A Kyotan Adventure
The following post has been a joint effort by myself and Riccardo.____________________________________________________
Riccardo stole me away to beautifult Kyoto over Golden Week. What a dream! Kyoto is the Number One must-see place when one visists Japan; it is appauling that it's taken over a year for me to get there.
I guess you were just waiting for me to take you there ;o)
Luckily Kyoto was spared from American bombing during WWII as a gesture of respect toward the Japanese people. So the more than 2,000 temples and shrines can still be seen today. Kyoto is acutally what we gaijin think of how Japan looks: steep rooftops, Buddha statues everywhere, incense smell in the air, ladies in kimonos, beautiful gardens, etc. This city makes your heart beat quicker!
There are several ways to get to Kyoto, which is in the Kansai region of Japan and an eight+ hour drive away (on the speed-limitless expressway): drive, fly, express train, Shinkansen, or night bus. No one drives in Japan; the motorways just aren't made for long-distance travel. Flying, obviously, is the most expensive option, but not too much more than taking the Shinkansen (bullet train: goes up to 280 kms/hr). Express train is perhaps the cheapest option, but we weren't willing to invest 4 days into getting to Kyoto and back. Soooo, night bus it was.
The bus picked us up in Tochigi (where Riccardo lives) at around 10pm. It was a double-decker full of lazyboys. The windows were heavily curtained, we were provided with blankets and pillows, it was completely dark and quiet (except for the snoring Japanese men); quite better than we expected.
The good thing about the night bus is that it drives at night (thanks Tips!) and we had two full days at Kyoto without having to spend two additional days for travelling. The bad thing about the night bus is that it drives at night (...) and the Japanese men LOVE to snore. The moment the one across from me stopped I had the one beside me in my ear! It was some kind of contest... or concert - I could not figure out which.
Likely the result of our excitement for the trip ahead, Riccardo and I slept less than two of the eight hours to Kyoto. We arrived at around 6am, before anything was open. Since the English Travel Advisory Office opened at 10am we had to find something to do. We toured two temples in downtown Kyoto and the architectually impressive Kyoto (train) Station before heading to the travel office. We were provided with public transit, Kyoto Tourist Attractions, and walking tour maps once the office finally opened.
Don't forget: we had a great breakfast at Mr. Donut in memory of our "police-friends" from Okazaki. So as not to upset either of those we had to have chocolate AND filled donuts!
The station is the most discussed building ever in Japanese history. Some call it "a futuristic for the transportation age" (Lonely Planet) while others critisize that its architecture does not fit the traditional Japanese, and especially Kyotian, architecture. Both are right.
We also went to a morning celebration (religious service) withing the Higashi Hongan-ji which was a very special experience for me. Although Buddhism and Christianity have different approaches to answer the essential questions of life, I felt remarkably familiar with what was going on.
Our first afternoon in Kyoto we visited the Imperial Palace. Kyoto was once the capital of Japan and today exhibits the relics of this history. The Kyoto Imperial Palace preceeds its counterpart in Tokyo as the residence of the Emperor and the homebase for the government, but many current governmental proceedings still take place there. I found the two palaces to be quite similar, though visitors are allowed to see much more of the Kyoto one (when it is open).
Kyoto has been the capital of Japan for most of the modern time (from 794 to 1600 BC, with short breaks) and most Japanese still think the city is at least the cultural centre of the country. In fact, the spoken dialect is the most complicated dialect in Japan as it uses even more than the usual 7 different "levels of respect."
After the Palace we visited Kyoto's famous five-story pagoda; the tallest in Japan with 57 metres. The cool thing about the attractions in Kyoto is that tourists can enter most of the former shrines and temples because they've been converted into museums; this was the case for the ancient buildings surrounding the pagoda, as well as for the pagoda itself. Sadly, visitors aren't supposed to take pictures inside the museums.
Hmmm, we still took some, didn't we? (sneaky, sneaky)
Afterwards we went to Kyoto Castle, an impressive residence for the Shoguns of those times. Though the rooms were not furnished, simply the size of the building was very impressive. Around the residence, within the huge walls surrounded by a vast moat, was a beautiful garden with specially grown trees and flowers. As many other places in Kyoto the Castle was an island of quiet and spirituality within a huge city of more than 1 million inhabitants.
We were happy to check into our hotel at 5pm, after a long day of walking through the city in stiffling weather (though only 26 degrees, the humidity made it feel like well over 30; the sunburns prove it). Though I had chosen my most suitable footwear, a pair of hiking sneakers, I was still sporting at least six enormous blisters; a sporting injury veteran, Riccardo taught me how to drain them. Big fun.
I do confess that I have never seen so many blisters on two feet. I felt like a slave-driver seeing these tiny little feet struck by those big blisters. My deepest apologies for not carrying you on my back but neither there nor on my front was space enough as I was carrying both your backpack and mine. ;o(
What a gentleman!! Thanks again, honey!
Our hotel was of the traditional Japanese variety (called a Ryokan), complete with onsen (public bath; the Japanese LOVE to get naked together, sometimes even co-ed) and futon-style beds (not western futon, but rather mattresses on the floor). After washing the grime of the day from ourselves we were served a traditional Kyotan dinner in our room. The dinner (and breakfast) was included with the price of the hotel, and was fabulous. The best part was the Kyoto tofu nabe (a soup/fondue, cooked at the table, with vegetables and long slices of tofu in it) - a specialty of the area.
