Wednesday 29 June 2016

Kyoto wa jitensha de shimashita Soshite totemo ame deshita!!!

Wednesday 29 June 2016

The sun was out and it was steamy when I went for an early morning run around the Kyoto Imperial Palace so, after breakfast, we decided that hiring some bikes would be a good way to check out a number of the sights of Kyoto today.

A bicycle hire shop was just across the main road from our apartment and the shopkeeper spoke good English, so was able help us map out a route through northwest Kyoto and fit us out with 3-speed bikes. 

Before long we were trundling along the shared footpaths of central Kyoto, dodging pedestrians like a local. (Cycling  is very common in Kyoto and you need to have your wits about you as you walk the streets as most footpaths are shared)


We were heading for Kinkaku-ji to see the Golden Pavillion. As we rode along there was a little light rain, which was a refreshing relief from the humidity. 

We stopped off at the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine to pay our respects to the god of education and pray for that our kids go well at school. OK, our kids are pretty bright, but hey every bit helps, right!


It rained while we wandered around Kitano Tenmangu,  but this eased off but the time we got back to the bikes, so we saddled up for Kinkaku-ji. 

By the time we got off the bikes at Kinkaku-nji it was raining quite heavily. So we grabbed our umbrellas and joined the crowd lining up to see the Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku). 


The Golden Pavillion sits beside a picturesque lake and is a a Buddist hall, containing the relics of a Buddha, and is part of the temple formally known as Rokuon-ji, but more commonly Kinkaku-ji. Even in the pouring rain the Golden Temple was a magnificent sight; no wonder it is said to represent the Pure Land of Buddha in this world. We took many photos, balancing our cameras under our umbrellas as we shuffled along with the crowd. 





After exiting Kinakaku-ji, we got some slices of Kyoto-style pizza, f
rom a food van next to a small shelter, and had some lunch and a break from the rain. 

Still raining heavily we purchased some rain ponchos (at tourist price!!) from a souvenir shop at the gates of Kinakaku-ji then set off again on the bikes for Arashiyama see the Bamboo Grove and the famous temples in that area of Kyoto.

Sadly our 500 yen ponchos offered little resistance to the pelting rain, that show no signs of easing, and after riding for about 10 minutes and now soaked to the skin we decided to abort and head for home.....


It rained heavily for the rest of the afternoon. (I had wondered why there was so many umbrellas in Kyoto and now I understood!) With our paper bike route map now a soggy mess we made a few missed turns trying to navigate our way home - thank goodness for mobile wifi from our apartment and Google maps. Drenched and bedraggled we dropped off the rental bikes, then returned to the apartment to spread out all our soaking wet gear in the hope it would dry before we leave Kyoto. It had been an interesting adventure!

No comments:

Post a Comment