Friday began with a very early morning trip to the Kyoto Wholesale Food Market. This is similar to the well-known Tokyo Tsukiji market, but on a slightly smaller scale. There were lots of fish and seafood of all kinds, enormous tuna, fish auctions on-going, and fork-lifts and people with hand carts zooming all around. I’m fairly certain that we were the ONLY tourists there, but it was definitely an interesting experience. We mostly tried to stay out of the way and not get run over. Ryan and Jason were given the universal sign for ‘No’ by one of the workers when they tried to take a few pictures.
After the fish market, it was all temples and palaces. Jason, Kelly, Ryan, and I headed to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion Temple, where we enjoyed the sites and spoke with groups of children practicing their English. They introduced themselves and asked us questions about where we lived, our favorite foods and sports. We then quizzed the kids about how to say things in Japanese. A win-win for all parties!
We stopped in a few small shops on the way back to the bus. One of them was selling Japanese fans with tags that said ‘Made in China’!
Next up on the day of temples was Daitoku-ji Temple, really a complex of temples, each with their own beautiful gardens. Ryan and I toured the Zuiho-in Temple, with calming raked rock Zen gardens. This was followed by the Koto-in Temple, known for its tea house, with a green garden and lots of mosquitos, where I confirmed that ‘natural’ bug repellent does not work. DEET it is from now on.
Continuing on the palace/temple trend, we caught a bus over to the Kyoto Imperial Palace and Gardens. Ryan and Jason, melting in the hot weather, headed back towards the hotel. Kelly and I missed the last tour of the palace, but still wandered around the gardens, a huge park with lots of trees and shrines.
On a side note, the Kyoto day bus card totally paid off for us. The bus system in Kyoto is very good, and relatively easy to navigate, a welcome change from some slightly confusing rail lines.
Looks like you’ve had an amazing adventure in Kyoto! I’m reminiscing about my trip there 4 years ago, and I remember well the feeling of temple overload. Have you been enjoying all the vending machine drinks?
We’ve really only had bottled water, lemony gatorade water, and Pocari Sweat from the vending machines. and green tea ice cream. and green tea juice boxes. Yeah, I guess you could say we’ve enjoyed the vending machines. Lots of walk-in trips to the nearby 7-Elevens, Family Marts, and Lawson’s to get ice cream and snacks.
Wow, Kyoto looks beautiful. I’ve only flown through the airport there. Also, I thought that maybe natural bug repellent works on other people, just not me. Guess I am wrong about that!