Golden Week - Kyoto

Golden Week is a time when most Japanese go home for 4 days and spend time recovering from a year of over the top hardwork. I spent it travelling to the south of Japan with a mate in his car. This was unbelievably cheap to do, and has got me interested in travelling around a bit more Japan by car.

There are a lot of temples in Kyoto. Large parts of it are the same as they were 400 years ago. This temple is called Ginkakuji (the silver temple). As you can see there is no silver so its also called the black temple. Its a world heritage site and just walking around it I really wondered why?






















Kyoto is a really small city, and is really easy to get around by bike. This pictures from an area called Gion which is a restored traditional Japanese street.
















The river in Kyoto is a really nice place to hang out and chill. I met a mate of mine down there and we had a few drinks. As we were sat there on the opposite bank a man was jogging along with what looked like abseiling gear on. He stopped turned and started doing bizarre stretches. You see this kind of thing all the time in Japan.

















Right where we were staying was a large temple complex. On the second day we had a look around and found this. Its a traditional bamboo garden and was a real difference from the hustle and bustle outside.
















On the second day we headed over to the westside of the city. This is by far the most spectacular temple, its called Kinkakuj (golden temple) and there were hordes of Japanese saying the same thing again and again (sugoi - great and kire - beautiful) like bleating sheep. It was a nice place to go to though.






































I think pagodas are a Chinese thing, but there were a few in Kyoto. This one is one of the tallest.





















I was cycling around the city, but my mate was skateboarding. I was behind him most of the time, and it was hilarious to see the japanese turn and stare... very funny.


















I visited a proper bamboo forest. Literally five minutes from the city centre.















I'll let you guess the cryptic meaning of this sign.















Arashiyama on the west side of the city was my favourite place to visit. It was a really nice rural area not far from the city. Somewhere to definately go back to.