Arashiyama, Kyoto

I woke up in the morning in my little capsule bed, and decided that I would go to Kyoto today and explore a temple and possibly a monkey zoo.  The train ride to Kyoto from Osaka is only about 45 minutes.  You can easily base yourself in either city and travel back and forth.

Arriving at Kyoto station, I navigated to find the correct train to take to get to Arashiyama station.  When finally reaching the station, it was located in what seemed to be a residential area.  I followed the crowd of other tourists passing the cute Japanese style homes to reach the main street where I found the Tenryu-Ji Temple.  The most popular feature of the temple is the beautiful zen garden complete with a pond loaded with koi fish.

Taken while walking towards the temple.

The Tenryu-Ji Temple

Its beautiful Zen Garden.

At the north gate of the temple towards the mountains, you can exit to find yourself at a bamboo grove.  I found myself walking through in awe and marveling at the size and natural flow of these trees.

Walking back down from the temple grounds and mountainside, I found myself inspired by the picture perfect images of the scenery easily a good representation of Japan in its magical and unique culture.

In my Lonely Planet it lists a monkey zoo in the area, which is not very advertised and not easily found.  I managed to find the place thanks to a small sign that had a picture of a dancing monkey on it.

This is the stairs and entryway leading into the monkey park. 

In order to see the monkey's you have to climb some stairs to the top of the hill where there is a feeding area.  Now this was an interesting concept, the humans are caged in, and the monkey's are free to roam!

The baby monkey is so cute!

Here are a few more pictures I snapped just viewing the cherry blossoms.

Leia Mais…

Osaka Castle/Cherry Blossom Season 2010

Everyday that I've been here, I walk around asking the same questions: "What in the hell are they doing/eating/wearing?".  Today I went to Osaka Castle expecting it to be a sightseeing adventure, but it turned out to be a people watching adventure.  The Osaka Castle park was filled with cherry blossom viewers.  Turns out I didn't even go inside the castle because the line to get in was a mile long and I was having more fun watching all the festivities on the Castle grounds.  I took so many photos, and for the first time, I will be posting a video in my blog because the one I have will make you laugh.

This is Osaka Castle as I viewed it from below.

 

Girls lined the sidewalks selling photos of their favorite pop stars I'm guessing.  You can buy a fan with a photo of your pop idol on it. 

These dogs were so ADORABLE!  I couldn't help myself and snapped about 2 dozen photos of them.  Mind you the communication block, I believe they were having a Chihuahua gathering.   There were about 25 of them all dressed up and some had their toes painted. (Lol.)  

Last one I promise....LOL!

This is one of those things that you have to laugh out loud at.  A guy was walking around with his dog in this cart.  He controlled the cart by remote control.  In the back of the dog, there were two live birds chilling on the pole.  

 

Of course I had to put some food pictures up, because as always there were food vendors selling all kinds of things to put in your belly.

 

Leia Mais…

Osaka Aquarium

Cammie left today.  We didn't do much at all except for browsing the mall where we bought Japanese makeup which definitely makes you look like a porcelain doll.  No wonder the Japanese girls look like they have perfect skin!

Bye Cammie!

Afterwards I rode the subway to take a visit to the Osaka Aquarium.  It is the third largest aquarium in the world.  Honestly I was impressed.  Up 13 floors, you walk downwards circling the largest salt water tank in the world.  Other exhibits included sea otters, and enormous crabs. 

I ended the night by taking a night ride on the enormous Osaka ferris wheel.  

Leia Mais…

Gion, Kyoto

Surprisingly, I slept really well at our new accommodation.  We are staying at a capsule hotel in Osaka.  Now this is an interesting concept.   I believe Japan is the only place you can find these type of hotels.  Basically all amenities are shared such as the bathrooms, showers, and common room.  The beds are located together in the capsule room.  Each bed looks like a pod and each has its own television.  There's only enough space in each pod to lay down or sit up.

Today we took the train to Kyoto, which is only a 30 minute ride from Osaka and no reservations are needed.  Its like riding the subway.   Cammie really wanted to rent bikes.  Honestly I wasn't too thrilled about riding around Kyoto with no helmet, not knowing where I'm going, and no practice.  The closest thing to riding I have done lately is spin class which doesn't count because the bikes are glued to the ground. But hey, I'm a good sport...

Turns out that the whole bikes idea was fantastic!  It was very easy to navigate our way to Gion district.  I give all the credit to Cammie and her iPhone.

The Gion district was loaded with people and we biked our way through the crowds eventually finding a place to park so that we can take a walk down a street named in Lonely Planet as the most beautiful street in Asia.  I can't argue with them on this one.  The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and it was so amazing.  Because this is the Geisha district, we ran into a few geisha being escorted down the street.  One of them was an actual geisha, and the other one was a tourist dressed up as one.  To be fully made up in Geisha costume costs about $150 dollars.

This one is the Geisha dressed up.  You know this because she has an escort that holds up a sign that says its a fake geisha. 

 

The Gion district was loaded with shops of all sorts selling everything from trinkets to sweets. 

The next stop was the Mesu Temple.  Sorta a hike up a hill, we parked below and walked through the madness of people and crowed shops up to the temple which overlooks Kyoto.  We stopped for an ice cream of course!

Tonight in Osaka Cammie and I splurged and had a fancy Japanese steak cooked to perfection!  Japanese steaks are flat, and very fatty.  They have so much flavor, it was mouth watering!

Leia Mais…