So these three days were the school trip to Kyoto. Saturday morning through Monday evening (we had Monday and Tuesday off). I had to get up at 5:30am Saturday morning, which was excruciating and people are not meant to exist at that hour of the day. We all met up in the Shinagawa station at 7:30am and moved to the platform for our 8am-ish train. No normal train of course. We took the shinkansen (bullet train), which was awesome. The interior is basically the same as an airplane, except the leg room is MASSIVE. Seriously, it almost felt like too much legroom. Li and I sat on the side of the train where you can see Mt. Fuji, which was really cool. The area south of Tokyo is quite hilly and very beautiful. At several times I found myself wondering, "there are still so many people living out here, but what do they do?" Quite a distance out of the city the population density was low enough to where there were quite a few open fields, but still high enough to warrant the occasional apartment building. Mostly it was just a sea of houses though. What could all those people possibly do though?
The shinkansen travels very quickly (they call it a bullet train for a reason) and can go from Tokyo to Kyoto in about two hours. Check it out on a map; its no small distance. It goes so fast that the train actually needs to make fairly banked turns; enough that it was plainly noticeable inside the car. Anyways, I was absolutely exhausted from only getting 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before - I don't quite remember why - so I spent the majority of the train ride sleeping. I was not alone it seems, since only a handful of the 40-something students stayed awake.
Today was the guided tour day, so immediately upon arrival in Kyoto we all board a tour bus and load our larger luggage into the bottom. I only brought my messenger bag and my backpack, so I kept them with me up top. On the way to our first destination, which was Arashiyama, we were given some bento boxes to eat on the bus for lunch. They were alright, significantly better than the ones on the camping trip. Once we got to Arashiyama, we all got off the bus and started walking as a group to our various tour destinations in the area. Our first stop was the Tenryuji Temple, which was very pretty and had some beautiful gardens. I took quite a few pictures of this place. Oh, that reminds me, I picked up a memory card for the good camera so I was dual-wielding cameras for almost the entire trip. The bigger/better one had enough space for ~1600 images while my little point-and-shoot had enough for ~700. I think I took around 1800 pictures over the whole trip, with just this one temple taking up around 200 of them. The gardens here were really beautiful. I love the temples in this country, the good ones give me a similar feeling to the 'real' castles of Scotland that I loved.
Our next stop was on the way back towards the bus (kind of), at Nomiya Shrine. As with all Shinto shrines, this place was very red. I don't remember what it was a shrine to, but it wasn't that big actually. There was no main building or structure to go inside, just a few little shrines off the side of this shaded back road. The walk there was interesting. Very shortly after leaving the main road we completely left civilization and were in the middle of a forest and/or bamboo thicket, with only a few houses scattered fairly far apart. As I mentioned before, the road was very shaded due to the trees, and the entrance to this shrine was very unimposing. It was a very simple entrance, with very small and simple shrines on a path inside. The area around the path was immaculate and very beautiful. I really hope the pictures do it justice.
For our third and final destination (in Arashiyama), we went to the Monkey Park across the very large river that ran through the area. The full name of the place is actually Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama, but everyone just called it the Monkey Park. I was unaware of this until we started ascending, but apparently the actual observation area is at the top of the mountain - which was very tall - and we were at the bottom. After a painful and occasionally rather steep hike up this mountain (which was actually a pretty beautiful hike, except it was extremely hot) we made it to the observatory, and the monkeys. Oh my, there were monkeys everywhere. There was actually a 'rest area' house-thing at the observatory, and in the 'rest room' the top half of the walls were only an interlocked fence leading directly outside. Well, monkeys love to climb things and you can also feed them from inside this room (absolutely not outside of it though), so there were a good dozen monkeys just chillin' on the fence. It was pretty cool to watch while catching my breath and cooling down. Once I stepped outside and took a moment to look around I realized what an amazing view there was. The edge of the observation area was pretty much a cliff face, so there were no trees blocking the view of the entire city. There was also a secondary observation area a little higher up the hill which had an even better view. I took a lot of pictures at this park, and I mean a lot. At least 200 between both cameras. So anyways, it was pretty awesome watching the monkeys frolic about, urinate on the roof and almost hit someone under the edge (they knew what they were doing), and try to catch the Koi in the little pond. Right before I left to head back down they had feeding time. Now I know why they say you must absolutely not even hint that you have food on you outside the rest area, because those monkeys went INSANE. Fortunately, I have a video of it because there is no way images could catch how crazy this was.
