Kyoto April 6-9
and Happy Birthday Buddha
Charles and Vicki2, Wanda and Sara and Vicki1 and I headed for the
train station. Wanda caught the direct train to the airport and we
boarded the high speed train to Kyoto. We whisked along smoothly at
speeds of up to 165 mph.
Our hotel in Kyoto is, let us say, small. A third the size of the
Tokyo hotel, but a third more expensive. Those damn temples and
palaces and cherry trees better be worth it. Because of the cherry
trees, Buddha's birthday, and the annual opening of the Imperial
Palace inner gardens, the hotels are packed.
We spent the afternoon of our arrival wandering aimlessly about
through town and various temples and getting the lay of the land.
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| these guys were from the domincan republic and going to school in Kyoto. they carried their nations flag to share with others as few know were their country is. |
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| smoking is prohibited on the streets except at a smoking station |
The next morning we hopped the train to the Arashiyama area. Things
were not crowded until we went to the Tenryuji Temple. As the morning
progressed the hordes descended upon us and by noon it was elbow to
elbow. We went back into the center of town to have lunch and visit
some temples that were closed yesterday. The Higashi-Honganji Temple
is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. The biggest find
of the day was a British Pub with 240yen, that is about $2.40, large
gin and tonics. Once we figured out there was no table service things
went a lot better. We worshiped here for quite awhile.
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| there were gardeners picking little tiny weeds |
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| ever seen a tour bus driver shining his wheels |
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| this shrine is actually about rescuing baby's as they all go to hell if they die young because of the suffering they cause their parents. this guy goes down and rescues them and brings their sprites back. in my world he is the god of old fat people that spill everything on themselves and need a bib |
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| for parking you pull in. then the bar pops up and you can not drive out until you pay and it goes down |
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| those things |
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| overhead fueling |
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| taxi drivers in japan dress and act professional. do not open the back doors or stand near them as the drivers opens them automatically |
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| this for a fire or when you have had enough of japan |
I
knew to appreciate Kyoto we needed a guide but did not want to do a
bus tour. I had found a new website, to me, www.toursbylocals.com
that have private guides at a fair price. Unfortunately, like all the
hotels in Kyoto, they were booked. But Meiko contacted me with a last
minute opening for Tuesday. This was the best money spent so far on
the trip. She was very outgoing, funny, great English, and
knowledgeable, explaining just enough history to be interesting, but
not so much that you choked on it. But best of all she was thrilled
to be the guide to two pilots! So we were off to the Nijojo Castle.
She explained that a shogun lived here and ruled the country, but he
turned it back over peacefully to the Emperor and retired at the
young age of 33 and went fishing. She explained how the shogun made
the feudal lords build this castle with their own money, thereby
keeping them busy and broke which helped keep the peace for many
years.
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| I have always made fun of tours with the leader and the little flag and now I are one |
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| meiko tells charles how she want to be a pilot |
From there we went to the Imperial Palace and walked some of
the gardens. We encountered a wedding couple doing a photo shoot, so
you know me, we joined right in.
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| their photographer took the picture so I guess we were supposed to be there |
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| the photos below show wat the tree looks like as they tin it out. meiko says that they actually will pull out individual needle to get the right look |
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| glad i decided not to rent a car. meiko says the signs here are different than in tokyo. the top work is actually the name of two streets and tokyo it would just be one street. |
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| no this is not the shrine of the pig though the pig figures into the story. it is the shrine for good health to your knees, hips and legs. all us old people prayed here. |
Lunch was at the Cafe Arbois
overlooking the famous gardens of the Kyoto Heian Hotel. There was a
list of lunch specials in English and Japanese. The English version
said “fried fish”, so the others ordered the “cooked fish”
further translated as “maybe grilled”. For sure they got the
“grilled fish” and it was a piece of lovely grilled fish. My
“fried fish” was actually fried calamari, shrimp and salmon and
it was excellent.
From there we went to the Kiyomizudera Temple and climbed up to the
temples and shrines. This place was loaded with people, shops and
lots of shrines. Each shrine is for a particular item, from good
health to your legs, to good smarts, to your love life. It was a
beautiful site and there were a lot of people in traditional kimonos.
The people coming in were wedding couples and others that dressed
just for this special visit. Most were young, but there were a few
older women and men in kimonos. To put on a Kimono is a major event
and cannot be done by yourself and they cost thousand of dollars.
