Gion attracts tourists with its high concentration of traditional wooden machiya merchant houses. Due to the fact that property taxes were formerly based upon street frontage, the houses were built with narrow facades only five to six meters wide, but extend up to twenty meters in from the street.
Its definitely a must go place in Kyoto.
Tourists crowd the narrow streets below Kiyomizu-dera Temple in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto
Autumn was telling us to have this famous ice cream made of soya bean here,...
Even thou the weather was cold, we were determined to try it.
I couldn't resist tasting it before taking this picture.
Souvenir Stores
The good thing about Japan is that maps are always available at tourist spots. We just have to followed the directions.
Along the way, we saw really nice traditional houses...
We passed by this Kimono & Yukata rental house.
Friendly trishaw man, its ard SGD50 for a ride round the streets..but fair enough, these guys are going up-slopes most of the time..
Everyone was in Yukata...and we knew that we were getting nearer to Gion!
These 2 girls are exchanged students who speaks fluent english..
I like this pic alot, candid shot.
An Obassan offered his help to take a picture for the 2 of them!
And finally we knew we have arrived in the land of Geisha! These 2 are real Geisha posing for a photographer.
Negotiating prices here!
More and more Geisha wanabe appears...these are mainly locals who dressed up as a Geisha..
This Family was receiving lots of attention!
And of cos, from "SUA KU" like me...i kept following them..haha
So how do you differentiate a real and fake Geisha? Make them smile...the few real Geisha i saw, has really bad teeth...dark, yellowish, which i guessed was caused by heavy smoking. They seldom walk around in the streets during day time and often they have someone to follow them or to bring them around.
Finally, we reached the garden of Gion..It has one of the best scenic here that stops everyone from leaving...
Gion is full of shrines and temples and we found another shrine here...
Yasaka Shrine along our way out of Gion.
Yasaka 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 popular Gion District and Higashiyama District, and is often visited by tourists walking between the two districts.
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.
Its famous for its "Ring the bell" and make a wish prayers here...
First step, u throw the coin into the well, 2nd step u ring the bell, and u bow thrice...follow by the hand clapping...
And since everyone was doing it, we decided to do the same thing..but despite rehearsing for awhile, we still got it all wrong. Fion threw the coin as if she was in some competition..it flew over the well...
I thought i did almost everything correct..till we realised....we didnt ring the bell at ALL! Okay that was embarrassing...
Little Geisha dressed for the event...she was so tiny that the hair keep falling off her head while climbing the stairs...
Isn't Gion Beautiful? I will definitely visit this place again if i had the chance!
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