Monday August 18, 1997: Kyoto
outside a Takashimaya, Kyoto: 1pm
Well get up early I did indeed... I was out of that hostel as soon as the doors opened at 6:30... and I call this a holiday?? Hmm...
So I was at Ryoan-ji (Dragon Place Temple) by 8:30 or so which was a great time because there weren't very many people at all. So Ryoan-ji is mostly famous for its beautiful gardens - one of which is the rock garden (especially famous). Actually, the rock garden is the reason I wanted to go to this temple. See, this garden is made up of 15 well-placed rocks, and raked sand. Yes, that's it - sand and 15 rocks. But these rocks weren't just placed anywhere, oh no, they were very carefully set so that you can't see more than 14 of them at one time. Beleive me, I tried, you'd have to be about 8 or 9 feet tall...
Actually, it's a Zen garden, and there are many Zen contemplations about what this plain yet intriguing garden symbolizes. Some say its a sea of nothingness and the rocks are islands.. yada yada yada. Neat place. As for the rest of the gardens... very beautiful. There's a really great pond that you can walk around - very relaxing.
While I was at Ryoan-ji I met 2 young gaijin girls very briefly. And as I was walking towards the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion Temple - about 1 km away) a cab pulls up behind me, honking. So it was these 2 girls, asking if I was going to Kinkakuji, and if so, then did I want a ride? So I hopped in and we went to the Kinkakuji.
So one of these girls is Dutch and the other Mexican... they know eachother because they both have been working in Tokyo as hostesses! Really! I'm just meeting all the types on this trip! Ok, what this means is taht they work at a hostess bar where they just have to talk to the customer that come in, light their cigarettes, serve them drinks, and occasionally dance with them. It's quite a common career for gaijin women in Tokyo actually. Oh, this is their last week in Japan though because the bar failed to get them work visas as promised, so they've been working illegally...
Anyways, we toured the Golden Temple together and wow, it's pretty spectacular. It's not called the Golden Pavilion Temple for nothing, you know... it's actually covered in gold leaf! It's on a pond (called Kyoko-chi, or Mirror Pond) and you can see its reflection in there. It's 3 stories tall and the top 2 are the ones covered in gold. Really, it's beautiful.
Kinkakuji is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto - known for its beauty of course - but I'd read in one guid book that really it was all just hype and that it wasn't worth seeing on a quick trip of Kyoto. Well, I would like to disagree with that book - it's definitely worth seeing!
I said g-bye to the 2 girls as we left that temple because I was heading over to the textile centre. Uh huh, the textile centre, where you look at fabrics and stuff. Well, the reason for me wanting to go there was to see a kimono fashion show. So I did. It was neat - they showed about 15 kimonos, in a true fashion show style. There were lots of ooo's and aaah's from the crowd. Yeah, they're really beautiful - but SO EXPENSIVE! Since I can't buy one, I thought I would content myself with seeing the show.
And since I left the textile centre I have just been wandering around, slowly making my way to the station. There are more temples I want to see, but at this point, after 5 days of walking all day, I decided to bum around instead. Plus, I have to study for my big kanji quiz tomorrow! Ack! Oh yeah, right now I'm actually getting my pics developped!! Coolness.
And that's it for my trip! Keep on reading... Week 14!