Day 8 - Kyoto

We survived another day in Japan! Today we actually did a taxi tour. You have a guide that plans out your day with you and takes you to all the spots you want to see and they hire a taxi to drive you everywhere. They use the same company/drivers for these tours but it was nice to be driven everywhere. Kyoto is spread out too much that you couldn't walk and they have a bus system but that too would be too much of a hassle. It worked out great for us today. We still walked a ton because it was an 8 hour tour! Our guide was the best guide we have had, she spoke great English and did a great job with the tour. Didn't go over board on shopping or anything, was just right for us. Our driver was great too, he is a huge Elvis fan and had been to the US over 25 times. We think he had to be in business and traveled. He was older and this was his part time job he said. Both were very nice and accommodating. We saw more temples and shrines - all are unique in their own way. Ill explain more in the photos below. Weather today was humid, humid, humid like I have never felt before. Oh it was so bad - thank goodness for the car rides between places to cool off for a bit.

Tomorrow morning, Friday, we head to Hong Kong. There is a typhoon coming in late tonight and into tomorrow so we are a little concerned. When typhoons come in, they close schools and stock market and such. We will have to make the best of it!

Km walked: 20.86

 This was our taxi :) They drive on opposite side of car and road. They had seat covers that were like lace over all the seats. The driver was dressed very nicely and wore white gloves the whole time.

 First temple we saw this morning. Hair was put up literally 2 seconds after this photo was taken. She took tons of photos of us and said she would send them to us?!? She took them with her phone - we shall see.

 There were tunnels of these wooden gates throughout this temple. They are donated by families or companies in the hope to bring them good luck.

 Japanese garden/pond.

 Bamboo grove forest.

 The lighter bamboo here is new growth. The darker ones are older trees. Bamboo will grow a meter a day. Crazy!

 Rock garden. This was one of my favorite things we did today. You have to take off your shoes to go into the garden area. They have 15 rocks placed in the garden. From any point you sit, you cannot see all 15 rocks. That is part of the zen.

 Rocks in the zen garden.

 Most beautiful temple. It is gold foil on the outside - how beautiful is this photo!!!

 Another view.

 This is a shrine. Notice the incense - this is a common thing to have at a temple/shrine.

 Our taxi :)

 This is actually a castle - couldn't take photos inside. But this is where they would perform ceremonies.

 Outside of Gion - a district in Kyoto.

 Gion is a place where Geisha are commonly seen and we saw one!!! She was a younger Geisha in training. But a small shopping area otherwise.

 Last temple we went to for the day. Lots of school kids and people.

View from the top of the stairs in above photo. You had to climb many stairs to get to the top of this hill where the temple was. You then walked down through shops.