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The Kyoto trip is over, and I'm now back at Hoshien fighting with uncooperative showers as opposed to the instant hot water I'd had for the past two nights. Much as I'm glad to be back in the comfort of my own room, the trip was fantastic! Once again, I took sooo many photos of so many pretty things! (I also spent a lot of money, but that's besides the point.) However, somehow Kyoto seems different from my memories (from at least ten years ago), less pretty, less peaceful...? Maybe it was because of the horrible crowd that thronged the streets, probably people like myself who were taking advantage of the long weekend. Also probably become the place has become more commercialised. Maybe it's also because now that I'm older, I've a different idea of beauty? Or that my child's mind magnified what was there. In any case, different from my memories of not, Kyoto's different from Tokyo, and all its temples were pretty. I've probably had quite an overload of temples over the weekend.
Not only were the 紅葉 and temples pretty, the people were too! There were so many ladies dressed in kimonos, strolling around Kyoto, presumably to look pretty in their traditional attire among the pretty environment, to take loads of pretty pictures.
kyoto tower (kinda like changi airport!) ;p
The grounds were somewhat small, and now that I think about it, rather artificial. The places we could walk were so dictated, the sights were so man-made and seemingly new...? Nevertheless, I still appreciated the kouyou. I love autumn for its colours. :)
i heart japan!
kinkakuji
orange maple leaves
colourful!
inside one of the structures
those are floating leaves or something, not pollution!
fruuuuuuuits
kyoto has the cutest stuff!
one of the views from kiyomizutera
grand, isn't it?
Went to sightsee with a whole bunch of Singaporeans (mostly in the Kyoto/Osaka area) + one American. I don't think I've had such a large Singaporean gathering since I got here! But not everyone had the Singaporean accent. Some were Americanised and didn't retain their singlish roots, yet held on to their TCHS behaviour. ;p The place was pretty, but what I really loved was being able to spend time with one of my bestest friends. Gawd we were hanging out together in Japan, how cool/unbelievable is that?! I missed missed missed the conversation, the easy camaraderie, the... everything! :D I'm so glad I went to Kyoto! The purikura (only 400 yen, yes yes, hahaha) turned out very cute too, I like. 
posing with food (in the background) makes us happy!
arashiyama
picturesque
tired. sian.
ready, get set...
good friends do the darndest things
singaporean, singaporean, singaporean
momiji!
umbrella of maple leaves
"weird friend"
purikura 
<3>
So we left the Kyoto city centre to head for our accommodation area in Nara. I never knew what was in Nara, but I soon realised - DEER! For the first time in my life I saw deer with my own eyes, and not on Animal Planet or anything like that. Doe-eyes. :) I think the Nara transition period was when we fooled around the most, as the pictures will show. I can talk to deer! (Or so it appears)
On a separate note, I decided to go to the common bath area to use the little pool ie onsen-like thingy. I was hoping it would be deserted since it was past 11pm, but to my horror there were about 5 obasans inside. So I gathered my courage around me like an armour, while my actual clothes were peeled off and dumped onto the shelf. I suppose since they were strangers and would never see me again, it didn't matter if they saw me naked. And at least there was no young lady with a hot bod to make me feel inferior, hahaha.
hiding in the futon cupboard ;p
tie1 qiang2!
big head. (actually i was wondering how people hid under such tiny tables in times of earthquakes)
deer: "what are those stupid people doing?!"
my current favourite stupid pose
*attempts jump shot* i look like a freaking bird flapping!
some deer, you have to go to them to feed them...
other deer, they come to you..
... AND THEY BOCHUP YOU WHEN THE FOOD'S GONE! ATTITUDE!
On Shuying's recommendation (and I remembered the pretty pictures she took that I saw), we headed to this less popular area for a look. One good thing is that it was free (my pockets heaved a sigh of relief), the next was that it looked good. Then again, I didn't think that anything in Kyoto didn't look good, judging by the number of things that I bought.
look at how pretty the train is
big big
omikuji. you shake it to get your fortune
reminded me of the great wall of china
yuubinkyoku!
On our last spurt of energy (and it was really tiring, not to mention painful on the shoulder, to lug all our barang barang around because there was no locker available!), we returned to Ginkakuji since Lissa recommended it, and I wanted to see it for myself. After we went in, and had it take our breaths away, and took a couple of photos, I asked, "Where's the ginkakuji (silver temple when translated, maybe?)" Wh points, and what I saw (and took pictures of, without knowing what it was), was nothing short of surprising. Here it is:
ginkakuji (it should really be KIkakuji)
the stupid pose again!
an awesome ending to the trip