Our initial plan for the day is to cycle around Kyoto. But it is raining, as such, we have to change the plan to travel by bus instead. I looked through the initial plan and mentally made some changes to the route of visit in 15mins. We bought the 500Yen one day bus pass which allows us unlimited rides around Kyoto city bus.
The final plan for the day is as follows:
1) Kyoto Imperial Palace
2) Daitokuji (大徳寺)
3) Kinkakuji (金閣寺)
4) Ryoanji (竜安寺)
5) Ninnaji (仁和寺)
With the exception of Kinkakuji, I have not been to the rest of the destinations.
After meeting up with Chok and Kok Wee at Kyoto station, we proceeded on to our first stop, the Kyoto Imperial Palace. During a visit to the Tourist Information Centre yesterday, Kok Wee noticed that the palace is open to public from the 12th – 16th November from 9am – 3.30pm. We are lucky! Normally a visit to the imperial palace will require reservations in advanced.
1) Kyoto Imperial Palace
It is still raining when we got to the palace park; as such we have to hog our umbrella around. The palace staffs were playing football when we got there. Guess they got a bit bored waiting for visitors to come while they stand around.
The palace colours and design are somewhat similar to that of Heian shrine. Check out the corridor.
Here is the main gate leading to the main palace. There is already a large crowd of people in there with umbrellas.
The throne where emperors are being enthroned.
The visit to the palace is quite straight forward and it is only one direction. We were led from one building to another one, looking at the rooms and how royalties lived in them. There are beautiful gardens in there, like the one below.
Here I am standing at the entrance of the palace.
When we left the palace, the rain has stopped. I can begin taking photos of the autumn leaves in the imperial palace park.
The guys are hungry when we left the park. It is 11.30am so I brought them to Matsuya, a Yoshinoya type shop that sells fast serving Japanese meal.
2) Daitokuji (大徳寺)
There is a half hourly bus from the imperial palace to Daitokuji. This is actually a large temple village with sub-temples surrounding it. Entrance to the main compound is free but entrances to the sub-temples have to be paid. We skipped through all the paying sights but are still able to catch the best of autumn leaves in there.
There is a beautiful garden in one of the sub-temple.
The leaves covered with yellow, red and green colours.
Here is another one of the sub-temple. The entrance to it is simply amazing.
Looking at it from another perspective.
Walking through the stone path, it is littered with fallen leaves.
A gate leading into the inner sub-temple with autumn leaves draping over it.
3) Kinkakuji (金閣寺)
From Daitokuji is a short bus ride to Kinkakuji. Since a few of us have been here before, Chok and I decide to skip it and take a seat outside. I walked around the garden of Kinkakuji and begin snapping away photos.
The entrance to Kinkakuji.
4) Ryoanji (竜安寺)
After an hour rest at Kinkakuji, we took a bus to Ryoanji. Thankfully, the bus arrived just as we left the temple. This temple is famous for its stone garden but the entrance leading to the main temple hall is just great!
The path is just next to a quiet lake with the sun casting its light upon the multi-coloured leaves. I will combine the next four photos from different perspectives together and let you all have a quiet view of it.
The entrance to the temple is 500Yen and the ticket is only shown when we enter the main temple hall. It is notable for its stone garden.
On the way out, Kok Wee immediately tell me of a great scene in front and I begin snapping it with my camera. It shows sunlight piercing through the pine trees onto the ground below.
5) Ninnaji (仁和寺)
Just a 10 mins walk southwards from Ryoanji is Ninnaji. It is also another spacious temple compound. Here is the path leading to the main temple hall.
The sun is setting soon with its sunset rays casting upon the wooden roofs.
Beautiful yellow autumn leaves littered the ground.
The Ninnaji pagoda.
We left Ninnaji at 4.45pm and are ready to return to Kyoto station. Unfortunately we took wrong buses and ended up in Kyoto station only at 6.15pm. We had a quick dinner and after exploring the station a bit, we were back to Nagoya on the 7pm bus. The bus got to Nagoya JR bus station at 9.32pm. The second bus departing for Tokadai is at 9.40pm, so we decided to make a quick run for it. It is a 5mins dash through Nagoya station and up three floors to the Meitetsu Bus Centre. We made it in time!
It really feels good to be back to our rooms after a long adventure.
