Nihon e ikimashou! Day 4
Jan. 26th, 2008 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spiderpigThe next morning we awoke bright and early (I don't seem to recall having any major problems waking Ellyne up) and checked out of our hostel before heading to Tokyo Station. We had a bit of trouble getting our shinkansen tickets because of the missing rail pass but all in all I managed to get them with my mangled Japangrish. I swear it's irritating when they insist on speaking Japanese to me when they hear my accent. DUDE, I AM A GAIJIN YOU KNOW THAT. SPEAK SLOWLY. O_O After we get our tickets, we head over to the bento shop to grab bentos for ourselves!
:D! It's my haruranman bento! Even with the sheet of plastic over it, it still looks delicious. I actually had no real appetite, but looking at it sure worked it up. I was drooling by the time I readied myself for the meal.
While I was taking furious pictures of the bento, I noticed this caucasian man staring curiously at me. I didn't look Japanese, I was taking crazy pictures of a bento and I was holding an English book. I bet he found me perplexing. XD()
All three of us were separated during the Kyoto train ride, so it was a little weird trying to wake Ellyne up (she was sitting in front of me) and then craning around to see if Leon was awake. Seriously, I tried to sleep during the three hours but I couldn't.
Nishihonmaru temple. I think that's its name. I'm too lazy to look it up. I know it's Nishi-hon-something though!! :D() We walked past it on our way to the guest house.
Costa Del Sol was tucked away deep in between small alleys and streets that I would've never found.
Our futons!
We check in and after pottering about the tiny room and lying about the floor and planning our route on the old map I brought, we then decide to head to Nijo Castle.
A Jean Reno cigarette advertisment! :D
We took a long assed walk to Nijo Castle for two reasons - it was effing far away, at least 2kilometres on foot, and secondlys street names totally did not appear on the map. :\ We almost got lost, but thanks to the Compass, we managed to find our way to Nijo Castle albeit slightly later than we estimated.
Kyoto strikes me as a very laidback and calm place. A striking contrast to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. It's not just the aesthetic component that's so vastly different, the very essence and the philosophy that the two places operate on are worlds apart. Tokyo is slightly more impersonal, more businesslike and in a way, more focused. In Kyoto (or just the Kansai area in general) people take a genuine interest in the pace of things. There is no harried rush to finish things - these things are done as they are needed to be done and at their own time. Everything falls into place rather effortlessly, or at least under that guise.
Nijo Castle gate!
Pictures/photography weren't allowed in the main castle hall itself, so I apologise for the devoidity (is there such a word?!) of pictures.
It's something increduloulsy, amazingly surreal when you remove your shoes and step onto the wooden veranda (or boardwalk if it pleases you) that snakes around the main chamber. You put your foot down tentatively, wondering what sort of sound the floor will make. Slowly, your ears become accustomed to the soft creaking sounds. "Creaking" probably isn't the right word for it. It's more of a squeaky chirrup - hence the nightingale. I suppose a real nightingale doesn't sound like that, but for a floor, it sure as hell sounds like a bird!
It was interesting to notice how excited he got when the floors started chirping. I suppose it would be that since the floor reacted to every single weight shift. We circled around the main castle building then exited to walk around the castle gardens.
We spotted this quaint looking building with a raised floor by the side of a pond and the idea of climbing up to take photos on it hit me like a bullet train.
We jumped down and walked around somemore. We spotted some Japanese high school girls and gushed over them. I love them Japanese High School kids. <3 Next we headed up to the viewing point/er, hill or something and camwhored a bit. Ellyne harrassed this caucasian guy to take a photo of us. :D()()
The view from the top always makes the grass look greener. In this case, the sky bluer.