Anyways, we were told before entering the park that we could leave whenever we wanted and do whatever in the area, just as long as we met up at 15:00. With about 30 minutes left until the deadline, Li and I began trying to complete our first objective for this trip: find and procure some yukata. We saw a shop that had some on our way to the Monkey Park, so we went back there. They had an alright selection, but the only ones that were affordable were pretty bland looking, so we opted to continue the search later. I then took some really nice pictures of the bridge and river, and the two of us got to the bus only a few minutes after the deadline.
Our 2nd to last tour destination was Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. Since we were running pretty late and the grounds around the building weren't very interesting we decided to make this a very short stop, around 20 minutes I think it was. The Golden Pavilion is, as the name suggests, golden. The sun was already getting lower so the light reflecting off the building looked really cool, and of course I took a plethora of pictures.
We all then walked very briskly to our final destination, the Ryoanji Temple. The brisk walk was required because they stop letting people in at 1700, it was currently 1640, and it takes about 20 minutes to walk there. Fortunately, we managed to get there with about 5 minutes to spare, which gave us about 35 minutes to view the place. Unlike the Kinkakuji, the grounds around the Ryoanji Temple were very beautiful and certainly more appealing than the inside, which only offered a rock garden. It was a very large and very pretty rock garden, but the big lake and the trees around it outside were more appealing to me. Following in my trend, I took a great many pictures here.
Finally, we gathered back up and hopped on the bus, which took us to our lodgings for the weekend: Japanese-style Hotel Wakamiya. Here is their English website: http://www.kyoto-wakamiya.net/
This place was pretty cool, and not very far from Kyoto Station. The rooms were definitely traditional; tatami floors, a small table with cushions around it, and futons in the closet. A nice perk to the place is they push the table out of the way and set up your futons for you, then put them away in the morning after you leave.
We had the rest of the night to ourselves, but pretty much everyone went to the light-up event in Kiyumizudera, just in different groups. For those who don't know, the temple here is the one with the famous stage where people make a leap of faith/courage/suicide. Its very high up and the area blow isn't very forgiving, otherwise I would have tried. They say about 8 people do it a year, but there is only a 10% or so death rate. If you jump its pretty much guaranteed that you'll break both your legs though, and only that if you're lucky. Also at this temple were two very large and very heavy staffs with the rings at the top. They are held upright in this wooden rack, but are left so that you can still try to lift them. By the way, they are both solid metal, the smaller being about 1 1/2" in diameter and around 6' tall, the other having a rectangular shaft about 3" across and about 8' tall. Li said that the legend states that if you can lift these then you have the makings of a dragon-slayer (or something along those lines). I could easily lift the smaller one with one hand, but I couldn't get the larger one even a millimeter off the ground. Out of all the people I watched who tried, I don't think a single one was able to. This temple is also home to the famous lucky fountain/waterfall thing with three streams that come out from over the little roof and fall down into a small pool at the bottom. From left to right (when you are on the platform) they are: good fortune in love, good fortune in career, and good fortune in health. They have long ladles that you use to reach out and collect some water from the stream before moving on to the next. You are only allowed to drink from the streams once per year, and only from two of the three streams, otherwise you are too greedy and none of it will come true. Li didn't join us since he went last semester, but a couple other people and I waited in the (rather long) line to drink from the streams. I chose career first and then health second, since I don't need to rely on fortune for my relationship. Damnit, I need to find a job >_<. Hopefully this fortune helps me somehow. Oh, and Li got pics of me up there, which turned out well.
