A week in Kyoto

The temples Kyomizudera and Kinkakuji (the latter being the silver pavilion, and though less famous than the golden pavilion, I would recommend it if you only have time for one.) For local food, you should try takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (a type of savoury pancake), the local sweets that are pretty much just hardened sugar and the bug market in the city centre. Daytrips to Inari and Nara are very much worthwhile.

Quick Tips:

If the weather is good, an ideal way to spend the afternoon is to take a walk from the outskirts right into the centre. You can amble along the river, where sunlight sparkles off the glistening water and large stone turtles sit on the riverbed, acting as stepping stones. Maybe it's just me but I found it really uplifting.

Best Way To Get Around:

You can walk around quite a lot of the centre, but you'll find a great way to get from temple to temple is by bike. There are a few places to rent them, relatively cheap, and some hostels even offer them for a small charge to their guests.

For someone who wants to discover and learn about Japanese food, this renowned market is absolutely wonderful both in terms of the variety and the quality of the goods on sale. If you're up for new experiences, go crazy and try all the dried little fish (a lot of the time you can sample them for free), the pickles made of everything from cabbage to daikon, the rice cakes, rice crackers, etc.

Typical regional delicacies are the takoyaki and okonomiyaki, both of which I love and would suggest anyone try them. I have yet to meet the person who didn't enjoy okonomiyaki, and though people are sometimes (understandably) a little apprehensive about octopus tentacles sticking out of dubious-looking fried balls covered in powdered seaweed, I assure you, I would kill for some takoyaki right now. (Metaphorically speaking, of course).

There are lots of little restaurants and cafes around the shopping area, which itself is a cluster of streets sprawling outwards from the centre, and there you will find local and foreign cuisine, as well as the little cafes where I found pumpkin cake amongst other things. Another favourite.

Along the actual market street, you will see a couple of little booths or stands where they serve the takoyaki or octopus balls that I've been praising, and you should probably take the time to try some on your way. A word of warning -- you can't really eat standing up on the street, so they'll make you sit down on a bench available where you buy the stuff. Often they also sell a dessert which is fried dough filled with sweet red bean paste. Sounds like a doughnut but it's not as greasy.

As with most things in Japan, some of the delicacies can be quite pricey but you won't find yourself spending a fortune, or if you do, it'll be worth it. It's food, after all.

Having seen quite a few temples and shrines in my time in Japan, I wasn't expecting Kiyomizu-dera to be particularly thrilling. Temples are often nice to look at but after you've seen a couple some might say you've seen them all, and though people kept talking about this one, they also talked about Ginkaku-ji and Kinkaku-ji, and all of these are the kind of places you would find crawling with tourists. This temple experience though, turned out to be a strangely magical one.

The reason is probably that we ended up going quite late, and were probably the last people let in before the temple area was closed for the night. It being December, it was already very dark, creating a wonderfully mystical atmosphere with the contrast of the illuminated pathways and the blackness of the surrounding hills, where rows of twinkling lights were visible all the way far into the distance.

There are many places from which you can get a beautiful view of either the hills or the actual city below. If you go up to the top at night time, the various buildings of the temple are partially lit, making them stand out of the darkness like magical giants, framed by scrawny leafless trees whose bony fingers reach out in every direction.

The digital camera that I'd bought a few weeks earlier in Tokyo has a night setting that gives everything a glowing, warmer appearance, and I got quite excited snapping away at everything, espcially the lights in the hills and ghoulish winter trees. I don't have them saved here unfortunately, so I can't upload them onto here at the moment, but will attmempt to do so later if I get the chance.

Either way Kiyomizy-dera is something quite spectacular and quite apart from other temples around due to its setting, whether you choose to go during the day or at night. However, if you are interested in something in an even more exotic setting, check out my journal on the Fushimi-Inari Taisha (a short train journey from both Kyoto and Nara, about half-way between the two). (There is an admission fee of -- I think -- about 600 yen to Kiyomizu-dera.)

Fushimi Inari Taisha is probably the best temple experience I had in my whole time in Japan, mainly because the weather was beautiful that day, and I thought the delicate carvings of the foxes, some sly-looking, some evil, big and small and cute and ugly, were just amazing. It gives the whole place such a fantastic energy you walk around feeling like you're being watched from every angle by the cold, beady little fox-eyes. It's beyond compare. The way to get there is to take to train from either Kyoto or Nara, it'll take about half an hour, and can be a little stop between the two during a daytrip , though you'll probably want to spend at least a couple of hours there. First there is the temple and all the tourist stuff around it, which is worth a look, but what really intrigued me were the pathways in the hills. Along them you'll find one or two small open tea-houses, where they'll serve you green tea and sweets, (stop if you have the time) and the further up you go, the more foxes you will see. There are a few at the bottom right by the temple, and there you might even catch monks all in white gathering outside as we did, but the best is right at the top, if you just keep walking up the mountain. It is like a graveyard, but instead of gravestones there are foxes. Every shape and size imaginable, carved of stone, and most have a red cloth tied around their neck. They are deeply symbolic in the buddhist faith, and there are many stories as to why they are gathered there. People you meet will be much better able to explain their meaning than I can, so take the time to ask and find out. If you get tired you can just turn back and walk down the hill, back through the sets of red gates and to the bottom where the temple buildings are, instead of walking all the way round which might take some time, depending on how speedy you are. Every gate is placed there by an individual as a donation to the buddhist faith. If you look closely, you will notice they are all unique; slightly different in colour and shape and with varying foundations, some of stone and some wood. When heading back from the temple towards the station, there is a street abounding in shops and little stall, where you can purchase any number of delicacies. Amongst the snacks are fried sparrow and other small birds, roasted fish and spine of some kind of small animal. My favourite though, is inari-zushi, and although it is available in every supermarket along with the other sushi, this is the best you'll get it. Don't be fooled, it doens't contain any fish, raw or otherwise, but rice with a few black sesame seeds inside, and a sweet cover of fried tofu. Don't miss out.