Kyoto Travel Blogs

Oh my gosh, how much fun did I have?!I'm finally back to the previous place, feels good. So many things to write, where should I even start? So basically the only bright side of staying at Green Peace was meeting this guy called Sasuke aka Robin. He's kind of a male version of myself. He's Swedish…

It takes only 36 minutes from Nagoya to Kyoto by fastest bullet train, Nozomi. Though Kyoto is not so far from Nagoya, I visited the sights of Kyoto for the first time in 13 years.  Kyoto station has changed very much. What a modern building it is! I met Portia and her husband Kevin …

A few days ago we went to Kyoto and reported on the crowds and traffic. It was crazy busy. Well, turns out that was nothing. That was a weekday. You should see it on a Saturday! We decided to try out the Shinkansen bullet train, which smoothly whisked us from Osaka to Kyoto in less than 15 minutes…

The last day in Kyoto was a rainy one. As far as the weather goes, we were pretty lucky because it hadn't rained up to this point despite the fact that it was the rainy season. So, four days into our trip, finally we had rain. We borrowed umbrellas at hotel, and we headed out in rain for K…

It was time to leave Karasuma Hotel. It was time to leave Kyoto. Ibu Miyo told us to pack our big suitcases to be sent to Tokyo. The small ones could be brought to our next visit. We were going to Nara, Kobe, and Osaka. We would stay at Kobe and Osaka. From Osaka we would go to Tokyo. Tokyo wo…

I spent my second full day in Kyoto "taking it easy" in the touring realm.  Don't get me wrong, you could spend weeks in Kyoto and still not see everything -- this city is flush with terrific sights.  I was out taking in as much as I could until about 4pm; a pretty full day when you're no…

Our main goal today was to see the Golden Pavilion and Nijo Castle. It was raining and we even bought another umbrella so we won't get too wet. The subway in Kyoto only goes north and south, and we had to transfer to a bus. But the instructions on getting to the Golden Pavilion was easy enough to f…

The smell of incents wafts through the air in the dimly lit hall, as an elderly women with long hair, pulled back in a purple ribbon, bends  over to insert the incents stick into the bowl, she rises, stands upright with her eyes closed and prays for her loved ones in front of the golden, …

We went to bed early last night but we couldn't sleep because our room was freezing!!The heater was above our head and it was 19c. Usually 19c is fine but it was way too cold that I turned up to 23c. Started to get warmer a couple of hours later and it was early morning. We were gonna see Amanda at…

*rough draft - unedited* Waking up that morning was a little bit different then the previous day.  Waking up in Tokyo was usually brought about by the rumble of a car on an almost too small road, or the cacaphony of children making their way through the neighborhood.  Waking up in Kyoto …

My mother applied to join tea ceremony party, and it fell on us! So my mother and I went to Kyoto to join the party. oh, we don't do tea ceremony:P It was on 23rd, and maple trees are at their best now, so it was good timing! The tea ceremony party was hosted by Santory Iyemon. http://www.suntory.…

DAY 1 After an annoying overnight bus from Tokyo where I got fuck all sleep,we arrived in Kyoto at around 6am and had to find our accomodation.We found our hostel and managed to check in at 7am which was great. Knowing it would be a bad idea if we tried to get some sleep we headed out to the Impe…

I woke up exhausted and dehydrated. What else is new? Bought some food. Walked to Gion District. Hmmm... cute, but no geishas - yet. Fell asleep on the metro train and ended up around the northern part of Kyoto. Lots of trees and parks. Okay. Kyoto is a very GREEN city. Walked down and visited s…

Mt. Hiei is famous for Enryakuji( Enryaku temple). It was built there long time ago, and it used to have a big power to influence people in a view of religious as well as politics. Temples are painted very beautiful vermilion. Enryakuji is not a name of one temple. It consists of&nbs…

Here are some pictures of my trip to Japan from 15 August - 21 August 2007.