As I was saying in my previous entry, I have a very silly story to share with you all! Scroll down to the bottom of the entry to read it bah… T_T

May I present you with
T h e  B e a u t i f u l  K y o t o

Kinkakuji (金 閣 寺)

The first floor is built in the Shinden style used for palace buildings during the Heian Period. Statues of the Shaka Buddha (historical Buddha) and Yoshimitsu are stored in the first floor. It is not possible to enter the pavilion, the statues can be viewed from across the pond if you look closely, as the front windows of the first floor are usually kept open.

The second floor is built in the Bukke style used in samurai residences, and has its exterior completely covered in gold leaf. Inside is a seated Kannon Bodhisattva surrounded by statues of the Four Heavenly Kings; however, the statues are not shown to the public.

Finally, the third and uppermost floor is built in the style of a Chinese Zen Hall, is capped with a golden phoenix.

How to get there?

Kinkakuji can be accessed from Kyoto Station by direct Kyoto City Bus number 101 or 205 in about 40 minutes and for 220 yen. Alternatively, it can be faster and more reliable to take the Karasuma Subway Line to Kitaoji Station (15 minutes, 250 yen) and take a taxi (10 minutes, around 900 yen) or bus (10 minutes, 220 yen, bus numbers 101, 102, 204 or 205) from there to Kinkakuji.

Hours: 9:00 to 17:00
Closed: No closing days
Admission: 400 yen
– from http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html

This is something special I like about touring in Japan, places are packed with local tourists, we hardly see other tourists like us around.. hee hee.. does that mean we are visiting the correct places, that ain’t too commercial? Haha.. look at how Japanese ladies style their hair… 佩服佩服！

No joke, lotsa walking in Japan, we never let any chance slip by to resting our feet where-ever we can sit down for a break.. hee hee..

Pail and his fortune from a “vending fortune teller machine”. We can only tell that it’s a 吉 and everything sounds GOOD.. but actually have the slightest idea what it meant anyway.. 是只上上签就好啦！haha.. :p

Today is Shrine/Temple Visting Day, before we know it, we are on our way to another famous temple… too many pix. Please read on in the next entry!

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Silly Story starts hereeee:
On the third day of Osaka, we checked out of the hotel, we were puzzled why the staff at Osaka hotel had strange expressions asking us if we wanna check out.. yes lah, check-out means check-out la.. so anyway, we arrived at Kyoto after a long ride on the JR.. and found our way to the hotel “APA Villa Hotel Kyoto-Ekimae”.

533 Shiokoji-cho,Shichijosagaru,
Higashinotoin-dori,Shimogyo-ku
Kyoto, 600-8212
Japan
+81753418111

We were too early, it wasn’t time for check-in yet so we went to walk around the nearby Kyoto Tower.. and concluded that we REALLY do not enjoy tall views and high skyscapers. Hmmmm… and so we went back to try our luck with hotel check-in, we couldn’t quite understand their broken English, but finally we figured how silly we were. WE ARE THERE A DAY EARLY LAH!!! AH DUH!!!! NOW IT’S ALL CLEAR WHY OSAKA HOTEL STAFF HAD STRANGE EXPRESSIONS, BUT WHY DIDN’T THEY TELL US!!! Arghh… now there is what you call DOMINO EFFECT! We have to change our plans, first book the Kyoto hotel for today on a different rate, cancel the next next day hotel, and book one more night in Tokyo hotel because we only want to spend 2 days in Kyoto…

$_$

Ok… end of my silly story and this entry too…
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