Chelsea in Kyoto - Day 2

Tuesday, February 17

As I’m writing this, I am currently traveling around 100mph (okay that may be an exaggeration…) on a train between Kyoto and Osaka. I didn’t get the chance to write about yesterday, so I’m taking the 30 minute train ride to get a start…

So yesterday was forecasted to be rainy. We woke up an checked the weather again and it said cloudy until the later afternoon, then it would rain. So, we got up an made the most of our few dry hours. First things first: breakfast.

We decided to go to a cafe we had passed on Monday that had pictures of breakfast foods on posters outside. The door read “Cakes and Coffee” so we thought it would be a good option. We went inside and an old Japanese man indicated to an open table for us to sit at. We browsed the menu (which had some English decsriptions thankfully) and both selected Set A which had toast, scrambled eggs, some sausages, and an unidentifiable lump of white matter. When the meal came, Jessica ended up liking whatever the stuff was (we never figured it out; I think it maybe had cabbage in it) I tried a bit and didn’t care for it. 

After breakfast, we stopped by the dumpling shop from Monday to see if they still had my water bottle. Of course, they weren’t open yet. My hope of getting this thing back was getting slimmer and slimmer… 

We decided not to get another bus pass since the main place we wanted to go to for the day was only really accessible by subway. Instead, we walked about a mile to the subway station and took the train south to Fushimi Inari. 

Fushimi Inari is a major Shinto shrine/temple and is notable for its “1,000 Torii Gates” - large red/orange gates that they have lined up so you are walking through a tunnel of color. We walked through more touristy streets (surprise surprise) and saw so many street foods! I’m pretty sure there was quail on a stick, raw crab balls, and plenty of unidentifiable snacks. We browsed around and then made our way to the actual shrine complex.

When we got there, there was a well with cups for people to wash their hands and mouth to purify themselves before going into the temple. We did not elect to participate, but watched for a minute in fascination. 

We walked up the steps and I noticed that while many shrines and temples use dragons or sometimes large cats to “guard” the temple, this one had many foxes around. I think that was a unique feature because later I saw an area where kids could paint a face on a small wooden fox and hang it. We walked around for a few minutes before heading to the Torii Gates path. 

There were so many people trying to take photos with the path that it was hard to even enter it initially. We decided to wait until further along to take pictures, as it would be just too hard to get a good shot with all the people anyway. We walked for about a quarter mile (maybe?) through the gates until we got to a small clearing where we could see a map of the mountain.

I guess I should have known, but this shrine was spread around this small mountain. We looked at the map and I decided I wanted to go all the way to the top to get a good view! Plus, fewer people would elect to go so high, so there would be fewer and fewer people around.

We trekked on for about 45 minutes through gates and past beautiful scenery and interesting miniature shrines and other “buildings” until we came to yet another clearing. We looked again at the map and my jaw dropped at how short of a ways up the mountain we had come. It felt like we should at least be halfway! Nope. We debated for a few minutes: if we went ahead and continued, we were looking at at least two more hours of hiking. Neither of us had on shoes that were particularly good for hiking, and I was actually a bit tired. I do a fair amount of cardio, but I guess I’m used to more flat landscape!

Ultimately, we decided that if we continued, we would be very tired, very hungry, the rain could start at any time, and most likely the view would be anticlimactic, as it is winter not spring or fall with beautiful foliage. We turned around and went back down the mountain along a shortcut. I was glad we went up a ways, but also glad we decided not to do the entire thing. I guess I was a bit idealistic (read: unrealistic) with that goal.

We walked back along the touristy streets and caught the subway back to the area near(ish) to our hotel. We went to the Nishiki Market again (where we had dinner the night before) and went in search of a different ramen place. The day was cold, and we had worked up an appetite so a hot bowl of spicy ramen sounded delicious. We wandered through the streets and figured we would see something quickly. A mile later, we still hadn’t found anything so I busted out my Yelp app and did a search. Because of the weather (I assume) my phone wasn’t working very quickly but we eventually found a place with good ratings that was a short walk away.

We walked into the place and saw an aisle, and two things that looked like subway ticket machines. Both were occupied, and I wasn’t totally sure what they were, so we followed the sign down the aisle that read “Counter”. There were what looked like little booths that were halfway obscured by curtains. We got to the end of the aisle, and still hadn’t seen a hostess. Jessica saw a screen on one of the walls that looked like a diagram and it had some English on it.

