Day Ten: Kyoto, Part One |
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We intended to prepare for our trip to Kyoto beforehand, get the tickets, seat reservations, hotel. Well, few days before we were leaving Lena was on the phone calling each hotel recommended by the guide book one after the other. Online reservations fell through - everything was booked already and travel agent gave up. Finally it seemed that we lucked out, one place, a guest house, agreed to put us up on the requested days. However, Lena's closer inspection the next day revealed that the place only had communal bathrooms, which we found unacceptable (yes, we are spoiled) and she had to spend some time at work looking for a hotel with the bathroom, now specifically checking for that amenity. But she came through and the Gion Hotel offered almost everything I could ask for from a hotel room: clean room, clean bathroom, good location, and a comfortable bed. Although, after sleeping on Lena's couch for a week and a half any bed where no part of me would be hanging off every time I turned would have been comfortable. To Kyoto we got with no trouble, got on the train without breakfast but with at least two minutes to spare. Then we encountered a bit of a problem. First we unexpectedly had to look for a place to buy shoes, one of mine broke and there was no way I could walk in it for another three days and keep all my toes. Fortunately, Kyoto train station has a department store right in it and we had to go there anyway to pick up some maps of the city and the bus routes. The salesperson I asked for location of the information center and the shoe department directed us to floors eight and nine respectively. We decided to start with ninth and were extremely surprised to be greeted by a large "Information Center" sign after getting out of the elevator. We were readily given all the required maps and then I spent quite a long time trying to pick a pair of snickers, most of what they had was really ugly and completely uncomfortable. But I was really determined. Guess I'll have to start wearing snickers now that I own a pair of size 5.5, that somehow managed to fit my size 7 foot. Footwear problem out of the way, we tried to make our way to the hotel. The hardest part was finding the correct bus stop at the station bus terminal. We harassed two non-English speaking guys, wondered around, cursed and finally located the stop. From there it got a lot easier, except, as we discovered, the bus map was not exactly made to scale and showed the actual location of the stops quite approximately. It's actually a common problem with Japanese maps. My guess was that since Japanese were never explorers they didn't need to develop a knack for map making and modern tourists are still struggling with the results of that. Lena classified those maps "for gaijin", "for traveling Japanese", and "for locals". I called them "useless", "completely useless", and "downright dangerous to follow". Still, somehow we never wondered off our course by more than a block and never really got lost. After settling ourselves at the hotel we started the actual program with a short but steep walk to Kiyomizu Temple, grabbing substitute for both breakfast and lunch, in the form of a bag of tiny little doughnuts, from the street vendor. (By then life taught both of us not to get anything that came on a stick).
The Temple, with its main attraction being the view from the veranda, left me somewhat unimpressed, it was much too crowded and I didn't quite get into the swing of siteseeing yet.
I did like the little shrine to one of the seven lucky gods.
Apparently, if you pat the one on the left, your wishes will come true. I didn't try it, Lena did. But I think you are also supposed to toss him some money, so I am not sure her wishes will be granted. I also noticed that traditional women's outfits that you hardly see on the streets of Tokyo are a lot more common in Kyoto, providing sometimes for a rather amusing sights. There is also a source of some especially good tasting water near the temple, but we didn't verify that fact - there was a line. Instead we went to the Sanjusangendo Hall, famous for being the longest wooden building in the world and for housing 1001 statues of Kannon. I saw three of these statues in the Tokyo Museum and they looked a lot more impressive there. Lining them up like soldiers at a parade did very little to impress me. Some of the other statues, various heavenly generals, were a lot more interesting but their presence did not improve the experience for me because even I didn't manage to photograph anything.
Next, a short bus ride brought us to the Ginkakuji. The Temple of the Silver Pavilion situated in a nice garden made the day for me. Even though it took us a while to realize which of the buildings was the title pavilion, with it missing all the silver and all. But after we applied some logic and consulted the guide obtained at the entrance we managed to figure it out. Unfortunately it was nearing the closing time, some areas had closed down already, and we had to rush through the grounds. From Ginkakuji we followed down the Tetsugaku no michi, the Philosopher's Path, until it got dark and then returned to the hotel to wash up and decide on the place to eat. I already picked the type of meal I wanted and out of two available places we chose the nearest. Getting to it, however, proved a bit of a challenge. Buildings in Kyoto have no numbers and following the map and the directions from the guide got us nowhere. We finally stumbled upon the restaurant quite by accident, when we were already heading to a different place. Guide mentioned that it was located next to some hotel, and as we were walking down the street we spotted that hotel. Then we just had to search that side of the block for a little white door. Inside we were served a traditional Kaiseki meal, a set of chef's choice small dishes, by ladies dressed in kimonos. We sat on a tatami, but the table had a leg well, so it didn't count. My meal was very good, (I even ate the soup and the mushroom rice), except one particular dish that I poked few times with my chopsticks and decided to skip. Unfortunately, my dubious expression and suspicious actions were noticed by the hostess and I had to at least try the thing to avoid offending them completely. Turned out it was gellied reddish (I thought it was an onion) and it was just as disgusting as I expected it to be. I firmly, and I am afraid not politely enough, turned it away. The rest of the meal was great though, especially the fish. I don't think Lena was quite as happy with her set, especially the closing note - the desert. It did look very unpleasant, jelly fish with a cold comes to mind, and didn't taste any better than it looked. We managed to eat some of it though but then had to look for a normal desert place and chase it down with some chocolate. An amusing look at the drunk Japanese making their way through small clubs and bars lining Pontocho, a brief visit to the geisha district, just a block from our hotel, and we finally called it a day. Complete album: |
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