We head off to Nanzenji-temple and the Philosopher's Walk area to meet Yan Wen who was probably there since ages ago. We took a couple of wrong turns and ended up taking much longer than we estimated again because well, frankly we underestimated the not-drawn-to-scale maps. Though again, I have to admit that despite the ache in my leg and the seemingly endless walk, I enjoyed strolling around the quaint little streets and finding things like beautifully potted flowers and cobbled drains that just screamed for you to walk on its edges.
Finally we neared Nanzenji-temple where we were supposed to meet Yan Wen. However, we got increasingly lost so I texted him a message saying how we were incomparably lost. At that exact moment, we see him across the street! Talk about excellent timing. "I was about to walk to the busstop" he yells across the street. "We were lost!" I yell back. We cross the straight and then start off in the direction for the Philosopher's path.
(Actually, I have to mention that out of the four of us, more than half didn't believe that this was the philosopher's path. They kept on thinking that this was some indescript walking path. Well, whether the path was, or will be, there is no doubt that this was one of the most inspiring places in Kyoto.
Consider this: a long winding path sheltered by blooming sakura trees. The air is delicate - somewhat reminiscent of Ice Lemon Tea by the seaside. Gravel pathways wind around old Japanese style houses, white contrasting with the dark brown wooden pillars. Colour seems muted here, not surpressed but more of toned down. Each object willingly lowers the tenacity of their original colour in relation to the pink of the sakura. Looking over at the other side, a burst of forest green and copper tones challenges the pink sakura.
Words can't sufficiently describe the beauty of the place, even though most of the trees are bare and spindly. Walking for a while, we stop at a bridge bursting with scores of sakura and start taking pictures. The mood is sombre. Peaceful.
zomg i saw a shiba-inu there! I totally spazzed out when I saw it.
Japan, even when spring is still waking up from its wintry slumber, has a multitude of flowers bursting from every corner. The vivid colours seem to compensate for the lack of physical warmth one feels in the biting wind.
After walking a kilometre or two, we find ourselves facing this monstrosity that is a Haagen-Dazs vending machine. Ice-cream insub-zero 10 degrees celcius temperature. I don't know what they were thinking, but everyone besides me bought an icecream to satiate their tastebuds. Absolutely sinful. While I didn't partake in any o'this culinary fun, I sniggered at how cold they were making themselves while I was suitably toasty in my sweater.
A couple of steps ahead was a lone altar, heavy carved stones set on the wall, flowers adorning the otherwise bare and drab looking piece. It reminded me of the jizo statues in Todaji, Nara. "Eating ice-cream in front of these, sure seems rather awkward," I quipped before giving a succession of three quick bows. Japan makes me want to be a spiritual person, it gives me a glimmer of something to believe in.
The stretch of the Philosopher's Walk was breathtakingly long. We finally sieved ourselves from the crowd that was snaking forward and decided to head to Gion to catch dinner and some Geisha.
While waiting at the bus-stop, we noticed a small crayfish-lobster like thing. "ZOMG A FISH" I exclaim, in reference to the early part of the walk where I kept insisting that the moss swaying in the stream were actually fish. 9_9 We also spot an SIA tag on the floor. What an effing small world. We curse the fool who left this behind.
Evidentally, the bus wasn't coming (we later find out that we missed the last bus) and so Yan Wen and I potter around the streets trying to ask which bus to take to Gion and which is the nearest busstop. Here, I need to applaud my excellent Japangrish and my only direction "まあ直行って" (ma sugu itte) and random directions given (turn left, turn right, how many metres ahead?) to find the nearest bus stop. Coincidentally, we asked his old Japanese lady who was manning a tofu stall. <3
Finally, we hitch a bus towards Gion and we are all quite dead by then. The sun sets incredibly early in spring, and by 6pm it's already dark with indigo hues. I get oddly excited in the bus, afterall, it's my first time in a Japanese Bus. Everything's awesomely novel to me. You get on board teh back of the bus and the exit is in the front, where you pay your fare.