Basically, the diagram was of the seats in the restaurant. You were supposed to look for seats lit up with a green symbol; you could sit at any of those. We saw two seats next to each other and followed the map to them. Each seat was blocked off into a one-person semi-private booth, with a curtain halfway down in front of you. Apparently, the waitresses were in blocked off aisles behind the seating areas, and would communicate with you (unseen) through the curtain. 

By looking at the ordering cards, we had no idea how to order. Everything was in Japanese. When the waitress came by she said something to us in Japanese, and I bent down and stuck my head halfway out of the “window” under the curtain. She looked surprised and said English? I nodded yes! and she brought us two order cards in English.

These made a lot more sense: you basically build your own ramen, although there wasn’t a ton of ingredients to choose from, more so how do you want it cooked and the flavor. I chose to have medium broth strength, medium oiliness, no green onions, half spicy, and soft noodles. I also added a soft-boiled egg (my guilty pleasure in ramen!). We handed these to the waitress under the curtain and she bent down so we could see her under the curtain, held out her hand, and asked for “ticket”. 

Jessica and I looked at each other confused, and then back at her, “what??” She looked embarrassed and went and got another waiter, who squatted down and tried his best to ask us for “Meal ticket”. I had a sneaking suspicion those machines at the front were where we were supposed to buy tickets. We asked “front? by door?” and while I don’t think he understood, he did reply and said “Okay, pay here now?” We nodded appreciatively and paid him. I guess we were supposed to have paid for our meal before even sitting down. How strange!

We discovered that you are able to open the partitions between booths and were able to see and talk to each other a bit easier after that. Our food came after a few minutes and we both slurped appreciatively. I ended up calling the waitress back and requesting regular spicy (instead of half), and she brought me more spicy too put on top. It was sooooo delicious. I absolutely love ramen; the broth was delightfully spicy and flavorful, and the noodles were great. 

When we had finished both of our bowls (including drinking the remaining broth), we headed back out and decided to check out the market a bit more and then a nearby department store. We had seen a bunch of arcades throughout the market and popped into one. The workers immediately gave us each a piece of paper that looked like just an advert for the store. We wandered through and looked at the weird prizes (figurines of anime characters that all looked like Sailor Moon to me, stuffed Olaf characters, and some other interesting things). Another worker with half bleached blonde hair came up to us and tried to give us another piece of paper. We pulled out the ones we had already been given, and he said “Ohhh okay okay. One game free!” 

Ah-ha! We asked him what games, and he brought us to a machine and pointed at it and said “this, no! all, okay!” pointing to the rest of the machines in the room. We had no clue how to play any of them, so we wandered around. He called to us, “Sister! Play game!” and pointed at a machine. He held out a stuffed Olaf character (from the movie Frozen) and said “Win prize!” We laughed and he showed us how to play one of the games. It wasn’t so much of a game, really; you just pressed a button and a machine tries to slide something off a horizontal pole. If you get it off the pole, you win. Jessica went first and did not win. I went after her and still didn’t win. He tried to get us to pay more to keep playing but we laughed and said no thank you! We left the store, laughing. I wish we had taken a photo with the guy; he kept calling us “sister”. So funny.

We walked through a few of the streets and looked at the trinkets, loads of sweets, and way too small clothes. Once we made it to the main street, we headed in the direction of one of the major department stores - Diamaru. When we got there, it was closed, so we went to another one next door. It was pretty standard; we started at level B1 (where the food and sweets are) and worked our way up to the lifestyle section on level 6. We just poked around for a bit then decided to head back to the hotel for a while.

We walked back to the hotel and had a rest for our tired feet. We decided to watch a movie and since Memoirs of a Geisha (Jessica’s top choice) wasn’t on Netflix, and Spirited Away (my top choice) wasn’t ANYWHERE on the internet, we went with Netflix’s recommendation for Japanese movie - Picture Bride. This was a 1984 drama about 1910s arranged marriages between Japanese girls and Hawaiian sugar cane farmers. It was boring at times, and we didn’t really know where the story was going, but it wasn’t terrible. 

After the movie, we had expected it to be raining but it hadn’t started yet. We went across the street to an Irish pub we had seen called the Man in the Moon. So strange for an Irish pub to be in traditional Kyoto Japan. It was a bit more expensive than I was hoping, so Jessica just had a little dinner and then we left. We walked down to the McDonald’s at the end of the street and I got something to eat. Terrible, I know. 

