Monday, July 14, 2008
Blah
So yeah...This whole blogging everyday thing kinda fell through. I'll post a summary of places we went and things we did in a massive end post. It'll be easier on both me and anyone else who comes across this.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Nande ya nen?
June 6, 2008
Checked out of the hostel, but left our luggage in storage to go out for the day. I went to the Nishijin Textiles Center to look for hakama and haori. Saw kimonos but no hakama and they only had some plain haori so I left it alone. There wasn't much else there so I headed back to the hostel to meet up with Winston to grab our luggage and head off to Osaka.
We took the 2:30 rapid line to Osaka only to have our train stop at Shin-Osaka and wait for half an hour because we didn't know what was going on. When the train stopped, the driver made an announcement about something and just about everybody gets right off the train. I try to ask a girl what's going on, but she doesn't speak enough English and I don't speak enough Japanese to understand the situation. So we sit there along with a couple of other tourists for a while until we figure out that the train probably isn't going to be moving for a while and switch lines.
We get to Osaka Station but the closest JR station to the hostel was Fukushima. We figured it would be too much trouble to try and figure out how to Fukushima so we just get off at Osaka Station and walk to the hostel. Passing by a Mister Donuts, we hit a fork in the road and take the wrong path down to the end of the street. Luckily the hostel was really close by once we figured out where we were. I was really pissed off and hungry during the entire walk. Really need to stop doing that.
Checked in and find out they don't have an elevator. I'm really pissed off at that point after lugging our stuff up to the 4th floor, but a shower and some ramen make everything all better. It was good, but not nearly as good as the ramen back in Kyoto. There was a mall called Umesankoji on our way to the hostel from the train station so we head back to check it out. Inside was the wonderful store known as Sofmap. It's an electronics store like Best Buy or Future Shop but full of Japanese goodness. Metal Gear Solid 4 promo stuff was plastered all over the games section. I would later realize how small this branch actually was once I was in Tokyo.
Back at the hostel we ran into a couple of girls from Canada, one of whom had applied for ACAD as well but ended up going to Emily Carr. Small world?
A couple of things I'd forgotten to mention in earlier posts was that I had been doing a bit of research into Japanese culture/life in Japan.
Recommended listening:
1. Josh in Japan - He's got over 40 podcasts out about different aspects of Japan. The ones on trains, banking, vending machines and weather were especially helpful.
2. Of Rice and Zen - A podcast to by "A" to accompany his blog. He lives just outside of Kyoto, so I ran into a bunch of things he mentioned early on in his blog/podcast.
Additional Notes:
You'll randomly see people handing out tissue packets with advertisements in busy areas. Unless you have tissues on you, it'd be a good idea to pick one up. Most of the public washrooms don't have hand dryers or paper towels, so yeah...
Daily bus passes are a handy way of getting around in Kyoto. They're 500 yen and they were available at the hostel as well as at Kyoto Station. The bus pass will get you basically everywhere you want to go, but there a a few private bus lines that you'll have to pay for if you happen to get on one.
The hostel we're staying at in Osaka is J-Hoppers.
Checked out of the hostel, but left our luggage in storage to go out for the day. I went to the Nishijin Textiles Center to look for hakama and haori. Saw kimonos but no hakama and they only had some plain haori so I left it alone. There wasn't much else there so I headed back to the hostel to meet up with Winston to grab our luggage and head off to Osaka.
We took the 2:30 rapid line to Osaka only to have our train stop at Shin-Osaka and wait for half an hour because we didn't know what was going on. When the train stopped, the driver made an announcement about something and just about everybody gets right off the train. I try to ask a girl what's going on, but she doesn't speak enough English and I don't speak enough Japanese to understand the situation. So we sit there along with a couple of other tourists for a while until we figure out that the train probably isn't going to be moving for a while and switch lines.
We get to Osaka Station but the closest JR station to the hostel was Fukushima. We figured it would be too much trouble to try and figure out how to Fukushima so we just get off at Osaka Station and walk to the hostel. Passing by a Mister Donuts, we hit a fork in the road and take the wrong path down to the end of the street. Luckily the hostel was really close by once we figured out where we were. I was really pissed off and hungry during the entire walk. Really need to stop doing that.
Checked in and find out they don't have an elevator. I'm really pissed off at that point after lugging our stuff up to the 4th floor, but a shower and some ramen make everything all better. It was good, but not nearly as good as the ramen back in Kyoto. There was a mall called Umesankoji on our way to the hostel from the train station so we head back to check it out. Inside was the wonderful store known as Sofmap. It's an electronics store like Best Buy or Future Shop but full of Japanese goodness. Metal Gear Solid 4 promo stuff was plastered all over the games section. I would later realize how small this branch actually was once I was in Tokyo.
