!
DeleteI had thought you came to my country by now, and that seemed to be true! ;)
It's glad to hear that you enjoyed it.
Kiyomizudera is one of the most crowded place in Kyoto.
There are many many many other temples there,
so if you could choose to visit, you might have avoided so many people.
But you can't avoid traffic jam :(
It's cold right now, especially in the night.
But in January and February, it's getting more cold,
and there are even snows! :P
I like snows, though I can't stand in such a cold weather!
Akihabara is a unique place by the way.
There is never anything like that...Electric things, animes...
I don' t have any TVs in my home (I don't watch it), but sometime I want to go there and see what is popular right now ;)
i agree kyoto's autumn is something.although i have nothing else to compare it with so far coz i've never experienced autumn anywhereelse but i could tell it's better than in other places coz even those who came from countries that has autumn season were seemed pleased
ReplyDeleteHi there! Thank you for your comment on my blog :D I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed autumn in Kyoto. Kyoto has a long history of enjoying seeing autumn leaves. Hopefully I could visit there this autumn again :)
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