Wednesday, May 02, 2007
April 13,
Ah, much more relaxed. After the ‘temple whirlwind’ tour the previous day, today was much more simple. We went out to western Kyoto by JR rail and just walked around for a bit. Our first stop was a long bridge over a river and through a park. During the fall, you can see fishermen using cormorants to fish, but for us, it was just a walk over a nice bridge and through the cherry blossoms. We had breakfast at a restaurant and then walked along one of the main streets with some tourist-y shops. I ended up getting my bamboo cup there. It’s pretty neat.
We did check out one temple complex, but just one. The odd thing about it was that the way to the main temple was lined with buildings and we weren’t sure if they were temples, shrines, or just people’s houses. Imagine walking into one to look at the traditional Japanese architecture and seeing someone come out of their shower. We decided to keep our observations at a distance.
We went up to the main temple, and you could either pay to walk through the garden or the building interior. Jess and I opted for the garden, and I’m really glad we did. Everything was in bloom, the sakura (cherry blossoms) were falling, and everything just looked gorgeous. We took our time, sat and talked, and had a really relaxing walk through.
After the temple, bamboo forest! There are a lot of bamboo forests around western Kyoto and we strolled through one just around the corner from the temple. It was very peaceful, especially when the wind started blowing and the bamboo would sway and clack against each other above our heads. Very nice. Lots of young men doing guided tours on rickshaws, too.
We came back on the rail and walked through a department store in Kyoto station. The upper floors mostly sold clothes we didn’t’ want, though I did get a picture of one of the very popular ‘horrible English on t-shirt’ t-shirts that are so entertaining in Japan. The basement was the real home run, though. There were two floors down there devoted to confections. Truly epic. Everything was so elegant and beautiful that I’m not sure you were supposed to eat any of it. Just put it on the mantle and remark on its beauty.
Then, Jess found a bakery and we went nuts. The place is called Andersens, and we would visit this place (it’s a chain) all over Japan. They bake bread fresh in the back rooms and are constantly bringing out fresh loaves. Jess was a big fan of the cheese breads (which lets me know what I need to be cooking more of :) and I got to try some more traditional Japanese breads. Butter rolls: soft and good. French bread rolls, too, with very crunchy exteriors. I also got some plain old sliced bread that was pretty good, too. It reminded me of one of the loaves I’ve made before, but done better, so I know what to aim for.
I like this picture. One of the recurring themes of the trip was: 'aww, kitties!'. We'd stumble across one looking out of someones house and Jess would stop and call. Sometimes they'd let her pet them, sometimes they'd just nervously stare. This one got away.
Oh, and by the way, Hotel Kyoto Costa del Sol was our least favorite hostel. The guy only had hot water available for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, and the beds were just a single, thin mattress on tatami. If I know my futons, there’s supposed to be another layer under the futon. My hip hurt in the morning from sleeping on my side.
And that was pretty much it. Not quite as hectic or traditional as some other days, but dag nabbit, this was our vacation and we got to do whatever the heck we wanted. So there!
-N
Ah, much more relaxed. After the ‘temple whirlwind’ tour the previous day, today was much more simple. We went out to western Kyoto by JR rail and just walked around for a bit. Our first stop was a long bridge over a river and through a park. During the fall, you can see fishermen using cormorants to fish, but for us, it was just a walk over a nice bridge and through the cherry blossoms. We had breakfast at a restaurant and then walked along one of the main streets with some tourist-y shops. I ended up getting my bamboo cup there. It’s pretty neat.
We did check out one temple complex, but just one. The odd thing about it was that the way to the main temple was lined with buildings and we weren’t sure if they were temples, shrines, or just people’s houses. Imagine walking into one to look at the traditional Japanese architecture and seeing someone come out of their shower. We decided to keep our observations at a distance.
We went up to the main temple, and you could either pay to walk through the garden or the building interior. Jess and I opted for the garden, and I’m really glad we did. Everything was in bloom, the sakura (cherry blossoms) were falling, and everything just looked gorgeous. We took our time, sat and talked, and had a really relaxing walk through.
After the temple, bamboo forest! There are a lot of bamboo forests around western Kyoto and we strolled through one just around the corner from the temple. It was very peaceful, especially when the wind started blowing and the bamboo would sway and clack against each other above our heads. Very nice. Lots of young men doing guided tours on rickshaws, too.
