Chasing Sakura Day 1 - Kyoto Station / Yasaka Shrine & Maruyama Park

Assalamualaikum. Konnichiwa.

Kelmarin (Fri), Sabah cuti. Lepas tu pagi tadi lupa rupanya aku bekerja hari ni. Perangai! Bangun sepantas kilat...siap mandi terus zoom. Sampai cafe, baru perasan lengan aku masih ada kesan tilam. Aigoo orang yang tengok mesti sangsi aku ni mandi ka tidak. 

Dan kerana kelmarin adalah cuti, ndak ramai student datang cafe. Which means aku boleh senang lenang lepak ofis. Gitu kan perangai orang makan gaji buta. Aku ingat hari ni adalah Sunday wei! Pasal tu lah mood kerja semua ke laut. Untuk ndak buang free time yang ada, aku sambung entry of my recent trip to Japan.

4 April 2014
Kyoto Station

Sampai jak Kyoto Station, terus cari signage Locker Room. There are lockers scattered around the station especially near the platform but we opted to keep our luggages in the locker room. Situated 1 level below the main entrance. Sini ada locker yang besar, 2 orang badan saiz aku pun muat. 

Each locker cost between ¥500 to ¥700.And ur storage time has no limit. Simpanlah berapa hari pun, the rate tetap tu juga. It's quite a bargain I would say. Like, hello! Tinggal bag di KL Sentral pun ikut jam ok. 

Next, menapak naik cari Kyoto Tourist Information Center. It is located on the 2F of the building. Naik escalator dari main entrance to 2F, passed by Mister Donut on the left. Then turn left. Center ni sebaris sama I-Setan. Do not get confused of the Building Info Center with the Tourist Center. 

Sebenarnya aku sudah tau, the Day Pass for Raku Bus can be bought at the vending machine near the bus stop or from the bus driver. Thanks Mun for the info. Tapi saja gatal mau singgah info center. Kunun untuk kutip Kyoto map & brochure berkaitan. Sengaja mau tambah kesemakan beg, kan. 

I bought the One Day City Bus + Kyoto Bus Card. We wouldn't be taking any subway train in Kyoto that day. Lagipun plan lepas menjelajah area Gion adalah terus balik hostel di Osaka. Bus fare in Kyoto has gone up. The new fare is ¥230 per ride. Hence the reason why I opted for the day pass. Even naik 2x kali pun sudah dapat cover the pass' price.

Outside Kyoto Station.

Waiting for the bus is nothing to me. Seriously, queue lah panjang mana, I pay no mind. Kalau in rush, boleh jak naik teksi kan. BUT! Waiting in a strong wind? That's everything; at least to me. Jangan lupa aku hanya bercardigan wei. Angin pula sekali bertiup, memang macam penampar hinggap di pipi. 

Destinasi first adalah Yasaka Shrine. 

According to the time table which I got when I purchased the Day Pass, we shall take the bus #100 & alighted at Gion-shijo stop. Dijadikan cerita, memang ramai orang lah pula queued untuk bas ni. We only managed to hop on lepas 2x tengok bas tu berlalu pergi sebab penuh. 

It doesn't take long to reach the stop from Kyoto Station. But the traffic & people hopping off/hopping on the bus that made the journey a bit long. We don't feel being sardine-d as we got to sit. 

The bus dropped us somewhere opposite the entrance to the shrine. Turun bas jak terus nampak view di atas. Thanks to orangkuning in googlemap, I could easily recognized the street. 

Before sampai, kena lalu few of these. Gerai jual variety of things. Masa ni juga suddenly angin bersepoi datang. Teruslah aku hilang mood untuk intai apa yang diorang jual. 

Upon nearly approaching the main site, nampaklah benda alah ni. I don't read any Japanese writing nor can I guess what are they. But looking at the piece of wood with writings on it, I assumed its some form of a wishing block. Like the tiles of roof I saw in Bulguksa Temple, South Korea. 

People buy the block (and chose shape they favored) & wrote prayers/wishes/hopes/messages on it. 

The same concept applies with this. Maybe yang ni slightly cheaper than the piece of wood. Tulis their prayers; then lipat & later gantung di tempat yang disediakan.