Even me, who is more the "a day without meat is a lost day" - type, enjoyed this special dinner. I guess we deserved it after all!
We lucked out that our hotel was located in the middle of fabulous and famous Gion. Gion is the Geisha district in Kyoto, and the largest Geisha area in Japan. Of the roughly 1000 Geisha still working in Japan, more than 75% call Gion home. Trouble is, they are not only mysterious by elusive. Riccardo and I searched bustling Gion for more than an hour and had no Geisha-sightings. We gave up search and opted for Baskin Robbins and beer along the river that borders Gion.
At least we found some funny Italian guys who were also looking for Geisha! There were so many gaijin in Kyoto, which underlines its status as the largest open-air museum in the world.
The riverbank was brimming with Kyotan young folk; apparently it is a regular hang-out. Riccardo and I copped a squat and were there no more than half an hour before a troup of Japanese and gaijin planted themselves directly behind us. At first bongo we were annoyed: could they not bang their drums a little further down the bank??? - then we realied they were going to put on a show for which we had front-row seats!! Six or eight twenty-somethings spent approximately an hour (before we left) performing a spectacular fire show. So cool.
It was the perfect mixture of light, heat, rhythm, and (e)motion. We were really lucky to be in the right spot at the right time. The whole atmosphere in Kyoto at night reminded me very much of a Mediterranean night somewhere in Italy, Greece, Turkey or Spain.
We dragged ourselves back to the hotel and to bed where we could do nothing to prevent immediate snoring. The morning of day two came entirely too soon; I had great difficulty prying my sore muscles and aching feel from my comfy futon. A super Japanese-style breakfast (rice, miso soup, tofu, salmon...) offered some relief. And then we were back on the road.
Using one of the walking tour maps we picked up the previous day, Riccardo and I headed to the "Philosopher's Trail," a path of approximately two kilometres that features at least a dozen temples and shrines and follows along a quaint canal and mountainside. Our first stop was the Silver Pavillion, a conglomeration of temples, shrines and gardens alongside a forest. My favourite feature of this stop were the Zen gardens: large-scale versions of the popular western table art/play toy. One sand creation mimicked Fuji-san.
"The Philosopher's Trail" had actually more than 5kms. I just said it had two to make Crystal walk it, hehe. But it was worth every metre as its idyll was marvelous. I love (maps and) the arrangements in Japanese gardens. It looks so perfect and complete as if time would not count at all. A total opposite of what I have seen in rushing Tokyo, where every second counts.
You are such a brat!!
I think Riccardo's primary purpose for visiting Kyoto was to purchase a katana: mock sword. In the shops outside the Silver Pavillion he found his prize. Actually, Riccardo bought two matching black katana and a display rack; he was more than willing to cart his rather weighty purchases through town for the rest of the day. Boys and their swords. I will never understand.
Wait a second! I have picture proof of Crystal with a big smile on her face and the smaller katana in her hand. It actually was very hard to get it back from her.
Lies. All lies.
Though we skipped many of the smaller attractions on the Philosopher's Trail, it took us all morning to complete. The clouds parted just as we reached the Golden Pavillion. Across town, this is the counterpart of the Silver Pavillion, and was constructed by the same man. Though the architect died before making the Silver Pavillioin silver, the Golden one was fully completed, and is, well, GOLD. This was my favourite sight of our trip and we were very lucky to see it in the sunshine.
Yes, the Golden Pavillion is one of the best known sights in Japan. Seeing the reflection of the sun in the golden cladding makes it somehow easier to understand why gold has fascinated human beings for thousands of years.
Riccardo's co-worker's sister-in-law lives in Kyoto and we made plans to dine with her. Unfortunately there was a 30-minute wait at the Japanese-style restaurant she chose (one of dozens in the Kyoto Station, but one of few that overlooks the city from the 9th floor). We settled for Italian instead. A bottle of wine and a gaggle of laughter later we had made a new friend. Hopefully we will see Kazumi-chan again soon.
Sadly, it soon came time for us to depart. Kazumi walked us to our bus stop and waited with us. We were identified by a group of middle-aged Japanese men who spoke no English and who had apparently rode with us to Kyoto the day before. They were quite drunk and very unabashed. At one point conversation turned to Riccardo's new katana. One man said something like, "Well, now you have two swords!" whereupon he manhandled Riccardo's other package. Kazumi was scandalized, Riccardo was fuming, and I couldn't stop laughing!!
Thanks, darling. A man with such friends does not need any enemies! ;o) Damn, he REALLY touched my "other package" as if it was a door handle! Well, I'd do (almost) anything to make Crystal laugh, or even just for a smile!
After a short, but tiring trip of blisters upon blisters, sunburns, and many fantastic memories, we boarded our bus and promptly slept. The bus was to arrive back in Tochigi around 6am, but we guessed it was running late when we awoke at 7 and we were still motoring down the expressway (we are so clever!!) In fact, the Golden Week traffic was so bad that our journey took us a full two and a half hours longer than expected.
Yeah, I expected the bus ride to be far less comfortable than it was. We did not have any plans for the next day so it was not too bad with the delay and, after all, we arrived safely!
Yes we did. Thank you Riccardo, for Kyoto and more.
Thanks to you for coming with me and not killing me for being "so mean" to you. I am looking forward to our next trip, our next adventure, our next story together. "Grazie!" and "Danke!"
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