We get off at the Gion busstop, after our butts glue themselves to the chair, I direct them to Hanamikoji and I find myself uberly excited to the Ichiriki-ochaya once again. For the unintiated, the Ichiriki-ochaya is the famous and historical teahouse where the 47 ronin plotted their awesome revolt. And if memory serves me correct, it appeared in Rurouni Kenshin too. XD Hurrah for Otaku-isms!
Gion hasn't changed much from 3 years ago. Yet gone is the cloying humidity that clung to us back in Summer, the sky's so much darker now and the streets glow with the help of now-electric lamp-posts. We walk past a familiar sight.
This was the restaurant that my mother and I ate back in 2004. I was elated to see it, and suggested that we eat there later.
We stroll around the streets hoping to catch some geiko or maiko in action - I still remember gaping in awe three years ago when I saw my first maiko tiptoe down the street in her green (the colour of summer I suppose) furisode-like kimono. Instead, we find the Ichiriki!
We wander around somemore and then I hear Leon yell, "Hey! Over there!"
(I need to digress a bit and say that the print on the assistant's skirt is goddamnned beautiful!)
ZOMG MAIKOOOOOO. Me and Yan Wen speed towards her, but only manage to catch badly taken shots of her back and otherwise blurred shots. We participate in a few more mad runs and then retire to a small alley way to take some photos. It was quite a comical affair because Yan Wen found some geiko and maiko entertaining in an obviously private courtyard (we peeked over the wall) and he tried to sneak shots of them. Then suddenly the gate opens and we all pretend to be taking photos of ourselves. XD We actually stumbled upon an okiya! Though again, through a high window which we crept up to peek in.
We decide that we're actually rather hungry after all this crazy running and creeping around, and after looking at horrendously priced shabu-shabu, we decide to head back to that cosy old restaurant we first encountered. We hang around the lobby/waiting area for a while because the place is packed full.
After around 10 minutes or so, an attendant comes by and tells us that a table is ready for us and would it be okay if it was in a smoking-room. I shrug and then we head upstairs, much to my delight. Turns out that we're sitting one table away from the table I sat at last time! Say ah for nostalgia!
It got off to an interesting start. Ellyne spilt tea over the table, and then later, my cousin proceeded to turn off the lights in the room because he hit a wrong switch. The whole room turned silent for a second and then burst out laughing.
Dinner was a delightful affair of 10,000yen worth of ala carte dishes ranging from kani-zosui (crab porridge) to sauteed octopus, to even the weird looking agedashi tofu which turned out to be eggplant. Trying to order was hilarious because of the bad Engrish on the menu. We settle for around 10 dishes or so and passed them to the waitress. She came back with teh aforementioned "agedashi tofu". Which was totally not agedashi tofu. I tried to correct their mistake but apparently GASP THERE WAS NO NUMBER 63 IN THE MENU? O_O And I apparently wrote down "63". HAHAHA. We ate it anyway.
Our first flask of sake was cold sake, loosely translated as peach tears if I remember correctly. It came in a huge metallic-earthen goblet and we all took turns sipping it.
We finished our first helping of food and still feeling a bit peckish, we decided to order more food. And another flask of sake. Warm, this time.
Now I decided to go to the toilet and after I was done, I opened the door and found a guy peeing into the urinal next to the sink. I had the bloody shock of my life and scampered back upstairs. >_< I'm not adverse to mixed toilets but give me some warning first! Especially when the sign outside said "LADIES".
Full and very satiated, we walk around Hanamikoji and Shijo-dori for a while more and hang around the venue where the Miyako Odori's going to be held. Then I spot a maiko exit an ochaya and walk down the street. Immediately Yan Wen and I pick up our bags and sprint towards her and somehow I ran faster than him? Haahha, I evidentally am the Queen of fast Spurts. I dash past crowds of people and gaijin trying to unsuccessfully take her photo, due to the speed she's walking at. I run faster and nearly get knocked down by an opening taxi-door which slammed into me, and then I continue running ahead of her. I stop and then quickly shout "chotto matte kudasai! shasshin o ii desu ka?!?" and she stops for a brief second, nods at me and I take a quick shot.
