North district

 

After a super heavy sleep it’s time to continue our exploration in the gorgeous city that is Kyoto.
After a few days wandering around the city I can say that bicycle is the nicest way to explore it. This is one of the nicest things I have done in Kyoto. You dont need to look for buses or metro station. You dont have to wait. You can just go and explore whenever you want , wherever you feel like. If the weather is good this is a must do here.
Also bicyle is king in Kyoto. It’s feels strange but you can ride on the road AND on the pedestrian side too. It doesnt seems like you have to ride a certain direction either. You just have to adapt according to the situations. At first it felt strange for me to ride on the pedestrian side but here it’s seems okay. So you can go pretty fast. You can even skip traffic lights by changing from road to pedestrian. Conveniant.

So this morning i’m going to one of the most (if not) popular temple in Kyoto. The Kinkaku-ji or “Golden pavillion”. I thought It will be smart to go early on a monday to avoid the crowed. It tooked me 45 min of bike to reach the temple. To be honest on the map it looked closer ^^ but remenber Kyoto remains a big city.

This is Kinkaku-ji. What a gorgeous temple. I loved all that nature all around it. I understand why this is a popular site.

I arrived there at 9h30 and there were already a lot of people. It was almost suffocating to me. Especially because the path around the temple is narrow. Man what I shame I thought I was being smart on that one but apparently this temple is always crowded (especially during autumn season). When I left the temple around 10h15 there were 4 times more people !
My advice will be :  go there on week days at 9 am. You will be able to enjoy a pretty quiet scenic view of this magnificient temple.

You can also have some peace within the site. I went for Matcha and sweet break.

Little oasis of peace.

The sweet was made of a sweet bean paste with some miso inside. This gave a sweet / salty flavor to it.

It also had some sort of gold on it.

The waitress told me you have to eat one bite of the sweet then alternate with the matcha. The matcha being slightly bitter it gives nice contrasts with the saltiness and sweetness.

I enjoyed that little break but I couldn’t stay longer in that crowed. I have to say all theses temples are gorgeous but to be able to feel the Zen aspect behind them isn’t always easy. The most popular sites will see many waves of tourist buses. Some sort of organised trip. And also organised school trips. To me this can affect your experience in some temples. My advice will be : make sure you check the less popular ones as well , you will be reward by a true Zen experience. Taking pictures is nice for the eyes , feeling a place is nice of the heart. Make sure you enjoy the present moment. It’s easy to get carried away when you travel a lot in a short time. You want to see many in little time. In my opinion it’s better to do less and enjoy more but of course this is different for everyone. We dont all have the luxury of time with our busy lifes.

Let’s now ride to the famous Ryoanji temple nearby.
This one is known for his “rock garden”.

The garden view from the temple.

This was interesting to watch. This particular settup is supposed to bring peace and harmony within yourself. I believe this takes practice to truely be able to experience thoses inner feelings. It’s like being able to appreciate great wines or rhums. Some practice and knowledge will be required to enjoy fully the experience. I enjoyed being sitted in front of thoses rocks. I could understand why this is Zen but the constant flow of people behind my back maked it uncomfortable. This is also a pretty popular site.

For the next one I’m going to the Ninnaji temple nearby. This one is not popular so you can get a nice experience here. Ninnaji used to be the home of the emperor back in the days. What a sweet place to live in. I wouldn’t mind that.

Beautiful temple surrounded by beautiful gardens. The emperor had a sweet home.
This was a nice experience. No crowd and great views .

Time to get some lunch. If you stroll down the street nearby the temple you might find what suit your appetite. I went for a Japanese Curry restaurant.

This place felt authentic and chilled out. This is “Pu”.

Japanese Curry is a thing here. It’s a bit different than the Indian one but it’s good ! I had a spinach curry. Yummy , filling and not expensive (7 euro). You’ll also see CoCo curry food chain across Japan. I have tried it and the taste was not like this one. In the chain curry the flavors all felt a bit artificial. Make sure you try this in the good places.

To end the meal a Chai tea. The flavor reminded of Nepal. This was a good one.

I had to go to my next destination which was on the other side of the city. So much bicycle on that day but if the weather is good it’s worth the work out. The day feels like an adventure when you ride a bicyle. Each new destination to reach feels like little journey on their own. A good way to process in between visits. Make sure you download an offline maps (I used Maps.me apps which is great) and just get lost in the small streets. This is one of my favorite things to do in Kyoto. The city doesnt feel oppresing so go out there and have some fun.

This is my destination.

The Kyoto concert hall. Cool architecture.

Let’s go to a piano recital ! Yeah !
Oh wait a minute , there is no concert today ? What. I think I might have misunderstood something here. Oh well this is fine I’ll do something else instead. The accoustic of the main rounded building was awesome. I claped my hand inside. Some much echoe ! I’m glad I came here just for that.

Time to explore the more residential areas of Kyoto and see what we find.

This felt like rural Japan to me. This is only a fews minutes away from the busy districts. As I said getting lost in thoses streets is a fantastic experience. There is no much to do here so you can actually see the real face of Japan. Loved it.

I wanted to explore the Shugaku in Villa nearby but this was close. Apparently this site is gorgeous but you have to book guided tour in advance. On the way I met two really cool germans travelers. They were also looking for some off the beaten path places. It always fascinate me when I travel to see that , “you are attracting situations and people like you”. We went to a nearby isolated temple. Stunning and pure energy.

Welcome to the Sekizanzenin temple.

This place had a great vibration. In quiet temples like this one you can really feel the soul of the site.

I left my two friends for a fun ride in the residential area. I wanted to go back to the “Philosopher path”. This path is also great for biking. It was the end of the day and felt like “rest and reflect”. I found a good café for that. The Philosopher café on the way. I met the staff whom was French ! So many French that lives in Kyoto. After a fews interesting conversations with him I enjoyed the view and the rest.

In Japan you can easily meet people. It all depend on what vibe you put. You attract people like you 🙂 I met two sweet Japaneses in the café.

This was good fun. Thanks you ladies 🙂

So this is it . A day full of discoveries and biking ! I think I have biked around 35 km today. It was a lot but I enjoyed it a lot too.

Kyoto is one of thoses places that the modern world didn’t changed. The soul of Kyoto remains untouched. This city have a vibration that I cann’t explaint. But wow , I love this city. I love the people in it , the food , the sights… Kyoto is a down to earth destination. Despite is large size it remains a human scale destination. It’s a city full of hidden gems that are only waiting for you to find. A present that you slowly but surely unwrap. How good it feels to be here after the hyper modern Tokyo.

Japan , the country of all extrems.

That’s nice
ii ne  いいね