Kiyomizu-dera

After our quick tour of Seoul, it was back to Japan. But not back to school! Oh, no- I used some vacation time to pad out a Nat'l holiday. We were on the go for a good week. First up: Kyoto

We hit the Toji Flea Market and bought some fun stuff. Gorged on food stalls- mmm! Then we met up with Julius, who was joining us for the next few days.

Off we went to Kiyomizu-dera, one of the finalists for the "New Seven Wonders." Kiyomizu-dera collects a main temple with several smaller shrines. The main temple has a very sheer drop, which affords a nice view. The Japanese equivalent of "To take the plunge" is "to jump off Kiyomizu-dera's stage." And yes, people actually used to jump off it. If you survived, your wish would come true.



The main attraction is three channels of water. Visitors use a long-handled ladle to drink from one of the streams; love, health, or wealth. But the guide lady insisted all the waters were the same! As we each chose a different stream, we're hoping we're covered.

And one of the best parts of our Kyoto day-- maiko! Maiko are apprentice geisha, and wear flashier kimono, and are paraded around for special events. Hooray for the Nat'l holiday! Even with the ridiculous crowds, I was so happy to finally see the expected, yet elusive, maiko.