Back at the hostel we ran into a couple of girls from Canada, one of whom had applied for ACAD as well but ended up going to Emily Carr. Small world?
A couple of things I'd forgotten to mention in earlier posts was that I had been doing a bit of research into Japanese culture/life in Japan.
Recommended listening:
1. Josh in Japan - He's got over 40 podcasts out about different aspects of Japan. The ones on trains, banking, vending machines and weather were especially helpful.
2. Of Rice and Zen - A podcast to by "A" to accompany his blog. He lives just outside of Kyoto, so I ran into a bunch of things he mentioned early on in his blog/podcast.
Additional Notes:
You'll randomly see people handing out tissue packets with advertisements in busy areas. Unless you have tissues on you, it'd be a good idea to pick one up. Most of the public washrooms don't have hand dryers or paper towels, so yeah...
Daily bus passes are a handy way of getting around in Kyoto. They're 500 yen and they were available at the hostel as well as at Kyoto Station. The bus pass will get you basically everywhere you want to go, but there a a few private bus lines that you'll have to pay for if you happen to get on one.
The hostel we're staying at in Osaka is J-Hoppers.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Last Day in Kyoto
June 5, 2008
So Ryan stayed up until 4 in the morning going out to karaoke with people form the hostel and totally messed up his schedule for Miho Museum. He said he was going to just bike around to check out a couple of spots around town before meeting us at Nijo-jinya. Winston comes down with a stomachache so he's stuck at the hostel for a while. Jen and I head off to the Traditional Crafts Museum by Heian Shrine.
The Traditional Crafts Museum is in the basement of another building, and it seems a bit small but ends up being the perfect size. There's a fair amount of exhibits including: dying of kimonos, tassels, wood block prints, fans, bamboo goods, wine madking stuff, dolls, lacquer-ware, lacquered mini shrine cabinets (obviously not the proper term), and bows and arrows. The gift shop actually had some pretty cute stuff. Got a postcard that I need to send home tomorrow, and some presents for people.
We're a bit hungry at this point and head back to the hostel to check up on Winston. It rains on us on the way back and we gambled on it not raining even though the clouds were pretty dark. Winston's feeling better so we decide to head out for Daiichi Asahi for lunch since Jen has not yet experience the awesome ramen that they make. We walk there and I see that they have their curtains closed. There's NO ONE at the shop. This makes Dan sad. So we have to settle for the restaurant next door and its not nearly as good. The broth is too salty and the bean sprouts are all limp. Blah. We eat quickly and then book it to Kyoto Station so that we're not late to meet our translator for the tour at Nijo-jinya.
M-san is waiting right in front of Nijo-jinya and we make it there just in time for the tour. It looked like Ryan might not make it in time but it turns out that he beat us there. Nijo-jinya is basically an inn that was created to house and entertain feudal lords that were visiting Nijo Castle and staying in the area. The inn has all sorts of anti assassination traps and secret hiding areas for protecting its guests.
Features of the inn include:
-fireproof plaster walls since buildings were quite prone to catching fire back in those days
-multiple wells that were linked to each other so that each would always have water in case of a fire
-a skylight that also served as a hiding place for guards that could watch and enter to room if an intruder was detected
-a Noh stage with soundproofing panels built into the sliding doors
-there was an alcove made from a very expensive maple that could have bought you a house back in the day
-"monkey steps" built into a wall that would allow someone familiar with the house to scale a wall and escape into a hiding area in the ceiling
-hidden staircase disguised as a shelf
-a tilted room so that the occupants felt that they were at sea
-"trap ladder" or "pitfall" trap staircase. The one hiding would run down the stairs and pull out a board at the top of the stairs causing the pursuer to misstep and tumble down the stairs in to a wall
-a secret hiding cabinet with another hidden hiding place behind it
There was other crazy stuff, but you really have to experience the tour to really appreciate what I'm talking about. After the tour we head to an udon restaurant. I have to use the toilet and am faced with a Japanese style porcelain hole in the ground. There was squatting involved but I know I didn't pull that off properly.
Ryan has plans for the evening so Jen, Winston and I bus it to Kyoto International Manga Museum. It's basically a huge manga library that was donated to the museum by Go Matoba when it started up. I wander around a bit but there's really not that much to do there besides read manga. There's something like 200,000 items in their collection right now and they plan to increase that number to 300,000 in the near future (I forget when).