God, that was exhilarating. I was completely winded by the 200 metre run and the whole taxi-door in my face/body thing but wow. I got a shot. And what's more important was that she stopped for me! Elation in its best. According to Leon, the speed and tenacity at which I was running at actually had some gaijin going "Wow, that's the real papparazi" as they saw me speed past them.
>D I am Notorious now.
つづく
:D! It's my haruranman bento! Even with the sheet of plastic over it, it still looks delicious. I actually had no real appetite, but looking at it sure worked it up. I was drooling by the time I readied myself for the meal.
While I was taking furious pictures of the bento, I noticed this caucasian man staring curiously at me. I didn't look Japanese, I was taking crazy pictures of a bento and I was holding an English book. I bet he found me perplexing. XD()
All three of us were separated during the Kyoto train ride, so it was a little weird trying to wake Ellyne up (she was sitting in front of me) and then craning around to see if Leon was awake. Seriously, I tried to sleep during the three hours but I couldn't.
Nishihonmaru temple. I think that's its name. I'm too lazy to look it up. I know it's Nishi-hon-something though!! :D() We walked past it on our way to the guest house.
Costa Del Sol was tucked away deep in between small alleys and streets that I would've never found.
Our futons!
We check in and after pottering about the tiny room and lying about the floor and planning our route on the old map I brought, we then decide to head to Nijo Castle.
A Jean Reno cigarette advertisment! :D
We took a long assed walk to Nijo Castle for two reasons - it was effing far away, at least 2kilometres on foot, and secondlys street names totally did not appear on the map. :\ We almost got lost, but thanks to the Compass, we managed to find our way to Nijo Castle albeit slightly later than we estimated.
Kyoto strikes me as a very laidback and calm place. A striking contrast to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. It's not just the aesthetic component that's so vastly different, the very essence and the philosophy that the two places operate on are worlds apart. Tokyo is slightly more impersonal, more businesslike and in a way, more focused. In Kyoto (or just the Kansai area in general) people take a genuine interest in the pace of things. There is no harried rush to finish things - these things are done as they are needed to be done and at their own time. Everything falls into place rather effortlessly, or at least under that guise.
Nijo Castle gate!
Pictures/photography weren't allowed in the main castle hall itself, so I apologise for the devoidity (is there such a word?!) of pictures.
It's something increduloulsy, amazingly surreal when you remove your shoes and step onto the wooden veranda (or boardwalk if it pleases you) that snakes around the main chamber. You put your foot down tentatively, wondering what sort of sound the floor will make. Slowly, your ears become accustomed to the soft creaking sounds. "Creaking" probably isn't the right word for it. It's more of a squeaky chirrup - hence the nightingale. I suppose a real nightingale doesn't sound like that, but for a floor, it sure as hell sounds like a bird!
It was interesting to notice how excited he got when the floors started chirping. I suppose it would be that since the floor reacted to every single weight shift. We circled around the main castle building then exited to walk around the castle gardens.
We spotted this quaint looking building with a raised floor by the side of a pond and the idea of climbing up to take photos on it hit me like a bullet train.
We jumped down and walked around somemore. We spotted some Japanese high school girls and gushed over them. I love them Japanese High School kids. <3 Next we headed up to the viewing point/er, hill or something and camwhored a bit. Ellyne harrassed this caucasian guy to take a photo of us. :D()()
The view from the top always makes the grass look greener. In this case, the sky bluer.
We head off to Nanzenji-temple and the Philosopher's Walk area to meet Yan Wen who was probably there since ages ago. We took a couple of wrong turns and ended up taking much longer than we estimated again because well, frankly we underestimated the not-drawn-to-scale maps. Though again, I have to admit that despite the ache in my leg and the seemingly endless walk, I enjoyed strolling around the quaint little streets and finding things like beautifully potted flowers and cobbled drains that just screamed for you to walk on its edges.
