Asian Sabbatical - Day #10 - Kyoto, Japan

Saturday, July 9th

Bamboo Forest

The gang at the Bamboo Forest

Spectacular views

Walking through a different world

Bro & Sis

Golden Pavillion

Spectacular site!

Reminds me of the golden dome on Notre Dame campus

One last shot

Rock formation of Ryoanji Temple

Ryoanji Temple

Final day in Kyoto.  Today we saw some really unique areas and sites.

Kinkakuji Golden Pavillion
This location is one of the most visited tourist areas in all of Kyoto.  After my visit today - I definitely can see why.  The Golden Pavillion is a Zen Buddhist Temple.  It's a spectacular visual - as the temple is located across the water with a golden upper 2 layers.  Spectacular stuff!   The area is also surrounded by a great walking path, highlighted with a waterfall, statues, ponds, etc. 

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
Wow - this was one of a kind location.  We took a couple mile walk through some of the neatest terrain one could visualize.  See picks above.  A bamboo forest!  We walked up and down hills with this bamboo extending high into the sky above. 

Ryoanji Temple
We ended the day with a walk through the Ryoanji Temple.  A refined type of Japanese Zen temple garden featuring a distinctive large rock formation arranged amidst a sweep of smooth pebbles raked into linear patterns that facilitate meditation.  There were 15 large stones.  The number 15 is said to have a symbolism meaning perfection.  It's said that you can only see 14/15 stones at any location while visiting the Temple - as no one is perfect.  (Note - we, however, were able to see the 15 stones today -- what does that mean?)

We had a bunch of travel to get to our spot where I'm writing the blog today.  I'm currently at the Kansai International Airport - at the Hotel Nikko.  We took a metro and train combination for 1hr, 30 minutes to get to Osaka, Japan - the location of the airport.  Tomorrow, we leave Japan.  Randy/Wendy are headed to Beijing, China - while I'm headed to Seoul, South Korea.  Prior to this trip, I had only been to a couple countries in Asia (Israel, Turkey, Russia, and Beijing, China).  I will spend a couple days in Seoul while Randy/Wendy see some of the sites I have already visited - we will meet up on Tuesday to start our travel together once again.  A trip to the Great Wall will soon follow.

Good night from Japan!