It's getting a bit late so we return to the hostel, transfer some photos and say goodbye to Jen and Ryan. They're headed to Tokyo for a couple of days before going home. It's off to Osaka for us tomorrow.
So Ryan stayed up until 4 in the morning going out to karaoke with people form the hostel and totally messed up his schedule for Miho Museum. He said he was going to just bike around to check out a couple of spots around town before meeting us at Nijo-jinya. Winston comes down with a stomachache so he's stuck at the hostel for a while. Jen and I head off to the Traditional Crafts Museum by Heian Shrine.
The Traditional Crafts Museum is in the basement of another building, and it seems a bit small but ends up being the perfect size. There's a fair amount of exhibits including: dying of kimonos, tassels, wood block prints, fans, bamboo goods, wine madking stuff, dolls, lacquer-ware, lacquered mini shrine cabinets (obviously not the proper term), and bows and arrows. The gift shop actually had some pretty cute stuff. Got a postcard that I need to send home tomorrow, and some presents for people.
We're a bit hungry at this point and head back to the hostel to check up on Winston. It rains on us on the way back and we gambled on it not raining even though the clouds were pretty dark. Winston's feeling better so we decide to head out for Daiichi Asahi for lunch since Jen has not yet experience the awesome ramen that they make. We walk there and I see that they have their curtains closed. There's NO ONE at the shop. This makes Dan sad. So we have to settle for the restaurant next door and its not nearly as good. The broth is too salty and the bean sprouts are all limp. Blah. We eat quickly and then book it to Kyoto Station so that we're not late to meet our translator for the tour at Nijo-jinya.
M-san is waiting right in front of Nijo-jinya and we make it there just in time for the tour. It looked like Ryan might not make it in time but it turns out that he beat us there. Nijo-jinya is basically an inn that was created to house and entertain feudal lords that were visiting Nijo Castle and staying in the area. The inn has all sorts of anti assassination traps and secret hiding areas for protecting its guests.
Features of the inn include:
-fireproof plaster walls since buildings were quite prone to catching fire back in those days
-multiple wells that were linked to each other so that each would always have water in case of a fire
-a skylight that also served as a hiding place for guards that could watch and enter to room if an intruder was detected
-a Noh stage with soundproofing panels built into the sliding doors
-there was an alcove made from a very expensive maple that could have bought you a house back in the day
-"monkey steps" built into a wall that would allow someone familiar with the house to scale a wall and escape into a hiding area in the ceiling
-hidden staircase disguised as a shelf
-a tilted room so that the occupants felt that they were at sea
-"trap ladder" or "pitfall" trap staircase. The one hiding would run down the stairs and pull out a board at the top of the stairs causing the pursuer to misstep and tumble down the stairs in to a wall
-a secret hiding cabinet with another hidden hiding place behind it
There was other crazy stuff, but you really have to experience the tour to really appreciate what I'm talking about. After the tour we head to an udon restaurant. I have to use the toilet and am faced with a Japanese style porcelain hole in the ground. There was squatting involved but I know I didn't pull that off properly.
Ryan has plans for the evening so Jen, Winston and I bus it to Kyoto International Manga Museum. It's basically a huge manga library that was donated to the museum by Go Matoba when it started up. I wander around a bit but there's really not that much to do there besides read manga. There's something like 200,000 items in their collection right now and they plan to increase that number to 300,000 in the near future (I forget when).
It's getting a bit late so we return to the hostel, transfer some photos and say goodbye to Jen and Ryan. They're headed to Tokyo for a couple of days before going home. It's off to Osaka for us tomorrow.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
I wanna take purty pictures too...
June 4, 2008
Headed for Nara early and the trains run on time, which is really nice. Walked along the same route that we walked yesterday and get to Kofukuji Temple. It's surrounded by a 3 story and 5 story pagoda. There are a lot more deer out since its nice and warm. We take some pics and watch people feed them and then head off.
I need to head to the washroom, so we head into a tourist information building that we later find out is an earthquake museum as well. They have a seat that you can sit in an experience two level 6 earthquakes that occurred in Japan a while back with and without earthquake protection. Then the guide takes us over to see a couple of small model buildings with and without earthquake protection to see the dampening effect that it has. It's really cool technology. We decide to head off and I grab a pamphlet from the museum.
On the way to Todaiji Temple, I grab a green tea ice cream and its pretty tasty. We're followed by deer looking for food so I toss them the end of my cone. Just as we stop at Nandaimon Gate,
to take some photos, a deer comes up from behind me and snatches away my pamphlet. I'm totally caught off guard by this and end up having a small tugging match with the deer. The deer wins and runs off with a not so tasty snack. Stupid deer.