We came back on the rail and walked through a department store in Kyoto station. The upper floors mostly sold clothes we didn’t’ want, though I did get a picture of one of the very popular ‘horrible English on t-shirt’ t-shirts that are so entertaining in Japan. The basement was the real home run, though. There were two floors down there devoted to confections. Truly epic. Everything was so elegant and beautiful that I’m not sure you were supposed to eat any of it. Just put it on the mantle and remark on its beauty.
Then, Jess found a bakery and we went nuts. The place is called Andersens, and we would visit this place (it’s a chain) all over Japan. They bake bread fresh in the back rooms and are constantly bringing out fresh loaves. Jess was a big fan of the cheese breads (which lets me know what I need to be cooking more of :) and I got to try some more traditional Japanese breads. Butter rolls: soft and good. French bread rolls, too, with very crunchy exteriors. I also got some plain old sliced bread that was pretty good, too. It reminded me of one of the loaves I’ve made before, but done better, so I know what to aim for.
I like this picture. One of the recurring themes of the trip was: 'aww, kitties!'. We'd stumble across one looking out of someones house and Jess would stop and call. Sometimes they'd let her pet them, sometimes they'd just nervously stare. This one got away.
Oh, and by the way, Hotel Kyoto Costa del Sol was our least favorite hostel. The guy only had hot water available for 2 hours in the morning and two at night, and the beds were just a single, thin mattress on tatami. If I know my futons, there’s supposed to be another layer under the futon. My hip hurt in the morning from sleeping on my side.
And that was pretty much it. Not quite as hectic or traditional as some other days, but dag nabbit, this was our vacation and we got to do whatever the heck we wanted. So there!
-N
Labels: Bamboo, Bread, Japan, Kyoto
Sunday, April 29, 2007
April 12, one day sightseeing in Kyoto and we’re already sick of temples.
Oh, and I'm trying a different image host for these pictures so they're...um...well, they're huge.
The plan for today was to walk through ‘eastern Kyoto’, a place as jam-packed with cultural properties and epic thousand-year-old blah blah blah that it’s a little bit numbing. Okay, a lot bit numbing. I had picked out some stops along a long, meandering walk through the city and we had our plan in hand, so the first thing we did was check out of our hostel and walk to Kyoto Station, nearby. From there we took a bus to our first stop, Ginkaku-ji temple. We were on the bus at ‘morning go to school’ time and so as we drove, it began to fill up with millions and millions of schoolgirls, all wearing the same uniform and, therefore, all going to the same school. There was one stop in particular where there were probably, no exaggerating, fifty students all waiting for the bus. The doors opened and people just kept on coming in and coming in until we just couldn’t fit anyone else. I was a little worried, actually, because if our stop happened before theirs, there was a good chance we just wouldn’t be able to get off of the bus. Luckily, they all drained out a few stops before us, and we got out and walked toward the temple.
Oh, and by the way, we were on the bus for a good 15 or 20 minutes. This will become more interesting later.
We started first at the philosopher’s path. Jess decided that simply ‘standing in the picture’ was no longer interesting enough. I think she’s probably right. The philosopher’s path is one of my favorite sights from the trip. We hit the timing dead on, and all of the cherry trees along this ancient, wandering path were in full bloom. It was spectacularly gorgeous, and really nice to just put Jess on my arm and walk along.
Our first temple was called ‘Ginkaku-ji’, an old temple with a really interesting garden. Parts of it were just pattern sand, like the abbreviated cone above. The rest was very specific, simple, and elegant, with lots of little rivers and trees in a field of moss. I got a picture of a display that evidently explained (in Japanese) the different kinds of moss to be found around the garden. I liked it mostly because it had three different classes of moss, and two of them were ‘VIP Moss’ and ‘Moss: The Interrupter’, which sounds like a great prime-time gardening drama.
We were joined at this stop, and on many subsequent stops, but another million schoolchildren on a field trip to see some temples along the philosophers walk. Each school group had a leader carrying a flag to keep everyone together. Jess and I made a point of setting a different pace from the school trips because otherwise we’d be swamped by schoolchildren and, no doubt, blinded by camera phones.
There was also a great view of Kyoto from the top ends of the garden. A nice place to spend a morning.
Next we continued along the philosophers walk to a temple called Honen-in. The guidebook did a good job of mixing up all the big, famous, extremely busy temples with smaller, quieter, but equally interesting ones, and this was one of the quieter ones. It was set up in the woods, seemingly away from the world, and was simple and unpretentious. We liked it a lot. Also, I’m not sure who did that rock stack, but it wasn’t me, and I was afraid to go anywhere near it in case I knocked it over.
