Japan Yokoso 2010! Part 2

From Osaka, we dragged our lugguage down to the ancient capital of Nara and cramped them into a locker and proceed on a day trip round with visits to the various World Heritage sites of the Kofukuji Shrine, the Todaiji and the Kasuga Taisha Shrine. The deers were a handful to deal with so we refrained from the urge to feed them.

By the late afternoon, we were simply too tired to carry on and had to abandon a visit to the Heijo Palace site and the ancient burial mounds so we went to visit the Naramachi Lattice House instead (in order not to bore her further with Temples and Shrines). The train ride up to Kyoto was uneventful and slow (having missed the earlier express) and lugging the lugguage uphill, we reached the hostel in the early evening and then having to move back downhill to the annex where we will be staying, we were pooped out but still we made our way towards the nearby Gion district for some quick bite.

When we dropped off the bus and was walking around, we were stopped by a well-dressed middle-aged man who (somehow knew we were tourists) enthusiastically invited us to come along with him, as well as other tourists along the way, to catch the final night of the Sakura lightup (which the hostel manager told us about earlier). Warily we followed, not wanting to appear rude and was pleasantly surprised when we reached the Shirakawa canal and the sight of sakura blossoms lit up along the banks greeted us. We were so entralled by the scenary that we forgot to thank the man!

The following morning was a somewhat hectic day running around the old city from the Old Imperial Palace site (where we wasted an hour waiting for the receptionists at the Imperial Household Agency to come back from lunch before finding out we cannot gain admission that day) to Nijo castle and then an evening stroll down the Path of Philosophy with rows of gorgeous trees in full blossom along the banks (after forgoing a visit to the Ginkakuji for the day). A quick stopover at the Kyoto train station sky garden to take in the night scenary of the city before the end of the day.

It was with some great excitment when we awoke, for we are going to dress up in traditional garb for the day! Though somehow we woke up abit later than anticipated, the (irritating) crowd at the boutique delayed our day's adventure which saw us strolling uphill to the famous Kiyomizu-dera, down the three-year (sannen-zaka) and two-year (ninen-zaka) slopes and then on to the Gingakuji (Silver Pavilion) and Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). By the time we finished, it was already late afternoon so we decided to go explore the Yasaka shrine, also known as Gion-sha (it is representative of the Gion District) and the Matsuri (Festival) there, watching the lighting up of the lantern offerings before we trudged back to the boutique. But not before stopping by the hostel for some private photo shoots of our elaborate costumes.

Having shed ourselves of the somewhat restrictive clothing, it felt good to be walking freely again and not confined by the clothing (and wooden sandles!) so we made a trip down to Gion again, hoping to try our luck at getting a glimpse of the Geikos and Maikos. A pleasant surprise awaited us as a Geiko and Maiko we had been observing from a teahouse came out upon invitation by the guests they had been entertaining! Before long, a large crowd had gathered and the duo could be heard in a semi-pleading voice for their mama-san, who was gamely smiling nearby! After we left the scene, we bumped into yet another Maiko! How lucky were we that night?