Kyoto

Oh dear lord, I forgot to write anything again. The 6 nights
I spent in Kyoto were the best ever, I had an absolute blast
with some amazing people. There’s no possible way I can
remember everything we all got up to, so this is a condensed
version of an incredible week.

So the original Hiroshima crew of Jo, John, Angie, and I were
joined early on by Cat, from Perth, and Bastian, from
Holland. We had some day trips out and usually ended up in
the hostel’s Zen café for beers. People came and went, but
it was a weird feeling being the ‘constant’; we started
thinking in terms of newbie’s, and it was lovely having a
group of friendly faces at breakfast, where we met every
morning for the buffet!

The first morning I had arranged to go on a walking tour
with an Australian girl called Rebecca, who I had spoken
to briefly on the Travbuddy website. I took Joanne and
Bastian along with me, despite the fact it was absolutely
pouring with rain, and our shoes were soaked by the time
we reached the meeting place. The tour guide, who called
himself Ted, was lovely, but the walk was a bit lame. It
was meant to be an ‘underground’ type tour, where we would
visit the Kyoto nobody else got to see. Well, there is a
reason for that.

Okay so it wasn’t so bad, and I’m sure the weather didn’t
help, but if you go to Kyoto, avoid Johnny Hillwalkers
walking tour! We got to see the original headquarters of
Nintendo, a few cottage industry style houses, where
people were making fans, and the headquarters of the MAFIA!
We were told not to take any pictures as we walked past an
otherwise unspectacular building, except for the very
expensive cars and elaborate security system. We stopped
for a piece of inari sushi and a tea break, and then we
made our escape from the tour.

Another day, Cat, Jo, Sebastian and I went on a trip to
Nara, a cute little town with deer and temples and shrines
and pagodas and the like, although we ended up missing the
main attraction, a huge Buddha, because we got preoccupied
by practising our karate moves.

We had a night out at a karaoke bar, taking Brian, a guy
from Kansas, along with us. The bar was the tiniest place
ever, and the little Japanese lady behind the bar stood
clapping along to our terrible singing and serving us sake
by the glassful.

One day I hired a bicycle and went to the Golden Pavilion,
which was super pretty, then all the way across to the Silver
Pavilion, which had real nice gardens, then down the Path of
Philosophy, through the Gion district, and back to the hostel.
Boy, I sure was tired when I got home.

Lots of other things happened too. I took a daytrip to
Himeji Castle, where the cherry blossoms were still in
full bloom and the sun was shining, making everything look
picture perfect. I also went out for delicious okonomiyaki
with an Australian guy called Darren. Okonomiyaki is my new
favourite food EVER.

One night Jo and I rode our bicycles into Gion to see a
Maiko and Geisha show, which was a total highlight. The
girls performing are actual real life Maiko and Geisha,
and the traditional dance and music was amazing. We came
out of the theatre into Gion, and saw an actual GEISHA
out on the street, hurrying into a taxi! Spotting the
elusive geisha is like tracking some kind of wild animal,
you get a fleeting glimpse as they scuttle across an
alleyway. We rushed home full of excitement to tell
everyone about our sighting, but nobody seemed interested
enough so we went downstairs for beers!

Eventually our group began to dwindle as people moved on
or went home, and eventually it was just me, Angie and
John, and another guy called Andrew who we’d met a couple
of days before and had gone to the bamboo grove with the
previous day. Then Bastian came back from Hiroshima for
the last night, so we went out for some gorgeous food in
a little Japanese restaurant across the river.

The next morning, the sun had reappeared, so Andrew and
I went for a morning trip to Fushimi Inari, a shrine
famous for the hundreds of Torii gates that twist and
turn up a mountain. It was made famous for it’s appearance
in Memoirs of a Geisha, and was super pretty.

We ended up staying loads longer than planned, so it was a
bit of a rush to get back to the hostel to pick up our bags
and get back to the station for the 5.30 train. But we made
it, and an hour later I made it to Nagoya, which is where I
am right now!

The night before last I stayed at Hostel Ann, where Rebecca
was staying. I pretty much checked my mail and went straight
up to bed, got up early the next morning to do my laundry,
and headed downtown for a wander round some shops. Then I
packed my bags back up and came here, to Kyoya Ryokan Nagoya!

A ryokan is basically a traditional Japanese style inn. There
are tatami mats on the floor, sliding paper doors, and public
baths. You sleep on a futon, which is just a mattress on the
floor. It’s adorable, I love it! I had booked into a dorm room
but because they are quiet, they have upgraded me to a private
room with a TV, Apple computer, balcony, fridge, the lot. I
forgot what it’s like to sleep in a room on my own!

Today I walked to Nagoya castle, which was quite similar
to Himeji castle, but it had these really beautiful gardens
and there was also a street style performer doing balloon
animals, juggling, mime, and a bunch of other stuff. I think
he was having a bad day because everything kept going wrong!

Then I walked miles to find a shop called 3 Coins, which is
like the 100 yen stores but its 300 yen, and a slightly higher
class of tack. Then I jumped on a train to another 300 yen
store, and bought lots of lovely crap. Another early night
tonight before Tokyo again tomorrow!