Kinkaku-Ji is an iconic tourist attraction of Japan. It is located in the city of Kyoto and attracts millions of tourists to visit this place each year. The temple is built with golden material the makes it looks like it's made out of gold. The word Kinkaku-Ji simply means Golden Temple.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any train that goes anywhere close to Kinkaku-Ji. Thus we had to take the train to the train station that is closest to Kinkaku-Ji, then take the bus to there. It was so hot and humid, thus it was not fun to wait for the bus. Luckily, the city of Kyoto was aware that many people take bus to Kinkaku-Ji, and thus almost all buses go to Kinkaku-Ji if you are on the right street.
By the time we got there, there were already so many people. There was an entrance fee of 400 Japanese Yen per adult. We paid and went in, and found us to be in the middle of huge crowd. It was so difficult to get a clear shot at the temple itself.
The sad part is that we cannot enter the temple and could only look at it from afar. Based on the photos on the information brochure, the interior of the temple is also gold.
The place around Kinkaku-Ji was so tiny that we looked at every single place within 10 minutes. We did not know what else to do and what else to see here. There was a path that led us walking in a circle to look at tomb of white snake, and other stuff, but nothing meaningful at all.
Due to the amount of people there, it was just getting so hot and getting out was difficult as well. We did not want to stay there for long and left after 30 minutes. Waiting for the bus to get back kind of sucks too since we had to ride a crowded bus with sweat and smell.
In general, Kinkaku-Ji is an unique temple but a very overrated place. There was really nothing else to see other than the temple. We felt that this was an overhyped place for tourist to visit. However, this is still a must see place just because the temple is made out of gold, but you do not need to spend much time here.
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