A not so great-looking morning. We spent the morning in Kyoto before heading to Hiroshima. We had the free complimentary breakfast, provided by the hotel, first before checking out of the hotel (11AM checkout) and then stored our luggage there so that we can explore Kyoto for the last time. From our hotel (Econo-Inn), we walked over to the Higahiyama District to see the kiyomizu temple (~20 minutes). The kiyomizu temple is also one of the UNESCO world heritage sites so it's a must VISIT.
During our walk towards the temple, we stroll passed some inner streets and entered some of those shops, but it was very awkward due to the shop owner greeting us ONLY, and then we are left wandering around the shop (us being the only customer) and we leave empty handed. As we get closer towards the temple, we noticed more and more people and soon it was a mob. There were a lot of tourists, as well as school kids, ranging from preschool to high school.
We didn't know there were construction going on here so the view wasn't as scenic. There is an admission cost if you want to head to the Kiyomizu temple ¥300.
Entrance/ Gate.
The construction....
Here's some students burning incense.
I took a photo from the balcony. There was a lot of people down there, and a huge line to drink from the waterfall. From the photo you can see three streams of water, each one of them has a fortune - love, success, longevity; but you can only drink from one.
Otowa Waterfall
Kiyomizu Temple
At the bottom of the temple, there is a mini garden. It's so pretty!
Look at the amount of stairs we had to walk down and then walk back up. - it was a killer
Jishu Shrine - worship the deity of love and matchmaking
Okage Myo-jin god who will answer any prayers. It is said that people would hammer a nail into a doll on the cedar tree to place a curse on the enemy.
Your prayers would be answered if you pat the bronze statue. - Nade-Daikoku-San
And then it was time to head back. We took a detour and checked out the surroundings. We walked through the souvenirs shops. Kyoto is such as nice place, the traditional buildings gives off a totally different feel than Tokyo.
Dozens of different soft-serve ice cream flavors.
Ryōzen Kannon temple is a place to commemorate the people who died in WWII. There is an entrance fee, but outside you can see the head of the statue of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvar, so really, no need to go in. We walked all over the parking lot trying to grab a better view. LOL, we're so cheap.
Stumbled upon another temple...
Gion? Forgot where this was...
And then for lunch we went to a dessert place in one of the shopping district for lunch. I got this strawberry parfait. ♥♥(o￫ܫ￩o)♫
No house, no life.
Once we got back to Econo-Inn, we got our luggage from storage and then headed to Kyoto Station. Every time I enter Kyoto station, I am just amazed how the grandness of it. The train from Kyoto to Hiroshima was about 2.5 hours. First, we had to take the JR Hikari to Shin-Osaka Station and then transfer to the JR Sakura; luckily, the train ticket itself tells you about the transfer and which platform you should be at.
We boarded the train at 4:48 and arrived in Hiroshima at ~7:50PM. Once we got off the train we exited the station, but we took a wrong turn or the like BECAUSE my sister's GPS guided us towards many dead ends. It was late and we were dragging our luggage around trying to cross the streets BUT there's no crosswalk. In addition to that, every turn we took it was an dead end. By this point, we were both quite impatient and peeved (bickering too (╬ŎдŎ )), 30 minutes passed, everybody who passed by us did not ask if we needed help (unlike Tokyo). Finally, I noticed every now and then somebody would walk towards a rail tracks but what would they do there? And I walked toward the area they walked and noticed an underground tunnel, and that is how you cross to the other side.
Our hotel in Hiroshima was Urbain Hiroshima Executive . The exterior of the hotel was the best looking one out of all the ones we stayed at in Japan. The lobby of the hotel is quite clean and nice, even the staff are polite. The cost per day for a double bed was $72.10 CND and we stayed for 2 days so it was $144.20 CND Our room includes a private washroom and shower, a small fridge, air con, a large double bed and a high tech toilet (include bum washing and heated seats). The hotel also provides free WIFI on the GROUND FLOOR ONLY, 24 hours drink bar (coke, juice, tea, water, etc.), complimentary breakfast, luggage storage and free maps. Our room was quite small as you can see, and oddly there is a sink outside of the washroom (no sink inside). The breakfast the hotel provides is quite generous, there's noodles, miso soup, tea, sushi, meatballs, etc. Plus the hotel is quite close to Hiroshima station too, perhaps a 10-15 minutes walk.
By the time we finished checking in and settled down, we need to grab dinner. It was approximately 9PM and when we headed outside it was dark, very dark, and most of the stores were already closed; plus, there weren't many restaurants nearby so we headed back to the train station to grab something to eat. We didn't want to grab fast food so we went to this Japanese restaurant and luckily they have an English menu too. We ordered vegetable pancake and okonomiyaki to share. We sat right beside the cook we watched her make the okonomiyaki, it was pretty cool.
Dinner - ¥ 1250
After dinner, we explored the stores surrounding the station. Even though the sky was pitched black and a bit creepy, it must be done. We found a supermarket close by and I bought a ice cream bar. 。ﾟ+.ﾟヽ(●´ω｀●)ﾉ。
Overall, my first impression of Hiroshima was that it feels like China. the buildings are old, not like Kyoto, but modern yet old (run down). But once we go downtown, it's so pretty and modern! We didn't really notice a lot of young people, mostly middle aged folks but they weren't really fashionable like Tokyo people. Also unlike people in Tokyo, the people in Hiroshima don't really approach foreigners. Well, that's what it seems like to me. Hiroshima seems like a quiet city with a lot of history, WWII bombings, and it is a MUST VISIT city due to this, you get to see how they rebuilt itself after all these years.
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