Last day in Kyoto, and on to Koya-san
Greetings from Koya-san. Incredibly, I can pirate free wireless internet even in within a Buddhist temple in a remote Japanese town. Sweet! Anyway, I guess that means I can give a quick update for the day. I started out early with another Japanese breakfast, then checked out of nmy ryokan. Once again, I sent my luggage ahead of me, this time on to Tokyo where I go tomorrow. I still can't get over how cheap it is to send luggage overnight across the country (just $14 a bag). With just a day pack containing a bare essentials for my overnight trip to Koya-san, I set out to see my last main Kyoto sight: Ginkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. It's actually covered in gold, and no kidding, when I got there it was finally sunny and the building actually gleamed. It's set on a pond surrounded by beautiful gardens, and the whole effect was pretty impressive. Since time was short, I navigated the bus system back from this relatively remote site to thew Kyoto Handicraft Center, where I hoped to find something good either for myself or for my friends. After an hour perusing the five floors (it was really big), I decided that overall, the Kyoto Craft Center had better stuff at better prices, but this place had more variety, and in the end, I found some nice woodblock prints of Kyoto inspired settings, and bought four of them for myself (at roughly $19 a piece). I really wanted a samurai long sword, but I wasn't willing to drop the $300 to $1000 needed for a quality item. And I would have had to buy shipping. I didn't find anything great for little gifts, so I guess I will have to find something in Tokyo.
After that, I headed back to Kyoto train station, and began navigating my way to Koya-san. This involved a trip on the JR rail line to Osaka, the Osaka subway to the Namba stop, then walking though a gigantic underground mall to the Nankai Namba terminal, buying my rail pass, then getting on the Nankai train to Gokurakubashi station, switching to a short funicular to Koya-san station, and finally taking a Koya-san bus to the temple I was staying at, Shojoshin-in. Seeing how I started the day using the Kyoto city bus and subway lines, I think I managed to max out my day's allotment of different systems of public transport for the day! The ride to Koya-san was awesome. The views were spectacular as the train wound its way deeper and deeping into the mountains, and the funicular was fun. (I hadn't been on one since I was in Switzerland.) The bus ride to my temple was nothing special, and illustrated that even though Koya-san is famous for its temples, a regular modern town has formed around the temples. The Shojoshin-in temple, though, is just perfect. It is exactly how I imagined it to be. The interior is wonderful, with quiet, shadowed hallways and smooth wood floors. My room is great, with little balcony looking right out onto the Japanese garden. I kind of wish I were staying here for more than just one day, except that I suppose there isn't a lot to do in Koya-san (aside from mediate and such).
Dinner was again a little challenging (this time served in a common room), but there was certainly more than enough that I liked for me to have my fill. After dinner, I put on my Yukata and used the public bath. Since the bath is only open in the evening, this was my only chance to clean myself up, as the bedrooms do not have showers or baths in them. I think I avoided any major screwups, but halfway through my cleaning routine (which is mainly done sitting on a little stool with a handheld shower spray in one hand and soap in the other) a Japanese guy came into the position next to mine (there were only two, and the space was small), and when I was finished, I rinsed myself off an settled into the hot bath, which was great, except for two things. First, I realized I had forgotten my towel in my room (shit!) and the Japanese guy was cleaning himself much more rigorously than I did, leading me to conclude that I had perhaps not scrubbed sufficiently before getting into the bath. Anyway, I didn't let those detials get me down; I got out of the soak after five very relaxing minutes, and then dried myself off with the t-shirt I wore under my Yukata.
Finally, I dried myself off properly in my room, rerobed in my Yukata, and took a nighttime walk though the Okunoin cemetary (the main attraction of Koya-san). It was really atmospheric, with the dim light of little lanterns lining the major path, only marred by the intrusion of a number of more modern overhanging fluorescent lights. I strolled around for about fourty minutes, just soaking in the place before heading back to my temple. Anyway, its time to get some sleep, as I have an early start ahead of me with temple services starting at 6 am.
After that, I headed back to Kyoto train station, and began navigating my way to Koya-san. This involved a trip on the JR rail line to Osaka, the Osaka subway to the Namba stop, then walking though a gigantic underground mall to the Nankai Namba terminal, buying my rail pass, then getting on the Nankai train to Gokurakubashi station, switching to a short funicular to Koya-san station, and finally taking a Koya-san bus to the temple I was staying at, Shojoshin-in. Seeing how I started the day using the Kyoto city bus and subway lines, I think I managed to max out my day's allotment of different systems of public transport for the day! The ride to Koya-san was awesome. The views were spectacular as the train wound its way deeper and deeping into the mountains, and the funicular was fun. (I hadn't been on one since I was in Switzerland.) The bus ride to my temple was nothing special, and illustrated that even though Koya-san is famous for its temples, a regular modern town has formed around the temples. The Shojoshin-in temple, though, is just perfect. It is exactly how I imagined it to be. The interior is wonderful, with quiet, shadowed hallways and smooth wood floors. My room is great, with little balcony looking right out onto the Japanese garden. I kind of wish I were staying here for more than just one day, except that I suppose there isn't a lot to do in Koya-san (aside from mediate and such).
Dinner was again a little challenging (this time served in a common room), but there was certainly more than enough that I liked for me to have my fill. After dinner, I put on my Yukata and used the public bath. Since the bath is only open in the evening, this was my only chance to clean myself up, as the bedrooms do not have showers or baths in them. I think I avoided any major screwups, but halfway through my cleaning routine (which is mainly done sitting on a little stool with a handheld shower spray in one hand and soap in the other) a Japanese guy came into the position next to mine (there were only two, and the space was small), and when I was finished, I rinsed myself off an settled into the hot bath, which was great, except for two things. First, I realized I had forgotten my towel in my room (shit!) and the Japanese guy was cleaning himself much more rigorously than I did, leading me to conclude that I had perhaps not scrubbed sufficiently before getting into the bath. Anyway, I didn't let those detials get me down; I got out of the soak after five very relaxing minutes, and then dried myself off with the t-shirt I wore under my Yukata.
Finally, I dried myself off properly in my room, rerobed in my Yukata, and took a nighttime walk though the Okunoin cemetary (the main attraction of Koya-san). It was really atmospheric, with the dim light of little lanterns lining the major path, only marred by the intrusion of a number of more modern overhanging fluorescent lights. I strolled around for about fourty minutes, just soaking in the place before heading back to my temple. Anyway, its time to get some sleep, as I have an early start ahead of me with temple services starting at 6 am.
posted by Conor at 7:12 AM
1 Comments:
did you get any pictures of the gleaming golden roof?
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