Trina and Mia Visit: Part 3 (Kyoto, the end of the adventure)

inside kyoto station, it's big! there was a jr high band performance thing going on, so there were lots of people as we rode the never-ending escalators up to the food floors.
hope you're not afraid of heights!
time to eat some ramen!
yummy! but not as good as tokushima ramen.

on to the bus and to the first temple (went to the Gion area)
lovely!
it'll certianly be well lit at night!
ok, this is too cute! the dad is helping his daughter purify her hands and then go pray.

i like moss.
ahh, pretty shrine!
a wedding!
i like her kimono.

notice the two girls on the left dressed like prostitutes? strong contrast to the middle-aged women in the kimonos on the right, ne?
i liked these evergreens, i wonder what they are?

rawr!

dragon! it's more elaborate, so it's probably buddhist.
garden-tastic!
pretty lantern!
very nice, indeed.

"i'm thinking about your big bell, baby! when ya gonna ring it? when ya gonna ring it?"
yay! white fluffy clouds and not the rain we were expecting!

after this monk guy opened the little door an important priest came out and went in, kneeled down and started some prayer-chants. very cool.

old-style thatched roof.
not sure what this big fella is...
TINY DOOR! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, TRINA!!
tiny shrine.

up the hill, now here's the view!
hello, mia!
hello giant buddha, too bad it was after 5pm and they wouldn't let us in!
hello me. trina was busy eating ice cream at this point.

cute couple!
shopping time!
yes, that's a kid on a tricycle in a china shop...

here we are at kyoiyamizudera (i think that's the name)

and behind it is the main-attraction which kam and i missed the first time we came. what a suprise to find the place where you see all the pictures taken from!
ahh, i love green. look at the old pagota in the distance. it's tucked into the trees.
horray!

i like this one cuz everyone is moving but the guy in the middle, and those lamps are bitchin!
here it is!
prettyness.
ahh!

mia taking some pictures.
trina's love rocks, too bad it was closed.
this is on a big wooden frame work (pics from below to follow) they've petitioned to make this place one of the New 7 wonders of the world.
this is one of those "popular" pictures. when you look at a pack of postcards from kyoto, this will be one of them.

hiya!
mia the conquorer and trina the slightly confused.

the under part.

the sign for the magic water.
magic water! i drank it! :)
on the way out.
kyoto tower!

see the pagota we came from at the end of the street? pretty!
back at the station.
and so ends night 1 in kyoto.
next day, we take the bus to the arashiyama area and start walking towards the northern temples there. on the way, we see this, and decide to give it a go!

up, and up, and up we climb.
higher...
and higher...
to the top!

then we spent another hour looking for another path down the other side, but we can't find anything promising, so it's back down the same way. (tired faces) back on the street, we run into a man and his wife who have passable english. apparently he's a pathologist that used to work at the mayo clinic! crazy!! he and his wife give us a ride to the temple we were after.
mossy buddhas.
see the tiny, new buddha in the middle?
what is this? and why does it have some freaky, safe-like door in it?

three-layered torii.
1000 buddhas!
plus bell, can't forget that!

bamboo forest!
*sigh* ahh.
mystery cave...

hidden behind one of these little fellows...
tucked off the road...
a pleasant find.
nice little walking path.

tanuki store!
:O that's creepy.
it's a train!
next shrine!

probably a grandma, mom, daughter photo outting than maikosans.
pretty!!
i love moss! (this is my current desktop)
petting the moss...

yay clouds!

this one's holding an egg with a cross on it! we found out this one's for protection against plane crashes.
this ends the arashiyama area.

over by the silver pavillion (it was closed, but we found this nice little shrine).
dark, mysterious, and calming.

we made a wish.

hello, kitty!
this is the Philosopher's Path.
flowers!
and into the second evening.
then we saw this sign, and decided that we had to take a picture with it!

take one... um, not so good....
take two... ok, can't even see the letters in this one!
so we just waited around until some unsuspecting victim *cough* i mean japanese person came by, and we asked them to take it for us. much less chaotic, ne?

the rest of the trip involved sleeping then getting on the bus the next morning, and that was the end. ta-dah!