A group of people got off the bus, and the rain suddenly got heavier. The clouds fell. We were not a tour group, so we hid from the rain and waited for a while. When the rain subsided, we went to buy tickets. The ticket was a very special talisman. After entering, there were a lot of people. There was no need to look at the map. Just follow the crowd. It was even more terrifying in front of Ikkyu's house.
It was totally necessary to use a card position, and it was raining. To be honest, I was too lazy to take out my camera. Although I had seen it countless times in the previous guides, it was still quite shocking to see it in person. Where is the legendary temple with blue sky, white clouds and gold? Come on, Uncle Wulang is hungry. Take three shots from far, medium and near.
I could hear Chinese all around me. The crowd was so huge. Fortunately, we were not allowed to enter the temple, otherwise it would have been trampled down in a matter of minutes. Finally, I went around to the back and saw it more clearly, but it was not as good as looking from a distance. I was sandwiched between the tour groups in front and behind. Do you know how difficult it is to take a photo like this? The Chinese aunties and uncles didn't care at all.
Rushed directly into your camera, sighing. If there were no tour groups, if it was a sunny day, Yunluo felt it would be much better, but Yunluo didn't encounter it, so Yunluo could only say that the Kinkakuji Temple was a place where you would regret not going and even more regretful if you went. But there is one thing! Yunluo finally understood why the ground in Japan is so clean, in the Kinkakuji Temple.
Yunluo saw the cleaning staff sweeping the gaps on the floor with a special tool! They were not sweeping the garbage on the floor, but the dust in the gaps between the tiles! It was a rainy day! It was so shocking! If it wasn’t inconvenient to take out the camera, or if there weren’t too many people, everyone was rushing forward and it was really hard to stop, Yunluo really wanted to take a picture of him!
The Golden Pavilion did not amaze Yunluo, but the spirit of this nation made Yunluo feel awed. I continued to take the bus back to the city. When I reached Horikawa near Nijo Castle, it rained heavily again. There was a river outside the window, and cherry blossoms on the riverside were swaying. I couldn't help but sweat for the rest of the trip. Fortunately, when I arrived at the Kamo River, the rain finally stopped.
The place where we got off was Shijo-dori. It was in the Jiyuan area, and there were many women wearing kimonos, some real and some fake. Imagine wearing that for a whole day, with a tight waist and small steps, and carrying weights to keep the upper body straight. It was really not suitable for female men like Yunluo, and to be honest, you can see the obvious difference in quality between the rental kimonos and the real ones at a glance.
However, Yunluo and Anchuyu found that the clothes worn by Chinese people were much better than those worn by Thai and Vietnamese people. Occasionally, they could also meet hairdressers. Not far away, they came to the flower path on the south side of Jiyuan. The flower path is well-known. It is a small street with the style of the Japanese Edo period and the most stylish place for romance. But now it is also hard to escape the fate of being swarmed by tourist groups.
It's too early to find a real geisha in the bustling crowd. The south of the flower path leads directly to Yasaka Shrine, and if you keep going along the north, you will reach Shirakawa-nandori. After the rain and wind just now, the cherry blossoms on the trees fell in large pieces. Looking around, the green is fat and the red is thin, and there is no way to keep spring. This place is better than the path between flowers.
Not only are there fewer people, but it also has a more Japanese style and the artistic conception of the Edo period. Standing on the historic bridge, imagine the prosperity of the past. The bluestone slabs paved at that time. How many legendary stories have they witnessed? Along the way, I took pictures of various kinds of noren, blue, green, white, and red, which are very beautiful, and Yunluo, who is so determined to use cold light sources, actually thinks it is necessary.
It is matched with warm yellow light. Small space can also create a sense of Zen. Back to the scene with modern elements, it seems that cold light still prevails. As the night gets darker, cars drive straight into the door of a restaurant from time to time. Most of them get off are older couples, men in straight suits and women in exquisite kimonos. Just when Yunluo sighed that the building was too high to see Zhangtai Road.
A black car stopped not far in front of Yunluo and An Chuyu. The geisha is here. The crowd that consumes geisha is quite in line with Yunluo's imagination. Back to Kamo River, across the Shijo Bridge, Pontocho is at the intersection. It has become one of the new popular landmarks in Kyoto. I didn't expect much, so I just went to see it since it was on the way. Narrow alley. There are various snack shops on both sides.
