Kinkaku-Ji, The Golden Temple

After a 30min bus ride we arrived at our last planned stop, the Golden Temple.

I'll start by saying this temple is only 55 years old. However, the grounds its on and the temple that was there are 700 years old. The original temple was burned down by a young monk (on purpose) in 1950, who after tried to commit suicide but failed and as later arrested. The temple was first built as a villa for a Shogun, who had planned to have the entire building coated in gold but never finished (only had the inside roof done) before he died. His son turned it into a temple after his death.

The temple gets its name from the gold leaf used to cover the second and third floors. Today it is a very brilliant gold and quite beautiful to look at. The temple was never really covered in this much gold, however this is how the Shogun had always wanted it to look. In 1984 it was touched up again and gold lacquer made 5x thicker. This place was totally packed with tourists as well, you were fighting your way past people all the time to get pictures. Kind of an atmosphere ruiner to be honest.

First up is the main gate into the temple grounds. Next is of a bell, that you could ring for $1. After is a small temple used for Buddhist prayers and a close up of a cool roof tile on it.

After this you walk down the path a bit more and then suddenly after coming around a corner, its there in all its glory.

On the roof you can see a large phoenix (Ho Oh in Chinese, which is also the name of a Pokemon, for those counting). Here is a close up of it.

You can't go inside sadly, but all 3 floors are in a built in a different style apparently. As you follow the path around it you head up the hill behind it. Here was a good change waster where you can try and throw your coins into a small pot for good luck. As you can see, many have tried.

Next up is some of the scenery on the way to the exit.

Here is an old tea house, not sure if they still use it or not.

That was it for this temple. Checked out the over priced gift shops (funny to see these sitting in temple grounds actually) then started on our way back to Naomi's friends house. On the way we came across anther temple. Had a mini parked inside too! Here are some pictures of the place. It was closed so we couldn't go inside the main area though.

After a very long walk home, we had a bit of a nap while waiting to decide on dinner. Her friend and her family took us out to a small Japanese restaurant (which looked quite old as well) which was simply amazing. We had a 12 course meal (basically all appetizer size) of a bunch of different types of mostly traditional Japanese cuisine.

First up is a is Stir fried Pumpkin, Rhubarb and a hot pepper with katsuobushi (fish flakes).

Second was Saba (Mackerel) with a sweet and sour sauce.

Third was Omurice. A Japanese styled omulette..basically a big egg pouch with rice stuffed inside. This type had tomatoe sauce on type.

The fourth was hot pepper, eggplant seasoned with dashi (fish stock) and bonito (tuna flakes),

Fifth was Japanese style quish with ketchup on it. Actually Naomi can make a much better one.

Sixth was Hamachi (yellow tail) sashimi with onions seasoned with ponzu (dashi, lemon, soy sauce and orange) sauce

Seventh was boiled bean sprouts and spinach.

Eighth was Yubakake Gohan. Its rice with tofu skin on top and wasabi.

Ninth was Sato-imo. Sticky potatoes deep fried. This was one of the most tasty things I ever ate. A french fry on steroids.

Tenth was Chicken Teriyaki. The best I ever had.

Eleventh was Tempura. Deep fried asparagus and wakasagi (which means ice fish). It had a sea salt dip to go with it.

Last was Miso soup (soy bean soup).

Totally delicious (other than maybe the quish). Needless to say we were totally stuffed after. The restaurant had its own little garden too which you could go and walk around in. It also led to another part of the restaurant. It looked really small from where you are sitting but I guess it was quite big. It had a second floor as well.

This wrapped up our first day. We headed back home where I passed out as soon as I hit the floor. Naomi ended up yacking with her friend till about 1am. Poor girl. The next morning we were up at around 7 and were off again for our last day. We said goodbye to her friend and family and put our bags into a station locker.

The rest of this story can be found next time. :)