Bring the kids: Byodo-In Temple
Byodo-In Temple is a great place to visit in the quiet morning hours, just as they open. It's a 30 minute drive from Honolulu, situated in the back of a graveyard in the Valley of the Temples.
It was built in 1968 to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. It's a non-practicing Buddhist temple that welcomes all faiths to come and worship, or just appreciate its beauty.
Our threenager didn't sleep very well the night before, so she was a bit on the "Probably shouldn't bring to a reverent site of meditation" side. But we did anyways. I know, some of you may be thinking "No way is my kid well behaved or quiet enough for this place" - but that isn't how you should approach this. Don't miss out on a beautiful place just because you're afraid your kids might embarrass you (or get you kicked out)! Instead, maybe try to get them excited about it instead of "dragging them along".
For example, my daughter has been really into Avatar: The last Airbender lately - so I explained to her that this was a place where you have to be very quiet because it was a temple like where Aang lives. Spin it how you need to in order to get them interested in not only seeing it, but behaving in it.
It sorta worked.
We arrived just after it opened on the day they were celebrating the Obon Festival. The parking lot was filled with festival things for later that evening, so we had to park on the street, which was fine, because it was in the shade. Score. We paid $10 at the booth to enter (Super nice guy, waived the child fee for us) and walked across that magical, traditional Japanese bridge.
Then, my daughter realized we were walking on tiny gravel rocks and decided that she needed to ice skate on them. Oh well. Not as noisy as she could've been.
So first, you should definitely go left off the bridge. You will come to a giant bell that you are encouraged to ring. This totally grabbed our daughters attention and she got to ring it. The sound is really nice (not what you would expect when allowing a 3 year old access to something that makes noise) - and it is supposed to cleanse your mind for entrance to the temple.
After ringing the bell, walk up the natural stone steps to the meditation pavilion. If you can get your kid to sit still and quiet enough, its extremely peaceful and a beautiful place to sit, or meditate if that's something you do. There's a little waterfall right next to it.
Next, head back down the steps and go into the temple. But take your shoes off first! This is a place of worship. You leave your shoes at the door. The nine foot Buddha is pretty cool, and the little details all around in the craftsmanship are beautiful to look at. Be sure to light some incense while you're in there too.
There's a nice little path that winds around the water, with a few cute little bridges going over enormous Koi fish. Black swans drift around, and supposedly peacocks - but we never saw any of those. Little elements of Japan are everywhere, including the front area of the temple which is raked and very zen. Around the water there is a thicket of bamboo, completely covered in hearts and initials from over-enthusiastic tourists. Also, there was a guy talking loudly on his phone. Don't be that guy. Really ruins the atmosphere of the place.
All in all, you can see this whole place in less than an hour. It's worth it though!
A few tips:
- Go as soon as it opens in the morning (and on a weekday if you can!). We got there right after it opened on a weekend, saw the whole thing, and by the time we were leaving, 4 tour buses had shown up. All the tourists really take away from the serene atmosphere.
- Wear flip-flops (Slippah's). It's easier to enter the temple that way, and you don't have to worry about socks. This isn't a place that you need sturdy shoes at. You'll be fine.
- If you think a stroller would make things easier on you, then bring it. You can EASILY have a stroller here - though I wouldn't bring it into the temple out of respect. There are ramps and it's mostly paved everywhere. We didn't know what to expect, so we didn't bring our stroller, but I wish we had!
- Bug spray. If you go early enough, it's not so bad - but as the morning progressed, I was noticing the mosquito's. There's a lot of standing water (Beautifully maintained, though), so naturally, the mosquito's flock to it.