Finally we neared Nanzenji-temple where we were supposed to meet Yan Wen. However, we got increasingly lost so I texted him a message saying how we were incomparably lost. At that exact moment, we see him across the street! Talk about excellent timing. "I was about to walk to the busstop" he yells across the street. "We were lost!" I yell back. We cross the straight and then start off in the direction for the Philosopher's path.
(Actually, I have to mention that out of the four of us, more than half didn't believe that this was the philosopher's path. They kept on thinking that this was some indescript walking path. Well, whether the path was, or will be, there is no doubt that this was one of the most inspiring places in Kyoto.
Consider this: a long winding path sheltered by blooming sakura trees. The air is delicate - somewhat reminiscent of Ice Lemon Tea by the seaside. Gravel pathways wind around old Japanese style houses, white contrasting with the dark brown wooden pillars. Colour seems muted here, not surpressed but more of toned down. Each object willingly lowers the tenacity of their original colour in relation to the pink of the sakura. Looking over at the other side, a burst of forest green and copper tones challenges the pink sakura.
Words can't sufficiently describe the beauty of the place, even though most of the trees are bare and spindly. Walking for a while, we stop at a bridge bursting with scores of sakura and start taking pictures. The mood is sombre. Peaceful.
Japan, even when spring is still waking up from its wintry slumber, has a multitude of flowers bursting from every corner. The vivid colours seem to compensate for the lack of physical warmth one feels in the biting wind.
After walking a kilometre or two, we find ourselves facing this monstrosity that is a Haagen-Dazs vending machine. Ice-cream in
A couple of steps ahead was a lone altar, heavy carved stones set on the wall, flowers adorning the otherwise bare and drab looking piece. It reminded me of the jizo statues in Todaji, Nara. "Eating ice-cream in front of these, sure seems rather awkward," I quipped before giving a succession of three quick bows. Japan makes me want to be a spiritual person, it gives me a glimmer of something to believe in.
The stretch of the Philosopher's Walk was breathtakingly long. We finally sieved ourselves from the crowd that was snaking forward and decided to head to Gion to catch dinner and some Geisha.
While waiting at the bus-stop, we noticed a small crayfish-lobster like thing. "ZOMG A FISH" I exclaim, in reference to the early part of the walk where I kept insisting that the moss swaying in the stream were actually fish. 9_9 We also spot an SIA tag on the floor. What an effing small world. We curse the fool who left this behind.
Evidentally, the bus wasn't coming (we later find out that we missed the last bus) and so Yan Wen and I potter around the streets trying to ask which bus to take to Gion and which is the nearest busstop. Here, I need to applaud my excellent Japangrish and my only direction "まあ直行って" (ma sugu itte) and random directions given (turn left, turn right, how many metres ahead?) to find the nearest bus stop. Coincidentally, we asked his old Japanese lady who was manning a tofu stall. <3
Finally, we hitch a bus towards Gion and we are all quite dead by then. The sun sets incredibly early in spring, and by 6pm it's already dark with indigo hues. I get oddly excited in the bus, afterall, it's my first time in a Japanese Bus. Everything's awesomely novel to me. You get on board teh back of the bus and the exit is in the front, where you pay your fare.
We get off at the Gion busstop, after our butts glue themselves to the chair, I direct them to Hanamikoji and I find myself uberly excited to the Ichiriki-ochaya once again. For the unintiated, the Ichiriki-ochaya is the famous and historical teahouse where the 47 ronin plotted their awesome revolt. And if memory serves me correct, it appeared in Rurouni Kenshin too. XD Hurrah for Otaku-isms!
Gion hasn't changed much from 3 years ago. Yet gone is the cloying humidity that clung to us back in Summer, the sky's so much darker now and the streets glow with the help of now-electric lamp-posts. We walk past a familiar sight.
