Vignettes of the World
My Travel Journal
The very last sightseeing on my first day in Arashiyama was the Nonomiya Shrine. The Nonomiya-jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine. Because of its nature as a native faith in Japan, it differs quite significantly from the elaborate temples of Arashiyama, both in terms of …
The grilled eel of Japan is likely the most suitable first course of introduction in Japanese food for those who are not accustomed to eating raw fish. “Unagi’ is the Japanese name for freshwater eel. “Anago” is also eel, but it refers to sea eel. …
Perhaps the way that I toured Arashiyama did not comport with the spirit of Zen. By this time, at around noon or so, I had toured the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple, the Okochi-Sanso Villa and the Jojakko-ji Temple. Then I was rushing to Nison-in …
After touring the Okochi-Sanso Villa, I made my way to the Jojakko-ji Temple, also in the vicinity. In terms of natural environ, the Jojakko-ji Temple brings to the large selection of temple visits in Arashiyama another kind of aura. The red foliage at Jojakko-ji Temple …
Along the theme of autumn foliage, I visited the Xianhu Botanical Park in Shenzhen a couple days ago. The day of visit is January 16, 2025. There is an admission fee of RMB 15 yuan for entrance between 8:00am and 6:00pm. The park is open …
The bloggers and photographers in Hong Kong have been raving about the red foliage that has lined up the public parks in Shenzhen. I jumped on the bandwagon and visited two parks. I first visited the Sihai Park in Shekou, then headed over to the …
I had limited time in the day. My reserved table at the Unagiya Hirokawa Restaurant would be up at 2pm, and I spent too much time at the bamboo grove. After some debate, I decided that I would see the Okochi-Sanso Villa, despite initial doubts. …
If you have only limited time in Arashiyama, I highly recommend three sites to visit: the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple and the Okochi-Sanso Villa. After walking the bamboo grove, I entered the Tenryu-ji Temple via the North Gate. One dominant theme of the temples …
In my original planning, I envisioned spending one full day in Arashiyama’s most famous sites, including the bamboo grove, the Tenryu-ji Temple, Jojakko-ji Temple, Nison-in Temple and the Okochi-Sanso Villa. Those I have done on the first day indeed (and more). As it turned out, …
From the Kiyomizu-dera Temple I headed toward the direction of the Yasaka-jinja Shrine. I was quite tired, as in this day I have visited the Nijo Castle and have had to bear the cold at the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. I pressed on, however, as I wanted …