Night Views of Kyoto

The pictures shown here were taken during our second trip to Kyoto. During the very first trip, for some reason a good number of my pictures were deleted. Actually, either accidentally deleted or I failed to copy them or both.

One of those highlights in the first trip were the pictures I took in the Kamo River and Pontocho Street. All gone.

So, I made sure that when we revisit Kyoto that I will take pictures again of those two very beautiful places. During the second trip, though, we only stayed for one night as we have other places to visit - Osaka and Nara.

When we arrived in Kansai International Airport, we immediately headed to Kyoto and took the train going to Arashiyama; but, not to visit the Bamboo Forest as we were able to spend a great deal of time during our first trip.

Instead, we went to Togetsukyo Bridge with the Katsura River flowing right below it. There were lots of people when we visited for it was a Sunday. We spent a good deal of time there, with me walking the path beside the river, and my wife just sitting enjoying the view in the Nakoshima area.

After this we then started heading to the hotel. This is the funny part, we booked a hotel a few kilometers away from the city center and a kilometer away from the nearest train station.

Carrying our heavy backpacks, we got off from the train station, dropped by 7/11 to buy dinner and started walking towards the hotel. Checked in and climbed up to our room.

It was a very spacious room and an old, antique vibe to it.

We started to wonder why it was so spacious that even the showed/toilet was so spacious, that it was almost as big as APA's room. The lights change color and a dedicated remote control to change its color. There was a massager with a rounded tip and beside it was a 'cover' for the massager.

Then, we realized, this wasn't an old, antique vibe, it was deliberately set to feel that way. Slowly, it started to sink in and realized that this was a love hotel.

The old, antique vibe was no longer what I felt. I started to feel unease.

Just after 30 minutes from checking in, we gathered our things, booked a hotel, APA Hotel, near Kyoto Station and headed back down to the reception area and told the receptionist that we're checking out. Didn't specify the real reason and just said that we need to be near the city center since we need to be real early to catch the earliest train the next day that's headed to Nara.

I can see in the receptionist's face the sadness, she must've thought that we checked out because we disliked the hotel. Well, technically, yes, but it was because of the fact that it was a love hotel. You might wonder, yeah, what's with checking in a love hotel? Well, as someone coming from a Catholic background, and one who tries to be faithful to the teachings of the church, I can vividly remember the feeling of unease when we got inside the room. I'm not saying, though, that I'm a sinless person. Nope. I may just be the most sinful person for all we know.

I can preach about how sex outside of marriage is a sin and that it should be only be between man and woman, so on and so forth; but, that will be for a different post.

Anyway, after checking out and leaving the receptionist a little bit of sadness in her heart that may go on and tell about her co-workers, which she has all the right to do, we headed back to the train station, a good kilometer away. Carrying once again our heavy backpack. We boarded the train heading to Kyoto station, got off the train, navigated our way to one of the exits in Kyoto station, which took a bit of time given the immensity of this station, and finally we arrived in APA Hotel.

We then checked in, the young and welcoming receptionist requested for our passport which we happily supplied. We had a good laugh when I narrated to her that I just booked the reservation 30 minutes ago.

We settled in; but, didn't unpack our things, only the necessary ones as we were going to check out the following day.

But, I just cannot sit and sleep after settling in the hotel. I know that I still wanted to walk around and let my mind rest a bit. I cannot rest my mind by just sitting as the memories of negligence in booking the hotel without reading that what I initially booked was a love hotel, I had to cool my mind down.

There's no better way for me to calm my mind than walking. I told my wife that she rest and she because I know she hates walking, I told her that I'm going to take a stroll. I don't know where I was going, but I know that Pontocho Street and the Kamo River were the ones I have in mind that I wanted to visit.

I then donned my puffer jacket, slipped my shoes, readied my phone, pocket wifi and camera and headed downstairs.

I took turns in every corner that I haven't taken during our first trip in Kyoto. I can no longer recall the distance I walked for and how long it took me; but, what I can remember was that it was the most distance I walked in the times that I visited Japan. My feet hurt; but, I had so much fun walking the streets of Kyoto at night.

Not a lot of tourists and lots of locals enjoying their place.

Enjoy the photos.