Japan Kyoto II - Getting Around & Kiyomizudera
Day 2
Day 3
If you wanna jump straight to Kiyomizudera, stroll down, cause I'm going to cover the transportation part first, and it's a huge chunk!
Here's some Sakura to start things off! I love love love Cherry Blossoms!
When I'm in a new city, I always explore the transport options first. Orienting yourself to the choices available and the fastest possible way to the sights would save time from getting lost.
KYOTO STATION
We explored Kyoto station thoroughly. There are many areas that leads to other area, so it can be confusing. There are basically 2 sides: Karasuma and Hachijo.
On the Karasuma side.
From the bus station level, which is the street level, you can access the Railway, and bus station. If you go under it, it leads too Porta, the underground shopping area under the bus terminal and plaza on the Karasuma side of the station and offers the Karasuma Subway Line.
If you take the escalator up to level 2, you'll see the entrance to Iseten (which has 10 levels of shopping), walking down the long wide aisle thronging with people, you'll see the Tourist Information Counter on the right. Drop by a visit there for promotional leaflets and maps, most of them are in Japanese though.
If you walk further down, you'll find yourself in front of the busy ticketed gates of JR lines. JR offices can be found there and they are very useful for ticket buying purposes.
Walking to the end of the long aisle will get you to a downward travelling escalator, this leads to the other side of the station: Hachijo. From there, you'll get to the Cube Shopping Mall and the highway/express/tour buses. Cube Shopping mall has basically 2 levels; keep travelling downwards, till you get to the ground 0 level for good food!
I hope you are not confused by now. We were really. If you think Raffles Place MRT(Singapore)'s underground links are confusing, think again. Kyoto station is like a layered maze. The signs will help you figure it out, but we took about 2 hours navigating the area, buying our bus tickets, train tickets, and figuring out where all the different gates lead to. Note that some gates are for JR, Kinsetsu, subway, etc. So, don't enter the wrong one.
GETTING AROUND
Transport in Kyoto varies from bicycle, buses, taxi and subways.
Bicycle: The locals love to cycle. It gets them to places fast, and the car parking in Japan is not exactly cheap. However, if you're a first time visitor, I would strongly advise against it, as it would take a while to navigate yourself along with the vehicular traffic. Grab a tour if like, http://www.kctp.net/en/ or just rent http://www.j-cycle.com/takatsuji/en/index.html.
Buses: The easiest way to get to most of the main attraction, as they are usually not near the subway stations. Each bus ride costs 220 yen. Expensive! A one-day pass is 500 yen, more worth it but only if you take more than 2 trips. Raku bus no. 100 is the one with long queues and goes from
Kyoto Station to major attractions in east Kyoto, including the Kyoto
National Museum, Gojo-zaka, Gion,
Heian Shrine, Nanzenji, and Ginkakuji.
Taxi: It is not expensive if you've 4 pax, and you're travelling to a nearby location like Kiyomizudera. It might even be cheaper and less of a hassle.
Subway: There's a one-day subway pass (600 yen). Each trip starts from 210 yen. A sightseeing pass is also available (1,200
yen for one day, 2,000 yen for two days), and comprises of unlimited usage of Kyoto
City Buses, Kyoto Buses and the two subway lines in the city
of Kyoto. The 2-day pass can be used on two consecutive days.
I hope that had been helpful. =)
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Back to the itinerary~!
Kiyomizudera (清水寺, literally "Pure Water Temple), a UNESCO Heritage Site, is most famous for the wooden stage that stood out admist the greenery. The best time to visit it would probably be during the cherry blossoms and autumn leaves season. The temples in the Higashiyama district have special evening illuminations in March and November.
We decided to purchase the 1-day bus pass, but it wasn't a wise choice since we only covered the Higashiyama area, and it only took a to-and-fro trip. Note that bus 100 would finish the tourist attraction run around 7pm.
Alighting with everyone at the Goko-zaka/Kiyomizu-michi bus-stop meant a hike 10 min up the hills. Or you can walk 20 min from Kiyomizu-Gojo Station (Keihan Railway Line)
It was a nice relaxing walk, with small shops along the way. It was a rather quiet neighborhood (compared to the Higashiyama district) with many shops selling their local pottery. It's a wonder how Japanese grow their flowers till they look so fresh and pretty and neat.
We're finally here!
We missed out on the cherry blossoms at Kiyomizudera, as the weather turned warm rather early =(. Cherry Blossoms season usually lasts for 1-2 weeks. It's rarity and beauty are much to be behold. It will be really wonderful to catch it in its full glory. You can follow the blossoms update with live reporting by locals at http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/sakura13/130411_kyoto.html. They update every year!
Keep walking up and you will come to this area with this small little building. We've completely no idea what this was, the Japanese words didn't help either. But we gamely forked out 100 yen each for what we thought were blessings, and got the most surprising and hilarious time of our lives! I shall not spoil the surprise for you, but remember, grab hold of the left hand rail all the time as you walk down the steps!!!
Tickets cost 400 yen. The photo below is what you'll see as you stepped on the famous wooden platform.
Behind which stood the main halls
You won't see the wooden stage until you're nearly about to exit Kiyomizudera, but I'm going to show it here first.
Continue the journey and you'll the famous Jishu shrine, or Love shrine.
There're two
stones, placed 18 meters apart. Successfully finding your way from
one to the other with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in
finding love. We gave it a try, and it was pretty easy. Heeee
You'll find a lot of Japanese couple wearing their traditional clothes and visiting this shrine to commensurate their love. How sweet! I especially love this couple, who looked so absolutely compatible!
This is the last stop on the way out. Otowa Waterfall. If you'd looked down from the wooden stage earlier, you'd have seen this.
There are three
separate streams (longevity, success at school and a fortunate love
life) and visitors use cups attached to long poles to drink from
them. However, drinking from all three streams is considered greedy. We don't know which is which though. Haha. Fear not, the metal cups are actually sanitized after use. =)
This is a monk asking for alms. They will just stand there stolidly in the cold. This I respect, in comparison to those frauds who don on monk's clothes but behave in a despicable manner. 
The Japanese ladies in kimono are so pretty! I love their hairstyles!
More sakura fun after the walk. Really, cherry blossoms put everyone in a happy, good mood!!!
My lovely and fun-loving aunties!
Didn't the sakura put you in a good mood? =)
Next up: Higashiyama District!
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