Single girls temple (sorry, sorry, it’s known for much more than that)

So the last place we were recommended to go by Marichan was known for having 2 boulders placed 9 m away from each other. If you could walk from one to the other without looking then you would have good luck in love along the way. Being single girls, me and Ming wondered if happily married Marichan had sent us there for a purpose…

We checked out of the ryokan that morning, leaving our bags there and purchased a day pass for the day. It was a good thing as I think we hopped on and off a few buses and went the wrong way around etc. We spent a little time in Gion (where you may be able to spot a Geisha, but we didn’t) waiting for another bus. It seemed like a pretty interesting place, and downtown Kyoto looked like a great place to shop as we passed it by bus.

Eventually we made it to the temple, Kiyomizu-dera. It was interesting, as it seemed to be a complex and made up of different areas and shrines as you went through it. It was a sunny, hot day, and there were a lot of tourists about, too. The first area we checked out was a place where you paid to go into a basement. It was in the dark, no lights, and you followed a thick rope handle around with your left hand. Apparently there was a statue of the Buddha down here, that we couldn’t see. After stopping and starting, bumbling into a stranger (Mingaling just kept bumbling into me) we got to a large stone boulder which had an inscription on it, and it was lit with light from above. You turned the stone with your hand and were supposed to make a wish, or pray. It was a bit odd.

Next we went further up the hill, it has some good views of Kyoto, but it was a bit glarey, and there was a lot of scaffolding, so not that great photos. We could look down on another part of the temple where some holy spring water was flowing and a long row of people were lined up to be able to drink some for good health. But the next stop for us was up near where there were a lot of smaller shrines and the infamous boulders.

Let’s just say I won’t be having luck in love for a long time. Then Mingaling and I got our fortunes, and mine was a little bit bad again (Mingaling’s was a little bit good)! It was not my day! So I tied it to a pole to let the bad luck flow away and offered some coins to the various shrines around. There were a lot of them, and they were all quite cool.

We went further round and had some more good views and some more areas to offer and pray. After all the heat, Mingaling and I decided to forgoe the holy spring water and just head home. But along the hill, one of the little tea/rest stops caught our eye (plus my feet were killing me again) and we sat amongst the trees, with a lovely breeze drinking a delicious homemade ginger ale drink. The drink was weird, in that it was really sweet and not fizzy, I’ve never had anything like it, but it was so good.

After getting back to the Ryokan we grabbed our bags and we got a cab for the train and away we went looking for Osaka!