[Blog] Kyoto Travels Part 1 (Patreon)

I must have slept like a rock by the time I got back. When I think back to the first morning I experienced in Kyoto, I can remember a pretty intense sores rising from my toes and all over my feet as I woke up and made my way towards the dining hall where breakfast was being served.

The first day was probably the toughest I'd need to worry about though since I was walking with all the luggage I brought with me on this trip. At the very least I wouldn't need to worry about them since I'd be leaving most of them behind at the lodging. Despite the pain shooting up my legs I rushed down the dining hall with a light heart and lots of anticipation to what we'll be exploring today.

I left quite early and headed towards one of the main attraction Kyoto has to offer, the Kiyomizu-dera "Pure Water Monastery" temple. This was a temple built in 778 during the late Nara period and stands to this day in 2023, that's an architecture that lasted 1245 years old at the time of writing this. I went out into the streets before most businesses were in operation so the streets were pretty empty.

Just randomly took a snap of the vending machine I passed by. The red stickers are hot drinks and I've seen some students get two of them to warm his hands during his commute to school.

In Japan it's very likely that you'll live side by side your neighbor. Even when you see houses that are built with some distance, it's just enough space to slide a man through the narrow corridor. I've seen a lot of houses here where the windows were so close to each other that it's practically possible to jump into your neighbor's window like you see in manga/anime. I'm pretty sure that's a crime though haha.

Rooftops of Japanese houses remind me of the old Tenchu games where you play as a ninja jumping from rooftops to rooftops evading the samurai.

Mmm Ramen... You often see it in anime and I've had them before elsewhere but never in Japan. When I saw the sign I thought to myself, yeah maybe Ramen in Japan tastes a lot more divine compared to places outside Japan. Maybe I'll try one while I'm here.

Say hello to Kamo River. I passed this bridge so often during my stay in Kyoto as I walked many distance towards a lot of the attractions here. Sometimes I would spot ducks and herons walking around trying to catch fish. I think if I'd come here during summer, I probably would have seen some students playing in the shallow river with friends. The road next to the river stretches as far as the river and I've seen a lot of people cycling up and down, both locals and tourists.

Did I mention there are a lot of shrines in Kyoto? This is probably one of the medium sized ones and I've seen much smaller ones from time to time. Still no signs of Miko maybe it was too early in the day and they don't work until afternoons.

I think it was around this uphill hike that I started to see some tourists from across the world.

An interesting very narrow and fancy looking building. I just took a snap of it because it looked like a very interesting office space. It got me wondering if hat would be enough space for me to work in there as well if I was looking for a home in Kyoto. Would you? haha

Yup, lot more tourists had gathered and were making their way towards the summit. I think this was my first time seeing a tour group. There was big man with a loud booming voice explaining something in Chinese towards this group you see here. The road you see ahead is just wide enough to fit two tiny trucks you see from a distance and that's where a lot of the tourists were walking as well. I often had to dodge out of the way for those morning delivery trucks.

Souvenir store that opened nice an early. I was tempted to go inside and buy some but noticed a lot of these were way overpriced so I stopped looking at souvenirs while I was making my way towards Kiyomizu-dera temple. It's hard to see from this photo but they were also selling Genshin merch in there, as you can probably guess mostly Inazuma characters lol.

Lot of the other stores weren't open when I went up there. I picked this time because I often heard this road becomes way too crowded during the afternoon and it becomes much harder to take any photos at all.

After passing by many shops that were yet to open, I managed to reach the entrance of Kiyomizu-dera temple. Already there were some crowds forming at the entrance and I could tell most of them spoke Chinese. As a matter of fact, I'll see way more of them inside the temple. The big structure you see on the left is the entrance. On each side there was a fierce statue but they were barred from tourists so I couldn't get a clear picture of them as I entered through the gates.

I'm sure a good portion of the structures were rebuilt over the last century. The older mossy stone work you see in this photo are probably what lasted over a thousand years.

If I recall, I think these were called Ema. From Nara era (701~794), it was customary to contribute a wooden board with picture of horse at a temple or a shrine to have your wishes heard. It spread among the Japanese people back then and now, they write the wish on wooden plaques like the photo above. I've seen a number of these during my stay in Kyoto spread across different temples and shrines.

I think this is the same principle... but don't quote me on that since I could be wrong.

Right everything so far was taken at the entrance of the temple haha. Did you think I was in the temple already? This place was HUGE and I was busy taking lots of photos.

This was the entrance to enter the main temple. You had to pay for a entrance ticket elsewhere and they checked if you had one as you entered. I went in with a sea of tourists as you can tell.

