Temple Stay on Mt. Koya, Japan.

If you can imagine Buddhist monks delivering hot tea to your traditional Japanese room with tatami-mat floors and futon beds made up on the floor, that's the experience for you!

As always, I'm looking for memorable and authentic experiences over trekking through tourist guiding sites. Having done lots of research, I managed to arrange spending two days out of my two weeks-long trip to Japan in a traditional Buddhist temple on Mt. Koya. Some Japanese temples offer "shukubō", temple lodgings to pilgrims and travelers. Shukubō offers a great opportunity to get a glimpse of longheld traditions of Japanese Buddhist life through the everyday way of life of Esoteric Buddhist monks.

The tradition of covering Jizo statues in wool hats and bibs helps people gain favor in the afterlife.

Mount Koya is a UNESCO World Heritage site as more than 100 temples are located there. Koyasan is placed deep in the mountains of Wakayama prefecture and is the best place in the country to experience an overnight stay and morning prayer at an elegant Buddhist temple as there are more or less 40 temples serving shukubō.

Although access to Koyasan is definitely that easy, it's still one of those places where all the steps of the journey until finally getting there is a great part of the adventure! I had to get several flights from my home country to experience Japan's famous route-Tokyo to Kyoto via the Japan Alps. After spending a couple of days around Greater Kyoto area, I decided to head to Mount Koya. After a lot of research, I came across the 1200-year-old Buddhist temple, Ekoin Temple so I decided to book a traditional room for two days.

Getting to Mount Koya from Kyoto or Osaka can be a bit of a treasure hunt! From Kyoto, I went via Namba in Osaka taking Nankai-Dentetsu line from Namba. In case you have got a Japan Rail Pass, take the JR line to Hashimoto, Sakurai and Takada en route. From Hashimoto, there is no choice but to take the private Nankai-Dentetsu line to Koya-san. When I arrived at the Gokurakubashi station, I took the Koya-san cable car up to Koyasan Station and finally I got the bus to the Ekoin Temple.

As I arrived in Koya-San monastic complex, I realized that getting here is half the fun, near the end of its route, the train passes through a series of tight valleys with hills soaring on all sides, while the final cable-car leg is not for the faint of heart. The location of Ekoin is perfect as the temple is just a few minutes walk away from the entrance of Oku-no-in Buddhist cemetery and only a 10-minute walk to Garan and other sights of the town.

On arrival at Ekoin, I was warmly greeted by friendly and welcoming monks. They showed me my room in the basement of the temple. The room was traditional Japanese style, fully fitting in with the temple experience as the atmosphere was peaceful and my window overlooked the lovely Zen gardens. I really loved my room for the coming two days since it had tatami-mat floors, paper sliding screens, and traditional futon beds.

I arrived at the temple earlier than 17:00, as I was already aware that the dinner is usually served and delivered to the room relatively early around 18:00. The food features vegetarian monks' cuisine "shojin ryori" with special dishes like yuba (tofu skin), koyadofu (freeze dried tofu) and konnyaku (devils tongue jelly). Breakfast and dinner were generous but were truly bland as it is part of the rules surrounding monks' diet that spices are not permitted. Above all, it was certainly nice to experience the Buddhist vegetarian kind of foods!

During my stay in the temple, I had the chance to experience Japanese culture and Esoteric Buddhism history. I experienced copying Buddhist sutras by hand with a brush and ink in the evening. Sutra writing is one of the ancient and simple practices in Japan.

Besides, top Shukubō experiences for me were the evening group meditation session, the morning ceremony at 6:00 am, and a Goma fire ritual, all of which were unique, unforgettable experiences! The Goma (Homa) Ritual is performed for the benefit of people, as the consecrated fire is believed to have a powerful cleansing effect spiritually and psychologically. That was the first time ever seen anything like that before in my entire life and it was a very special event!

In the Ekoin Temple, there was also a traditional Japanese bath 'onsen'. It was well equipped and not very busy so I managed to wear the Japanese robe 'yukata' and wandering down the halls to the onsen. I loved it as it is for sure a real treat for the senses!

Next morning I headed east to enter the holy Oku-no-in cemetery which is almost on the doorstep of the Ekoin Temple. Deep in the forest, is placed Kobo-Daishi's mausoleum and since I really wanted to get there, I had to cross almost 300,000 tombstones of people who wished to receive salvation from the spiritual leader in death. This holy mountain forest is often covered by mist, lending a mystical and unusual atmosphere to the gravestones and Jizo statues. It was another unmissable part of the trip in Mount Koya.

Overall, I found Mount Koya to be an oasis of peace and tranquillity after the craziness of Osaka and Tokyo. Even though I was only there for two nights, it was definitely the highlight of my two weeks trip to Japan!

Things You Should Know Before Traveling In Japan.

• Get a JR Pass before you start your trip if you are planning on traveling to a lot of different places in Japan.

• Get a Suica or Pasmo card if you are visiting only Tokyo and Kyoto.

• Japan runs mostly on cash (some places accept credit cards as well) and you can carry around large quantities of Yen as Japan is a totally safe country.

• Don’t try to tip waiters, bartenders, and taxi drivers as Japan doesn't have a tipping culture.

• Tap water is safe to drink everywhere, and food hygiene standards are very high.

• Some restaurants will ask you to remove your shoes.

• Tattoos are considered to be a taboo. Places like traditional baths 'onsen' will not allow people with   tattoos to enter.

• Rent a pocket Wi-Fi as it can be extremely helpful to have a mobile hotspot available at all times.

• Keep a plastic bag with you as trash cans are few and far between.

• The metro is not 24 hours so if you miss the last one, you should try the capsule hotel experience, it may be even cheaper than a cab.