With my normal early start (around 6:30 am) I decided I would check out more of Southern Higashiyama. My Hotel was on the devide of Northern Higashiyama and Southern Higshiyama. Both are important historic areas of Kyoto rich in temples and shrines.

Southern Higashiyama is full of small tree lined canals which add a really beautiful charm to the area. In the morning there seemed to be mostly locals out walking their small dogs along the streets and also small collection of school kids on their way to early classes. I think most of the tourists were still sound asleep as were the shop keepers and workers.

Kyoto seems like a different world at that time of the day. It is amazing silent. The sound of a few crows was pretty much all you can really hear apart from the occasional car pass. I explored for several hours before hunger started to strike me and I ended up at a McDonald's to have some pancakes and iced coffee. I let time pass as I people watched and waited for the temples to start to open. It was going to be another full day of walking and my feet never really recovered from the previous days of walking. It is interesting the small differences in McDonald's in Japan vs the U.S. though the menu is largely the same there are some unique items only available in Japan but the service is worlds apart. I actually had someone take me to my table collect my tray and trash it felt like eating in a regular restaurant not a fast food place.

After leaving I still had some more time to kill so I walked around more of the town. Shop keepers starting appearing and the pace of life was picking up once again for the day. I killed a little mroe time taking pictures and then headed over to Kodai-ji which is really an amazing temple that does not seem to get as many visitors as some of the other larger temples in Kyoto.

Japan is land of cute and I could not resist taking photo's of cute charachters I saw while walking around.

To see more Kyoto please visit my complete set: http://kfrates.zenfolio.com/p45570337