We met up with Charles and Sayaka who took us to see the highlights of Kyoto. First on the agenda was Nishiki markets. It was authentic and we sampled just about everything including live fish. they treated us to blue fin tuna sashimi. The fatty meat had a soft texture with a rich taste, you can see why the Japanese go gaga for it. Sayaka bought the most expensive but out of this world delicious punnet of high grade Japanese strawberries. without exaggerating they were obviously grown by angels and handpicked by the gods.
The first temple was Kinkaku-ji or better known as The Golden Pavilion. It was remarkable. The walls are painted in gold, the best way to describe the Pavilion is that the photos looked worse with a filter #nohedidnt
Next was the largest temple. Kiyomizu-dera. This temple, built on a mountain side has a natural spring where water flows into a drinking area. Here you wash your hands to cleanse your body and drink the water to cleanse your soul.
Finally we saw the “Orange stick temple” (Fushimi inari Shrine) it is made up of thousands of orange logs that form passageways.
Kyoto has a famous Zen garden called Roan-ji. There are 15 rocks in the garden and only 14 are visible from any possible angle. The garden, despite the crowds had a tranquil vibe that silenced the onlookers.
