JAPAN 2003 - KYOTO

	Kyoto was the old capital of Japan and has heaps of castles, shrines and all sorts of old stuff. its really quite overwhelming, and beautiful. i'm not joking, despite the look on my face!
	These two photos were taken at the Sanju-Sagen-Do temple, which is registered as a national treasure. It was established in 1164, but was destroyed in a fire and the current structure (pictured) was rebuilt in 1266.
	You couldn't take photos inside the temple, so i took photos of the brochure! These are the 1001 statues of the Buddhist diety 'Kannon'. There are also scupltures of the lesser gods.
	The central, larger statue of 'Kannon'. Each of the 1001 statues is differentThey are made of cypress. 124 of them were made in the 12th century with the rest being completed in the 13th when the temple was renovated.
	The Golden Pavillion at the Rokuon-Ji Temple. The second and third floors are coverd in gold-leaf and a Japanese Phoenix sits on the top of the roof.
	I think this is the Nijo Castle. After two days of castles and shrines, I'd kinda lost track. Ben and had to go to the Art of Star Wars exibition on the last day just to clear out minds.
	Ryoanji Temple. The inscription on the wash-basin of stone called 'Tsukubai' says "I learn only to be contented."
	The Ryoanji Temple also houses this famous rock garden, constructed in the 16th century. We seriously spent 2 days staring at those 15, carefull positioned rocks. Ben reckons he discovered the meaning of life from intense concentration, but the prick won't let us in on the secret. He says it's actually a bit of a let-down.
	One of the small shrines we found while walking toward Gion in the back alleys of Kyoto.
	We arrived in Kyoto during a special festival so there were performances and celebrations going on in the traditional parts of Gion. A cool old lady got us some free sake (rice wine) too and we had great Korean bbq then got drunk in an amazing little bar which was run by this funny guy who'd spent some time in Adelaide so spoke reasonable english. We also went to another bar with an interior like a mud house or underground cave. They had cushions on the floor to sat on and served Indonesian food.
	This is the Gion Ten Ten restaurant, located just behind where the performances above were taking place. We couldn't get in on the night of the celebrations, but went back for lunch on our last day.
	This is our cheerful waiter at Ten Ten. He didn't understand anything we said, but somehow we managed to order heaps of great food. If you go to Kyoto, look this place up.
	Another meal we had in Kyoto at a little restaurant which took us hours to get to. The food was amazing.
	While in Kyoto Ben chooses to drink the lemon flavoured energy drink Aquarius, produced by the good people at Coca Cola. I on the other hand prefer Qoo which tastes a lot like lemon cheesecake.

Next stop, CRAZY JAPAN >>>>>