Because of “Overtime for no reason”, Shiera and I was given a payback day and spent it Sakura Hunting in Kyoto.

Last week the three of us, were busy deciding when and where to hunt for sakura. Saturday was not possible, since the three of us had prior engagement already. Sunday was forcasted as rainy, plus being Kyoto and a weekend, the place would be so crowded. So we decided to do it on a Monday and it was a good decision. The weather was perfect, and not so crowded.

As to where we are going, Philosopher’s Path or Tetsugaku no michi [哲学の道] was the first in the iterinary. The sakura is not yet on its mankai [満開] mode but it was already enchanting.

Philosopher’s path is along the Ginkakuji area. From Hankyu Kawaramachi Station, take bus 203 bound for Ginkakuji. Get off at Ginkakuji and from there walk to the Tetsugaku no michi. The path finishes at Nanneji but we decided not to finish it, and instead go back and visit Ginkakuji .

Ginakuji or the Silver Temple, does not have a single speck of silver on it :D. But its main attraction would be its wide garden. I like it better than Kinkaju or the Golden Temple.

Then we decided to head back to Heian before proceeding to Yasaka or Kyomizudera. When we reached Heian, we were shocked by the number of tour groups arriving at the place. We were hoping the see the sakura and the garden inside but decided against it. It’s too crowded. There was a very old Sakura tree infront of the temple, and its was already in mankai mode. It was very pretty .

Since we were hungry, we postponed the Yasaka and Kyomizudera and headed back to Kawaramachi for our late lunch. After lunch, we decided our to do our favorite part and head out to the farthest destination based on the map. To the north , that would be the Kamigamo Shrine. From Shijo-Kawaramachi, take Bus 46 bound for Kamigamo Shrine. We don’t know what to expect, and seeing the passengers of the bus which were basically compose of old people and no tourist, except maybe us, we might have been heading to an unknown territory :D. But suprisingly, its an amazing area. Only the white sakura is in bloom, so we are going back again next week
for another round of sakura hunting. And according to wikipedia, its among one of the oldest temple built around 6th Century and 7th Century. So we are definitely heading back there.

And the trip would not be completed without us lost. Next destination was Arashiyama. First blooper: met an old woman at the bus station who we taught was crazy. The 3 of us where scared when she started repeating “nanimo shiranai” and laugh like a witch. Kagz and I retreated a little way back, but Shiera was brave enough to engage the woman in a conversation. Found out that she is a catholic, and have done a pilgrimage to Israel and was planning to do some voluntary work in the Philippines. No, she was not crazy at all. She was just being friendly
Second Blooper: rode the wrong bus. It was starting to get cold. The bus was late. When bus 59 arrived, we rode on it, but it was heading the wrong way, the opposite way in fact back kawaramachi… NO .. NO.. so we get off at the next station and went to the opposite side of the street to catch the bus bound for the right direction. Wait for another five minutes in the cold street, then bus finally arrived.
From Kamigamo Shrine, take bus 46 and get off at Senbo-Kitaoji, cross the street and take the bus 59 bound for yamagoe.
Third blooper: We arrived at the middle of nowhere. When we reached yamagoe, we assume that we can find the next bus stop where we are supposed to take bus 11 bound for arashiyama.
Unfortunately, there was nothing there. It was a like a scene in a horor movie, where 3 girls are walking in a unpopulated area. The only person I noticed was an old on the opposite side of the street.. where the heck is the bus station ? . I was praying that my map orientation would be working correctly this time, and it was. We finally saw a bus emerging from a terminal , yeah the terminal was just a few feet away , but it was already dusk and we can’t see clearly and of course its all in Kanji :D, so we saw the bus but it was heading back to JR Kyoto station, wrong one. Finally bus 11 emerge, I think that the driver saw us already cause he waited for us and opened the door and when we said we are going to arashiyama, he just smiled and said “this is the bus”.. Success.
Arashiyama area is not included in the one-day bus ticket, you need to pay separately. Bus fare is 190yen.

It was already dark when we arrived in Arashiyama, and getting colder by the minute and our feet were killing us. We found the sakura in Mankai mode lighted and just took some picture as best as we can. Then finally headed back to Osaka.

Till the next adventure

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Outdoor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.