By the time we finished drinking from the streams the area was closing down, so we departed for our remaining two destinations for the night: Geishas in Gion (an area of Kyoto fairly close to Kiyumizudera) and an all-you-can-eat sukiyaki place that Li found online, which was fairly close to Gion as well. Unfortunately for us, our luck plunged like a rock at this point. Half-way to Gion it started raining lightly, and by the time we got there it was heavy enough that there was zero chance of any Geishas being out on the back streets. Well, technically it would be Maiko (Geisha in training) that would be out on the street, but close enough. We were saddened by this, but our ever-increasing hunger quickly dampened that. The side streets in the area were confusing, since there were more of them than on the map, so we ended up needing to stop at a Koban (Police box) to ask for directions. Fortunately the girl who was with us (I can't remember her name >_<) spoke better Japanese than the rest of us, so we were able to get through it fairly painlessly. Also, it turned out we were only about 100yds away from our destination when we asked, of course. Well, much like the roads in the area the building this place was in was also very confusing. We could not find any way that led up to this place, which was on the 5th floor, as the main staircase only went up to the 2nd. Down a back hallway we spotted an elevator, so we hopped in that and hit 5. Nothing. 4. Nothing. Hmm, maybe the elevator is just weird. 3. Ok, its moving! We get out at 3 and find ourselves in what looks to be a back stairwell, but that was fine with us since it still went up. The 4th floor was some hair salon or something, which seemed to be closed. This was pretty understandable for 10pm on a Saturday night. What was rather disconcerting was the boxes on the staircase going further up to the 5th floor. Of course, the door was locked with no sign visible to explain what was going on. Finally, we asked one of the guys who worked at the restaurant on the 2nd floor what was going on, and eventually we found out that for SOME reason that place was closed for the next few weeks, but he didn't know why. One would think that they would post something on their massive 5ft sign at ground level stating such, but no. Disheartened, we started wandering the back streets in search of some open restaurant.
Thus began my dislike for the way Kyoto operates. After about 20 minutes of wandering around and being greeted by dark storefronts, we came to the conclusion that even on one of biggest festivals of the year, where everyone is out in that area at night, AND on a Saturday night no less, Kyoto shuts down at 10pm. The hotel locks its doors at 12:30am, and it was currently around 11pm, so we just said "screw it" and went to McDonalds. That night was a disappointment, at least until we got back to the hotel and got into the bath, then everything just melted away. Also, since it was close to the time when they close the baths Li and I were the only ones in at the time. Once all our frustrations were melted away by the bath, we very quickly regressed into making VERY homoerotic innuendos and saying things that, if you were to only hear without the visual context, you would think something wholly different was happening. For example: we each sat at a washing station in the corner of the room so that we were perpendicular to each other. Li would dump the bucket of cold water on himself and a good amount would make it over to me, to which I would respond with a yelp of "oh god, YES. Oh I love it when you do that." True, the cold water felt extremely nice after getting out of the quite hot bath, however this dialogue could have been grossly misinterpreted. Things only went downhill from here.
To end the night, Li and I sat at the table in our room, each drinking some of the scotch we had brought with us while eating a portion of the mass-quantities of snacks we also brought with us, all while watching one of the many very odd Japanese game shows. Oh, and of course we were each wearing a yukata that was supplied with the room. God damn those things are comfortable. So yea, sakura-flavored Kit-Kats are absolutely wonderful. They taste of spring!
Coming up next: Kyoto Day 2: Kobe! -or- The Pilgrimage Continues!
Also, in case you don't know what a yukata is and are too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia (shame on you) I shall try to explain. A yukata is basically a thin light-weight kimono, but without the ungodly intricate designs and the beautifully designed (and also gigantic) obi (belts). They can still have very intricate designs, but nothing even remotely close to those crazy kimonos that are more like a painting than clothing. Also, the primary purposes of yukata are for comfort and also a casual form of a kimono, which is VERY formal. Its like wearing a suit that is also wearing a suit.
Here is a better explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukata
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