Big in Japan 2005 - Day 3
The morning begins with the Kiyomizu temple. This ancient temple was built without any modern connectors like nails/bolts. How are the structure supported you might ask? If you look closely at the beams supporting the temple, you can see protruding logs. Holes are punctured through the larger supporting logs with the smaller logs connecting through the holes, thereby creating a stable joint system and thus stabilising the entire structure. Primitive but it serves its function after all these years. We were lucky enough to see a little redding of the maple leaves in this area. In this temple there is an area where you will see hoards of people queuing up to drink from 3 streams of spring water. The 3 streams are supposed to bless the drinker good results, loveship and longetivity respectively from the left. The spring water is extremely refreshing.
Walking downhill from the temple, we were greeted with rows of shops. These shops by far sell the cheapest local produce. For example, you can get a Japanese doll for 1050 yen, a Japanese fan for 1000 yen, etc. Similar japanese doll in glass frame would cost S$200-S$300 elsewhere. Further down the street, you get to purchase an one of a kind doufu ice-cream. As for the taste, imagine 'dou hua' in ice-cream form.
I still prefer 'dou hua' in its original form.

Next we visited the Nishijin textile centre in Kyoto. This place produces material for making kimono. For the benefit of the clueless, a Kimono is the traditional costume for Japanese, just like Qi-Pao for the Chinese. It is not cheap and can easily cost up to a Toyota car as we were told. That is why modern japanese woman prefer Toyota car and you seldom see their womanfolk dressed in kimono. Afterwhich, we were presented by a kimono show which displays the various beautiful kimono design the shop has to offer.

On our way to Heian Shrine. Our coach picked up a a 19 year old Geisha. Geisha is a highly regarded profession in Japan. In fact, there is an association that govern Geishas. The prerequisite of a Geisha is intelligence. At young age, they are required to go through tough training in many areas such as dancing, musical instruments while juggling with their studies at the same time. Note thatGeisha do not perform 'extra' services other than pure entertainment required of them. Any Geisha who broke the rules will be banned from being one for the rest of her life. We were told by our guide that by preparing herself for us (photo-taking session), it took her more than 1.5 hours! Here is a photo of us with her. It is very rare for the Japanese to see a Geisha on the street, and that explains why a lot of other people on the streets were chasing after our exquisite guest for a photoshoot.

Our next destination is the shrine behind us in the photo, and that is the Heian Shrine. All shrines have a 'Touji' leading to it at one end of the street, which is shaped like a 'Kai' chinese character. It represents a unison of the heaven and Earth. Shrines are built to commemorate and pray to almost anyone/anything. This Shrine is a popular venue for the 753 ceremony. For young girls at age of 3 and 7, it is always good fortune for them to visit such Shrines to be blessed. Young boys only need to visit once when they hit 5. This day we were lucky to see one 'kawai' boy.
Next we were brought to take the infamous 'Shinkansen', otherwise known as the bullet train. It can travel up to 240-270 km/hr. While we travelled for 15 mins for 1 stop, our coach need 1 hour to reach our destination.

We were then brought to the'onsen' hotel with the hot spring facility. This was a bonus to us as this was not part of our itinenary. On-sen otherwise known as hot spring bath is a common open bathing area. It is believed to provide beneficial effects for the body depending on its source. (This particular one has its water pumped from 1200m below the sea and boost better complexion when dipped in it). We need to strip to our bare before entering the pool and come face to face with strangers/fellow tour members. Of course man and woman has separate onsen, so guys off with your naughty thoughts. We put on our 'yukatas' (available in all the hotels of Japan) and proceeded to the pool during the 'quieter' hours. Remember its time to get out of the pool (about 10 min) when you start to sweat or you may risk side-effects of over-cooking yourself in hot water. Onsen is not suitable for people with high blood, pregnant, etc. We had a very good sleep this night due to the relaxing dip we had.