We get into Todaiji and there's just scores of people. Lots of school groups on field trips and we get enveloped in a sea of school children for a bit. The temple itself is the largest wooden building in all of Japan and it houses the largest Buddha statue in all of Japan. I don't feel very enlightened with all of the noisy tourists snapping away with their cameras around me though. There are 2 smaller Buddha statues on either side of the large Buddha, and behind them are wooden statues of guardian gods.
Southeast of Todaiji is Kasuga Grand Shrine (Shinto). It's a bit of a walk between the two sites so along the way we checked out some souvenir shops and stop for lunch at a shop with a restaurant in the back. The place is run by another wise old man who asks us in Mandarin if we speak Mandarin. I know just enough Mandarin so say that we don't understand so he reverts to Japanese and a bit of broken English. I get my first taste of cold soba and barley tea. Tasty.
The Shinto shrine ended up being much quieter since there isn't as much to see and its more of a trail that's populated by Shinto related buildings and gates.
On the way back to Kyoto, we take a rapid train (versus the local, which would stop at every stop along the way) and find out that the backs of the seats are reversible so you can just pull on it and have the seat back switch sides. There are all sorts of cool things on the trains in Japan like reversible seat backs, air conditioning vents, curtains that you can slide down to various predetermined slots and some have digital panels that tell you what stop is coming up if you can't hear the driver.
I take a shower and head back to Kiyomizu-dera to hopefully get some better photos than the ones we took when it was raining. The bus gets me there pretty quickly and I hurry up the hill that Kiyomizu-dera sits on and get in about half an hour before it closes. It's right around sunset and since its almost closing time, there's a nice lack of tourists so I can take lots of nice pictures without having to worry about random people getting in my shots as much. I take a few pics with the digital camera. There's beautiful lighting but the camera is a piece of junk and I can't really set anything in the manual mode. No shutter speed or aperture. I can over/under expose my photos and change the white balance, but that in no way helps to capture the atmosphere of this place. Lack of an SLR makes Dan sad.
Walking back to the hostel from Kiyomizu was really nice since it had really cooled down, but I find out when I get back that I got a couple of mosquito bites right along my sock line. Stupid mosquitoes. After dinner at a Japanese restaurant, we run into Ryan and Jen again and make plans for tomorrow. Ryan's going to be heading for Miho Museum and while that seems interesting, I'm going to head to the Traditional Crafts Museum and Kyoto International Manga Museum before everyone meets up at Nijo-jinya.
Headed for Nara early and the trains run on time, which is really nice. Walked along the same route that we walked yesterday and get to Kofukuji Temple. It's surrounded by a 3 story and 5 story pagoda. There are a lot more deer out since its nice and warm. We take some pics and watch people feed them and then head off.
I need to head to the washroom, so we head into a tourist information building that we later find out is an earthquake museum as well. They have a seat that you can sit in an experience two level 6 earthquakes that occurred in Japan a while back with and without earthquake protection. Then the guide takes us over to see a couple of small model buildings with and without earthquake protection to see the dampening effect that it has. It's really cool technology. We decide to head off and I grab a pamphlet from the museum.
On the way to Todaiji Temple, I grab a green tea ice cream and its pretty tasty. We're followed by deer looking for food so I toss them the end of my cone. Just as we stop at Nandaimon Gate,
to take some photos, a deer comes up from behind me and snatches away my pamphlet. I'm totally caught off guard by this and end up having a small tugging match with the deer. The deer wins and runs off with a not so tasty snack. Stupid deer.
We get into Todaiji and there's just scores of people. Lots of school groups on field trips and we get enveloped in a sea of school children for a bit. The temple itself is the largest wooden building in all of Japan and it houses the largest Buddha statue in all of Japan. I don't feel very enlightened with all of the noisy tourists snapping away with their cameras around me though. There are 2 smaller Buddha statues on either side of the large Buddha, and behind them are wooden statues of guardian gods.
Southeast of Todaiji is Kasuga Grand Shrine (Shinto). It's a bit of a walk between the two sites so along the way we checked out some souvenir shops and stop for lunch at a shop with a restaurant in the back. The place is run by another wise old man who asks us in Mandarin if we speak Mandarin. I know just enough Mandarin so say that we don't understand so he reverts to Japanese and a bit of broken English. I get my first taste of cold soba and barley tea. Tasty.
The Shinto shrine ended up being much quieter since there isn't as much to see and its more of a trail that's populated by Shinto related buildings and gates.