On our walk back towards the hotel, I saw a small sign on the sidewalk outside a building that said “Parker Roll Bar” and then below that “good music”. I had been wanting to go to a more traditional Japanese bar, so I suggested we pop in. We walked down some stairs and around a corner, and into a small, mostly deserted bar. When we walked in, an older Japanese guy turned around at the bar and said something in English with a big smile on his face (I’m trying to remember what it was he said, but I can’t!) He welcomed us in and asked if we were tourists. We said yes and he asked us to sit and have a drink. We chatted with him for a while and learned that he is in a band; he told us about the places that he toured and how he wanted to go to America. 

We sat and had a Sapporo with him for about 30 minutes. He was hilarious and obviously excited to practice his English with us. We asked him to take a photo for us, and he agreed excitedly. I gave him the camera and we smiled, ready to take the photo. I saw the red light that means it is focusing, but he didn’t hold it down long enough for the photo to actually take. He started to try to take a bunch of photos, like a photoshoot, and I started laughing and had to tell him, “They aren’t taking!” I told him to hold the button longer, and he tried but again he couldn’t do it. After laughing for a few more failed attempts, I took the camera and demonstrated. He said “ahh!” and tried again…. and failing once again! I told him “Hold it for a long time!” and FINALLY he took one. Once he figured it out, he took another. Then, we said he should be in a picture with us, and we got one of the only other patrons at the bar to take a photo for us.

We left here and went back to Man in the Moon for a little better atmosphere. After a while, we met a couple of other white guys, Chris from England, and Dan from Manhattan. We chatted with them for a while and had a few drinks before calling it a night around midnight. We walked back across the street and fell into bed after yet another long day!

Oh, one other interesting story! On Monday night, my eyes got very dry and I needed to take out my contacts. I had brought my solution, but not the case. Unfortunately, I use a solution that needs a very specific case (for a chemical reaction) and I was going to be out of luck without it. I decided to go to the convenience store outside the hotel and find some regular solution. After some searching, I saw two packs of contact solution/case. Neither having any English, I chose the one with the weird looking case, thinking that it might be similar to mine.

I got to the hotel and took out my contacts. I’m not sure if that case was meant for hard contacts or what, but the soft contacts didn’t stay in the little prongs and just kind of floated around. I put the solution in and went to bed. The next day, I needed to put them in. I was worried about it now, because I realized there may have been some special instructions that I hadn’t followed. I tried to put one in, and it kind of burned my eye (to be fair, I was thinking it might and it could have been half mental). I didn’t get the contact in, but put it back in the case for the time being.

I grabbed the bottle which had an overwhelming amount of Japanese, and decided to try the feature on the Google Translate app where it takes a picture and translates the words. After some trial and error, I finally got it to work! Of course, the translation was literal and probably not very accurate, but the general idea I got was that the solution was made to remove proteins on the lenses, which is what I needed it to do. I read something about tap water, so I decided to just rinse the contact with water and try again. That time, it worked and felt okay! However, later that day my eyes were hurting pretty badly and I had to remove them again. I think for now I will keep the contacts out and wait until we get back to Korea to put them in again after using my specific solution!

That’s all for Tuesday! Wednesday (which for me is today), we go to Osaka. :)

Cheers,

Chelsea

Chelsea in Kyoto - Day 1

I don't remember the last time I was this exhausted at the end of a day. I'm sure when I was backpacking in Europe in 2013 I had some days like this, but in recent memory, I don't remember a day this full and tiring.

We got up at 8am, which felt like a late start. It really wasn't, but I was anxious to get started in Kyoto as I had quite a few things on my list, and we really only have a couple days in the country. We got ready and headed out to a place for some breakfast. I found a place via a combination of Googling and Yelp; we were able to walk there in about 5 minutes. It was a bakery that you could also order a few hot dishes from. I got a scrambled egg set with toast, a salad, and a drink. It was 650Y (~$6.50). I was very happy with the food, and felt like I would be able to make it to a late lunch without a problem.

After we finished there, we headed to Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Thanks to my handy SIM card and Google Maps (a complete life-saver), we knew we needed to catch a bus, then walk. The bus we wanted showed up right as I looked at my phone, but we needed to buy a bus pass first. Instead of taking that bus, we walked down to a convenience store to get the pass. Then, rather than walk backwards, we kept walking on until the next bus stop. There was some construction going on, so that bus stop didn't currently exist. We kept walking and finally got to a bus stop about half a mile from where we originally could have caught it.

We took that bus 4 stops and then got off in order to walk up to the temple. The walk was pretty steep, and went through a neighborhood, but there were lots of other people walking in the same direction so I assumed we were going in the right direction. I saw the first of what would become many of Japanese "limousines" (as they were told to us by a driver). See photo. Literally a man running you around. We laughed and I tried to take a sneaky picture, but didn't do so well.

