Me @Meiji Shrine/Temple
Hopies @Meiji Shrine (Hmm..somehow that didn't sound quite right... lol!! As though we're visiting pagan tem...OH nevermind!!!) Anyway, it's me trying out my Japanese poses once more from the group pic below...
Walking towards Meiji Shrine, we saw many barrels of sake with different designs on them. They remind me of a colourful abacus somehow.
Closer look at the sake barrel designs...
Further into the park towards the temple, you see more of such gateways and what looks like sake barrels on the right hand of the pic are actually lanterns this round with blue Jap characters on them.
I decided to 'colour accent' (monochrome everything except for the colour u wanna retain on the pic) the picture to enhance the blue on the lanterns for effect...Hmm...turn out average only...not fantastic in my opinion ... NEXT! hehe..
I like the next picture of the Meiji Shrine. Some birds flying in the sky.. the gateway.. the lighting..the people walking...Almost picture perfect (Like real..) Basically I just wanna say that I have an eye for photography... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... I can't believe I just said that ... Lol... Hahahhahaa.. OKOK.... seriously .. I just wanna say that I like this pic... that's all.
And that was our 1st day upon our arrival in Japan! We headed back home after Meiji and back at the dorm, we discussed our plans for the following day and we agreed (reluctantly for lazy me) that we need to wake up at 7am LATEST in the morning to be able to catch our train to Kyoto. The guys cast me worried looks that I won't be able to wake up (they probably know how bad I am at waking up) and said they will come knocking at my door once they are awake. I told them that as much as it's hard to believe...strangely I seem to be able to wake up early on holidays and vacations and am usually one of the first few that are ready to go. They entertained that notion by (pretending to) listening, shrugged and said "ok but we'll just wake each other up when we wake up". GGrrrr... hahaha... Oh well.. poor me...defenseless.. in a foreign land.. hahahhaa....
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Could barely open my eyes when I tried to look at my watch beside me on the bed... time checked: 6am sharp.
What happen next was a wrestle between my Brain & my Body
Brain to body: "Get Up."
Body to Brain: "10 more mins pls?"
Brain to Body: "Okie.. I mean it...10mins."
Body to Brain: "Yeah .. whatever" Snoooooooooze..............
Brain to Eyes: "Open up.. .you guys weigh a ton!! Open up!!" Time Checked: 6:05am.
Body to Brain: "Heyyyy you cheated!!"
Next thing I know... I was in the bathroom showering....Halfway through my shower... a knock came and I hollered back "Showering!!". I got changed and carried my bagpack downstairs where the boys room were and stood there. They seem amazed that I was true to my words... but ALAS...noooooo one believed me previously. Hahaha... we got ready and left for the train station as we need to head to Tokyo to switch to the Hikari Express train to travel to Kyoto.
This is the Hikari Express train to Kyoto!! Luckily we arrived in Tokyo on time to find the right train to get on.
Looked out of the train and saw this... decided to capture the shot for memory's sake. Hmmm..quite like the outcome of it.
After snapping some pics, I whipped out the lunchbox I bought at the train station and eagerly opened it as I felt that my tummy was about to growl any moment now. (P/s: Some of you who have been lucky enough.. you've heard my tummy growled before in church during service, in lectures during my uni or poly days or even secondary school and know how loud it can really growl...lol)
It's more of brunch than lunch actually... and the brunch menu for today is..................................*TONKATSU SET & Pocari drink* Cost: 950 Yen (It seems like eternity since I last drank Pocari in Singapore btw!)
*Ting!*Ting!*>>Lesson of the day!! See the beige, marble like plum (a.k.a umeboshi plum) on the white rice? Does anyone know what's the purpose of the umeboshi plum in the meal?
Issit:
a. Decoration purposes?
b. Digestion purposes?
If you have guessed B, well done & 5 points for yourself! Before I came to Japan ... I think when I was much younger I read somewhere that umeboshis are supposedly to aid in digestion and also helps to speed up ur metabollism. I have not seen umeboshi plums in Japanese bento sets in Singapore, thus when I saw it in my lunchbox in Japan ... it jogged my memory about the article I read about umeboshis and it also jogged my memory about myself being so curious & fascinated about these umeboshi plums that I actually went to Isetan Supermarket and bought myself a small tub of them, ate like 2 pieces and found them REALLY sour & discarded the rest. However the one in the pic above wasn't as sour as I expected it to be. Oh well.. anything to aid in my digestion!
We finally arrived in Kyoto and tried to make our way to our hotel - the Karasuma hotel. On our way we saw a Pachinko. I recalled Laura telling us on our 1st day in Japan that Pachinkos are actually Japanese casinos , so while locating our hotel, I just snapped this for no particular reason. Anyway, now you know what does Pachinko mean.
On our way to locating Karasuma hotel, we chanced upon a lovely looking shrine. And as expected, because we chanced upon it, we are bloggers and most of us have our own individual cameras... we whipped out our cams and started taking what seem like a thousand pictures!! I have no idea what shrine this is if you ask me. Hehe... The pics below are the front of the shrine.
I like this pic I took as well. I like it cos I manage to capture exactly how my eyes saw the front of the shrine to be. And to me I feel its something very difficult to do with cameras sometimes. May be able to capture the picture but may not capture the angle and the essence of how your eyes saw it then. Another pic of the front of the shrine below is also one of my favourite of the day as well..(told you it seems like thousands already hehe....)