The next stop was called Eikan-do, where we got to go up into the actual temple and look around at all the rooms. They had a statue of the Buddha ‘looking back’, and there’s a story around that that I found pretty interesting. I’m sure ‘the internet’ could tell it better than I could, though, so I’ll let you look it up on your own. No pictures, though, they don’t tend to let cameras inside of temples, which is a shame, but I liked the place a lot.
Fourth temple of the day was Nanzen-ni, a huge temple complex with a lot of interesting sights…that you had to pay to get in to. We didn’t really feel the need to pay admission for anything else that day, though, so we eschewed any of the details, though I did snap these pictures of the ‘triple gate’ entrance and a place where they burn incense. That right there? That is a whole lot of ash. I was impressed.
We walked through this garden called Muran-in hoping we could kick back here and rest for a while, but it was a pretty small garden, though quite pretty, and we didn’t really want to just lounge in the middle of it because there was really only one path through. So instead we skipped the next ancient, epic, crazy temple and decided to rest for a while. At this point we were feeling a little tired of temples and shrines. Sure, they’re pretty, but there is such a thing as too many temples, it seems.
So instead, Maruyama Koen (park), a good place to rest your feet. It was a pretty big park with lots of shops selling ice cream and various munchy foods. Also, tons and tons of schoolchildren grouped together like honeycombs. Jess took a nap while I walked around and checked out food. I ended up getting some fried octopus balls and some strange, but tasty, desert…things…on a stick. That’s what Jess is eating. We also got some nice soft-serve ice cream and just hung around letting our legs recharge.
After that, we walked out of the park through a shrine complex. Lots of shrines of all sizes, very neat.
And then on the way out, we walked through Gion, the old geisha district. Pretty neat place, but I’m sure it lights up a lot more at night when all the rich businessmen come to be very traditionally entertained. We saw a few geisha walking around, too. Well, geisha or meiko, trainee geisha. One of them wears shorter sleeves, but I can’t quite remember which. Serious footwear, too. That’s got to take some practice to walk around in.
We stopped at a place that sold quality Japanese crafts and did some shopping for gifts, though nothing really caught my eye for myself. Neat stuff, though. We also strolled through a shopping arcade and saw a lot of pachinko parlors, a lot of clothing stores, and a place that sold croissant-wrapped hot dogs. Jessie liked.
Then we took a subway a mere two stops back to Kyoto station. That 20 minute bus ride at the beginning of the day? We walked back. We crashed early, again, got some dinner and I reconsidered my plan for the next day. Less temple-centric.
-N
Oh, and I'm trying a different image host for these pictures so they're...um...well, they're huge.
The plan for today was to walk through ‘eastern Kyoto’, a place as jam-packed with cultural properties and epic thousand-year-old blah blah blah that it’s a little bit numbing. Okay, a lot bit numbing. I had picked out some stops along a long, meandering walk through the city and we had our plan in hand, so the first thing we did was check out of our hostel and walk to Kyoto Station, nearby. From there we took a bus to our first stop, Ginkaku-ji temple. We were on the bus at ‘morning go to school’ time and so as we drove, it began to fill up with millions and millions of schoolgirls, all wearing the same uniform and, therefore, all going to the same school. There was one stop in particular where there were probably, no exaggerating, fifty students all waiting for the bus. The doors opened and people just kept on coming in and coming in until we just couldn’t fit anyone else. I was a little worried, actually, because if our stop happened before theirs, there was a good chance we just wouldn’t be able to get off of the bus. Luckily, they all drained out a few stops before us, and we got out and walked toward the temple.
Oh, and by the way, we were on the bus for a good 15 or 20 minutes. This will become more interesting later.
We started first at the philosopher’s path. Jess decided that simply ‘standing in the picture’ was no longer interesting enough. I think she’s probably right. The philosopher’s path is one of my favorite sights from the trip. We hit the timing dead on, and all of the cherry trees along this ancient, wandering path were in full bloom. It was spectacularly gorgeous, and really nice to just put Jess on my arm and walk along.
Our first temple was called ‘Ginkaku-ji’, an old temple with a really interesting garden. Parts of it were just pattern sand, like the abbreviated cone above. The rest was very specific, simple, and elegant, with lots of little rivers and trees in a field of moss. I got a picture of a display that evidently explained (in Japanese) the different kinds of moss to be found around the garden. I liked it mostly because it had three different classes of moss, and two of them were ‘VIP Moss’ and ‘Moss: The Interrupter’, which sounds like a great prime-time gardening drama.