After a few minutes, we started to see more and more shops pop up along the street. Eventually we could tell we were in the right area, as it was getting quite touristy with all the shops and vendors selling every kind of Japanese trinket.

We finally got to the temple complex and it was beautiful! We took some photos (along with everyone else in the vicinity), then walked further up. While the temple itself seemed to be getting a facelift and had some unsightly cranes surrounding it, the surrounding areas were still picturesque. At one point we saw people ringing a huge bell with a massive rope, and followed suit by tossing in a penny, saying a prayer, clapping twice, then ringing the bell. I assume this practice was for good luck in the near year (it is lunar new year here soon!)





We decided not to pay the 500Y to go in the temple, but rather 100Y to go through the Tainai-meguri, a subterranean area right next to it. This area is called the womb of the temple, and it is quite an experience to go through it. First you take off your shoes and put them in a bag. You then hold a handrail to the left, and descend some stairs. The light dies quickly, as you turn at the bottom of the stairs. The handrail goes from being smooth metal, to smooth but wooden spheres. Almost immediately, you are completely blind. My eyes were wide open and I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

I tried to relax and enjoy the experience, but I couldn't help being a little claustrophobic. However, after a few minutes I did eventually start to feel more "zen", if you will. Without sight, you rely on your other senses more. The floor beneath my feet was bumpy and a little uncomfortable, like walking on large pebbles that have been smoothed into a single layer in grout. The handrail was made of spheres, and my hand followed the continuous crest and fall of the wood. I moved inches at a time, willing myself to not run into anything, or think of the fact that we were underneath an ancient temple that could fall through the earth at any moment. After maybe 5 minutes, I saw a small green light (like when a camera is on) to my right. I glanced at it, and reminded myself that while it was dark for me, someone at some point was down here with a light and knows what is down here!

Immediately after seeing that light, the handrail curved around and I saw a large spherical stone lit with pale green light. I think there may have been something in the center of the rock, but continued walking and couldn't get a good long look (there were others starting to come behind us; I could hear them approaching). It was strange to see, a little unearthly. Once we past this, we turned again and came onto a landing with a pale light and some stairs back up into the temple complex. We both agreed that we felt more relaxed and that it was an experience well worth the $1!

After taking more photos around the area, we decided to continue on our way without entering the temple itself. We walked back through the touristy streets and saw ANOTHER TV show being filmed! First in Korea, now in Japan... I think they're following us.

We turned and following some more streets towards Kodai-ji Temple and eventually Maruyama Park. On the way, we walked by many shops which were markedly less crowded than the ones outside the first temple. Jessica spied some cute little pieces of pottery, and we bought some hand-painted small plates (for jewelry, etc). I fell in love with two and bought them both.

When we were almost to the next temple, I saw a huge Buddha station rising over the streets and knew we had to check it out. It was part of Ryozen Gokoku Shrine (we later found out) and paid 200 each to enter the area. When we paid, we were each given an incense stick and the woman pointed to where we should put it. It was a memorial for soldiers who perished (on all sides) in WWII. I really liked the memorial and the pamphlet we were given had a nice poem in it as well.

We wandered around the rest of the complex and found a small shrine where visitors would pray for a good (romantic) partner. We both thought this was hilarious and went through the motions. Another area had a gold "coins" where you can write on it your hopes for the new year and hang them around a large gold ball. The coins had a sign "300Y" next to them, but no one was there, so I assume it was donation. I took one of the coins, but didn't hang it.

While we were wandering around, there were three other white people in the complex (literally the only other people there) and they kept following us (inadvertently? I don't know) to the areas we were checking out. We eventually got annoyed and wrapped things up in order to get out of there. We decided to skip the temple itself, as it also would have cost us 500Y and we didn't want to spend $5 to see another temple.

Instead, we walked around the temple through the streets towards the park. On the way, a man was selling dried fruits. While they were way too expensive, we did accept a sample of apple and strawberry, and they were delicious! We kept on going and eventually hit the park where we took a few minutes to relax and listen to "traditional Japanese flute". While not any music I would necessarily choose, it was very calming. Jessica commented that it sounded like they get their music from nature, and I thought that was very accurate.

