Fushimi Inari Taisha 伏見稲荷大社 , Kyoto

I should run along the torii gates and reenact the scene from Memoirs of Geisha

Memoirs of Geisha.

That is the movie that  introduced me to this place, where Chiro run along the red torii and I vowed one day I must go there. Fast forward, almost 10 year later my wish is granted :)

Along the way, we noticed that the torii is getting smaller and smaller and each torii is inscribed with donator's name and date at the back of the torii. I found out that it costs aroud 400,000 yen for the small sized torii and up to a few million for the big one.

As it was too many people walking along the gates, I have to set up the tripod outside of the pathway to get a good view and good photo. And after 10 minutes I did that, some tourists began to crowd around and wanted to take the same view where I set my tripod...sigh.

Chiro running along the path. Source from internet

Source from internet

Entrance to the shrine

Check out all the torii gates all the way up to the mountain

Inside the shrine

Should have bought one of these for souviner

Two gates combined into one

The calmness before the tourist attack

By accident I got this very 'feel' shot

View from the shrine

To get to Fushimi Inari, take the JR Nara Line, which is the same line to Nara. Stopped at Inari station which is 5 minutes from Kyoto station. You have to take the local train as rapid train does not stopped here. If you ask me which place to see if you can only visit one place in Kyoto, this is definitely the place. And the fact that it is ranked no.1 spot in TripAdvisor for Kyoto must see attractions.

Nara Park

I totally went crazy taking photos of the sakura flowers here.

Thank god that I brought my tripod along and manage to take lots of good photos of us together this time. It's a good place to have a picnic, walk around or just feed the freely roaming deers.

And I kind of forgot to take photos of just the park itself. Comparing to my previous way of travelling of taking photos, this time I had more photos of us together and not just the background.

For privacy purpose, I am just gonna upload one photo of us under the sakura tree

Deer everywhere

So pretty

And many couples take their wedding photo here

Including this Japanese coupld

Todaiji Temple 東大寺 , Nara

Todaiji Temple in spring

We reached Nara from Kyoto quite late as we decided to head to Fushimi Inari in the morning before coming here as it's on the way using the JR train from Kyoto station.

As we took the local JR train, it took us almost 75 minutes to reach Nara from the Fushimi Inari station. We stopped at JR Nara station using the JR Nara line. From the station, there is a tourist information where we got our map and information on how to get to Todaiji temple and Nara Park as the JR Nara station is about 45 minutes away. We took the city loop bus no 2 and stopped at  Daibutsuden Kasuga Taisha Mae. The city loop bus is yellow in colour and costs 220 yen, slightly cheaper than the bus ride in Kyoto.

From Daibutsuden Kasuga Taisha stop, we walked along the road and reached the temple in 5 minutes. Before reaching the temple, there are plenty of deer roaming around the park and the temple area. These deer's antler had been cut to prevent them injuring the tourists and you can buy deer biscuit to feed them which costs around 150 yen. As we were in a rush, we did not stopped to buy food for the deer.

People trying to squeeze through the hole in the pillar 

Deer roaming freely in Nara

The wooden gateway

stunning view during spring

Todaiji temple houses one of the largest bronze Buddha in Japan and indeed the temple is one of it's kind as from the outside, it was made from wood giving a very majestic, rustic and vintage feeling.  Once we entered, we can see the giant Buddha but that is not the main attraction. We then heard some loud noises and cheering coming from one corner of the hall and we saw some students cheering at a pillar. Yup, cheering at a pillar as beneath the pillar, there is a hole whereby we saw people crawling through. According to legend, those who can squeeze through can obtained enlightenment. We dare not try as we don't think we can make it through the hole.

