Tokyo 2024 early Summer preface and Day 1

難得有一周 趁端午連假重遊東京 雖說是重遊 但已是七年前的事了

前三天住新宿 箱根一晚 曙橋三天 大部分都在東京 只有箱根兩天跑遠一點

新宿APA Hotel就在新宿驛北 第一天到的晚 既使是搭Skyliner 到Noppori 換JY (JR Yamanote Line) 也是搞到十點多. 第二天早上才知道是在Godzilla 旁

對面就是星巴克

走出巷口就是歌舞伎町

今天就附近走走吧 新宿御苑跟明治神宮 出發前先在車站把箱根的Two-day FreePass 買好

新宿御苑Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden 這時候來 有五顏六色的繡球花 500圓的入園劵是值得的

可以自帶野餐 在大草原上吃 或是無料的座位區 也賣冰品 星巴克人很多但是很棒

旁邊Japanese Garden 隨便拍都好

還有一間台灣館 Taiwan Pavilion

雖然直線距離不遠 可惜出口有限 只有 Shinjuku Gate and Okido Gate 我想我是錯過了南邊的 Sendagaya Gate. Google Maps 也是導Shinjuku Gate.

明治神宮Meiji Jingu 就沒入園劵了 走著走著就進來了

本殿在中心 有你走的

繼續往南 (原宿方向) 會經過釀酒區

這兩位拍了半天 就不等了

走到原宿 本來是導一蘭拉麵 誤打誤撞 吃這

原宿很可逛的 只是今天的步數早就過兩萬了 對面的空中花園就不去了

Continue to Day 2

Kyoto Osaka 2024 Spring

Today's plan, depart from Kyoto and head toward Osaka.

Before we checked out, a quick walk around the temple next to the hotel.

It is the Nishi Hongan-ji Temple (西本願寺). Apparently, Nishi means west, as verse to Higashi - East. We've visited the other one. Somehow when we stepped in, the two look very similar. We thought we visited the same place twice!

"Nishi Honganji (西本願寺) and Higashi Honganji (東本願寺) are two large temples in the center of Kyoto. As headquarters of the two factions of the Jodo-Shin Sect (True Pure Land Sect),..." according to Wiki.

True Pure Land Sect -> 淨土宗. Different sect from the one we visited yesterday, Tenryuji 天龍寺.

Hotel shuttle to Kyoto Station, then train to Osaka Station, 42km away, took 38 min. Not bad!

After settling down, we paid a visit to the Osaka Castle (大阪城). Although the weather is poor, raining and cold, we had good spirit.

Osaka Castle

豐臣秀吉

Also in the park is the statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豐臣秀吉).

After the tour in Keihan City Mall and light lunch of conveyor belt sushi 迴轉壽司, I came to know that this was invented here in 1958 by Yoshiaki Shiraishi after he visited an Asahi brewery.

Our stay is nex to the famous Dotonbori (道頓堀). A nice walk around the area, having snacks and sampling of variety of food, esp. the Wagyu beef stick. It's time to call it a day.

Tomorrow's plan is the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. The aquarium is famous for the great whale sharks. One can imagine to host that big creatures it must be a hugh tank.

Kyoto 2024 Spring - Day 4

Today's plan: Bamboo Forest, 天龍寺 and Kinkaku-ji 金閣寺

This would be the west part of Kyoto. 1st stop, Kinkaku-ji 金閣寺. It was raining, so seeing more umbrellas than good views.

I think if 銀閣寺 had painted silver, it would be as crowed as this one.

Another World Heritage Site Tenryuji 天龍寺. Some Buddhistic knowledge would help in understanding these sub-branches and their ideas.

Arashiyama Bamboo Forest is packed. I'm lucky to get this picture (below). But if you look closely, inside the forest, there are people all over.

Overall the area is very nice. Even the trees on the street looks nice. Not to mention the dessert shop.

We came back to Nishiki Market for dinner. This is a resturant famous for its Japanese pork chops - tonkatsu.

Kyoto 2024 Spring - Day 3

Today's plan - 清水寺&周邊小路散步&祇園 銀閣寺 京都御所

This is the northeast part of Kyoto, or the Higashiyama Ward (東山區). Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺 is spetacular. 

Gion corner is not too far away. Maybe it is more suitable for afternoon or night tour, we were not impressed. Had lunch at a family resturant in the alley. Continued tour around the area, then headed northwest to Kyoto Imperial Palace. I took the wrong bus stop, ended south side of the palace. The walk to the main palace entrance took a while.

The visit to the palace is worthywhile and exhausted.

Last stop is Higashiyama Jisho-ji 東山慈照寺 and Philosopher's Path 哲学の道

I guess if it was in cherry's full blossom, it would be fantastic. However, we are about 3 weeks earlier.

Continue Day 4

Kyoto 2024 Spring - Day 2

Today's plan is 宇治->伏見->伏見稻荷神社

It's a good day. A bit windy, but with sunshine. Took the bus to Kiyomizu-Gojo Station, transfer to KH Uji line (red). From the station, we crossed the bridge (Ujibashi) to visit the Byodo-in Temple.

