kinkakuji temple

as i've said in my previous post, we decided to visit kinkakuji after finishing all that walk in arashiyama area. husband decided to take taxi because he was enough of walking. anyway, there are several temples near kinkakuji, but the biggest one is definitely kinkakuji. the other one that's pretty famous is ryoanji and it was the first one that we passed by from arashiyama. we arrived there around lunch area, but the restaurants around there were not open yet, so we decided to go to kinkakuji first then lunch later. if you're curious about kinkakuji, you can read some description here.

main gate

warehouse

it was noon, so it was hot and the sun was scorching hot, but not as hot as here though.. but that was probably the hottest during our trip. so when you arrived there, there was this one big road toward a gate. there was another road on your right that you could see people flooding out from that road. we were confused which way to go since that road was very crowded, but later we found out that it was the exit road. so.. keep going straight.

wish i took different angle, because the stone formation at the back was supposed to be stones surrounding ashihara island

kinkakuji

see.. i could take decent picture

and another one

it had opening hours and the admission fee for adult is 400 yen. after paying the admission fee, you would face a straight road in front of you and everyone was going the same way. then there was this officer that told you to go to your left. that's not the right way. apparently, they told you to go to the left because it would led you to the photospot. you could take picture in front of the kinkakuji. but it was very crowded that day. it was hard to get decent photograph without anyone photobombing yours. but since i decided to wait the other family to take their pictures, somehow the other person behind me decided to wait for me too. so i got my pictures okay.

other side of kinkakuji

the pond surrounding kinkakuji

then you would go back to the original road and going straight from where you entrance, which means you should take another left from the photospot area. from there, you can only walk straight. it was a one-way road, so somehow i felt like being herded like herd animal. a bunch of people going the same way.. anyway.. the ground was not super flat, but it would inclined and down in some spot. there were no stairs, but there were only couple benches there. so if you brought little kids or baby, a carrier was a good option since it was too crowded to use stroller. plus the ground was a bit bumpy and rocky for a stroller. for older people, they could walk slower, but they would have to wait halfway until there was a place to take some rest.

longmen waterfall

mound of white snake

yasuminsawa

they handed a little information booklet at the entrance, but i forgot to take the picture of it (if you want to check the map online, you can visit their official website here). it had the map of the whole area but the number was too small. and the distance from one object to the next one was pretty close. let's just say that it was confusing. basically, the main attraction was the golden temple at front which was located in the middle of a pond. there was a man-made small island in the pond. then when you started your walk, there were several objects that you should make stop at and take a closer look. but sometimes it was just a stone tomb or a small waterfall. there was another small shrine on a small island in another small pond, and then a few building. i didn't read the map at that time since it was too hot and it was very crowded, so walking and reading was not easy. so we decided just walk. at the last building, they said it was a teahouse, but i doubt that it was open for public. after that tea house, there was another big building and then you would come to a souvenir selling area. there were several tents that sells sweets, or area specialty. you could try the sample and buy it as gifts for people at home. but it was very traditional that we didn't even sure that it was, so we didn't try or buy any. and then you would walk down the stairs to the T-junction that i mentioned earlier, and it was the end of the journey.

fudodo at the back
when you saw that, then it meant that you're near the end of your trip

it was pretty fast if you didn't stop at every objects. and even faster if you didn't take any stops as well. the walk was okay, even for older people, but the lack of bench made me wonder whether or not they would be comfortable three quarters of the way until there were some bench. and then the downward stairs. it was quite a long stairs, though the steps were not too high. but again, if they had some knee problem, then stairs would be a difficult task. anyway, it only took us about 30-45 minutes then we got out of there getting our lunch.