On the way back to Kyoto, we take a rapid train (versus the local, which would stop at every stop along the way) and find out that the backs of the seats are reversible so you can just pull on it and have the seat back switch sides. There are all sorts of cool things on the trains in Japan like reversible seat backs, air conditioning vents, curtains that you can slide down to various predetermined slots and some have digital panels that tell you what stop is coming up if you can't hear the driver.
I take a shower and head back to Kiyomizu-dera to hopefully get some better photos than the ones we took when it was raining. The bus gets me there pretty quickly and I hurry up the hill that Kiyomizu-dera sits on and get in about half an hour before it closes. It's right around sunset and since its almost closing time, there's a nice lack of tourists so I can take lots of nice pictures without having to worry about random people getting in my shots as much. I take a few pics with the digital camera. There's beautiful lighting but the camera is a piece of junk and I can't really set anything in the manual mode. No shutter speed or aperture. I can over/under expose my photos and change the white balance, but that in no way helps to capture the atmosphere of this place. Lack of an SLR makes Dan sad.
Walking back to the hostel from Kiyomizu was really nice since it had really cooled down, but I find out when I get back that I got a couple of mosquito bites right along my sock line. Stupid mosquitoes. After dinner at a Japanese restaurant, we run into Ryan and Jen again and make plans for tomorrow. Ryan's going to be heading for Miho Museum and while that seems interesting, I'm going to head to the Traditional Crafts Museum and Kyoto International Manga Museum before everyone meets up at Nijo-jinya.
Oh That Crazy Exchange Rate!
June 3, 2008
Woke up early again and sent off an e-mail to Ryan to see what was going on with meeting in Nara. Didn't get a response and we ended up getting to Nara a little later than when they had planned to leave for Koya-san (mountain by Nara) with a guide. We missed the so I found an internet cafe and fired off another e-mail to Ryan.
I ended up eating some of the Calorie Mate I had bought earlier out of curiosity. It's basically cracker or Triscuit formula pressed into a thick block of a snack. Wandered around for a bit and went for breakfast at another branch of Narau. There's the same vending machine thing in the restaurant as the one in Kyoto that we went to earlier. After breakfast, we head east to check out some of the sights and end up finding out that about half of Nara is just a huge park with shrines and temples. Nara is also know for their deer and we look around for some so we can terrorize them but the camera battery dies just as we find one. Winston manages just to squeeze of one photo of the deer we find. I grab a couple of protection charms for my cousins and then train it back to Kyoto. I see a mini truck on the way back. Damnit those things are awesome. I totally want one.
Getting back to Kyoto, we go and check the exchange rates at the post office. Ownage. Well, for Winston at least. The payout for CAD and USD dropped by a yen each. Worse for Winston since all he has is Canadian cash and no traveler's cheques. So much for cash being king. I've never heard of that expression before this though. We head over to the Bank of Kyoto to see if we can manage to get a better exchange rate there. A transaction there would take about an hour so an employee there suggests we go to a world currency exchange office in Kyoto Station. Same rate as the post office. Triple slapped. I still have Japanese currency on me so I'll just wait until the rate goes up to at least 105 again. As we were heading back to the hostel from the station we saw a stair climbing machine for moving packages. It was just made of all sorts of win.
Back at the hostel, I go and check on news for the Nijo-jinya trip. It ends up being good news and we have a translator to come with us. Winston and I split up to go shopping and I head off to Teramachi. Wandered around but I spent most of my time in a bookstore and a huge 2 level manga store. I find a pretty cool fighting poses reference book and a Gurren Lagann figurine. You can't imagine how happy that made me.
I head back to the hostel again to bask in the glory of my purchases and realize that I need something to shear off the talons I've been starting to grow. Should have remembered to bring my nail clipper but I left it at home along with my multi-tool so I have to head down to the pharmacy by the hostel and ask for a nail clipper in my horrible broken Japanese. It feels really nice to finally cut my nails, although I'm still contemplating whether or not I can see how much facial hair I can grow while I'm here. Went for ramen dinner again. I'm going to miss that ramen so much when I leave this city. Osaka is known for its good food so I'm hoping to find some good ramen there.
I still need to buy souvenirs for people. We're heading back to Nara tomorrow and it looks like it'll be nice out as well.
Woke up early again and sent off an e-mail to Ryan to see what was going on with meeting in Nara. Didn't get a response and we ended up getting to Nara a little later than when they had planned to leave for Koya-san (mountain by Nara) with a guide. We missed the so I found an internet cafe and fired off another e-mail to Ryan.
