Kyoto - Kiyomizudera

Next is another round of bus ride. There were so many ppl in the bus, I felt like a sardine fish.

Kiyomizu-dera (音羽山清水寺) http://www.kiyomizudera.or.jp/lang/01.html

Long street of shops leading up to the temple.

Stopped by a cafe for matcha and cake!

The temple is an UNESCO World Heritage site.

This is the Jishu-jinga shrine, dedicated to the god of love and good matches, which is believed to help one find their soul mate. Singles looking for love can walk between 2 prominent love stones placed 6 meters apart with their eyes closed. If the can make the journey successfully alone, they will find their true love. For those that required assistance, they will require and intermediary to help them find their soul mate. When we were there, a French guy did it completely on his own. As for me, I was too chicken to try it out.

This main hall houses the statue of Kanon Bodhisattva, the goddess of mercy.

<3

This is the Otowa-no-taki (waterfall) where 3 channels of water fall into a pond. The water is said to have therapeutic properties....for health, longevity and for studies. UV sterilised cups are available for us to collect the water to be drunk. So high tech~

Everything is seriously very pretty! I think no matter what season you visit the temple, it looks pretty too~

To go back to the station, we had to pass by the row of shops again.

Tried a green tea custard puff from this stall. There were many ppl queuing so we thought that it must be good.

Indeed, it was super yummy~

This is one of the stall's most popular erm.....fried fish cake thing with potato in it

Green tea crepe from a shop that sells traditional sweets~

Some really pretty parfait but no chance to try :(

Fresh senbei (rice cracker)

Yea~~ I'm a happy girl after all that shopping and food!

Kyoto - Tetsugaku no michi and okonomiyaki lunch

Cuzzie's softbank stopped working due to to our fault for wanting to save on Iphone battery and switched off the data plan....hence, resulting in us not having any service. So that morning, I immediately sent an email to my friend to tell him that I will be wearing bright pink shoes and carrying a bright pink bag.....as clues to recognizing me. 

Lol.....It's not that easy to meet people at an unknown place without phone ok. Also because stupid ppl like me never read his email properly to check which exit to meet at, we just simply went out at one exit (which was the wrong exit). 

When we didn't find anyone that looked familiar, I suggested that we move to the other exit. There a small kid (friend's daughter) came up to ask if I'm Melissa. Soo cute~ Lucky his wife and kids found us! At that time, he was looking for us around the station. 

I felt so bad for the trouble I've caused. From Demachiyanagi station we took a bus to another place.....where we walked along the Philosopher's path aka Tetsugaku no michi (哲学の道).

See this cute Kyoto city bus pass, courtesy of my friend. Thanks so much for getting us these passes.

Along the path are a lot of sakura trees, probably the most I've ever seen.

The lovely family who brought us around.

Sakura ice cream anyone? Pretty yummy and slightly salty.

Cute kids~

Everything looks sooo pretty.

The water is so clear.....

Beautiful flower seems to bloom everywhere.....even at the most random places.

Simmered bamboo with konnyaku....probably couldn't find this anywhere else. Interesting~

Traditional sweets~

Stopped by a nearby shrine where we took out omikuji. Mine wasn't so good, so up it goes onto a branch of a tree in the temple grounds.

Lunch at an okonomiyaki place, courtesy of the lovely family again. Yay for japanese hospitality!!

Yakisoba~

I really wanna know what are these called~ Sooo pretty!!