Kyoto > Nara
After the previous night’s excesses a basic breakfast downstairs was all we needed before setting off once again on the temple circuit.
The alarm, bells should have been ringing when we walked out of the hotel and boarded a bus heading towards our initial destination, since there were an inordinate number of high school students out on the streets when (just before nine o’clock) they should have been in class.
Our first stop, officially Rokuonji (Deer Garden Temple) but more often referred to as Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion Temple) and dates back to the late fourteenth-century was, in keeping with its reputation, quite spectacular but, on a day when half the High Schools in Japan seemed to have decided to organize a cultural awareness excursion, extremely crowded.
After passing through the Chinese-style gate, we started our tour through the grounds standing beside the Mirror Pool as hundreds of digital cameras were pointed towards the three-storey structure with its gold-leaf covering.
From there we made our way through the strolling garden that makes up the rest of the temple grounds temple grounds, passing the pond of Anmintaku and enjoying the foliage along the way.
Once outside, we followed the road downhill to Ryoanji Temple, thinking that, judging by the lack of high school students on the ground, we might just have given them the slip, but as we neared the approaches to the temple, there they were in swarms again.
Of course, the best way to experience something like The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon would involve a lengthy period spent gazing at the temple’s famous dry landscape rock garden, with its fifteen boulders placed on a sea of raked gravel dating back to the late 1400s.
And, in the best of all possible worlds visitors would have the time and space to verify for themselves that the stones have been placed so that only fourteen of them are visible at one time, but the sheer weight of numbers passing through would have limited most of the people around us to a couple of hurried photographs to remind themselves of the visit.
Away from the rock garden, on the other hand, there was more room to move and we took our time walking round the picture gardens, which were absolutely spectacular with masses of sakura over the moss-covered ground.
Outside on the road again, we followed it as far as Ninnaji Temple but, faced with another swarm of school-kids and a sakura display that didn’t look promising compared with what we’d just experienced, decided that we’d head back downtown for lunch instead.
It was, basically, a case of sensory overload, though the crowds definitely didn’t help.
Back in the city we found a downstairs cafe near the hotel that reminded Madam of the places she used to visit back in her student days. Perusing the menu, I decided to go for something called taco-rice, which turned out to be a chilli con carne remarkably similar to the one I throw together whenever I get the chance, while Madam opted for spaghetti with vongole.
With lunch out of the way, we collected the luggage, walked back to the station and caught the train to Nara. Once we’d arrived and checked in we could have headed out for a stroll but decided to take it easy in the room until our dinner appointment with The Sister and family.
I’d just finished running a hot bath when a phone call advised Madam that her sister and The niece had arrived downstairs, so I took my time in a long soaking bath and left them with the opportunity to chat without having to worry about how to amuse a large hairy non-Japanese-speaking foreigner.
Once out of the bath, with those considerations in mind I took my time heading downstairs. I’d made it downstairs just before six so, once the preliminary pleasantries had been completed, there was really nothing for it but to head off towards the restaurant where we’d be dining that evening.
After the now-familiar shoe-removal ritual upon arrival we were ushered to a private dining room to be joined shortly afterwards by the brother-in-law, a very busy middle-level executive who simplified what could well have been a lengthy ordering process by glancing at the list of the restaurant’s Top Ten dishes and ordering the first six.
The roast beef was particularly good and, in a moment of weakness I was persuaded to try the Korean-style raw tuna, which wasn’t bad either. In fact the whole six dishes were all excellent, it was just a matter of those two sticking in the memory.
After a beer to cut the dust of the trail, I enjoyed a very good Spanish tempranillo while we discussed Australian real estate prices and other matters of interest before the walk back to the hotel, where we didn’t quite manage the usual good night’s sleep in a very cramped room where the bed was only accessible from one side.