On another note, while I agree with the disappointment that often comes with seeing a ruin in reality now that HD Discovery or BBC has a much closer look without the horrendous crowds, I think it also works vice versa in that many ruins or relics of the past that are skipped over can be absolutely breathtaking. My family and I experienced a similarly disappointing encounter with a shrine in Nara, Japan that was one of the highlights after walking for quite a while through the deer park: it was cheeply redone and its being among the ancient Shinto lanterns made of stone all over simply highlighted how badly it stuck out as a (small, but irritating) eyesore. Ironically, the stone lanterns actually mesmerized me much more as they lead our way through the huge park. It was like walking back in time, and it wasn’t difficult to feel the spirituality when they lit up at night, flickering silently amidst the darkness. As we wandered our way through the rest of the park, we came across many other temples and shrines. The best one is not found on most of the websites, is free, and has a spectacular view of the city and great original props. The Todaji temple that most people go to – surprisingly – was impressive enough to withstand the hordes of tourists.

An even more impressive find was in a local little street in Fukuoka, in the south of Japan, when we stumbled upon what we thought was just a little local shrine. It turned out to be the main shrine that held all the festival props and carriages – hand made of gold. There was almost no one there, since the locals have likely seen it every year with every festival, and the tourists aren’t aware of it’s existance.