Nara sighseeing map from razienjapon.com

Entrance fee for Todaiji temple is 500 yen
Opening hours :  
8.00 to 16.30 (Nov to Feb)
8.00 - 17.00 (March)
7.30 - 17.30 (Apr - Sept)
7.30 - 17.00 (Oct)

Omamori お守り Japanese charm

Before going to Japan, I was unaware of the various types of charms or Omamori available from the temples and shrines. These charms are not free though but you can purchase which will be normally used as donation to the temples. The cheapest charm I can find is 300 yen while the most expensive one can go up to 3000 yen but off course the more expensive one comes with better packaging and embroidery. The charms covering are usually made of cloth with beautiful embroidery and the name of the temple will be on the charm itself.

I discovered that there are many types of Omamori in Japan but the most common ones are;
-  love charm 縁結び
- studies,
- traffic safety 交通安全
- safe delivery 安産祈願
-  lucky charm
- fertility 子宝祈願

As the charms are quite expensive in some temples, I only managed to get a few in Todaiji temple and subsequently a few more for my parents and in laws in one of the shrine near to Nishiki market. I got a good marriage charm, wishes come true charm and another charm for myself.

I read from Wikipedia that omamori should not be opened to avoid losing the protective benefits and should be brought back to the original temple where you first bought it for disposal after a year.

Omamori sold in Tenruyji Temple

source from wikipedia

Kinkakuji Temple 金閣寺, Kyoto

Seriously I keep mixing this temple with Ginkakuji temple. See, even the sound of the temple is almost the same. This temple is known as Golden Pavillion and well, at least there is really a gold pavillion in the temple ground. But we choose the wrong time to come as we reached around 11am after the long and tiring bus ride from Kyoto station which took us around 45 minutes standing in a crowded bus.

As we enter the temple, there were a lot of tourists taking/monopolizing the space to take the best shot of the pavillion and probably the only best spot to take of the entire temple. I gave up after trying to fight for spot and looking for people to take photos of me and hubs. Too bad, tripod is not allowed in the temple. But I doubt I will be able to open, set up and click on the camera on tripod before others knocked down the camera.

One thing I enjoyed visiting temples is the charms or Omamori sold by the temples and shrines here. I will write a more detail posts on charms and Omamori next but let's just say, if I had the liberty of spending unlimited cash, these charms will be definately occupied most of the souviners that I would love to buy for friends.

Ok, I was taken too away from the temple. Focus needed here.

To get to Kinkakuji temple, take the bus no.101 from Kyoto station (again this is a tourist bus) or bus no.205 and stopped at Kinkakuji michi
Opening hours from 9am to 5pm with entrance fee of 400yen.

Cathedral Cove

If you have seen Narnia, Prince of Caspian, the following images will look familiar.

It was one of the scene whereby the siblings were transported back to Narnia from the London subway.

Cathedral Cove, the scene from Narnia: Prince Caspian

While our tourmates spend their time sea kayaking, our guide had to 'babysit' us. Actually we told him, we are ok to walk on our own from the parking to the beach and told him to go ahead with his sea kayaking.

And I remembered he told us the story of how he had to bring another mother daughter to the beach as it involved a bit of walking up and down the hill, they took a long time to finally reach the beach.

We also taught Hygi a folk song, Rasa Sayang and XS even wrote him the lyrics for him to sing to his future Malaysian tour groups or girlfriends, haha.

As it took us some walking down from the top to the beach, there are some stunning scenaries along the way.

Ginkakuji Temple (Silver Pavillion) 銀閣寺, Kyoto

Ginkakuji temple is located pretty near to the Philosopher's Path and after we were done with half of the path, we went to the temple. I was curious to see why the temple was named Silver and I was getting confused with another temple with similiar name, Kinkakuji temple which also called Golden Pavillion.

Truth is, there's nothing to shout about the temple but it is the garden that is mesmerising. During the sakura season, there are quite some sakura blooming in the garden but as to whether the pavilion is really silver, then the answer is no. It was supposed to be painted silver but the idea was abandoned but the name stuck since.

Worth a visit especially for the gardens and the flowers and the UNESCO World Heritage status.

Entrance fee is 500 yen per person.

Opening time from 8.30 am to 5pm.