Quite possibly my favorite part of Kyoto (that I’ve visited, that is) that it warranted a revisit, never mind that exploring it would take more than a couple of hours and there’s some hiking involved. It is Fushimi Inari Taisha, my friends, and I’d be glad to show you once again how my 2nd visit went.
Continue reading “[JP18] Kyoto: Revisiting Fushimi Inari Taisha”
A day is certainly not enough to soak in all of Nara. I am guessing, not even a couple of days. But you know what? That’s OK. Of course, if it were a younger me, I wouldn’t think that. My young self would be full of regrets that I did not spend more days here, not even when faced with the reality that I do not have the luxury of time.
Continue reading “[JP18] A Day in Nara: A Wrap Up, and One of my Regrets While Travelling”
A visit to Kyoto won’t be complete if you didn’t step foot into a shrine. Or two. And practically all areas of Kyoto have them, so whichever part you choose to go to, you can be sure to pass by at least one. In Arashiyama, it was one of those unexpected things, us stumbling on a small shrine while following the Path of Bamboo, which I talked about in my previous post.
Continue reading “[JP18] Arashiyama, Kyoto: The Nonomiya Shrine”
Heroism has taken on numerous definitions, and a lot of faces have been assigned to the word “heroes”. So much that, in my opinion, most of us have lost sight of what it truly means. Worse, most of us have ceased to care about what it really meant, and just throw the word “hero” around lightly. But there is a little bit of relief to be had in knowing that there are still some places – albeit too few already – that serve as reminders of the “heroism” that served as one of the main catalysts of building the national identity that we have today. One of those places that endure to this day is the Dambana ng Kagitingan situated at the Mt. Samat National Shrine in Pilar, Bataan.
A visit to Kawagoe wasn’t in the plans, at least until a week before our trip, when my friend put it out as one of the suggestions of a day trip from Tokyo. For the longest time, I’ve always associated Saitama for the Saitama Arena, which is also a venue for concerts *coughsArashicoughs*. Good to know that I can now associate it with another charming place, which is Kawagoe. Continue reading “[JP18] A Day in Kawagoe, Japan: Hikawa Shrine”
As much as I would like to say that “I am back”, I couldn’t, at least not entirely, since I think I left part of my soul (and heart, I kid you not) in South Korea. 5 and a half days are barely enough to get my fill of SoKor, and I hope to go back to explore more of it. I’ve soooo many stories (and photos!) to share, but I resolve not to do that until I have finished my Japan travel diaries. And this is the last in my three-parter on Fushimi Inari Taisha.
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fushimi Inari Taisha Pt 3”
I have a love-hate relationship with the month of August. Hate stems from the fact that it is the month where there are soooooo many deadlines. It’s bad enough that my line of work means I have deadlines to deal with on a monthly basis, but August just piles them right on. But I also love it because of a couple of long weekends, which means trips and travels. OH YES. But I’m getting ahead of myself. This post is all about the AH-MAAAAY-ZING Fushimi Inari Taisha, which I’d love to go back to in the future. Take a walk with me?
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fushimi Inari Taisha Pt 2”
And so we have come to my favorite among the many Kyoto attractions we visited during our short stopover in Japan’s old capital: the Fushimi Inari Taisha (Shrine). I loved it so much that I am devoting more than one post for it. Yes, because it turns out I took so many pictures, and I didn’t want them to go unshared! It’d be such a waste, don’t you agree?
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fushimi Inari Taisha Pt 1”
I have one complaint about Kyoto: there are simply too many places that are worth checking out that, for someone like me who has a limited number of days to spend in the area, it’s almost tragic. While mapping out where we want to go, it was with a heavy heart that we had to slash many of them on the list. Kiyomizudera was one of those places that we had to let go of. But, one evening, while walking around aimlessly in the Gion area looking for a place to eat, Peach and I bumped into Sheryl, Hazel and another new friend, Jas. And plans were changed.
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fall Illumination at Kiyomizudera”
This was not really a part of the itinerary. In fact, we weren’t even aware of it. But walking around and following paths aimlessly always leads somewhere, and Maruyama Kouen was where we found ourselves in when we followed a road leading to the back of Yasaka Shrine. And, yes, we were just looking for a place to have a leisurely walk in (and by that, I mean LESS CROWD) while dressed in traditional kimono. Haha!
Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Maruyama Kouen”
A huge reason why my visit to Yasaka Shrine was more memorable and meaningful was the fact that I was wearing a kimono. Sure, there were awkward moments (OK, who am I kidding, there were a LOT of awkward moments) but then, a few minutes into it, I just thought, “wth, I’m here, this is happening, I might as well enjoy it!” And I am glad I did. Continue reading “Kyoto, Japan 2014: Yasaka Shrine”
I’m back from a 4-day sojourn in beautiful Coron! Still recovering, actually. My first day back at work was spent mostly in a daze because I just wanted to go and curl off to sleep. 🙂 I haven’t even downloaded all the photos I’ve taken from my camera! Still in denial, I suppose. Before I do, however, I have to clear some things off my long backlog for this blog, and one of them is about my visit to Minoh Park, which I consider to be one of the highlights of my Osaka stop.
Osaka had soooo many interesting places worth checking out, but we had soooooo little time to spend here, so we had to just go for the choicest ones. And by “choicest”, I meant the ones that are closer and would not take so much time to get to. And we also had to make sure that we visited the first Buddhist temple, and the oldest administered (state-built) temple in Japan, the Shitennoji Temple. Continue reading “Osaka, Japan 2014: Shitennoji Temple”
This was probably the day that I did the most amount of walking during my Japan trip. Seriously. We set off at 6:30am, then went home later that night close to midnight. At the end of the day, my feet were literally killing me, and I was unconsciously apologizing to them (and, by extension, to my shoes) for putting them to so much abuse. But a happy explorer is happy, and that’s what counts most, eh? Continue reading “Osaka, Japan 2014: Sumiyoshi Taisha”
From the Imperial Palace, we proceeded to Asakusa. where vestiges of “old Tokyo” can be found. This was a must-see on the itinerary I drew up, and I even devoted an entire afternoon for it. But since it was included in the Tokyo Morning Tour of HatoBus that we went on, I scrapped it from the list. The result? I was left wanting more.
Continue reading “Tokyo, Japan 2014: Ye olde Tokyo, Asakusa”
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