Kyoto
[ kyoto station, this place is huge and looks like an airport but its just for trains ]
[ houses and stores near the ryokan, hotel, we stayed at ]
[ on the way to kiyomizu dera temple ]
[ it became increasingly populated with jr. high school kids. kyoto is a popular class trip to take. these kids can be seen in there uniforms listening to there sensei explain the significants of things ]
[ kiyomizudera temple complex, kiyomizu means clear water ]
[ the first structure you pass, this thing is amazingly brightly painted, i love that orange-red color ]
[ the temple is in the mountains that border the city, giving you a great view overlooking kyoto ]
[ all of these temples are built with absolutely no pins, screws, or nails. only wooden overlapping posts ]
[ they paint eventually wears off and is then re-painted, this one looks like its on its way ]
[ notice the sensei leading his students, on the left ]
[ this water is supposed to be poured over you hands to purify you before entering a temple ]
[ this temple is essential built on a cliff and has been standing for over 1000 years ]
[ look at the detail painted in these buildings ]
[ shoes must be taken off before entering any temple buildings ]
[ this is why the temple is called clear water, the temple started here when a priest found this pure water source coming from the mountains. people line up to drink some of water coming out of the 3 spouts ]
[ on the way to next temple we saw a guy with one those traditional carriage things ]
[ enterance to shrine ]
[ the big buddha looking thru the gate, they were closed ]
[ these type of paths can be seen everywhere in kyoto ]
[ this temple had an amazing little garden ]
[ this place also had several old japanese house, this one was a two story thatch roof ]
[ it also had a bamboo forest ]
[ lots of short doorways, that "doc brown" guy is one of our tour guides/teachers from temple ]
[ a common kyoto dessert, macha gelatin, mochi, anko red beans, in a macha syrup. this looks wierd but is VERY good ]
[ just right outside of the temple ]
[ part of the crazy $30 vegetarian meal we had at a buddhist temple resturant, the stuff in the picture is mostly tofu ]
[ the zen temples and gardens were proabably my favorite, this is a zen rock garden ]
[ this is probably the most famous zen garden, the ryoanji temple, this was just one of the structures in this complex, many zen temples are huge with all kinds of nature trails and other things ]
[ this was a bridge that went out to a small island in a lake in the center of the whole complex ]
[ dinner at the ryokan ]
[ bathroom slippers, oh and by the way japanese style toliets are stupid ]
[ wash bins for everyone to use ]
[ breakfast at the ryokan ]
[ another temple, the guy seen in the picture is a monk ]
[ this area had several houses of old zen masters ]
[ the buildings were extremely clean and very empty ]
[ those houses were surrounded by many peaceful contemplative gardens, i wouldnt mind living here ]
[ this is another temple, it was called sanjusangen-do. it's hall has 1001 buddha statues. i wouldve taken pictures inside but were werent allowed to, as is the case in many temples ]
the kyoto trip was awesome, but it went so fast. i could easily spend an entire day a just one of those zen temples.