Unique Places in Kyoto

Toei Movie Land is an amusement park about film making. Often real samurai movies are shot here. There are really nice shows, which make you understand more about the japanese samurai film. The ninja show was only in japanese and not like we are used to. So we laughed at the wrong times and missed a few crucial texts. But we learned a lot about japanese humor, and ended up with this picture of our group with the ninja´s.

More info:
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/moreattract.cfm?a_id=23819¨
address: 10 Higashi-Hachigaokacho

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The Goyozaka area and street are not that of the beaten path, it is actually rather known to be a place to stroll around and inspect the architecture and small shops around. It is certainly gaining popularity and business developed to be a crowded place in the coming years. I added here 4 interesting images of this area.

I went to this shop near Kiyomizu-dera Temple to dress as Maiko. The name of the shop is Studio Shiki. They have two shop - you can check the website for the shop details. I love the experience so much and I love the kimono that I choose. The kimono has a beautiful painting on it but a bit heavy. As an Asian, our skin is a bit dark but it does not show at all, except for my hand. And everybody was surprise when I told him or her that is I. This make me happy knowing that the transformation is a success and I did not waste my money.

The price is not that expensive and compare to the other shop that you can find in the Internet, this shop offer the best rate. Plus the shop is on your way to Kiyomizu-dera temple. Since everybody will go to Kiyomizu if you go to Kyoto, why not stop by at this shop.

Please give a try if you have a chance. The experience and memory is price less.

If you look closely to the mountain of Kyoto, you will see that there are some Japanese characters on the spot that was denuded. Do you know what this is?

This is where the residents of Kyoto put tons of firewoods and light them on August 16. The festival is called Gozan Okuribi. This is the lighting fires on mountains to guide the spirits home.

You have to look closely at the picture because it is hard for me to take a good shot between the two buildings. The picture was taken close to the bus stop on our way back to the hotel.

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If you get sick and tired of seeing temple and shrines but still have plenty of time before leaving, how about trying an easy hike to the peak of Mt.Daimonji? This 466-meter mountain is most famous for its annual okuribi fire festival at August 16th, but it's also a very poplar hiking spot among the local people.

Starting point is about 20 meters north of Ginkakuji temple. The climb is quite easy. You will reach its top with "Dai" only in half an hour. From there, you can enjoy panoramic view of the entire city.@

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My sisters and I were walking towards the bathroom at the Kiyumisudara Temple, when we saw police officers running towards an aisle. There were also people running towards us. We did'nt really know what as going on. There was no chasing or anything involved so w didn't panic.

We followed the small aisle until we realized that it was leading us to a cemetary! Obviously, we didn't intend to go there but, it was kind of fascinating to see the different headstones in a Japanese cemetary. We kind of sneek in. We didn't know whethe we were allowd there or not. The cemetary was actually different. It was just something that we saw that was kind of out of the ordinary on our tour of the temple.

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Love hotels are usually situated along the freeway, so if you see a cluster of buildings with fancy neon signs and advertising for hourly rests, you're there. There are different kinds, check out the ones with themes like hello kitty etc. Makes for fun exploring. The hotels are totally operated with no human personnel. You drive into the carpark, adn each lot has a panel of a picture of a room. If it is lighted and the lot is empty, the room is empty. You park there and go up the door beside that lot. If there's another car parked there, the panel is darkened.

Other love hotels have the usual lobby with the lighted panels. They also have a loyalty card programme with points reward system, and if you go often enough, you can even redeem a Gucci bag. Hmm...

We never went into one, but judging from the pictures on the panel, most were quite normal, not the interesting rooms that i've heard bout.. lol

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Near Kyoto, in Sonobe there is a Rurikei Spa. Not an onsen but same concept (See my sonobe page for explanation) You can take a 2D1N package, with dinner and breakfast thrown in and it's really good. They even have a shuttle bus service from the train station. For me it costs around SGD120.

Directions: Take a JR train from Kyoto station to Sonobe station. Once there, a pre-arranged shuttle bus will pick you up.

What to do for the spa area:
Go to the counter, they will give you a locker key, a set of clothes, a swimsuit, and 2 towels. Go into the changing room (separate for guys and gals from this point onwards), put your own clothes into the locker room and one towel into the locker. Walk into the pool area with the small towel, go to the corner where everyone is sitting along the wall on stools and fine one empty spot and do your own bathing. After you have bathed, you go to the warm pool to soak, then the hot pool, then the cold room, then the sauna if you want. no particular order actually.

No swimsuit needed unless you are going out into the outdoor pool area where both men and women are there. The indoor pools are separated. Everyone I saw was in the nude.