This was the restaurant that my mother and I ate back in 2004. I was elated to see it, and suggested that we eat there later.
We stroll around the streets hoping to catch some geiko or maiko in action - I still remember gaping in awe three years ago when I saw my first maiko tiptoe down the street in her green (the colour of summer I suppose) furisode-like kimono. Instead, we find the Ichiriki!
We wander around somemore and then I hear Leon yell, "Hey! Over there!"
(I need to digress a bit and say that the print on the assistant's skirt is goddamnned beautiful!)
ZOMG MAIKOOOOOO. Me and Yan Wen speed towards her, but only manage to catch badly taken shots of her back and otherwise blurred shots. We participate in a few more mad runs and then retire to a small alley way to take some photos. It was quite a comical affair because Yan Wen found some geiko and maiko entertaining in an obviously private courtyard (we peeked over the wall) and he tried to sneak shots of them. Then suddenly the gate opens and we all pretend to be taking photos of ourselves. XD We actually stumbled upon an okiya! Though again, through a high window which we crept up to peek in.
We decide that we're actually rather hungry after all this crazy running and creeping around, and after looking at horrendously priced shabu-shabu, we decide to head back to that cosy old restaurant we first encountered. We hang around the lobby/waiting area for a while because the place is packed full.
After around 10 minutes or so, an attendant comes by and tells us that a table is ready for us and would it be okay if it was in a smoking-room. I shrug and then we head upstairs, much to my delight. Turns out that we're sitting one table away from the table I sat at last time! Say ah for nostalgia!
It got off to an interesting start. Ellyne spilt tea over the table, and then later, my cousin proceeded to turn off the lights in the room because he hit a wrong switch. The whole room turned silent for a second and then burst out laughing.
Dinner was a delightful affair of 10,000yen worth of ala carte dishes ranging from kani-zosui (crab porridge) to sauteed octopus, to even the weird looking agedashi tofu which turned out to be eggplant. Trying to order was hilarious because of the bad Engrish on the menu. We settle for around 10 dishes or so and passed them to the waitress. She came back with teh aforementioned "agedashi tofu". Which was totally not agedashi tofu. I tried to correct their mistake but apparently GASP THERE WAS NO NUMBER 63 IN THE MENU? O_O And I apparently wrote down "63". HAHAHA. We ate it anyway.
Our first flask of sake was cold sake, loosely translated as peach tears if I remember correctly. It came in a huge metallic-earthen goblet and we all took turns sipping it.
We finished our first helping of food and still feeling a bit peckish, we decided to order more food. And another flask of sake. Warm, this time.
Now I decided to go to the toilet and after I was done, I opened the door and found a guy peeing into the urinal next to the sink. I had the bloody shock of my life and scampered back upstairs. >_< I'm not adverse to mixed toilets but give me some warning first! Especially when the sign outside said "LADIES".
Full and very satiated, we walk around Hanamikoji and Shijo-dori for a while more and hang around the venue where the Miyako Odori's going to be held. Then I spot a maiko exit an ochaya and walk down the street. Immediately Yan Wen and I pick up our bags and sprint towards her and somehow I ran faster than him? Haahha, I evidentally am the Queen of fast Spurts. I dash past crowds of people and gaijin trying to unsuccessfully take her photo, due to the speed she's walking at. I run faster and nearly get knocked down by an opening taxi-door which slammed into me, and then I continue running ahead of her. I stop and then quickly shout "chotto matte kudasai! shasshin o ii desu ka?!?" and she stops for a brief second, nods at me and I take a quick shot.
God, that was exhilarating. I was completely winded by the 200 metre run and the whole taxi-door in my face/body thing but wow. I got a shot. And what's more important was that she stopped for me! Elation in its best. According to Leon, the speed and tenacity at which I was running at actually had some gaijin going "Wow, that's the real papparazi" as they saw me speed past them.
>D I am Notorious now.
つづく