Meiko has one and she said in her 40 some years she has worn it all
of three times.
The tours last 4 or 8 hours and I thought 4 was too little and 8 was
too much, so we settled on 6 and we blew threw the 6 hours in no
time. Vicki2 has knee problems and had stayed home and Charlie left
us at about 4 o,clock and headed back to the hotel. We continued to
meander down the hill from the temple to the Geisha district where we
stopped for a beer and said goodbye to Mieko. She was a real pleasure
to spend the day with and being with her helped settle my travel
sprite that had been uneasy on this whole trip.
Back at the hotel we met Charlie and Vicki2 at an Irish Pub. They
waited on you at the table but the gin and tonics were more than
twice as expensive as the British Pub of yesterday. I will be glad to
get my own for the price difference.
JAL
Another Japan Airlines/Japan mysteries from their website
"E-mail: jal_priority/at/jal.com. (Please replace /at/ with @.)" Couldn't they have put the damn @ in the address to start with.
Japanese butt fetish
Japanese seem to have a fetish about their butts. Every hotel has a toilet
that looks like airplane cockpit. It sprays water about 4 different was
including one straight at ... well you know. The good part is all the toilet
seats are heated.
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| this one lets you wash you hands as the water fills up the tank |
Kyoto
to Yudanaka
We said to goodbye to Charles and Vicki2 as they headed
back to Tokyo and home. We were off to see the snow monkeys in
Yudanaka. To get there requires three trains; Kyoto, Nagoya, Nagano
to Yudanaka with three transfers. On the first leg we knew to put in
the overall ticket and the first leg ticket. We had a slight problem
transferring in Nagoya as we did not know we had to put in all three
tickets in and the gate would not let us in . A very handy Japan Rail
Company employee explained we had to put all three ticket to get
through. The machine kept the Kyoto to Nagoya and spit the other two
back and we were off to track 10. The first leg was on the bullet
train, smooth as butter, the next leg was a express and the track was
not as smooth.
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| we are on 222 to nogya |
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| when the train starts back the conductor pushes on the pedal under the seat and rotates the whole seat around |
After about an hour the train started to climb through
the mountains and follow a riverbed. It is still winter here with
snow on the high peaks and other than the cherry blossoms nothing is
turning green so it is still a little drab. I imagine in the summer
this would be a beautiful trip. On the Nagano to Yudanaka there was a
bit of confusion. There is a express train that goes to Yudanaka,
some times, and there is a local train that goes to Yudanaka, some
times. All other times you have to transfer. We got on the first
train, a local, and did the transfer in Shishunakano to the other
local train to Yudanaka.
In Yudanaka we found a home at the Shyimaya Ryokan and
the home of Mr. Yotamoto and we decided to extend our stay. There is nothing here. It is at the
end of the line so to speak. Above is mountains and the only draw for
the area, snow monkeys. But, for us, it is a good place to immerse
ourselves in Japan for a few days. Yudanaka is more a hamlet than a
town and around it going up the valley are a few other hamlets all
side by side. So, we just visited the monkeys, walked the towns and
the hills and soaked in the natural springs. The springs are all over
Japan as the whole island is just one big volcano I think.
The monkies.....
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| those are gifts in my hand for coming into his kitchen to visit. keep in mind these restaurants are about the size of a normal dinning room and kitchen in your house. |
We went into a little, little grocery store and were
looking at the freshly prepared items. One item was flat and fried
and as we were discussing it a gentleman came out and held up some
squid and pointed at our item of interest. He than came back with a
show and tell book and pointed to were it said in English and
Japanese “I do not speak English well, but please ask me for any
help you need”.
We asked at Lawsons, the competitor for 7-11 and Circle
K, and yes they do have many here, were we could buy sunglasses. As
they had none, the girl lead us outside and around the corner a
pointed to the information office. There the whole staff got together
and called around until they found sunglasses and then escorted Vicki
to the store. The guide was very thrilled that we lived in Tampa Bay
as he knew about the Tampa Bay Rays. Baseball is very, very big here
and I have already watched 3 games on TV of the Yumiuri Giants.
We were walking down the road (read sidewalk size in the
U.S.) and saw a man on a fork lift. Long story short he got off and
gave us a tour of his mizo plant. They have been in business for over
100 years. Mizo is made with rice, beans and salt and is left to cure
for over a year.
We also did laundry.
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| the have a washer and dryer just for sneakers |
But mostly we roamed and laid around.