Yunluo and Anchuyu were like most European and American tourists, just looking around, but they still heard Chinese frequently coming from various shops, and the wine was flowing. Pontocho is not long, and it only takes a few minutes to walk around. The plan was to eat at a Japanese restaurant near Shinkyogoku tonight, which is more popular than Pontocho, which is crowded with tourists.
Yunluo and An Chuyu still prefer the local canteen where Anxin makes home-cooked meals. Unfortunately, the canteen was closed that day. Regret... As soon as the trip ended, hunger came. I turned to Shinkyogoku, but there were no restaurants I was interested in, and most of them were closed. I saw a Ichiran, and there was still a line, so I was about to join in the fun.
Suddenly I remembered that when I checked in my luggage in the morning, the hostel said that I had to come back before 12:00 p.m., otherwise I couldn't check in. I looked at the time and it was already past 12:30 p.m., so I didn't dare to take the risk. I decided to continue to take the civilian route and go to the most famous Matsuya in Japan. I didn't expect that there would be so much to say about this meal. It was different from the chain store at noon.
Matsuya is a self-service restaurant, and all the items that can be ordered are displayed on the self-service machine. Japan's automation really amazed Yunluo and An Chuyu. Ticket purchases are fully automatic, and there are vending machines everywhere on the roadside for buying drinks. Ordering is also fully automatic, which has never been encountered in previous self-guided tours in Europe.
Besides, Japan is a country with a large population. In fact, Yunluo and An Chuyu's country should also learn to take the path of self-service ordering, as the cost of eating out is now on par with the international level. There are two such self-service machines in the store, and some menus are posted at the door for you to learn in advance. More than % of the people who come to Matsuya are locals, mostly salarymen.
After a tiring day at work, I stopped by to have a meal. My face was expressionless and it took me no more than a second to order. This is a two-story store, but there are only two waiters in the entire store! Yunluo and An Chuyu assumed that there was no one on the second floor, but the customer flow on the first floor was not small. One of the two waiters was responsible for preparing meals, and the other was responsible for all other matters.
Yunluo and An Chuyu come to see what the waiter who is responsible for all other matters has to do. First, after the meal is ordered, he will come to collect half of the receipt, and then hand over a pot of ice water. If the meal ordered includes salad, hot spring egg, raw eggs, etc., it is also within his job scope and is placed in the cabinet in the picture. He will hand it over first.
Then if someone has finished eating, he needs to clean up immediately and take the dishes to the back kitchen, where the dishwasher will wash the dishes. If there are no dishes to be served at this time, he will come out to see if he needs to prepare a few more salads. Of course, serving the dishes to the guests is also his job. Therefore, the entire layout is designed in a U shape.
Yunluo thinks it is perfect for the waiter to finish his work quickly. What did the family members order? I don't know. I ordered according to the picture. Yunluo ordered the beef yakiniku set meal, the main dish with rice, miso soup and salad. After leaving Osaka, the diet has become lighter, which is very appetizing. And through Yunluo's meal, I would like to share a healthy eating habit that the Japanese highly respect.
Eat vegetable salad before the main meal. If there is white radish grated, eat it before the main meal. The benefit of doing so is said to be that it can slow down the rate at which blood sugar rises. In Japan, Yunluo can voluntarily eat such a big bowl of rice for every meal. The biggest feature of Japanese rice is that it tastes good hot and cold. Yunluo thinks it should be the credit of rice.
The rice cooker is really just an auxiliary function. I have seen their rice cookers, and they are all ordinary Tiger or Zojirushi models, but all the stores only use domestic rice. I can't take this thing away, so I can only eat more. So the waiter in the back who is responsible for preparing the meal is also very hard-working, so many dishes have to be handled by him alone. This meal is really shocking far more than the taste.
Yunluo and An Chuyu still have a long way to go. On the way back, they saw the restaurant they had lunch at on the bus again. The taste was better than Songwu. Yunluo and An Chuyu said they would go there again, but they never had the chance again. They finally returned to their residence relatively early that day. Yunluo and An Chuyu were arranged on the second floor, and their luggage had been laid out.