I ended up eating some of the Calorie Mate I had bought earlier out of curiosity. It's basically cracker or Triscuit formula pressed into a thick block of a snack. Wandered around for a bit and went for breakfast at another branch of Narau. There's the same vending machine thing in the restaurant as the one in Kyoto that we went to earlier. After breakfast, we head east to check out some of the sights and end up finding out that about half of Nara is just a huge park with shrines and temples. Nara is also know for their deer and we look around for some so we can terrorize them but the camera battery dies just as we find one. Winston manages just to squeeze of one photo of the deer we find. I grab a couple of protection charms for my cousins and then train it back to Kyoto. I see a mini truck on the way back. Damnit those things are awesome. I totally want one.
Getting back to Kyoto, we go and check the exchange rates at the post office. Ownage. Well, for Winston at least. The payout for CAD and USD dropped by a yen each. Worse for Winston since all he has is Canadian cash and no traveler's cheques. So much for cash being king. I've never heard of that expression before this though. We head over to the Bank of Kyoto to see if we can manage to get a better exchange rate there. A transaction there would take about an hour so an employee there suggests we go to a world currency exchange office in Kyoto Station. Same rate as the post office. Triple slapped. I still have Japanese currency on me so I'll just wait until the rate goes up to at least 105 again. As we were heading back to the hostel from the station we saw a stair climbing machine for moving packages. It was just made of all sorts of win.
Back at the hostel, I go and check on news for the Nijo-jinya trip. It ends up being good news and we have a translator to come with us. Winston and I split up to go shopping and I head off to Teramachi. Wandered around but I spent most of my time in a bookstore and a huge 2 level manga store. I find a pretty cool fighting poses reference book and a Gurren Lagann figurine. You can't imagine how happy that made me.
I head back to the hostel again to bask in the glory of my purchases and realize that I need something to shear off the talons I've been starting to grow. Should have remembered to bring my nail clipper but I left it at home along with my multi-tool so I have to head down to the pharmacy by the hostel and ask for a nail clipper in my horrible broken Japanese. It feels really nice to finally cut my nails, although I'm still contemplating whether or not I can see how much facial hair I can grow while I'm here. Went for ramen dinner again. I'm going to miss that ramen so much when I leave this city. Osaka is known for its good food so I'm hoping to find some good ramen there.
I still need to buy souvenirs for people. We're heading back to Nara tomorrow and it looks like it'll be nice out as well.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Gold and Holy Water
June 2, 2008
Plan to go to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) in the morning and probably head to Kiyomizu-dera with Ryan in the afternoon. I need to do some laundry. The smell from my socks could knock out a small child.
It's raining again here...
We grab breakfast from a combini (convenience store) called Lawsons. I got orange juice, an apple and two onigiri. Winston gets a mini okonomiyaki.
We head to Ryoanji first to check out the famous Zen rock garden. The rest of the tourists makes the place not very Zen. There's a moss garden to the side that I enjoy a bit more since everyone's crowded around the rock garden. I feel that it was a bit overrated but I bought a cute little souvenir. We walked around then went to Kinkakuji and learned that it was a rebuild because the original burned to the ground. Took pics. Saw a picture of Kinkakuji in the winter. It looks like it would be cool to visit when there's some snow. As we walked through the grounds Ryan managed to toss a coin into one of the fenced off bowls sitting around the grounds and our day of luck began.
Took a bus for headed back to Kawaramachi Sanjo station to find a place to have lunch. No bus wait time, thanks Ryan. We were looking for a place in Ryan's guidebook but decided to walk into place we were right beside. I got combo that consisted of udon, rice with tempura and some sour veggies. Went to Teramachi to kill some time as Ryan printed off some pics. We run across a massive manga/book store so we hopped in and I looked around for artbooks for Sean. FAIL. Next stop is Chicago clothing store. Jen and Ryan go around and try on a bunch of kimonos on. We spend a ton of time there trying on stuff. Asked about hakama and a Shinsengumi haori. FAIL. Looks like Jen got a kimono and some kind of haori. Ryan got a kimono undergarment and a belt tie but no actual kimono. They were all too small for him.
