Day 4 - Kyoto: ginkakuji, philosopher's path, Gion's hanami-koji

it's a long way back to Kyoto from takayama given takayama'sa lil' out of the way location. we took nohi bus for kanazawa ~ 1hr 40mins. and from there, we took JR train to Kyoto in slightly under 2 hours. our train rolled into Kyoto at around 1+PM and we were welcomed by the warmer weather! Kyoto is definitely warmer as compared to both takayama and Osaka and we love it!

we took a cab to our accom - Kyoto's travellers inn which is around 20mins drive from JR Kyoto station. cab fare in japan is not as horrendous as some guidebooks make out, our short trip costs us around ~S$30. not cheap by SG standard but given we had 4 pax and heavy luggages, it was worth the fee too.

not wasting time, we checked in and were out of the accom in a jiffy. we decided to walk to our first sightseeing spot - ginkakuji temple. it's a good 5(?)km walk from where we were staying but given the good weather and the promise of some shrines + temples along the way, we thought it was not a bad idea. it took us almost an hour to reach the temple but we hardly feel the time.

tada! ginkakuji - a UNESCO site.

it boosts a really gorgeous garden.

the view from the top of the garden is breathtaking!

splashes of autumn colors make the place lovelier.after ginkaku, we took the philisopher's path next to it which is a scenic 30+mins stretch that leads one to nanzen-ji. we didn't make it to nanzen-ji as night falls rather early in fall so we took a cab to Gion area for dinner before exploring hanami-koji area there.

along philosopher's path

it's hard to take a decent photo of hanami-koji but you can google it to see how lovely the area is. it's similar to takayama old town with traditional houses housing restaurants, shops and teahouses where geisha and maiko supposedly entertain.

we settled for a late dinner along shijo-dori which is the main shopping stretch in Kyoto.

udon for dinner! yum!

AND, you guess it,  we took a cab back to our lodgings after that! we have been lazy and over-indulging with taxis today so we will try to do trains and buses tomorrow...