December 17th, 2023

Day 14

Today I will travel back to Kyoto! First up for today, breakfast.

Breakfast at this hotel isn’t half bad, and by isn’t half bad, I mean pretty good. The food items are varied, and they even have cheesecake. Not bad!

After breakfast, though, it will be my trip to Kyoto. It just then occurred to me that Toji, the temple that I wanted to visit but didn’t when I visited Kyoto on Day 5, Day 6, and Day 7. I don’t think I mentioned it earlier, but on either Day 5 or Day 7, I tried to take the subway to Toji station, but I missed a connecting train and had to wait 30 minutes to reach Toji. Didn’t want to do that, so I just went to another destination. Thought it was a shame that I didn’t visit Toji, didn’t think that I would see it that time. Life is funny sometimes.

Once I got to Toji Station through a few connecting trains, I headed straight to my hotel, which is like right across the street from the train station. The only reason why I chose this hotel over the Watermark Hotel that I stayed at on Day 6 and Day 7 is that this hotel is so much closer to both Toji and DX Tohji, within walking distance.

Hotel name: Comfort Hotel Era Kyoto Toji

Address: 54-1 Nishi-kujo Shima-machi, Minami-ku

Price: 356.71 RMB (50 USD)

Verdict: ★★★★☆

The hotel is not badly decorated. I liked its design. It has a central deck with three kiosks for check-in and check-outs shaped in a triangle, which was quite unique. I asked the staff to take my luggage until I get back, and he guided me to a locker room where you do it yourself with a passcode lock, which is kinda cool. After that, I headed straight to Toji.

Toji itself is very big. When I got there, there were only two buildings that can be entered, and both forbids photography. There are golden Buddha statues inside, and yes, they are breathtaking. There are large ones and small ones, but the large one, wow, it is magnificent.

Other than the two Buddha statues, there isn’t much to see, so I just got back to the entrance, bought a relationship Omamori and Omikuji pack (protection charm and fortune telling).

After I got close to my hotel, I bought a slender cylinder shaped rice wrap from the lawson next door and devoured it when I got back to my hotel room. Who knew that a small sandwich does not get you through the day. Booked the hotel for tomorrow, and slept soundly.

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