I am very relieved. I pray for good weather tomorrow. Listen to a song of ancient city Kyoto. Sunny. Yesterday, I visited Kyoto in the rain. To be honest, I felt so-so. Until yesterday, Yunluo still did not feel that Japan is a country worth visiting again and again as others said. Yunluo said in the circle of friends that Europe is suppressing Japan in every way. Maybe it is because Switzerland is too amazing.
After seeing God's back garden, what else can be surpassed? So what about this day? Will it be different... In the morning, I walked around the B&B. It has two floors. There are about 100 rooms, one of which is a female dormitory. All the people living there are from Taiwan. The three people living next to Yunluo and An Chuyu are also from Taiwan.
So I think this restaurant is well-known and recognized in Taiwan. The remaining rooms are occupied by Japanese. It was a little unexpected. Yunluo thought it was for foreign tourists. There is a kitchen on the first floor, but no one uses it. There are so many food on the street. Who wants to cook by themselves? There is also a small garden where you can think about life.
If two days are arranged for Kyoto, Yunluo estimates that more than 70% to 80% of people will choose Kiyomizu Temple, Kinkakuji Temple, Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari. Especially in the super peak season, Kinkakuji Temple is retained. I feel quite disappointed, but I dare not join in the fun again. So today Yunluo and An Chuyu continue to move east and north. The weather is still gloomy.
The clean streets slightly reveal the ancient style. Yunluo always said that you should never be afraid of traveling during the peak season. The reason why the peak season is the peak season is because of the atmosphere created by the unique natural environment. It doesn't matter if there are many people. Yunluo and An Chuyu can avoid the crowds and find another way through the strategy. For example, in the plan, the first stop today is the Yamashina Canal.
A very unknown cherry blossom viewing spot, part of the Lake Biwa Canal. Yunluo did a lot of research and even climbed over the wall to finalize this. Yunluo admired himself for being able to climb over the wall to make a guide. But unfortunately, I didn't go there in the end, because Yamashina is actually in a relatively remote place in Kyoto, and the Tozai Line is almost out of Kyoto.
There is nothing else to do except viewing cherry blossoms. After checking the situation in Kyoto yesterday, it was not optimistic. In addition, it rained almost all day, so the cherry blossoms probably couldn't hang on. Alas, given the nature of Yunluo's job, it seems that I can only go north to see cherry blossoms next time. I will not be able to see the cherry blossoms in Kansai. So, the first stop today became Keage.
The East-West Line goes directly to Kyoto. Kyoto is not a big city, and the public transportation is extremely developed, but the subway only has two lines, the north-south and the east-west. It is a bit like Prague in the Czech Republic, but Prague is well-developed in trams, and has special tram lines, so you can know exactly which bus will arrive at which time, which is really convenient, and the subway in Prague is very deep.
Taking the subway feels like going down a mine, the ride is terrible. But Kyoto also has traffic jams, why not develop underground transportation? And the music in the Kyoto subway is super nice, very Japanese style, but there are very few people riding, so strange. Buying tickets is a matter of analogy. I have only been in Japan for a few days, but I have already caught up with the life of self-service machines.
Yunluo can also issue tickets in seconds, haha! Then I felt that it was right. Why do we need to pay for labor? Just fire it, fire it all. When I was riding the subway, I saw an old lady wearing a kimono. The color was very simple. But I could tell at a glance that the workmanship was exquisite. Do the kimono rental shops around Kiyomizu Temple dare to use solid-color kimonos? No, because when your clothes themselves cannot attract attention with patterns.
The focus naturally falls on the texture. Japanese people generally dress simply, and men basically wear dark suits and toothpick striped suits. Shoes are their focus, and they will wear some slightly hippie and designer leather shoes. Women's trench coats are the main style this season. In addition to trench coats with a slightly OL style, there are also casual styles.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
They prefer knee-length skirts, and toothpick stripes are also a favorite of women. Although they are simple, you can see the strength of the clothes at a glance. In fact, they also wore school uniforms when they were in school, which were rustic. When they went to college, they also wore Harajuku and Shibuya style, wearing all kinds of red, green, and flowery street stalls. But once they start working, they are completely reborn.
It feels like the maturity of consumption at this point is far ahead of Yunluo and An Chuyu. Moreover, as long as women take off their school uniforms, they will wear light makeup when they go out, even in their seventies and eighties. Yunluo, a female man who never wears makeup, really needs to reflect on this. I have talked too much about this and that, and it seems that this day will be even more distant... Let's get back to the topic!
