Transport

Transport in Japan has moved on from the rickshaw, there are cars, buses, trains and planes now. I had forgotten about rickshaws though until I saw this one waiting for a customer. Yes, the rickshaw does still exhist, I saw a few of them in my travels in Japan. Though I think they are mainly for the tourist market to say we have had a ride in one. We walked, caught buses, taxi's, trains & ferries, but sadly no ride in a rickshaw. I must add here that all the rickshaw "pullers" were very trim! I wonder why?

Shopping

On the walk back down the hill, it was very much dusk, and the lights were on in all the shops. We passed this one, which I thought was just beautiful. Just fans! Yes, we can buy fans in Australia, but a shop that just sells fans and nothing but? I haven't seen one like this before. How stunning is this?

Kiyomizu Temple

At the top of the hill in Gion was the prize we were looking for, The Kiyomizu Temple. Originally founded in 798, a lot of the buildings weren't built until the 1600's. Unfortunatley, it was being restored when we were there, so most of it was covered with scaffolding and cloth. A little dissapointing, as we had travelled such a long way to see it. Not to worry, the walk back down the hill at dusk was more interesting than the walk up.

Sunset Over Kyoto

It was late in the afternoon when we walked up the narrow street in Gion, Kyoto, Japan. As we walked up the hill we turned & looked back to see this stunning view. If you click on the pic, you will see Kyoto, a great mix of the old and the new.

A Kyoto View

As we made our way up the hill of the little narrow street in Gion, Kyoto, Japan. this is one of the views we got as we looked back. A view over the more modern part of Kyoto, with high rise buildings. It's a little hazy, as it was very hot that day. Temperatures in the 30's! If you look closely, you will see mountains in the background, high rise contrasting with old, and touches of autumn in the leaves.

Gion Building

This is just one of the buildings in Gion, Kyoto, Japan, that took my eye. We were on a mission, and this cute little building was on the way. It was one of the very few single story buildings that I saw, if not the only single story building that I saw! I am not sure what the building was. We had passed lots of shops that were open, and this one didn't appear to be open. There was no-one out the front attracting customers either. There were signs on the building, but I couldn't read them. It may have been a tea house, or the entrance to some boutique hotel that sprawled down the hill behind. Who knows, I just found it interesting.

Gion

Gion is a district in Kyoto, Japan,  Apparently it developed way back in the Middle Ages in front a shrine. The age of the district is apparent with the narrow streets we experienced.

This photo was taken late in the afternoon and I was surprised to see so many people still out and about shopping. Though I found out later that the shops in Japan stay open until very late. At least  the ones that I experienced stayed open  until way  after 9.30 pm. There were many shops along this street, all kinds of strange food, some of it black which I was not game to taste. Things in packets that I could not read. There were fan shops, clothing stores, food stores, souvenir stores, and much more. A lot of them were aimed at the tourist market, which of course included us. Yes, I did buy something, but more on that later. This street was very interesting and there was a prize for climbing right to the end, but more on that later too.

Another Tree

Another tree I spotted on our walk back to the Nijo Caste Gates. I am not sure what this one is, but I found the weeping nature of it and the shape of the leaves very interesting. The other interesting part is the bamboo poles supporting it. I found bamboo used everywhere, but more on that later.

More Autumn Colour

On our way back to the Nijo Castle entrance, Kyoto, Japan, I spotted this Japanese maple tree just starting to change colour. In a few weeks time this tree would have been a beautiful red. It was very warm on this day, temperatures in the 30's, a little too warm for Autumn in my books. The tree, however, was beautiful.

Castle Grounds

This is a view of part of the Nijo Castle grounds. We had to climb steps up to the viewing platform for this one, not that high really, I have climbed much higher than this before. After travelling ten hours on a plane with little sleep, then from Narita Airport, Tokyo to Tokyo Central Station, battling the crowds of wall to wall people in a strange station in a strange city in a strange country, finding our way to the correct platform to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto, walking to our hotel from Kyoto Staion with luggage, then walking around the castle grounds before they closed for the day, I was knackered! I wasn't the only one either, others from our travel group were already waiting at the castle gates for us to move on to our next mini adventure. I must add, it was worth the climb up the steps to get this photo though. Hope you all enjoy.