Day 12 - Kyoto and Nara

Today I set out for Kyoto to see the shrines. I left Osaka around 8 am and was extremely tired for some reason. It took about 1 1/2 hours on the train to get there and to make my life easier I decide to go to the temples and shrines that a friend had recommended I visit since I had so little time there. I went to see the Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kiyomizu temple and Ginkakuji temple.

The Fushimi Inari shine was the most amazing one. Hundreds of shrines placed all over the place back to back so you can walk through them. it was quite amazing to see. The walk was insane. I think I climbed enough stairs to do the CN tower at least twice. This area was huge and there were fox statues all over the place. By far one of the most interesting shrines I've ever been to so far. I ended up getting a bus pass at the station for a day so that I could easily so see the sites. But I figured that taking the JR to the Inari shine was faster by about 30 min.

The next site I went to go see was the Kiyomizu temple. Another site definitely worth seeing. The temple was beautiful and the view from there was amazing. Too bad the leave have not yet changed colour as the scenery would have been outstanding.

I then hopped onto the bus and got off at Dobutsuen Mae because I heard drums being played in the square. It seemed as though all the hippies go together to have a jam in the middle of the Kyoto just walking up and down the street. They were having and blast and the vibe was fantastic.

I got back on the bus and headed to Ginkakuji temple. Unfortunately this temple was quite disappointing because the main building was under construction so it was covered in scaffolding. However, the hike from here was quite nice and so was the zen garden. I expected the temple to have a larger area due to the admittance fee but it did not, again unfortunate. It took about 20-30 min to walk around to see everything.

Since it was my last day in Japan, I decided to go to Nara for dinner. I found a hole in the wall restaurant that served noodles. This town is so quiet at night when the temples are closed. I can't believe it's my last night in Japan and how cold it has gotten. Off to sun and Hong Kong tomorrow!