As soon as I exited the subway station, I saw the iconic red archway of my destination. As I climbed the stairs, I saw an abandoned railway that was only about 300 meters long. The cherry blossoms were completely gone, so there were no tourists. The sun seemed to be starting to rise. Walking north along the railway, I could see part of the Lake Biwa Canal. At the end of the road was the Lake Biwa Canal Memorial Hall.
From the memorial hall, I learned that the Lake Biwa Canal is a canal that diverts water from Lake Biwa to the Kamogawa River in Kyoto, passing through Yamashina and Keage. All the way to Shirakawa and Takase River, it runs almost through the entire Kyoto and was completed in 1644. Leaving the Lake Biwa Canal Memorial Hall, I turned a corner and walked onto the approach to Nanzenji Temple. The sun was shining and the weather was clear. The main gate. The huge trail.
In front of us is a wooden three-door gate. The cherry blossoms in Nanzenji Temple are not famous, so there are obviously few visitors. Passing through the wide porch, the green trees planted throughout the temple shade this famous Kyoto temple that was founded in the late Kamakura period. The whole temple is like an exquisite and beautiful Japanese garden. Compared with the crowded Kiyomizu Temple, this place is closer to the Japanese Zen temple in Yunluo's mind.
Although I know very little about religion, I still feel that I am not familiar with it. I feel that this is the Kyoto I imagined, full of ancient charm, which coincides with the peaceful and indifferent temperament of Kyoto. After passing Sanmen, you will reach the Waterway Gate, which was built in the Meiji era of Japan and is made of red bricks. Its function is to send water from Lake Biwa to Kyoto. Leaving Nanzenji Temple and continuing forward, you can reach Eikan-do.
There is also a kindergarten… This is a kindergarten… It’s a kindergarten… Reincarnation is a skill. Eikan-do is a famous place for viewing maple leaves in Kyoto. Due to seasonal restrictions, Yunluo and Anchuyu only walked around the entrance. There is a beautiful cherry tree. Continue along this road and you will see the Sunrise Udon, which is very popular among the people of Taiwan.
Yunluo and An Chuyu didn't want to eat udon, which was so insignificant that it almost slid into the stomach, so they decided to go directly to the Philosopher's Path. It felt like a Japanese cartoon. A small Japanese-style corner. Like a wealthy family. When Yunluo was taking pictures, the owner suddenly came out and saw that he might have accidentally entered the painting.
I kept saying sorry to Yunluo carefully, and then walked away quietly... This is really different among people of different ethnic groups. European hosts usually say hi, and then ask if Yunluo's house is beautiful. It's very beautiful, right? Hahahaha. If it were a Chinese, they might just forbid taking pictures, haha. I walked to the top of the slope and looked back at the way I came.
Philosopher's Path is a kilometer-long walking path between Kumano Wakaoji Shrine and Ginkakuji Temple. It was named after the philosophy professor Kitaro Nishida who often came here to meditate. If you come here when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom or the snow is blowing, the scenery will be more beautiful, but of course it will be crowded. Yunluo and An Chuyu came here at the end of the cherry blossom season.
The first half shows the early summer scene, with green plants everywhere. The second half shows cherry blossoms, but few tourists, which is nice. The Biwako Canal is also next to the walking path. A group of European and American tourists are riding bicycles. The cherry blossoms have all turned into slag, or in a more artistic way, they have turned into spring mud to protect the flowers. Occasionally, petals float into the umbrella.
The rain in Kyoto yesterday ruined Yunluo's Onitsuka shoes. I changed the color to an old one. Wearing these shoes in Japan really makes me feel like I'm back home. They are a Japanese national brand, light and easy to walk in. Sports shoes are not only NB. The Japanese love long-handled umbrellas. Hooking them on your hands or hanging them on your bag is more convenient than I thought. After returning, I decided to buy a WPC long-handled umbrella.
The legendary beauty in the umbrella world, what else does she need a folding umbrella? Passing by a small shrine. The Philosopher's Path is surrounded by residential areas, and I accidentally walked into it. The late cherry blossoms on both sides of the road are still blooming, and I think they can last for another three to five days. The following are some random photos. When I was about to reach Ginkakuji, the weather began to change, and I had a feeling it was going to rain. (~^~)