Finally, we reached our hotel and this the room where Laura & I would be sharing. Look! Paper cranes on our pillows... So dainty & welcoming!!!
We took a short break while discussing how we should go about our sightseeing in Kyoto. I remember Liz telling me that I MUST go to the Golden Pavillion when in Kyoto and suggested that to the group. The rest were agreeable and in a jiffy we were heading for our 1st sightseeing spot in Kyoto - Kinkakuju Pavillion (A.k.a Golden Pavillion).
We took a bus to Kinkakuju and what better way to commemorate our 1st bus ride in Japan than to snap pictures? Hee hee...
Bearbear with Merv. Me & the fish. (I didn't know animals were allowed onboard public transport! 1 bear, 1 fish!)
We alighted from the bus ride and the 1st thing I saw was this Hello Kitty signboard next to a souvenir shop. I wanted to take some signs or posters that said "welcome to kyoto" or something along those lines and since the signboard of Hello Kitty says "something something something something KYOTO (bottom 2 characters)" I figure.. yeah why not. Hahaha. Went into the souvenir shop as I recalled that Lay Hoon asked me to searched for a 1000yen Jap doll for her. Dolls cost a bomb in there and as Lay Hoon SPECIFICALLY told me that anything more than 1000yen I should drop the notion of purchasing the doll for her, I stuck to her advise.
We had to walk up a small slope to reach Kinkakuju.. and I saw from a distance a mountain (or what seem like a mountain) and not sure if it was done on purpose but it seemed as though a STAR was etched on the mountain. Lovely sight. See for urself from the picture below. Then you would have a better idea of what I'm trying to say.
Can you see the star? =) Another favourite picture to add on to the day's collection. heehee.
Another group pic before we purchased the ticket to view the Golden Pavillion. Pouyan took the pic for us that's why he wasn't in it.
I nearly forgot about my camera's Sepia mode and decided to try to capture something in Sepia. Arhhh....got it!
Picture of a bell (I think its a bell if my lack of sleep memory doesnt fail me).... the pic reminds me of those war zone memorials somehow..
*Ting!*Ting!*>>Lesson 2: What to do after you purchase the entrance ticket that looks more like a chinese talisman in order to enter the place?
You paste it on ur forehead as if you are a chinese zombie! Just kidding!!! Btw.. the pic was still in sepia mode cos I have yet to switch back to normal colour mode. haha.. But it does add to the effect of having the fish as a zombie. And before anyone mistaken that I was the culprit who put that on fish.. I was taking the pic of this btw.. so it wasn't me who put it on his forehead! I was just the accomplice.. haha.. yeah I know..
Before I show you any more pictures.. I just wanna say that when I saw the Golden Pavillion, I literally dropped my jaw! Noooo.. not cos I spotted a kawaii looking Jap guy.. something even better than that!! The sight was simply breathtaking!
Monochrome for the Black & white samurai / ninjas movie kind of feel. Actual colour for reality and Sepia for post war effect. Hahhaa...
Okie now people with the golden pavillion:
People / Group shots
Individual shots
As we walked away from Kinkakuju and try to make our way out, more pics were taken. hehe.. what were you expecting???
Even the landscape of the stairway seems enchanting!
Next we saw the legendary 'Mdm White Snake Pavillion'. Nice. Didn't know that Japs knew about this story as well as it seems to me that this is a chinese fable. However it's not suprising that there are some interlinks between the Japanese & the Chinese cultures.
People praying at the temple. See the thick braids of rope? They will pull the rope and let it go so that the gongs above will clamour together and they will pray.
Think these are written prayer requests tied on the strings.
As the sun was setting, we decided to leave kinkakuju and made our way out of the site to look for some dinner.
We took the bus ride once more and I saw this ... I Love Kyoto. Perfect way of expressing how I felt towards Kyoto. I like Kyoto too... more than Tokyo actually. Kyoto - quaint little town with alot of nostalgia left.
By this time, we were all quite famished already. So we walked around the streets in search of what Lonely Planet recommended as a good restaurant for Soba noodles.
While searching for the noodle place, the night scene in Kyoto seems quite serene.
4 comments:
wow.. excellent post.. filled up some gaps in my memory.. especially in the names.. its like reliving it again.... haha.. really nice place.. everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime!!
Yah! Really excellent post and pics! Makes me feel like visiting Kyoto and all those other historical places. Japan is really a place of contrasts where the old and the new (see all those flashy signboards) blend so well together. :D
Nice photography skills you have! I have taken about 4000 pictures myself, and I will be happy if just 40 of them would be able to match up with your standard *lol*.
Kyoto is definitely one of the highlights of the trip! I must say I was expecting more temples and less shopping centres (and less shopping too ... haha).
>gabster: Hahah..thanks... remember I got powerful SELECTIVE memory. Hahaha..
>inky: Heehee..thank you as well! =) Must visit Kyoto! I like Kyoto more than Tokyo actually!
>Amleth: Haha.. thanks! But some of the pics above (esp of myself) were taken by you guys! So am sure your 40 (or issit 4? kekekeke =P) would definitely be of some standard as well! Hee hee..my photography isn't that great la... Still need a whole lot of improvement! We didn't shop much in Kyoto what... just for dolls and more dolls and ninja socks and lanterns. hahahaha...
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