So on the Friday we woke up early and left our lovely 4 star hotel and dragged our suitcases back to the JR to catch the Shinkansen fast train to Kyoto. It took us about 3 hrs and was a pretty relaxing trip. We even bought train station bento boxes to eat for lunch. Mine had a cute flowery pattern.<\/p>\n
When we got to Kyoto we decided to catch a cab, even though our Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) was only 10 mins walk away. Our suitcases are pretty darn heavy and I didn’t want to lug mine around, especially if we got lost.<\/p>\n
It actually took our taxi driver a few twists and turns to get there as the street next to ours was cordoned off for people to visit the near by temple for it’s anniversary. According to our hostel staff, they celebrate every 50 years and the shops on the street which sell Buddhist altars for your house make a killing.<\/p>\n
Mingaling had suggested that Kyoto would be way more touristy than Tokyo, and she was right! But I loved all the souvenirs. Seriously, why are NZ souvenirs so cheesy\/slightly tacky? There are some nice ones, and some cute ones, but not to the level of the Japanese ones. Although, yeah, there are some cheesy and tacky Japanese souvenirs too.<\/p>\n
That evening we decided to go check out the nearby temples, the first one (Nishi Hongan-ji) was really crowded due to the celebration crowd, and we were melting in the heat. It had a pretty cool giant picture of a monk (I’m guessing the famous monk that started the temple) which was made by school kids out of bottle caps. We had read that it was pretty gaudy, but we didn’t\/couldn’t go inside. The pictures at the souvenir shop certainly looked gaudy enough, but me and Ming had been to the temples of South India, where a gaudy temple could encompass an entire town, so we thought it was a bit understated in comparison to that, at least on the outside.<\/p>\n
The other nearby temple (Higashi Hongan-ji) was a bit more empty, but still massive and awesome. On the way there we stopped at some kinda hall with stalls that were set up and had some delicious gelato. When we got to the temple we actually thought we had missed the opening hours and took pictures of a closed gate, until we walked a bit further and realized that that gate had been only half the size of the actual gate. It was a bit nicer and peaceful here. My feet were killing me again, though, and we headed back after taking some fun snaps. Pretty much through the entire time in Kyoto and Osaka just imagine me in pain with stabbing pangs shooting up the soles of my feet and that is what it was like most of the time. But we couldn’t let that stop our tour! So we tried to take breaks often, and I really need to get my feet checked out when we get back to Thailand.<\/p>\n
Back at the Ryokan we set up our mattresses on the tatami mat floor, so we could go straight to bed when we got back from dinner. That night they were celebrating an autumn chrysanthemum festival and they gave us yummy appetizers, then we got to catch noodles in flowing water. I was excited about this because I had seen people doing it on one of the Japanese morning shows at the hotel in Tokyo. They make a half tube out of a thick bamboo pole and prop it up on an angle. Then they use a hose to run water down it. We got given cups of broth, and a pair of chopsticks. Then someone drops some noodles down the bamboo and you have to catch them with your chopsticks before they flow down and hit the bucket at the bottom. Then you dipped them in the broth, and they were super tasty! Everyone got to try it, and we also got to try catching jelly for dessert! We also wrote a haiku which they stuck on the wall and enjoyed chatting to the other folks there about the best places to visit in Kyoto.<\/p>\n
After that we were still a bit hungry, so off we went to an Okonomiyaki restaurant\/bar at was recommended by the staff. Pretty tasty, although we had the grated yam special, and the texture was kinda gooey, which I don’t think I like that much. <\/p>\n
It was really fun sleeping in our Japanese style beds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So on the Friday we woke up early and left our lovely 4 star hotel and dragged our suitcases back to the JR to catch the Shinkansen fast train to Kyoto. It took us about 3 hrs and was a … Continue reading