Temple Galore

Hello,

Well, it`s been quite a while since the last post, and since there aren`t so many days left of our journey, I felt obligated to visit a media cafe and update the blog.

I should begin to tell you all that we never went to Izu-Shoto (the islands), since we felt it would take too much time and be too hot to sleep in a tent in this humidity and heat (today felt like one of the hottest days by the way, 35 degrees celsius in the shadow according to one thermometer).
Instead we went to Yamagata again for a few days and decided to "take a vacation from the vacation", meaning that we checked in to a hotel and watched movies, TV and went to the cinema. Basically doing nothing (which was really needed, our feet was rather painful after so much walking), really nice actually. The movies we watched were Kung Fu Panda (Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and more make quite an all-star cast. But they weren`t visible of course, they were voice-actors), then we watched The Forbidden Kingdom (Jet Li + Jackie Chan = Sweeeet), and finally we watched The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan`s latest movie, which kind of describes the movie best. Mark Wahlberg was, of course, awesome.
Anyhoo, a nice trio, I recomend them all.
After that I watched some 15 movies in the hotel, and I won`t list them here, but it was nice. I don`t really know what Jonas watched since we had different rooms (our movie-taste is a little too different to make it possible to share TV). Anyhow, you probably think we we`re lazy to just do nothing, but you don`t know how hot it is here, and how heavy our bags are, so you don`t have a say... Just kidding, I ain`t hostile (sorry, SModcast-humour. Too complicated to describe).

Well, after that we were more active, and went to Kyoto, the former capitol of Japan. You always hear that there are a lot of temples in Kyoto, but holy Buddy Christ there are a lot of temples here. Over 2000, so even if you`re going down the mainroad through the city, you`re going to pass a lot of shrines and temples. It`s of course really amazing, but also a bit overwhelming. We`ve been here one week now, so we`ve seen a lot, and I must say; it`s quite hard to remember what was was, and where it was. Therefore it`s also quite hard to tell the difference between an ordinary temple, and one that has been declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site (of which there are 17 here).
But still, we`ve managed to visit the must-sees, like The Golden Pavillion, which was by the way truly extraordinary. View the pictures of it further down. Another, rather odd, thing about the Golden Pavillion was the `classic photopoint` (the best place from which to take a photo of it). The place had a nice view, of course, but it was also the most humid and hot place we`ve been in in Japan. Not the whole park, just the small, 30 squaremeters platform where everyone stood and took photos. It was undescribably humid, it was a lot worse than the 95 degrees celsius steamsauna we visited in Yokohama. It felt like you had been swimming when you left the place.

Well, enough talk about perspiration, and more photos, eh? They come in no particular order, so I`ll add a description to them. Enjoy.

The photo below is of one of the biggest gates (buddhism) in Japan. Two stories, with a great view over Kyoto from the second floor. I know it`s a rather bad photo, but it was hard to get a good angle on it.




This is one of the gazillion koi living in Kyoto. Up close, they look rather odd.



This is the shell / exoskeleton of one of the most odd / annoying insects we`ve witnessed. They emit an incredibly high sound, which makes you feel like your head is about to explode. And they`re everywhere. Enough to drive you nuts, I`d say. The picture below that is of a living one.




Another species that thrives in Japan is the turtle. They can be seen a little bit here and there, and are always oh so adorable. I love me some turtle (just look in my car if you ever have the opportunity).

This is another buddhist gate. Not as big, but definately more colourful.

Just some templebuildings and trees.

A lot of decoration, note the foxes in the back.

Us in front of a quite famous temple (can`t remember the name, sorry). It`s a rather high fall from the "balcony" viewed in the background, and people used to jump from there. If they survived, they would have longlasting luck, if I remember correctly. Well, I won`t say that you`re not lucky to survive, but why bother?

Here it is, the famed Golden Pavillion (Kinkaku-Ji). I`ll upload two pictures for your viewing pleasures. (Notice the reflection by the way; that`s almost as famous as the temple it self.)

Here`s just something for all you Austin Powers fans out there; it`s Big Boy.

A pretty building, nothing more, nothing less.

A grasshopper. It was kind enough to stand still for the picture.

Here is another gate, and this time the biggest in Japan. The San-mon. And that`s just an entrance, mind you. Buddhism is sometimes a bit odd, one could think. Really beautiful, of course, I`m not arguing that. An astonishing work of art.

Well, enough pictures. And my time`s just about up here in Healin Feelin (the Media Cafe), so I`ll wrap things up.

Tomorrow we`re going to Tokyo to use up the last of our days here in Japan. We`re going to browse through stores looking for cheap electronics to possibly buy home, like maybe a new mp3-player or/and a laptop. And after that, it`s over. Back home to Finland. Well, in a way it will be nice, especially not to have to pay to sleep (paid 20000 Yen the other day for 4 nights, divide that with 160 to find out what it is in euro, it`s not a pretty sight...). Still, it feels odd that it`s over. Well, hopefully this isn`t the last post, so at least there will be more written delight.

Have a wonder, and comment.