Ujibashi

It's a short walk about a quarter hour. Once in, you see the nice view of the temple (below).

平等院/Byodoin 鳳凰堂/Phoenix Hall

If you have a Japanese 10-yen coin, you can see the temple image on the reverse side of the coin. This is how important this is to the Japanese history and culture. Uji is the hometwon of the Japanese most important family Fujiwara (藤原氏).

Follow the route, we toured around the garden, the museum, and the gift shop. Then we walk on the river bank, saw the cherry blossom; cross the river to Uji Shrine.

Uji and Ujikami Shrine are World Heritahe Site, next to each other, and Tale of Genji Museum. we didn't spend time in Tale of Genji Museum. Maybe next time after we study a bit about the Tale.

Lunch at Itoh Kyuemon - Uji Head Shop / Sabo 伊藤久右衛門 宇治本店・茶房

Dessert shop Nakamura Tokichi Honten (Main Store) 中村藤吉本店 is a traditional tea house. The waiting is more than an hour. We took the number and toured around the area while waiting.

Tea jelly (matcha), green tea ole, and mochi zenzai with chestnuts

Next stop Fushimi Inari Taisha. We took the train to Inari Station, and quickly saw the crowd.

Apparently many tourists came here and took the hike, so did we. There are these orange poles along the path. Each one marked the donors. The bigger the higher the amount of money contributed.

From the top, it is the city view (south of Kyoto). Should be very nice at dawn.

Dinner at the Kyoto Station, a branch of a store specialized in pickle. Check out their website. If you order a full set, you get unlimited rice and variety of pickles. After dinner, we took hotel's free shuttle back to the hotel.

Continue Day 3

早上前往宇治,看平等院、寶物館、吃抹茶吃甜點

中午吃飽後前往伏見,看小河、逛酒造(沒去)

下午伏見稻荷神社,走到最上面看市景 (夕陽還有點早)

晚上回京都市區吃晚餐

Kyoto 2024 Spring - Day 1

After less than two hours flight, we landed at Kensai International Airport around 10AM local time. Pick up the wifi box, then to the train station for our pre-paid Haruka tickets to Kyoto, plus purchasing the IC cards for later use.

There was reported accident that caused the train delay. The on and off, stop and go, get us to the Kyoto Station after noon time. Although we travel light, taxi is still the best choice to the hotel for the first timer (we did not know the hotel has free shuttle running between Kyoto Station and the hotel at that time).

View from Kyoto Tokyu Hotel is nice. This would be our stay for the next four nights.

All settled down, we check out the temple near by - Higashi Hongan-ji Temple.

Then we took the subway north to Nishiki Market.

Very crowded. Saw a few stores selling food, but no place to eat (dine-in). Many signs say don't eat while walking. Eventually we found a tempura store with 2nd floor dining area. This is our 1st day Kyoto experience.

Continue Day 2

苗栗火炎山

 

苗栗火炎山可能大家都知道，因為就在國一台中往北的路上。因土壤中含鐵質氧化，遠看彷彿燃燒般，因此得名「火炎」。它有台版大峽谷之稱，確實有幾分像。火炎山步道在苑裡和三義之間，早年曾是平埔族人與客家人往返頻繁的拓墾及商業道路。現有O型環狀進出，全程6.4公里，不會走重複，近距離看，真的很不一樣。建議去看看。

開車去就在國道一號三義交流道下，登山口就在正松泉火炎山收費停車場旁。周遭免費停車的地方很多。

從登山口起，沿路都有火炎山山徑的標示 (如下) 很清楚的。(里程很不準就是)

登山口有詳細的圖。

建議順時鐘走， 因為前段多在稜線上， 風景比較好，雖然上上下下很累，但看到峽谷地形非常的壯觀。

兩個主要的點，一個是大峽谷，另一個是三角點。

大峽谷應該是不能走下去的，也沒有騾子可騎。這不是美國的大峽谷。

看到下一個山頭的陡坡有點驚人，但實際走起來還好。

有幾段在陵線上 很刺激。

折騰了半天終於來到了三角點，趕快排隊照相。登頂後據說可俯瞰台灣海峽、台61線與苑裡平原。我是沒看到台灣海峽，倒是看到深山中有一大建築群 據說是 大興善寺。過了三角點，一路下坡就沒什麼風景了。這下坡大概只需上坡一半的時間，甚至可以小跑步。

出口處並沒有明顯標示, 所以要反時針走也不容易。

小結: 山體脆弱易崩塌，請勿走越界小徑。避免大雨後前往，路面濕滑危險。夏季曝曬強烈，務必防曬補水。冬季就舒服多了。GPT說日落時分山色與海景交融，非常迷人有機會再試試。

不知為何出現慈濟茶園的指示牌。如果是旁邊就算了，5.5公里外! 很像是置入行銷。慈濟茶園原本是由某公司（早期為臺灣農林公司）經營，後來因荒廢或棄耕，因緣轉到慈濟基金會接手。