We head out so as not to miss Kiyomizu-dera since Ryan and Jen need to meet back at the hostel at 5:40 to head to Nara. Kiyomizu-dera is at the top of a hill surrounded on both sides by lots of shops. The surrounding area is full of trees and there's a really nice view of Kyoto. I go and wash my hands at a dragon fountain by the entrance. There's a pair of metal monk's staffs with rings just past the entrance for people to try and lift. Think Miroku from Inuyasha. The little one is pretty heavy but you can lift it one with one hand. It takes both Ryan and I to lift the second one and it sounds like it's a solid chunk of metal so it was probably over 150lbs. Just past that is the Kiyomizu stage and there is a group of old ladies doing Buddhist chants. Just off the path to the left is the love stones. They're a pair of stones spaced some distance apart (I can't remember how far it was) and if you manage to navigate from one to the other with your eyes closed, you'll have success in your love life. Ryan is successful. Hax I say. I decide to try it for fun and get bumped from behind by a girl. Apparently I almost ran into another girl headed to opposite way from the other stone as well. I end up wandering to the left. Is it an omen of things to come? To be sabotaged by women? I kid.
We return to the main path and see Kiyomizu stage in all of its tourist filled glory. It's raining and seeing as how the stage is full of tourists I decide I'll come back at some later time to take better pics. The path takes us down to the area where we can drink the holy water that's flowing from 3 streams of water. Ryan grabs some water from each stream, while I got crowded by old people and only managed to get some water from one of the streams. Holy water is pretty tasty.
Leaving Kiyomizu for the bus was nice because it all downhill. We tried some sample mochi along the way. There was peach flavor, soda flavor (yes soda) and a purple one with a leaf (kinda strange tasting). We get back to hostel with good timing by the bus again, thanks Ryan. Awesome timing even. We make plans for Nara and Thursday (it's Monday). Jen and Ryan head off for Nara for an overnight stay. We plan to meet up with them tomorrow and go visit Koya-san, a famous mountain in the area. Ryan books us a tour for Nijo-jinya for Thursday through the hostel. The staff are extremely helpful.
Did laundry tonight. Yay! No more smelly socks.
Plan to go to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) in the morning and probably head to Kiyomizu-dera with Ryan in the afternoon. I need to do some laundry. The smell from my socks could knock out a small child.
It's raining again here...
We grab breakfast from a combini (convenience store) called Lawsons. I got orange juice, an apple and two onigiri. Winston gets a mini okonomiyaki.
We head to Ryoanji first to check out the famous Zen rock garden. The rest of the tourists makes the place not very Zen. There's a moss garden to the side that I enjoy a bit more since everyone's crowded around the rock garden. I feel that it was a bit overrated but I bought a cute little souvenir. We walked around then went to Kinkakuji and learned that it was a rebuild because the original burned to the ground. Took pics. Saw a picture of Kinkakuji in the winter. It looks like it would be cool to visit when there's some snow. As we walked through the grounds Ryan managed to toss a coin into one of the fenced off bowls sitting around the grounds and our day of luck began.
Took a bus for headed back to Kawaramachi Sanjo station to find a place to have lunch. No bus wait time, thanks Ryan. We were looking for a place in Ryan's guidebook but decided to walk into place we were right beside. I got combo that consisted of udon, rice with tempura and some sour veggies. Went to Teramachi to kill some time as Ryan printed off some pics. We run across a massive manga/book store so we hopped in and I looked around for artbooks for Sean. FAIL. Next stop is Chicago clothing store. Jen and Ryan go around and try on a bunch of kimonos on. We spend a ton of time there trying on stuff. Asked about hakama and a Shinsengumi haori. FAIL. Looks like Jen got a kimono and some kind of haori. Ryan got a kimono undergarment and a belt tie but no actual kimono. They were all too small for him.
We head out so as not to miss Kiyomizu-dera since Ryan and Jen need to meet back at the hostel at 5:40 to head to Nara. Kiyomizu-dera is at the top of a hill surrounded on both sides by lots of shops. The surrounding area is full of trees and there's a really nice view of Kyoto. I go and wash my hands at a dragon fountain by the entrance. There's a pair of metal monk's staffs with rings just past the entrance for people to try and lift. Think Miroku from Inuyasha. The little one is pretty heavy but you can lift it one with one hand. It takes both Ryan and I to lift the second one and it sounds like it's a solid chunk of metal so it was probably over 150lbs. Just past that is the Kiyomizu stage and there is a group of old ladies doing Buddhist chants. Just off the path to the left is the love stones. They're a pair of stones spaced some distance apart (I can't remember how far it was) and if you manage to navigate from one to the other with your eyes closed, you'll have success in your love life. Ryan is successful. Hax I say. I decide to try it for fun and get bumped from behind by a girl. Apparently I almost ran into another girl headed to opposite way from the other stone as well. I end up wandering to the left. Is it an omen of things to come? To be sabotaged by women? I kid.
We return to the main path and see Kiyomizu stage in all of its tourist filled glory. It's raining and seeing as how the stage is full of tourists I decide I'll come back at some later time to take better pics. The path takes us down to the area where we can drink the holy water that's flowing from 3 streams of water. Ryan grabs some water from each stream, while I got crowded by old people and only managed to get some water from one of the streams. Holy water is pretty tasty.
