Kiyomizu-Dera Temple (Pure Water Shrine)

Bright and early Saturday morning we left for the Buddhist Pure Water Shrine on Mt. Otowa.  We had to park towards the bottom of a hill and then hike up to the temple's location.  We saw this guy setting up the lanterns on the outside of this restaurant:

This gate is called the Niomon and holds 2 diva kings:

This is called the Sanjunoto (3 storied pagoda):

Michael in front of another beautiful structure:

Looking up at the pagoda from the ground level:

Before you go in to the shrine you have to cleanse yourself - you pour the water over your left hand, then the right hand, and then you swish the water in your mouth and spit it into the basin.

This is one of the more intricate stone basins that we saw.  It was a combination of a whole bunch of animals (i.e. alligator, eagle, deer, snake, etc) that they believe Gods take the form of:

One of the shrines in the Hondo (main sanctuary):

You put your money in, grasped the hands and said a prayer:

This little girl was on the tour with us - she liked to pose for pictures after ringing the bell:

An area leading up to more shrines:

The view looking out from the balcony:

This is the fertility pagoda:

Another view of the city:

Looking down at the otowa no taki (water falls):

You head down the stone steps on the Eastern side of the Hondo and you come to the water falls widely known as the otowa no taki of pure water - which has been streaming down the mountain incessantly for thousands of years.  The name of the temple "Kiyomizu" literally means "pure water".

The fertility pagoda:

At each shrine people will place rocks as a symbol of their faith:

The fox has a significant history in the Japanese faith:

Michael drinking the pure water:

Me drinking the pure water:

Do I look Japanese!?

The shops along the road on the way down:

I liked this little old man cleaning the street:

We aren't even done with Saturday morning yet...

Kyoto - Day 1

This is going to take forever!  Kyoto was an UNBELIEVABLE experience!  We saw so much in 4 days that we need a serious vacation now.  If you ever have the chance, we highly recommend visiting this city and seeing the history and beauty it has to offer.  Let's begin...

We took the train quite a bit.  The first time though, we broke the machine :)  Not really - but we aren't sure why the employee came out and handed us our 1,000 yen back and told us to use a different machine.

Here is a picture of where you buy your ticket:

Going through the gates:

Can you tell we're from small towns that don't have subways!?

As soon as you stepped out from the train station, this is what you saw:

Our tour guide took us down the street about a mile, turned down another street and this is what you saw:

Tea houses!  This is Gion Corner - where all the Maiko-san's work (i.e. Geisha's) - Here is one cleaning the doorway :)

Doesn't it look familiar - maybe you saw it in a movie somewhere....like "Memoirs of a Geisha"??  You did!

This is one of four "schools" that train Geishas (each has their own distinct lantern).  More to come from here though, we went and saw a Maiko-san show on our last night:

They are serious about keeping this area beautiful!

This tea house is used for important events:

After Gion Corner we headed to the Maiko-san shrine.  You can see some geisha's headed up the steps.  The official title of the shrine is Chugenji Temple:

I thought this was funny - it is a shrine to pray that you don't get VD :)

Our tour guide was amazing!  She loves Kyoto so much - she was praying to find a sugar daddy so she could move to Kyoto from Okinawa.  You would throw your money in, ring the big bell and then pray.

Each of these lanterns has a maiko-san's name on it:

There was a pretty pond to meditate at:

Afterwards we started back towards the train.  Notice the lanterns are the same ones as the school on Gion Corner?

This is a Kabuki theater - Japanese old style comedy:

This is a statue of the lady credited with founding the Kabuki style comedy - her name is unknown:

We saw geisha's heading to work!

As the sunset on our first day  we could only just stop and stare at this beautiful city:

We ate at a sushi restaurant and found a really good beer - hopefully they carry it in Okinawa!

Get comfy...lots more pictures to come :)

Preparing for Kyoto -

I gots me some hot pink toes for our trip to Kyoto this weekend!  I'll hopefully have some cool pics when we get back next week :)  Happy Labor Day!

Happy 28th Birthday Michael!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I made Michael a mint chocolate chip ice-cream cake for his special day:

Michael cut the cake b/c it was REALLY frozen:

Yumm!  Sugary deliciousness:

It was a better birthday than last year - we actually have friends and are settled in over here!

White Beach

We went to White Beach on the Eastern side of the island to help celebrate our friend Craig's birthday.  It was beautiful!  There were huge hermit crabs that came out from under our cabin that the kids loved to play with (and I was fascinated with too):

Craig blowing out the candles on his cake:

The next day we walked out to a little island when the tide was out.  There were great little shells that we found and jelly fish that had washed ashore:

Craig cooling down in the water and his wife Max hunting shells:

Craig found this contraption of sorts on the island so he and Michael hiked it back up to the cabin.  We're still not sure what it really is - here is some of the guys "examining" it:

A great sunset from our patio:

Michael completely indulging me by cooking s'mores the second night :)

Toes

My newest toes - they are a really sparkly pinkish/purple:

Snorkeling at the Keramas

We took a day trip out to the Kerama Islands on Saturday to snorkel.  It was a beautiful island but I guess the Japanese tourists have been feeding the fish b/c I got bit!  The little booger actually broke skin on the back of my leg.  The fish kept following us around too - looking for food.   It was a very relaxing day with no technology to bug us!

Michael after we ate our bentos for lunch: