Itsukushima Temple @ Hiroshima - Japan

We bought the JR Line tickets and made an overnight stop at Himeji 

to see the biggest castle in Japan. Next day, we continued on by train

to Hiroshima on the West of Japan to see the famous

Itsukushima Temple which has been listed by UNESCO's World Heritage.

This old temple is so unusual as it was being built on strong stilts

in the sea waters!

1. This area is also known as Miyajima town.

 2. There is a daily ferry boat that bring tourists to

Miyajima Island.

 3. The slow and steady boat berthed at Miyajima Island.

This is the famous Island of Gods for all its many

shrines, mountains and miracle stories.

 4. We walked out of the pier and could feel the heavenly spacious

grounds and refreshing clean air. I don't know this couple
who smiled so happily.

5. So many little traditional cute shops and cafes line the narrow streets.

6. This island is very famous for their fresh & huge oysters!

Here they are baking & grilling them over slow fire.

Some ate with cheese and some ate with wasabi.

I ate none.

7. This friendly man was selling all kinds of delicious

pickled vegetables that are new to us.

We bought one tub home.

 8. The whole place is full of friendly deers roaming all over.

This place reminds me of Nara where the deers also

roam the streets.

 9. This is the famous Torii Gate in the sea waters.

We spent all day relaxing and walking around.

10. I had to wash my filthy mouth as usual.

Not just once but many times before

entering the Itsukushima Shrine that

floats in the sea.

11. The long and neat entrance with wide corridors

all the way to the other side.

 12. I always experimented my mobile phone using

the self-timer to selfie.

My wifey was busy praying at the shrine.

 13. The spacious open space at the sea frontage

of the Itsukushima Shrine.

 14. The very curved & arched bridge.

15. You will see several other ancient shrines around

the Itsukushima Temple.

 16. We wandered off far away from the shrine to see

the small and cute houses.

 17. This 5 Storey Pagoda sits majestically on the hills.

My wifey could barely stand the cold winds blowing.

 18. There is a huge pavilion and meditation hall built by the famous

Warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi in year 1587 on the hills.

It is better known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Senjō-kaku.

19. It overlooks the panoramic mountains which I guessed

is the Mount Misen.

 20. They have many paintings, arts and plaques

on the ceilings above the pavilions of Senjō-kaku.

21. When the water tides lowered, we joined the visitors to

walk to the Torii Gate. Thousands of coins have been thrown

by tourists for good luck.

22. I put one 20 cents and one 100 rupiah coins here.

*****

Yogyakarta Trip - Prambanam Hindu Temple

We visited the ancient Buddhism complex of Borobudur in the morning.

That evening, we visited the Prambanam which is an ancient 

Hindusim Temple after a bumpy ride up the 

Mount Merapi Volcano.

If you have visited Angkor Wat, you might find Prambanam a bit small

but its profound existence in Indonesia since the 9th century is indeed

a great eye opener about their religious cultivation and way of life

since the ancient times.

 1. Candi Prambanam is an ancient Hindu complex of temples

located in Central Java, some 17km Northeast of Yogyakarta.

2. It was opened in 856AD during the 9th Century.

The earthquakes had destroyed them several times

but they were partially rebuilt again, as seen above.

 3. Hide and Seek time!

SPOT ME???

 4. I only climbed and walked a lot when I went overseas.

The gym preparations often geared my leg muscles to

get ready for all the coming trips otherwise I would

be dead meat.

5. AHOY! Here I took a good look at the whole area.

 6. I was often amazed how the folks built their temples by carving

the granite rocks and carried them up without machinery!

They were very strong and determined with good willpower

to build anything.

 7. Their ancient carvings on granite rocks are impressive and

illustrates the beautiful stories of history.

8. My wifey always challenged me to jump and climb mountains

across China. Being kiasu, I had to show my own competence!

 9. Lord Ganesha is the Deity with elephant head, is the most loved

and well recognized Hindu God of Success outside India.

 10. The statue of the Hinduism Mother Goddess Durga.

 11. My Jubilant Jump after my mission accomplished to visit another

world's famous temple of UNESCO's World Heritage List.

 12. The tallest temple here stands at 47 metres in height.

 13. Come and visit this place when you are in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

I thank my wifey for all the lovely photographs

for my blog sharing.

****

Yogyakarta Trip - Borobudur

This place is the most visited and popular site in the whole of Indonesia

besides the resort of Bali. It took us so long to gather our plans to visit this

ancient site where the Buddha was believed to have made his last cultivation

in Tibetan Buddhism inside the ancient complex.

 1. We got a tour guide driver to drive us to visit 3 places in

one day - Borobudur, Mount Merapi Volcano & Prambanan.

 2. I was excited like a child.

This place is very unique and nice!

 3. The whole layout of the Borobudur was

like the Tibetan Holy Mandala.

It has 4 entrances to enter & exit.

4. This ancient complex has been rebuilt many times after being

abandoned and further damaged by the earthquakes & volcanic

tremors.

 5. It has many layers of walking paths all the way up.

Oh boy, it was very sunny & hot that day. I was soaked in

my sweat and suffered from sun burns.

 6. This Buddhism complex was built too long ago and no one has records

on the historical date and persons who initiated. However, some other 

records believed that the Sakaymuni Buddha visited this place and built it.

It was interesting to note that Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles discovered

it under some thick undergrowth after being abandoned.

 7. Now listed under UNESCO as The World Heritage and 

it draws millions of visitors annually from all over the world.

It was so crowded on the 1st Day of CNY as we were not aware

that Indonesia also declared 2 days Public Holidays!

  8. Many visitors took less than 1 hour to cover the whole site but

we took almost 2.5 hours because my wifey followed the advice

from the bulletin board that we should walk 3 rounds in clockwise

for every level. She made it but I was half past six!

Muahahahaha

  9. It was very interesting to see all the stone carvings and statues

on every level.

10. Clear karma! Clear Karma!

 11. There were extensive damages caused by looters and fanatics

of the olden days.

 12. Can you spot me? I used my self timer camera phone.

 13. There are many beautiful stupas on this level.

14. Close of of the Stupa inside.

 15. A damaged Stupa which remains exposed till today.

 16. My wifey took great trouble to snap these photos with lesser

crowd. It was really packed like a supermarket having a sale.

 17. The highest peak! We arrived! Yay!

 18. Elsewhere, they stored all the ancient rubbles of stones & slabs

from the dismantled complex.

 19. On the way out, they cleverly lined over 1000 stalls

of souvenir shops to lure me to buy stuffs.

You cannot get out of their well barricaded paths

to reach the main entrance. Sounds like KLIA2.

20. They have mascots walking outside for free shots.

This Doraemon was looking for SK.

****