If I had to choose which of the palaces and temples we visited in Japan was the most beautiful, I would have to say Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion Temple in Kyoto. We arrived mid-afternoon, which turned out to be perfect timing. While there was still a large group of tourists, it was not nearly as busy as we thought it would be, and we found that since most of the tourists were in tour groups, they moved on quickly together, allowing Phill and I to hang back and take some photographs in peace.

The Golden Pavillion Temple was absolutely breathtaking, especially with the afternoon light glinting off the pure gold leaf that covers the top two stories. I love the reflections in the mirror pond, how clear and still they are. It’s hard to tell which is the right way up in some of our photographs because the reflection is so clear!

As you can see, the light was fading fast and we still had quite a trek to make up the path that leads up the hill and eventually back down to the carpark. The design of the temple grounds is very tourist-friendly – you follow the path past the temple, through beautiful gardens and, after walking down some huge steps, you arrive back at your tour bus, ready to go home. It keeps everything flowing along, with everyone walking in the same direction.

This was a common sight while in Japan and many people – locals and tourists – stopped to throw coins, aiming for the stone bowl in the middle of the statues. As you can see, the majority of coins ended up scattered around, but that didn’t stop people from pulling out more to try again. I wondered if it was someone’s job to go along at the end of the day and collect all the coins.

Japanese coins are so colourful. I love the above photograph because it really shows the different types of coins – the different colours and sizes. Some have holes in them, others don’t. It took me a while to get used to using Japanese coins. Luckily the staff at the local corner store were patient with my efforts – if I constantly gave over notes, I would end up with a handful of coins each time, which made carrying them rather difficult (and heavy!)

We headed up the winding path, listening in on conversations around us. One tourist was attempting to explain to his female Japanese tour guide the concept behind the TV show “Heroes” and was amazed she hadn’t heard of it, while another woman in an American accent was complaining about the crows, saying, “They’re not like American crows!” which, since we’re in Japan, I would have thought would be obvious.

With the sun starting to well and truly droop below the trees, Phill and I began down the impressive steps leading to the carpark. While each step was rather big and easy to see, I found myself needing the rail for support because there were so many and they seemed to slope forwards. If you looked down for too long, you’d start to go cross-eyed!

If you’re going to go and visit Kinkaku-ji, I would strongly recommend going mid-afternoon. I believe our tour through was the last for the day and from memory, I think it was free entry. The ticket they gave you was a beautiful sheet of ultra-thin paper with black Japanese calligraphy – they were only tickets, but I brought them home to frame and display on the wall as a momento of our visit to the Golden Pavillion Temple.