Gion matsuri

Gion Matsuri Parade 2004

Ah, this year, the parade was held on a rainy day. It was pouring the whole morning and the rain continued to pour the whole day. Nevertheless, a lot of people did turned up to see the parade, including us. The pictures are all from two years ago, since I did not attend last year's parade.


Turning of the hoko

So there we were, standing in the pouring rain with our umbrellas waiting for the parade to reach us. I had my camera with me and the bag was rapidly becoming wet! So I gave up and stood under the shelter of a nearby hotel. The others stood with the umbrellas in the rain to catch their first Gion Yamahoko Junko.




Hokos

So eventually, the parade came to where we were standing. I thought they will postpone the parade since it was raining rather heavily, but they didn't. The precious tapestries and figurines were covered in plastics. The men were all soaking wet.


Enthusiatic fellas


I could see a little from where I stood. Or rather, I could see the top of the hokos from where I stood.


Models of the hokos

Well, my friends ended up getting soaked to the bone but they had fun. We left before the parade finished. The rain kept pouring the entire day.


What is going on down there?

Despite the pouring rain, the people all turned up for their reserved seatings. Everyone of them was given raincoats and hats.


Yamahoko Junko (Gion Matsuri Parade) 2006

And finally the ONLY picture I took of the parade this year!

Gion Matsuri 祇園祭 Yoi-yama Part 2 2006

Part of the attraction of Yoi-yama was to see the lanterns at night, decorating the *hokos* and stalls.



WY was asking me where to get these lanterns - I have no idea. Anyone knows?



The stalls selling everything from Playstation games to food and fishes.



Cute face masks for the little kids. Which one would you buy?



Kids trying to choose a whistle (bird whistle) to buy. Each whistle has an anime figurine.



This guy was making figurines out of sugar dough



This guy was spinning a long stick in rhythm to the drum beats and music. Can you see the circular motions?



Er....baked/roasted salted fish I think



Fancy a long sausage?



A kind of food.....but what kind, I have no idea!



This place was covered with red and white lanterns.....lovely.



Beautiful lanterns..........and rubbish.



The star of the moment



Up, up, up........



On the way home.....the Shijo road after the rain

Gion Matsuri 祇園祭り Yoi-yama 2006 part 1

Yes, Gion matsuri had come and gone. It was always fun to go walking in the night, squashed in the crowd of people, admiring the beautiful 'hokos' all lighted up with dozens of lanterns. This post is about the 'hokos' or floats. The next will be about the various stalls, performances and lantern pictures. The last will be about the RAINY parade day.



Nearly everyone was wearing the yukata which is the summer kimono. I didn't though, it was kinda hard to cycle in it!



This time I get to use my canon to shoot the night shots. Compared to my old faithful, this one takes much better night shots - well, it should!





This is the famous Fune Boko - one of my favourite 'hoko'. If you had seen my last posting of Gion matsuri, you would have seen it in the pictures I had taken of the parade. Now, the parade was interesting but that is another story.



This is the Ayagasa Boko.



This is one of the 'hoko' without the lanterns in front.



This kid was on top of the Fune Boko. You can go up and into the hoko but for a price. I did once, and I had no idea which hoko I went into. But it was beautiful and everything was so intricate. The tapestries were amazing.



The full view of Shijo street which was closed to traffic to accomodate the throng of people wishing to see the hokos.

Honen-in in summer

Beautiful root formations

What do you see in Summer? Greens.....lots and lots of greens. And don't forget the sticky humidity - ah...feels like home. Honen-in is beautiful in summer; the beautiful green moss is striking and the foliage too. I had always love this place, a small quiet spot away from the popular Ginkakuji nearby.



Of course, in summer, tourists are scarce. The famous Testugaku no michi seemingly abandoned, until the occasional tourists appear in view. (Honen-in is located near Tetsugaku no michi)



The summer flowers blooming around this time are the hydrangeas and the lotus. Beautiful blue, pink, purple hydrangeas can be found everywhere.



Like Ginkakuji, this temple grounds are also covered with beautiful green moss. Unlike Ginkakuji, this temple grounds are free.



This lotus bud was floating gently in a small stone pool in the temple grounds.



Mushrooms are also growing everywhere, like this small one here. Everytime I see a mushroom I think = FOOD! I love mushrooms!



It was raining slightly while I was there and the raindrops pooled into this small droplet on the leaf of a lotus plant.



And these have not yet been blown away by the wind.

Taman Mergastua Sultan Idris Shah, Malaysia

Are you looking at me?

Who knows what is Taman Mergastua Sultan Idris Shah? Malaysians? Hah....even I didn't know that is the full name of the Taiping Zoo. I had always known it as Taiping Zoo....never knew it had another name! And do you know it is the country's oldest zoo?



Taiping Zoo is situated in the middle of the Lake Gardens, and it is the only zoo in the north. So, during nearly every weekend and EVERY holiday, it will be crowded with visitors from the north. So there will be a traffic jam at the area. Can you imagine traffic jam occuring in Taiping?? It boggles the mind.



I didn't take much photos while I was there. It was blazing hot and humid that day. And I forgot to bring my Olympus with the 10x optical zoom, so animals such as the lions and tigers who were in the big enclosures were too far away from me to be captured properly on the Canon.



The zoo had undergone many changes, for the better. It is home to 180 species of animals, placed - whenever possible - in their natural environment. My favourite was the python; they were so huge.



Unfortunately the zoo was embroiled in a scandal that tarnished their good image. The zoo had obtained four baby gorillas known as the "Taiping Four" illegally back in 2002. The gorillas were originally from Cameroon but is now in Pretoria Zoo, South Africa after the Malaysian government confiscated them from the Taiping Zoo. Western lowland gorillas are not allowed to be traded because of their highly endangered status. And these four were captured from the wild and their mother possibly killed in order to obtain the babies. I don't know what actions the government had taken against the Taiping Zoo besides the confiscation of the animals. The case had also prompted Jane Goodall to intervene.



Like the Singapore Zoo, there is also the Night Safari which I went before and was quite enjoyable although most of the animals were asleep. You can either take the train or walk by yourself.



On our way back we saw this pair of amorous tortoises who were obviously engaged in a rather LOUD round of sex! Hahaha..

Cakes

Since it is my sis's birthday tomorrow, I thought I would dedicate this post to her - virtual cakes, instead of real ones. Hah!



This is the Second House cake restaurant. Don't ask me why it is called Second House, I have no idea. But it is a famous chain of cake shop/restaurant, with branches all around Kyoto.



There is a branch just near my house, on the way to school. Very tempting....all those cakes.



I had forgotten the names of all these cakes already, since it had been quite sometime since I last went. A slice of cake and a big cup of coffee will cost you around 600¥. Or was it 800¥?



Alright, this I definately know - marble cheesecake.



This is a banana - strawberry something cake.



Strawberry cake...yummy. They serve mostly pasta and pizza - Italian food. Most cake cafes here serve pasta as their main dishes. Sometimes it is nice, but sometimes, I think I can cook better!

Happy Birthday HL!