Japan 2019 - Kyoto

Kyoto was Japan’s capital for over 1,000 years and has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The first shrine was established in Kyoto in the 6th century. Now there are over 1,600 Buddhist temples and over 400 Shinto shrines. The city was number one on the atomic bomb target list and was only removed due to the personal intervention of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, who apparently had visited Kyoto many times. It is unimaginable that this amazing city, with all its cultural assets and historical buildings, could have been destroyed in a single moment!
One could spend weeks in Kyoto and not see everything. We prioritised and visited what we were most interested in, along with thousands of other international tourists. Many visitors rent a traditional kimono to visit the sights.

First stop Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, a Zen Buddhist temple - it is really coated in gold!

The Fushimi-Inari Taisha Shrine is impressive but we were especially blown away by the 32,000+ torii gates. The shrine was founded in AD 711 and is dedicated to the goddess of rice-growing. Merchants and tradesmen still frequent the shrine and one can still dedicate a torii (approx. AUD$ 100,000). To walk through them all takes over 2 hours, leading up to Mount Inari and back through a beautiful forest.

I was especially looking forward to visiting Kiyomizu-dera, a magnificent wooden temple on pillars on the slope of a mountain. Unfortunately, the entire temple is currently covered in scaffolding while the roof is being renovated.

The details and colours of the surrounding temples were fabulous!

Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion, is not actually silver and the surrounding garden is more impressive than the building itself.

We also visited the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, of which we didn’t expect much, since we cycled through many bamboo forests. We were positively surprised and enjoyed walking through it. Bamboo forests produce a very unique sound in the wind.

Sajusangen-do is a 120m long temple, housing 1,001 statues of the Buddhist deity Kannon and 28 statues of different guardian deities. Absolutely amazing! One had to walk through in complete silence, no shoes and no photographs. The image below is from a poster at the entrance.

Other sites we passed through were the Nishi Honganji Temple, ......

... Hokan-ji, a 46m pagoda, ...

... the Ryoan-ji rock garden, ...

... the bustling Nishiki market ....

... and the Pontocho area along the Kamogawa River with many outdoor and indoor dining options - some restaurants are very cozy. Note the handbag rack.

Japan 2019 - Beppu to Kyoto

The ride along the coast from Oita back to Beppu was easy and pleasant, especially because the sun was shining and there is a wide cycling path.

Kirsten’s favourite breakfast: white bread stuffed with custard.

From Beppu we took the over-night ferry to Osaka, a twelve hour journey through the Seto Inland Sea. Rather than getting a cabin, we chose the dormitory. The ferry ticket said: room 339B seat 25 and 26. It turned out to be a fulton, a pillow and a quilt each in a women-only room, all very tidy and clean. The ferry even had a traditional bath!

During our dinner of bananas and bread rolls we met two Japanese ladies, who spoke very little English. They sat down with us, kept giving us food and we ended up chatting for 3 hours. They couldn’t believe we cycled from Osaka to Beppu. We had many giggles and misunderstandings, but managed to communicate. Such lovely people! Unfortunately, we were too busy talking to think of taking a photograph.

Arrival in Osaka was at 6am. It was already getting hot, so we started riding immediately. Navigating Osaka rush-hour for 20km was a challenge! Cars, trucks, buses, cyclists, scooters, pedestrians and gaggles of school uniforms coming towards you from everywhere! Once on the Yodo River, the riding was easy all the way to Kyoto.

Three fishermen....

 Dinner (from FamilyMart) in our hotel room in Kyoto, our home for three days.

Japan 2019 - Kyushu (part 2)

Japan has 111 active volcanoes, 50 of which are constantly monitored. Mt. Aso Nakadake Crater is one of them and access to the rim is currently prohibited due to poisonous volcanic gases. The Aso township is located in a sprawling farming community within the fertile plains of a giant caldera. With amazing milk and yoghurt!

To get to Aso we climbed over 2,000m in elevation in two days, over the slopes of Mount Kuyu and over the Aso caldera rim. The weather was turning increasingly rainy and grey.

Since the forecast for the next two days was for heavy rain, we decided to leave the bikes in Aso and rent a car. It is amazing how easily you can get around in a car! And what a luxury when it’s raining! For the first time, however, we experienced traffic jams and parking problems.
Our first sightseeing stop was at the Aso Volcano Museum, which is as close to the mountain one can currently get.

You can fit six Japanese into these little cars!

Kumamoto has a beautiful 17th century castle that was seriously damaged during the 2016 earthquakes. Repair works are being undertaken but are estimated to take twenty years. Hard to imagine the planning, expertise, machinery, effort and financing this requires!

And of course another beautiful Japanese garden: Suizenji Koen in Kumamoto.

Takachiho gorge was formed by pyroclastic flows.

On the way back to Aso we visited the Takamori Yusui Tunnel Park. The National Railway planned to build a tunnel through the caldera. Two kilometres in, they hit an underground river and water came gushing out. They abandoned the project and converted the tunnel into a garden and art space.

Tree pruning taken to extremes......

...... and a well-looked-after private garden.

This is our favourite lunch from 7-Elevens or FamilyMarts: The rice triangles come with many different fillings and are wrapped in a salty, crunchy piece of seaweed. Yum!

Sometimes they even have one with salmon roe!

More rain! The wet season has definitely started, as per predictions, right at the beginning of June! It’s time to get out of Kyushu!

Not a good day for a flat tyre! But at least we found a spot out of the rain and it’s only the second flat of the entire trip.