UNESCO Sites in Northern Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

Today is reserved for visiting three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the northern area of Kyoto City. I start my day as early as I can. As usual.

I sit on the back of the bus and observe people of all ages pile in, get off, pile in. Soon all the seats on the bus are taken. An old lady gets on and proceeds to the front, but there aren't any vacant seats. The highschool kid sitting in front of me gets up and goes to the lady to offer her his seat. Ah, what a polite kid!

I get off at the stop for Ginkakuji and the kid with his three friends get off too. The kid goes 'ohayo gozaimasu' (good morning) to everyone he meets. He stops and says 'sumimasen' (excuse me) before asking a road worker for directions. He is mindful of the people around him, moving out of the way and telling his friends to move out of the way too to let people pass; 'gomenasai' (sorry) after taking pictures and noticing that everyone had stopped so as not to be in his photos. All this politeness displayed on the short walk to Ginakakuji. I silently applaud his parents for raising such a good kid!

Kinkakuji or Golden Pavilion is all gold. I know. I had seen it with my own eyes last year. Did I then expect a temple called Ginkakuji or Silver Pavilion to be all silver? I wish it were so. But silver it is only in name. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).