Archive for the 'General' Category

General posts

An Enkoji-Temple Fall-Foliage Preview

今回は二年前の圓光寺(京都市)の写真です。撮影日は11月17日でした。

It's gotten suddenly chilly here in Kyoto, Japan, reminding me that the fall-foliage season is approaching. So just as with last year's "Looking Ahead To Fall with a few Shots from Last Season" post, this post is to help get me in the mood. All the photos on this post are from the same mid-November 2015 visit to the Enkoji Temple (圓光寺) in northeast Kyoto.

This temple has been featured on my blog many times, so the "nearby photos" link under any photo brings you to other posts from the temple.

The whimsical statue seen at the top of [...]


View full post »
Minh and Nghia Wigglegram at the Murin’an Garden

Here's a wigglegram of Minh and Nghia at the Murin'an Garden in Kyoto. The last photo of "Nghia and Minh in Kyoto, Part 2" is actually part of this wigglegram.

Continued here...


View full post »
Finally Venturing Inside Northern Kyoto’s Kurama Temple

I'd heard that the Kurama Temple (鞍馬寺), nestled on the side of a mountain in a northern suburb of Kyoto, made for a nice visit, but despite riding past it dozens of times since I got into cycling, I'd never actually entered it. This week I finally did.

The main part of this post is about this week's visit, but first let me recount my prior experiences with this temple...

Normally I just ride past and perhaps snap a photo along the way, such as the following shot from my first "real" bike ride 2½ years ago:

Sometimes I [...]


View full post »
Joshua’s Eclectic Birthday Ride

We had an eclectic little ride the other day to celebrate Joshua's birthday. Unlike a common ride that makes a big loop through some gorgeous mountains, this ride stayed closer to home, hopping from interesting point to interesting point, at a slow, fun pace.

It was my 16th time to ride with Joshua, since joining him on a NORU bike tour two and a half years ago.

It turns out that one can use this dirt trail to get around having to descent the "Nasty" 21% slope. Personally, I'd rather just descend on the road because neither my bike nor [...]


View full post »
Nghia and Minh in Kyoto, Part 2

Where does the time go? I'm finally following up to "Minh and Nghia Photoshoot Preview" about two weeks later than I expected.

After having a coffee and chat to get to know them a bit, we headed toward the always-photogenic Heian Shrine. I wore Nghia's backpack so it wouldn't bother the photos, and we got down to it...

I never really expect anything to come of the first shots, since we're just starting to get comfortable with each other and with the situation, but what came immediately after the shot above pretty much foreshadowed the entire day:

I don't recall [...]


View full post »