We began our day with yet another great breakfast - thanks again Yashi! - before heading out for a full day of temple appreciation. First stop was the Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple complex within walking distance of our hostel. It is famous for being constructed without the use of a single nail - the whole thing is made of interlocking pieces of wood. As with the Golden Pavilion yesterday, I will let the pictures do the talking.
We didn't read up on the temple extensively before we went, and little English-language information was provided. As such, we missed out on the ritual of drinking the water of the stream within the complex, which supposedly confers good health, wisdom and long life upon those who consume it. Our loss, I suppose.
From there we went to the Sanjusangen-do, another nearby temple. This one is famous for having 1001 statues of Kannon, a Buddhist figure whose exact role and nature I still don't fully grasp even after having been through the entire hall. It was impressive enough, I suppose, but not the greatest holy site we visited (despite being the most expensive). Pictures cannot tell the story on this one, as photography was forbidden, but (and this is my personal opinion - Daniel had a really good time there) you're not missing out on too much. You want to see a really big statue? Wait until the Feb 12 update.
We spent the early evening walking around Gion, retracing our steps from the previous night so Daniel could take photos.
Back at the hostel, we had dinner with Yashi. He made octopus balls (that's balls made with octopus, not what some people have thought upon hearing that term) which were delicious. We ate with Yashi, an Israeli guy named Avi who we would spend some time with in the next little while, and an Australian ex-pat from Abu Dhabi. He moved there after his previous boss, the Hon. Peter McGauran of the National Party, lost his job as minister for agriculture. I didn't like the look of him from the start. Upon finding out that little tidbit, I considered my initial opinion completely vindicated.
Anyway, we went out and had a couple of drinks. One of the bars had a SNES, which meant Street Figher II, which meant nothing good as far as I was concerned. We whittled away the rest of the evening in some British pub knock off, basically because it was the only place we knew how to find. On the way home we ran into Avi and planned out the next day, which involved a trip to nearby Nara. But that's another story for another time, i.e. tomorrow.
I will wrap up this series of retrospective updates when I can. But for now, I sleep.
All you do is trawl bars with random men.
ReplyDeleteGEY.