~KYOTO~
On New Years Eve we had a very nice walk around the area where I live, which most of these photos are from. We walked towards the mountains, where there are a lot of quiet houses and temples, and found this strangely eerie area of houses, at the end of a long, steep path. Very nice, just very quiet.
We then found ourselves at Ninna-ji temple compound, well-known for its pagoda and double-petalled cherry blossoms, which people flock to see in the spring.
That night, we headed out in a group to have a meal (not the best meal I've had - we ended up at a meat only restaurant, so all I could eat was a bowl of rice and some leaves. Mm, tasty.) Then, we headed up to a local temple, where we were served some kind of sweet, oatmealy sake concoction, and joined a queue to make an offering and draw a 'prayer card'. We then joined another queue, where we went up to ring a large bell, and make a wish for the coming year. It was all very serene and peaceful, there wasn't even any kind of signal that the New Year had happened already, except when the monk turned on a microphone to say a New Year prayer. It was a very nice experience. We then went downtown, and spent the rest of the night at a bar/club.
The following four days were spent around Kyoto and Osaka some more, before Dave's flight left on the morning of the 5th. Hopefully he can come back out in a few months time :)
On New Years Eve we had a very nice walk around the area where I live, which most of these photos are from. We walked towards the mountains, where there are a lot of quiet houses and temples, and found this strangely eerie area of houses, at the end of a long, steep path. Very nice, just very quiet.
We then found ourselves at Ninna-ji temple compound, well-known for its pagoda and double-petalled cherry blossoms, which people flock to see in the spring.
That night, we headed out in a group to have a meal (not the best meal I've had - we ended up at a meat only restaurant, so all I could eat was a bowl of rice and some leaves. Mm, tasty.) Then, we headed up to a local temple, where we were served some kind of sweet, oatmealy sake concoction, and joined a queue to make an offering and draw a 'prayer card'. We then joined another queue, where we went up to ring a large bell, and make a wish for the coming year. It was all very serene and peaceful, there wasn't even any kind of signal that the New Year had happened already, except when the monk turned on a microphone to say a New Year prayer. It was a very nice experience. We then went downtown, and spent the rest of the night at a bar/club.
The following four days were spent around Kyoto and Osaka some more, before Dave's flight left on the morning of the 5th. Hopefully he can come back out in a few months time :)
posted by Lisa @ 12:50 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home