Leaving Kiyomizu for the bus was nice because it all downhill. We tried some sample mochi along the way. There was peach flavor, soda flavor (yes soda) and a purple one with a leaf (kinda strange tasting). We get back to hostel with good timing by the bus again, thanks Ryan. Awesome timing even. We make plans for Nara and Thursday (it's Monday). Jen and Ryan head off for Nara for an overnight stay. We plan to meet up with them tomorrow and go visit Koya-san, a famous mountain in the area. Ryan books us a tour for Nijo-jinya for Thursday through the hostel. The staff are extremely helpful.
Did laundry tonight. Yay! No more smelly socks.
It was the bread!
June 1, 2008
Woke up around 6 because one of our roommates started snoring and I wasn't able to get back to sleep. Did some stretches to kill time. Went to Daiichi Asahi to get some more delicious ramen for breakfast. Went to Kyoto station to check out some stores before the Noh Festival at Heian Shrine. There were lots of designer labels flying around and I couldn't understand what the fuss was all about. Winston was pretty excited about seeing the Burberry Blue label. Score one for mass consumption I guess. I went back to the hostel early to rest for a bit since I had a bit of a stomach ache. I think it was the bread that I ate in the morning after I did exercises. Never again, it'll be eaten right away or not at all. I think Winston ended up buying a couple of shirts.
Ran into Jen as we were leaving for Heian Shrine and were introduced to Ryan. We head off and manage to catch the last express bus to Heian Shrine. The gates open at 4:30 and the plays start at 5:30. We get there and there's already masses and masses of people lined up to get in. All of the good seats are taken by the time we make it in so we end up sitting on a bunch of wooden flats covered in cloth. The first play is kinda boring but one of the drummers has a crazy robotic hand motion for hitting his drum and I just end up watching him most of the first play since it makes no sense if you don't understand Japanese. Following the first play, the Mayor of Kyoto made a speech and some fires around the stage were lit. The following plays got more interesting although it would have been awesome if I could have understood any of the dialogue. I liked the one with the forgetful daimyo and his assistant the best. Pretty amusing.
The plays end and we head off to find somewhere to eat. We find a place called Chiku-ya to eat since it was recommended in Ryan's guide book. I'm feeling sleepy from waking up early and extra crappy from the bread so I'm pretty close to passing out the entire time we're there and I can't even manage to eat the whole bowl of don buri that I ordered. Everyone else got various types of udon, and our waitress was really slow so it took forever to get our food. I felt on the verge of death for a bit. Stupid bread. I welcome sleep.
Woke up around 6 because one of our roommates started snoring and I wasn't able to get back to sleep. Did some stretches to kill time. Went to Daiichi Asahi to get some more delicious ramen for breakfast. Went to Kyoto station to check out some stores before the Noh Festival at Heian Shrine. There were lots of designer labels flying around and I couldn't understand what the fuss was all about. Winston was pretty excited about seeing the Burberry Blue label. Score one for mass consumption I guess. I went back to the hostel early to rest for a bit since I had a bit of a stomach ache. I think it was the bread that I ate in the morning after I did exercises. Never again, it'll be eaten right away or not at all. I think Winston ended up buying a couple of shirts.
Ran into Jen as we were leaving for Heian Shrine and were introduced to Ryan. We head off and manage to catch the last express bus to Heian Shrine. The gates open at 4:30 and the plays start at 5:30. We get there and there's already masses and masses of people lined up to get in. All of the good seats are taken by the time we make it in so we end up sitting on a bunch of wooden flats covered in cloth. The first play is kinda boring but one of the drummers has a crazy robotic hand motion for hitting his drum and I just end up watching him most of the first play since it makes no sense if you don't understand Japanese. Following the first play, the Mayor of Kyoto made a speech and some fires around the stage were lit. The following plays got more interesting although it would have been awesome if I could have understood any of the dialogue. I liked the one with the forgetful daimyo and his assistant the best. Pretty amusing.
The plays end and we head off to find somewhere to eat. We find a place called Chiku-ya to eat since it was recommended in Ryan's guide book. I'm feeling sleepy from waking up early and extra crappy from the bread so I'm pretty close to passing out the entire time we're there and I can't even manage to eat the whole bowl of don buri that I ordered. Everyone else got various types of udon, and our waitress was really slow so it took forever to get our food. I felt on the verge of death for a bit. Stupid bread. I welcome sleep.
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