On my way in I found a fount of holy water. I'm pretty sure in anime, the protagonists drink from places like this but the sign specifically read in bold letters not for drinking purposes. I wonder how many anime fans this temple bore witness to as they attempted to drink from this place hahaha.

Finally made my way inside Kiyomizu-dera temple. I must have gotten in before the first rush hour of tourists made their way here because I didn't see as much tourists as I did on youtube.

The view from up here was phenomenal. If only it was a bit sunny when I took the picture, it would have done wonders for the maple trees. And check out the tall trees in the distance, those trees probably were there a millennia ago too.

Not entirely sure what this was. There wasn't any explanation stuck next to it, it was just there. I think it was a stave used by an ancient monk from the aesthetics.

I've seen a number of tourists offering money into the donation box and praying before this deity. I don't know too much about the specific worship but if I had to take a guess, I suspect it's related to one's good fortune in particular monetary wealth. 

I'll be taking the scene route down the mountain this time. You can kind of see another attraction below from this angle. 

As I was making my way down the hills, I found this sleepy boy perched atop a branch as I was walking. I thought it was a ball at first but then I noticed it was snoring and upon closer inspection, it was a Red Turtle Dove. Somehow even after trying to call out to it to awaken it, it stubborn slept through all the noise I was making below it. Maybe it's just very accustomed to all the loud tour groups that frequent Kiyomizu-dera temple. 

Remember that attraction I talked about when I was looking down from the heart of the main temple above? Well, it was a tourist attraction where people have the opportunity to drink sacred waters of Kiyomizu-dera. If I recall correctly, the waters you see in the photo are divided into three separate streams. Each stream's water is said to have a different benefit, namely to cause longevity, success at school and a fortunate love life.

But it's all said that if you drink from all three streams, it's considered being greedy and some redditors implied that you'll be cursed.

Which stream would you have drunk from if you were here?
Personally, I chose not to drink from it because I already feel very blessed to have this community and wanting more would just be too greedy. 

I wonder... Are you getting bored of all the temple photos I've shared so far? I admit that I may have been a bit too trigger happy when I was visiting Kyoto and snapped as many photos as I could while I was here. Bear with me there's only a few more photos and we'll be back on the road~! 

As I was walking down the hill, I saw this lovely teahouse preparing for business. I don't think they were quite ready for business though so I kept walking but managed to take a snap as I was walking. 

Oh and believe it or not, we're still in Kiyomizu-dera. 

Exit at last you're probably thinking. I had a lot more photos but decided to cut some out and move on with my travel stories. I'm only posting this to show just how crowded it's become by the time I left the entrance. The place was already starting to swarm with large crowds. Some of it were tourist but this particular group I believe were probably from a highschool field trip. Now that I think about it, all the major temples and shrines were all bustling with students as the day went by. 

I have suspicions that they'll probably get an exam question on all the sites they've visited in Kyoto at a later date. 

Look at all this people. Thank god I went in the morning when there were less people. Even when I was heading down, I encountered a lot of trucks bringing up merchandise to various stores and I had to dodge them. 

While I was taking the photo looking down the road, I heard small footsteps above me. When I looked up I noticed this big crow chilling as it looked down at me wondering what I was doing. I tried to take a photo but it kept looking away. I think it was just camera shy. 

Just seeing where I am. Of course being unable to read Japanese this map didn't help me as much as I'd hoped haha. 

Unfortunately my poor legs couldn't handle any more walking around about the time I took this photo. Much of this area preserves the old style of architecture and traditional aesthetics. The shops you see may look very very small from the outside but I quickly realized some shops were deceptively spacious once you enter he shop. Like a long spacious corridor waiting behind a pair of sliding doors. 

I'll end this little blog with some photos of where I took much needed break to rest my weary legs and enjoy a hot coffee. 

Starbucks! With the Japanese aesthetics and interiors to match. It was a really interesting concept to see and I think I liked it a lot more than the usual Starbucks I see in big malls. Only problem I saw was the ridiculous line as you can see in the photo and unlike other Starbucks I've been to, this store doesn't call out your name when your order is ready for pickup. Instead it reads out your order and you kind of play a guessing game to see if the order is yours or someone else with the identical order. Very confusing! 

Once you pick up your order, you go upstairs with your coffee where you encounter another glaring issue with this store and that's... 

The severe lack of spaces to sit. There were only like 5 tables upstairs with two seats per table. I honestly think they should have just removed all the tables and replaced the floors with tatami mats where people can just sit wherever to enjoy their coffee. Maybe they could have smaller coffee tables spread out here and there so more people could sit and enjoy their time.

I got really lucky and nabbed a seat before it got taken but most people were left standing around for ages to get a seat. 

And that's where I'll end today's blog. I'll continue with more very soon!