We were joined at this stop, and on many subsequent stops, but another million schoolchildren on a field trip to see some temples along the philosophers walk. Each school group had a leader carrying a flag to keep everyone together. Jess and I made a point of setting a different pace from the school trips because otherwise we’d be swamped by schoolchildren and, no doubt, blinded by camera phones.
There was also a great view of Kyoto from the top ends of the garden. A nice place to spend a morning.
Next we continued along the philosophers walk to a temple called Honen-in. The guidebook did a good job of mixing up all the big, famous, extremely busy temples with smaller, quieter, but equally interesting ones, and this was one of the quieter ones. It was set up in the woods, seemingly away from the world, and was simple and unpretentious. We liked it a lot. Also, I’m not sure who did that rock stack, but it wasn’t me, and I was afraid to go anywhere near it in case I knocked it over.
The next stop was called Eikan-do, where we got to go up into the actual temple and look around at all the rooms. They had a statue of the Buddha ‘looking back’, and there’s a story around that that I found pretty interesting. I’m sure ‘the internet’ could tell it better than I could, though, so I’ll let you look it up on your own. No pictures, though, they don’t tend to let cameras inside of temples, which is a shame, but I liked the place a lot.
Fourth temple of the day was Nanzen-ni, a huge temple complex with a lot of interesting sights…that you had to pay to get in to. We didn’t really feel the need to pay admission for anything else that day, though, so we eschewed any of the details, though I did snap these pictures of the ‘triple gate’ entrance and a place where they burn incense. That right there? That is a whole lot of ash. I was impressed.
We walked through this garden called Muran-in hoping we could kick back here and rest for a while, but it was a pretty small garden, though quite pretty, and we didn’t really want to just lounge in the middle of it because there was really only one path through. So instead we skipped the next ancient, epic, crazy temple and decided to rest for a while. At this point we were feeling a little tired of temples and shrines. Sure, they’re pretty, but there is such a thing as too many temples, it seems.
So instead, Maruyama Koen (park), a good place to rest your feet. It was a pretty big park with lots of shops selling ice cream and various munchy foods. Also, tons and tons of schoolchildren grouped together like honeycombs. Jess took a nap while I walked around and checked out food. I ended up getting some fried octopus balls and some strange, but tasty, desert…things…on a stick. That’s what Jess is eating. We also got some nice soft-serve ice cream and just hung around letting our legs recharge.
After that, we walked out of the park through a shrine complex. Lots of shrines of all sizes, very neat.
And then on the way out, we walked through Gion, the old geisha district. Pretty neat place, but I’m sure it lights up a lot more at night when all the rich businessmen come to be very traditionally entertained. We saw a few geisha walking around, too. Well, geisha or meiko, trainee geisha. One of them wears shorter sleeves, but I can’t quite remember which. Serious footwear, too. That’s got to take some practice to walk around in.
We stopped at a place that sold quality Japanese crafts and did some shopping for gifts, though nothing really caught my eye for myself. Neat stuff, though. We also strolled through a shopping arcade and saw a lot of pachinko parlors, a lot of clothing stores, and a place that sold croissant-wrapped hot dogs. Jessie liked.
Then we took a subway a mere two stops back to Kyoto station. That 20 minute bus ride at the beginning of the day? We walked back. We crashed early, again, got some dinner and I reconsidered my plan for the next day. Less temple-centric.
-N
Labels: Food, Japan, Kyoto, Shrines, Temples
Thursday, April 26, 2007
April 11
Morning! We had requested our breakfast a little bit later, so we occupied our morning with the baths again. This time, I found the open-air hot springs. (Still divided by sex, people). So we showered off and soaked in the tubs for a while. Eventually we realized that not only were the men’s and woman’s baths right next to each other and exposed to the open air, but that we were both alone in our respective hot-tubs. So we talked back and forth as we sat and relaxed and absorbed the warmth and rejuvenation. The view was spectacular too. Then we got out, dried off, walked down the hall, I walked back, picked up the key, and then we went up to our room. I had lost our room key for the hostel at some point too, so from here on in, Jessie was always in charge of room keys.
We waited around for a while then went down for breakfast. We had the choice and Jessie went, of course, for western style while I went, of course, for Japanese style. We went down in our Yukata again, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to; the other people we saw in the breakfast dining room with us were in their regular clothes. Lucky us, though, there was only a couple other people there, and we mostly had the place to ourselves.
Wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding, we had a really nice breakfast. They just kept bringing and bringing and bringing my stuff, and I got to try all sorts of little Japanese bits and pieces. Pickled vegetables on their own are pretty intense, but when you eat them with rice they’re actually quite tasty. Jess had some eggs and coffee and toast and a big smile. I’m glad she got something good to eat.
Anyway, after that we strapped on all our gear and left the Hotel. I loved it, Jessie liked it, and those hot springs were really, really nice.
Took the bus back to the station, then got another bullet train down to Kyoto, where we would spend the 11th and the next two days. We were 3 hours on the bullet train, which gave me time to look over some walking routes for the next day. We got to Kyoto, (cherry trees in bloom down in Kyoto too. Sweet!) got off the train, and walked down the street to the first of two hostels we would be staying at in Kyoto. (I couldn’t find a place that had a room for 3 nights straight. Once again, quite glad I booked ahead.) It was actually a pretty nice place. Small, but we got the room with a view of the temple complex right across the street. Very pretty.
We had some time, so we walked out and checked out that same temple complex. (Largest wooden structure in Japan.) The main building was having it’s roof repaired, but we got to see some of the side buildings as well as part of the inside of the big one. Very neat.
My favorite sight in the place? This rope, made out of hair. Of course I took a picture of Jessie next to it.
We walked to another temple down the street, but we were wearing hiking boots and didn’t feel like going through the elaborate process to take them off just right then, so we just walked around the outside.
About this time, Jess started to feel a little queasy, so we stopped at a mart to get some sprite and munchies (sprite’s good on the stomach) and then at a café where I had a sandwich and Jess got some pizza toast. (Pizza is good on the stomach, too). Then we just came home and fell asleep. Not much sightseeing, but still a pretty nice day.
-N
Morning! We had requested our breakfast a little bit later, so we occupied our morning with the baths again. This time, I found the open-air hot springs. (Still divided by sex, people). So we showered off and soaked in the tubs for a while. Eventually we realized that not only were the men’s and woman’s baths right next to each other and exposed to the open air, but that we were both alone in our respective hot-tubs. So we talked back and forth as we sat and relaxed and absorbed the warmth and rejuvenation. The view was spectacular too. Then we got out, dried off, walked down the hall, I walked back, picked up the key, and then we went up to our room. I had lost our room key for the hostel at some point too, so from here on in, Jessie was always in charge of room keys.
We waited around for a while then went down for breakfast. We had the choice and Jessie went, of course, for western style while I went, of course, for Japanese style. We went down in our Yukata again, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to; the other people we saw in the breakfast dining room with us were in their regular clothes. Lucky us, though, there was only a couple other people there, and we mostly had the place to ourselves.
Wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding, we had a really nice breakfast. They just kept bringing and bringing and bringing my stuff, and I got to try all sorts of little Japanese bits and pieces. Pickled vegetables on their own are pretty intense, but when you eat them with rice they’re actually quite tasty. Jess had some eggs and coffee and toast and a big smile. I’m glad she got something good to eat.
Anyway, after that we strapped on all our gear and left the Hotel. I loved it, Jessie liked it, and those hot springs were really, really nice.
Took the bus back to the station, then got another bullet train down to Kyoto, where we would spend the 11th and the next two days. We were 3 hours on the bullet train, which gave me time to look over some walking routes for the next day. We got to Kyoto, (cherry trees in bloom down in Kyoto too. Sweet!) got off the train, and walked down the street to the first of two hostels we would be staying at in Kyoto. (I couldn’t find a place that had a room for 3 nights straight. Once again, quite glad I booked ahead.) It was actually a pretty nice place. Small, but we got the room with a view of the temple complex right across the street. Very pretty.
We had some time, so we walked out and checked out that same temple complex. (Largest wooden structure in Japan.) The main building was having it’s roof repaired, but we got to see some of the side buildings as well as part of the inside of the big one. Very neat.
My favorite sight in the place? This rope, made out of hair. Of course I took a picture of Jessie next to it.
We walked to another temple down the street, but we were wearing hiking boots and didn’t feel like going through the elaborate process to take them off just right then, so we just walked around the outside.
About this time, Jess started to feel a little queasy, so we stopped at a mart to get some sprite and munchies (sprite’s good on the stomach) and then at a café where I had a sandwich and Jess got some pizza toast. (Pizza is good on the stomach, too). Then we just came home and fell asleep. Not much sightseeing, but still a pretty nice day.
-N
Labels: Japan, Kyoto, Senkyoro
