Biking in Kyoto

Thursday, April 12th, 2012 Today we rented bikes from Kyoto Cycling. We contemplated electric bikes, but then decided on 3-speeds. We took off at 9:30am from the Shijo shopping area (via some serious recycling at the coffee shop), biked a bit east and went down the river, then came out a bit further south and headed east to Southern Higashiyama.

We stopped at Nishiotani shrine for a peak at the temple, but mostly because it had a cool bridge.

Then we went up the hill, through the masses of tourists – pedestrians, cyclists and tour buses, to Kiyomizu-dera (Clearwater Temple) which is a Buddhist temple on a cliff, overlooking Kyoto, and even has a shine for the Lover’s Stone.

I don’t understand why the rocks have aprons on them though but the grounds are beautiful.

And back out through the tourists.

Next we biked through the pedestrian streets and alleyways and came to Yasaka Pagoda or Hokan-ji Temple.

And then to Ryozen Kannōn which is a war memorial commemorating the Japanese who died during World War II. The 24-metre concrete image of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (the Bodhisattva of Mercy) was erected by the late Hirosuke Ishikawa in 1955.

Kodaiji Temple – known for its zen garden, but we didn’t go in.

In Japan, people dress up their dogs and push them around in strollers (or bike baskets) and take pictures of them with different backgrounds. I kind of love it!

Our guidebook says this is 'Kyoto’s most charming laneway'.

Yasaka-jinja Shrine – (also known as Gion Shrine) is one of the most famous shrines in Kyoto. Founded over 1350 years ago, the shrine is located between the Gion and Higashiyama Districts and full of tourists in these areas. The shrine's main hall combines the honden (inner sanctuary) and haiden (offering hall) into a single building. In front of it stands a dance stage with hundreds of lanterns that get lit in the evenings. Each lantern bears the name of a local business in return for a donation.

We had lunch from food vendors (which I thought was strange in a shrine but it flows into the park). Then we wandered into the adjoining park – Maruyama Park.

Maruyama Park – was a BIG hanami (cherry blossom) viewing party. Loads of people out in the sun, picnicking and eating and drinking.

After lunch we rode our bikes through the famous Gion district where it’s known as the geisha area.

During lunch we heard and saw 7 helicopters above us so we knew something was up, but it wasn’t until we were leaving the Gion district and crossing Shijo, that we saw all of the police and taped off areas, flashing emergency lights and traffic diverted that we knew there had been an accident. We biked across Shijo-dori to Tatsumi-bashi bridge which is one of the best spots in Kyoto and filled with tourists, newlyweds getting photographed and cherry blossom viewers.

From here we saw where the car crash ended – the car had slammed into an electrical poll, but what was horrific was the bike wheels, briefcases, shoes and blood left in the trail. We later found out on the news that the driver most likely had an epileptic type seizure and hit a taxi, then ran over 16+ pedestrians, killing 7 plus himself and injuring at least another 8. It was so scary to see the packed tourist area that it happened in and all the left over belongings. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120416004033.htm

From here, we just wanted to get away from cars, so we went to the trail alongside the Kamogawa River and we biked north until we went off of our Kyoto map. It was so pretty – cherry blossoms, the river, the mountains on 3 sides, it was warm and sunny out and everyone was picnicking. Plus the wildlife were out – we saw birds, ducks, even herons and about 7 animals that we think are muscrats.

Finally, we came off the river trail and biked west through the residential neighborhoods of Northern Kyoto and spotted some players from the local Yankee baseball team.

And arrived at the Kinkakuji Temple (aka the Golden Pavillion).

From here, we biked east and south aiming for the Imperial Palace where we biked through the grounds, which were covered in deep gravel so a bit tricky.

We had to return the bikes by 7pm, so we got back to Downtown Kyoto around 6:30pm, dropped off the bikes and walked (which felt so slow now) to dinner at the Yak & Yeti – a Nepalese restaurant for curry. Then after dinner and flipping through a few Nepalese travel books and getting enticed by Nepal, we walked back to our hotel for our final night in Kyoto. And I'm really impressed with how clean and nice and shiny their fire hydrants are.