Last stop on travels

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Kyoto

Anyone who has read Memoirs of a Geisha is likely to expect Kyoto to be a quaint little town, as we did. In fact, Kyoto use to be the Capital of Japan and has a population of over 2.5million. Nevertheless, Gion Corner, behind the main hubbub of the high street, did conjure up exotic images of Geisha running to and from appointments. The word geisha has negative connotations and they are normally known as Geiko in Kyoto- meaning talented lady. We were told that we were unlikely to see real Geiko because the nature of their work is discreet and secretive, and tourists cannot just walk into tea houses to see them. We did see many women dressed in Kimono and Yukata hurrying around, but we found it difficult to distinguish between women and Geiko. It was harder because only the young girls wear the white makeup, and the only young Geiko we saw were at the Gion Corner ceremony in the evening.

The Gion Corner ceremony is held purely for tourists and gives an overview of Japanese and Geiko culture. The highlights were the puppet theatre, Bunraku, with a life sized puppet controlled by three men covered every inch in black, that we were suppose to not see. It was actually very good, as we knew the story line, and many times both my mum and I thought how real the puppet looked. The best thing though was the dance performed by 2 maiko (apprentice geisha). The dance was simple but mesmerising. Every move was made to accentuate a part of them, and I felt as if I was in a different world.

We also visited some shrines and temples, and these were the best I'd seen in Japan. Fushimi Inari Shrine had many torii (bright orange gates) that formed tunnels. They are owned by companies and individuals and were all sizes. Sanjusangendo Temple was the best in Kyoto though. It had an 11 foot Buddha with 500 Kannons on either side of him. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos but it was amazing to see. Kiyomizu Temple was cool, it had a fantastic view and a great little gift shop at the bottom of the hill!

The Golden Pavilion- Kinkakuji Temple was amazing- just the sheer amount of gold left us gawping at it. Ryoanji Temple had a famous Zen garden which a lot of people love to meditate at. I found it very peaceful and loved the calm there.

My last day of travelling was spent in Nara, visiting the Great Buddha- Daibutsu. At 15m high it really did take our breath away. We also had fun with all the deer lazing in the sun outside in the park.

And that's it for me! Travelling is over- back to the hot sunshine in London, all the home comforts and lots of great food! The best thing of all has to be my surprise in actually finding the Golden Carrot!! Thanks for still reading this blog after so many months- we both appreciated all your comments along the way 😊

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Photos

The big Buddha
To get an idea of the size, try and spot the oranges under the flowers on the left