After a bit, we decided it may be a good time for us to take a mid-day break at the hotel, mainly because my camera was almost dead and we were pretty tired ourselves. We took a bus back to our street and I found a dumpling place on Yelp. We walked to that, got a bit lost, and then happened upon the restaurant just after giving up on finding it. We each ordered a Gyoza set of 12 dumplings, rice, miso soup, and Japanese pickles (whatever those are). We were famished by this point, having walked several miles already. We both ate all of our dumplings and most of our rice and soup. Jessica liked the Japanese pickles, but I wasn't a huge fan. We left there around 2pm and headed back to the hotel for a short rest.

We got to the hotel and I realized I left my water bottle at the restaurant. I was disappointed, but I decided to go back for it later, as they had just closed for the lunch hour anyway. We took an hour break and let my camera charge. We found out that the next two days might be very rainy, so we decided instead of going to the market and department store like we had planned, we would go to Arashiyama area we'd planned to go to tomorrow. It was about an hour away by bus, but we had our bus passes and figured it would make good use of them anyway.

We left about 3pm to catch the bus, but we got bad advice from the hotel desk and missed our bus. I will definitely say that if you are traveling by yourself (or at least, not with a tour group or guide), investing in a SIM card with data and using Google Maps is probably one of the best things you can do. We have saved SO MUCH TIME by knowing the correct bus to take, what stop to get off at, and the correct route to walk. We saw countless foreigners standing around looking confused with paper maps in their hands, and I'm once again thankful that we aren't those people!

We eventually caught it at 3:30pm and made it to Arashiyama at about 4:15. "Arashiyama" actually refers to the mountains to the northwest of Kyoto, but the surrounding neighborhood has adopted the term as well. Since the sun had already gone below the mountain line, we knew we should get moving if we wanted to catch everything before sun-down.

We crossed Togetsukyo bridge and headed north towards Tenryu-ji Temple. We chose to go to the Bamboo Forest first, due to the eminent setting sun and my desire to take photos. We walked through more touristy shops on the way, and then followed signs for the Bamboo Path.

The path was thick with people, but we hung about to take photos between groups of tourists. It was a beautiful area, but I think perhaps it would be more beautiful in the spring or fall. The path was not very long (I was a bit disappointed) and we came out on the other end. Walking back through the shops area, we popped into the Tenryu-ji temple complex to take some photos, but the temple itself had already closed (darn. 500Y we didn't get to spend!)

Around 6pm we hopped on a bus back into the main city area. I Yelped and Googled for dinner places, and we ended up going to an area called Nishiki market to a restaurant called Wakasaya. We want to return to the market tomorrow and shop, but by the time we got there, we were getting hangry and needed to eat stat! We found the restaurant, which was quite small, but we were seated immediately. This was the first place we went where there was literally NO English in the entire restaurant, let alone an English menu. I knew from Yelp the premise was a bowl of rice with fresh seafood on top. We looked at pictures and eventually both picked bowls that looked like they may have things we liked on them.

When the bowls came, we were both too hungry to remember to take a photo before digging in. Honestly, I don't know what kind my bowl had. I know I got at least some salmon, the other two things I'm not sure. One was a light pink and was almost like a tartar in the texture; the other was very dark pink - I think it was yellowfin tuna maybe? Anyway, we scarfed that down immediately. It was pretty cheap - around $8 each. So far for the day, all of our meals have been less than $10 each, which is great considering I had (accidentally) budgeted for $20 per meal. Glad we are going to be under-budget (I HOPE!).

I just want to comment here that I am so glad that I have become a more adventurous eater. I know I'm not the best, but I KNOW I wouldn't have been this open about food even 2 years ago. Korea really broadened my horizons (okay, completely shattered them and made new ones I wouldn't have even imagined!), and I haven't found one thing to complain about here. Everything from the stuffing in the dumplings to not knowing what kind of fish I was eating; I've really made strides and I'm very proud of myself! And the best part is: I'm enjoying EVERYTHING I'm eating!

After dinner, we decided to get some dessert and made a beeline for the Baskin Robbins as soon as we saw it. I had a cone called the Lucky Sheep (which I believe to have been strawberry ice cream with chocolate chips and marshmallows); Jessica had a dark chocolate and raspberry flavor. We sat and enjoyed our ice cream for a while then decided to get back to the hotel. We practically fell into our beds as soon as we got in, and it's taken every last bit of energy I have to write this blog!

Now, it's off to bed to rest up for tomorrow. It will probably rain, but we have some indoor places in mind to continue to make the most of our time. (And if all else fails, we can rent Memoirs of a Geisha on iTunes and buy strange Japanese snacks at the convenience store for an entertaining day at the hotel!)

Cheers,
Chelsea