Top 10s

In keeping with the Japanese tradition of endowing their attractions with superlatives and then ranking them from one to whatever.......

..."Top 10 Highlights of our Kansai trip"

1. The snowy night we spent at Rengejou-in, a Buddhist temple on Koya-San. Koya-san has about 50 shukubo, or temple accommodations where you sleep in a traditional tatami room with futons, a kotatsu (heated table), and in Rengejou-in's case, elaborately painted screen doors which had been rescued from previous temples as they burned to the ground.

The rate for the night is 10,000 yen which includes two meals; dinner was "shojin ryori" cuisine (vegetarian extravaganza made with no meat, fish, onions or garlic) served on tatami mats and cushions and breakfast did not include natto, so I was happy.

Shukubo are run by Buddhist monks, and they 'encourage' you to pin your eyes back at 6 am for a prayer ceremony in the prayer hall. Although the room had a heated rug and a radiator, it was still f@#$ing cold, but amazing nonetheless.

2. Kiyomizu-dera, a 1200 year old Buddhist temple perched on the side of a cliff overlooking Kyoto. Leading up to the temple is Sannen-zaka, a steep winding street lined with old wooden buildings and bustling restaurants and shops.

Within the temple grounds is the Jishu-shrine, containing two stones about 18 metres apart. Legend has it that if you close your eyes and successfully walk from one stone to the other, your wish for love will be fulfilled. If you miss it, its all over red rover, you might as well become a monk. Determined to succeed, Matt closed his eyes, and I walked him between the two. Cheating? Absolutely, but it must have worked, because three days later, he asked me to marry him...

3. The ryokan experience at Gion Fukuzumi. On our first night at the ryokan, we took a chanko nabe (the famous sumo-stew) dinner at the ryokan, served in a private tatami room, waited on by kimono clad obasans, and then returned to our room to quaff warm sake. As Matt quoted; "there's nothing quite like having a hot bath, putting on a yukata, and then having dinner served while you've got no pants on..."

4. Geisha-hunting in Gion, most notably in Pontocho and Kiyamachi-dori. We saw two maiko, apprentice geisha, and quite a few wannabe call-girl 'geishas', outfitted in kimono and toting their mobile phones as they disappeared into seedy looking private apartments.

5. Experiencing hatsu-mode (bringing in the new-year) at Yasaka Shrine in Gion, apparently "one of the most famous places in Japan for hatsu-mode" (of course, it couldn't possibly just be a shrine). Being superstitious, we bought a lucky ema arrow, which Matt inauspiciously broke in two, a day later.

6. Walking through Nara-koen, checking out the big bronze Buddha (he's big!), chomping on yatai (open-air stall) kara-age (Japanese for "KFC") and okonomiyaki, then being chomped on by the "national treasures" that masquerade as deer.

7. "Strolling" down Nishiki Market in Kyoto on new years eve, a frenzied strip of open-air stalls, like a cross between the Queen Vic markets and a Dockside rave. I particularly enjoyed being hobbled by an endless procession of feisty obattalions who would sell their granddaughters for the freshest piece of tuna. All part of the experience.

8. Okuno-in and the mausoleum in Koya-San in snow. It was cold. Very cold, and the snow prevented us from adding to our already obscene photo-count, but Okuno-in, where the founder of Buddhism (Kobo Daishi) in Japan is buried, was particularly magical surrounded by the white stuff. The temple houses hundreds of lanterns and a flame which has apparently been burning for 800 years. The monks take it in shifts to keep it going. Not quite sure how it survived WWII, but lets not go there...

9. Chion-in, a Kyoto temple. Particularly cool because you walk on the 'nightingale' floorboards of the shogun era which were designed to sing whenever an invader tried to infiltrate the castle/temple.

10. Nanzen-Ji at dusk. Of particular amusement was Matt "dropping" his mobile phone into the Asian squat toilet at the temple (which apparently happens all the time). Grossed out by the thought of poo-water, he rinsed it under the tap. It then went into 'shudder-mode' and promptly died.

Of course, no trip is ever perfect, so here goes a "Top 3 Not-so-Magical-Moments".

1. Spending an hour on a peak-hour bus to get to Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavillion), only to find it covered in a white tarpaulin. [note for potential travelers - it will be tarped up until March 31st].

2. While we are glad we chose winter to go sightseeing due to the excellent weather and lack of crowds (except for New Years Eve and Day which were out of control), it is also the time that many temples choose to do their renovations. Nothing quite like a pneumatic drill to drive home the serenity...

3. ....the new-year break is also the time that a lot of things shutdown (tourist attractions/restaurants/public transport), so Nijo-castle was closed and buses were few and far between...