jimyo-in, koya san

i just realised that i have yet to post up lots of photos from koya-san, and since i havent much to post on singapore (all i’ve been doing is eat and shop and eat and shop non-stop), i might as well get down to it as koya-san is very pretty.

like i’d briefly blogged here, i stayed in Jimyo-in when on the mountain. We learned from the owner of a coffee shop that temples on the mountain have a ranking system and the lines on its walls are an indication of how good the lodgings are.

the above temple, for example, has only 3 white lines. this means that it’s only a so-so temple. Jimyo-in had 5 lines, and the guy seemed quite impressed when we told him that we were staying there. and we managed to stay in there because when booking through the tourist information office, my friend asked for a good temple. well done J :)

jimyo-in is gorgeous on the inside, and the rooms are big:

i really liked the paintings, and didnt really expect a tv in the room.

the kotatsu was amazing too, and there’s a safe below the tv.

in typical japanese style, we received tea and a small red-bean filled cake upon our arrival.

dinner was sumptuous. i was surprised when the server came in bearing so many trays for the 3 of us:

each person had 2 trays:

we ordered sake too, as you can see above. there also is tofu, vegetable tempura, miso soup and a tasty wild vege and mushroom dish.

below is another wakayama tofu cubes – they’re sweet and full of soup – picked cucumber with vermicelli and a type of melon with mushrooms in the covered dish. dessert was sweetened persimmons.

some after-dinner relax-time shots:

breakfast was a simpler affair:

the round thing is tofu – wakayama is famous for it – soy beans with seasoned seaweed, miso soup with bean curd strips and vegetables with mushrooms.