Kyoto by day...Beppu by night...

Today, Rodney and I joined two other travellers to visit some local temples and gardens. One is Kyle, an American from Texas teaching English with a local English language school called Nova. The other is Genova (Gen), and Australian girl from Sydney taking a road trip away from her American military boyfriend stationed in Korea. These two folks are great and prove to be good travel buddies.

Wandering through the underground railway around Kyoto (without being aimless) took us to Kinkaku Rokuon-Ji (金閣寺/鹿苑寺), a temple made of (or at least the color) of gold. We took a public bus with an entire high school class all the way up to the mountain. Typically in Japan, when Japanese students see a Caucausian, they would either wave, say hi, try to start a conversation, or giggle wihtout reason. To our surprise, nobody did any of the sort. However, once we got off, one student did approach Kyle and Gen and attempted to talk English with them (and not Rodney and I, since we aren't white enough). The student carried a little booklet with him with pre-written English phrases...very cute. Or course, the encounter ended up with a photo session. Although they probably did not want Rodney and myself in the picture, we stuck our heads in anyways.


Rokuon-Ji with Rodney, Gen, me, and Kyle (L-R)

After Rokuon-Ji, we walked a mile to our next destination, Ryoan-ji Temple (龍安寺). This place is famous for its rock garden, a composition of white gravel and 15 stones that many consider to be the ultimate expression of Zen Buddhism. Just about everything in this garden is beautiful, bringing forth a peace that words could not describe. I could just sit there for hours just enjoying it all. I sure would love to have one of these rock gardens in my backyard...which is presently full of weeds and dog poop...not very zen.



Zen Gardne at Ryoan-ji

By 3pm, I rushed back to Kyoto station and took the next available train to Beppu (別府市), a natural hot spring paradise. The train ride took about 4 hours.

Arriving at Beppu was a bit disappointing, because it is still too urban to me. I guess all the rural tourist places are outside of town...so I just have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, I am just enjoying my stay at Minshuku Kokage Ryohan. The place is another traditional hotel with 5.5 tatami rooms, private toilets, and a private hot spring tub. Very nice!!!