Masa sampai sini, nampak ramai orang berkumpul. Semua pun facing the main stage. Ada ramai staffs (pakaian ala polis gitu) pun sibuk atur orang ramai ni. Supaya jangan cross some paths. Nampak benda gini, kami jadi curious. Mau lah tau apa kejadian. Niat hati untuk tanya the local tapi terpaksa dimatikan sebab aku takut bahasa kucing kambing keluar. And so we waited. Tourist lain pun macam kami, curious. 

The main stage.

Bila muncul 3 perempuan (right side) tu di bawah stage, orang semua sibuk klik kamera. Yang kami bersoalan. Itu perempuan or lelaki yang dikasi pakai bedak tepung. Sebab memang putih gila muka diorang. Sadly, no one answered our question. 

Not long after the ladies got up at the stage, muncul lah 2 lelaki tu pula. Suasana bawah stage jadi kecoh balik. Again, orang pun sibuk ambil gambar. Kami? Masih terpinga, soal jawab sesama sendiri "Wei ni event apa??" Then the bodyguards (left side) yang iring lelaki ni bercakap ala menjerit gitu. Garau kau suara. It's like diorang mau inform kedatangan the guys; to the ladies on stage. Then those guys naik atas, orang ramai tepuk tangan. Some bersorak. Kami joined juga. Sibuk! Lepas bow hormat kiri kanan depan belakang stage, these 2 guys pun mula menari ala macam tengah bergaduh. Less than 10 minutes, the show ended. 

Semua orang tepuk tangan, those on stage pun turun. Then semua pun bersurai. Sambung balik aktiviti wow sama sakura.

Keluar dari Yasaka Shrine ikut pintu lain. Teruslah nampak sakura pink ni. Merimbun depan this one coffee shop. Siap ada keratan akhbar depan kedai. Ouh rupanya pokok ni memang famous among local & tourist. Every spring season, dia berbunga lebat macam tu. Lucky the owner!

Jalan ke belakang Yasaka Shrine, maka akan jumpa Maruyama Park. Actually plan asal aku untuk pigi park ni di kala malam. Sebab based on reviews, this park sangat lawa with all the lighting etc etc during the night. 

Tapi sebab si Err pakai ndak cukup tebal, risau kalau exposed sama angin for too long...nanti demam or worst; penyakit lain datang. Jadi aku cancel sendiri plan ni. Ahli rombongan ndak tau pun details planning. Diorang just mau tau, ke mana hala tuju lepas tu. 

Kami sampai sudah habis lunch hour so terlepas peluang untuk tengok the locals ber-hanami. Cuma ada few family yang masih lepak menikmati makanan. But they don't look locals to me. Maybe Chinese. 

Masa nampak pokok sakura rimbun lebat berbunga time ni memang non stop bersyukur dalam hati. Baru last year masa nampak pokok Sakura Malaya tu berbunga lebat di cafe. And slowly I told myself
"Insha Allah, u will get to see the real ones...one day; Bie. Amin, amin"

Alhamdulillah Allah bagi peluang tu. This year termakbul doa mau tengok sakura yang real. Masa beli tiket tu aku ndak budget pun akan clash sama musim sakura ni. Sebab masa tu memang beli ikut cuti mid term. Perfect timing betul. Just in time pula tu aku sampai, memang musim. 

One for the album. Us before Ms H joined us the next day. Si Penyelamat aku; si Tukang Bawa Jaket. Ngeks.

My thing with signages.

Dari Maruyama Park, kami jalan ikut orang ramai. Memang confirm ndak kan sesat. Lagipun ada few area, ada diorang pacak map kawasan tu. Tinggal mau apply skill baca map jak. 

Bila sampai kawasan ni, macam ke arah mau mendaki...tau lah aku sudah sampai area tangga famous di Gion ni. 

Pas mendaki tangga & ambil nafas in between, baru nampak signage ni. Ouh ni untuk orang yang datang dari arah Kiyomudera Temple. Or those yang turun di bus stop sebelum Gion-shijo. 

So yeah, next entry akan tepek gambar both Sannen-zaka & Ninen-zaka Paths. Also the temple yang diiktiraf as Unesco Site. Pening sudah aku tengok too many pics in this entry. As if lah kan ndak da entry(s) yang laaagi banyak gambar before this.

eryantierdabdulkarim