Kyoto: Part Ichi

Since I began my Tokyo recaps with a pretty scathing review of Japan, I feel like it's only fair to begin my Kyoto recaps with a little more love for the country.  As much as I really never, ever want to return to Tokyo, I can envision myself going back to Kyoto during cherry blossom season and staying in a charming ryokan and really quite enjoying myself.  I think most of our frustration with Kyoto stemmed from the latent frustration we still felt from Tokyo, because it really was quite a lovely place.

I've already mentioned how kind the Japanese people were to us, but we were also so impressed by the care they took in every action they undertook.  We frequently felt like giant ogres smashing through their delicate country--shops were beautifully designed and laid out, flowers blossomed as though they were cultivated by magical gardening fairies, tea was prepared and served with such graciousness, almost all of our purchases were lovingly wrapped in lovely paper and tied with ribbons then placed in a bag and presented with a thankful bow.  It really is a beautiful country that has managed to retain so much of its unique and historic culture, even as they embrace modernization.

We left Tokyo early in the morning of June 30th and began the 3 hour journey toward Kyoto.  As tiny as everything else in Japan was, the trains were pretty universally spacious and incredibly clean.  When we got to Kyoto, we decided that based on our track record of getting where we wanted to go in Tokyo, we'd just get a cab to our ryokan.  Well... as much as tourists and locals don't know their way around cities, apparently, neither do the cab drivers.  Every time we attempted to get a cab to our ryokan, the cab drivers became dramatically flustered, stabbed at their GPS systems in desperation, and one time we just got out of the cab in the middle of the street and walked the rest of they way.  It was... ridiculous.

I'm going to pretty much photobomb you with pictures of our ryokan because it was by far, my most treasured experience of the trip.  For the most part, we planned all of our hotel stays on a pretty strict budget, but we decided to splurge for one night because we had heard that staying in a ryokan is such an essential experience.  It is basically a Japanese bed and breakfast, but if you stay at the right one, your hostess's mission for your entire stay is to make you feel like a queen or king.

Left: Our room set up for day time, Right: Our futons laid out for the night.

At the Shiraume Ryokan, we were greeted with cold green tea and cookies, our hostess sat with us and a map for about 30 minutes pointing out places we should visit and how to get there, we had tea and sweets again when we returned from our touring for the day, we had our own private garden, our room magically transitioned from night to day while we were out to dinner, and we just generally felt like the most important people in Kyoto.  Our hostess was stunningly beautiful and perfectly serene, and it seems as though her dinner room is one of the most premier places to be in the evenings as one evening a geisha was upstairs entertaining guests, and another evening the mayor and his aide were there for dinner.  It was a fantastic experience, and I'd highly recommend it if you are ever in Kyoto.

L: Nazen-ji Temple Sanmon Gate, R: Nazen-ji Temple

L: Interior of Nazen-ji Temple, R: Hojo (Abbot's Quarters) "Leaping Tigers" zen rock garden

We began our tourist experience in Kyoto with a walk out to the Nazen-ji Temple.  As we were staying in the Gion prefecture, we were pretty centrally located for most of the temples and some great shopping.  We were also in the geisha district, so we were constantly on high alert for that elusive white-painted face.  With a stop for lunch and plenty of window shopping along the way, it took a little over an hour to get to the temple, and then we spent an leisurely afternoon there, sitting in shady locations, strolling through a peaceful rock garden, sitting in more shady locations, and just enjoying the quiet that had been so hard to find in Tokyo.

We found plenty of shops along the way back to the ryokan where we were able to stock up on souvenirs for ourselves and others, then we took some time to relax and cool off in our room with air conditioning and tea before we headed out to Pontocho Alley for a wander and then dinner.

We began the next morning with a rare experience--A WESTERN BREAKFAST!!!  After inhaling several days worth of calories in fruit, eggs, sausage, bread and English tea, we set off for a day in Nara.  We met a great girl at breakfast that morning who was traveling alone, so we invited her along for the ride, and our twosome became a threesome... but not like that.  Nara was fabulous, but oh my heck, there was a ton of walking that day.  We were sadly uninformed about the fact that there was a shuttle bus from the station out to the Nara Park area, so instead we walked the nine million miles there and back. First we hit up the Kofukuji Temple and Five-Story Pagoda.

 

Two of the most entertaining experiences of the day involved ice cream and Japanese school children.  While we were taking our last photos of the Kofukuji Temple, we were approached by a hoard of Japanese children holding yellow notebooks.  As they giggled and shoved one another forward, two of the girls took the lead in asking if they could practice their English on us.  They mostly talked to our friend Stephanie, as Nicole and I chatted haltingly with a couple of the kids who were hanging back.  They had a list of questions about where we were from, what we had done in Japan, etc and they transcribed our answers very carefully before moving onto the next one.  We hung out with them for about 15 minutes and then we kept seeing them all over Nara for the rest of the day, and each time we'd all squeal and wave.  Now I not only want an Asian baby, I want an Asian teenager.  The other big excitement was trying out some green tea ice cream.  Less adorable than the 7th graders, but interesting nonetheless.

We wrapped up our time in Nara by hauling ourselves out to the Kasuga Shrine and the Todaiji Temple to see the great Buddha.  It was around this point that I began experiencing extreme temple exhaustion.  The same thing tends to happen when I'm in Europe with the cathedrals, but I honestly felt like if I saw another temple, I was going to scream.

Fortunately, we did have some distraction in the shape of the hallowed Nara Park deer.  There are about 1200-1300 of these deer scattered all around Nara Park, and they are carefully protected as it is believed in the Shinto faith that they are messengers of the gods.  Those were the most fearless deer I have ever seen.  They would brazenly walk up to any person who happened to be holding food--or not in some cases--and we even saw a couple of them going after clothing.  It was pretty funny, but I still opted to keep my distance.

Then, the absolute highlight of the day... when we returned to the ryokan to retrieve our luggage and move on to our next hotel, we had the absolute joy and pleasure of meeting a geisha.  It's not uncommon to see them on the streets in the evening as they make their way from one appointment to the next, but the geisha try to keep their distance from us mere mortals, so this was quite an honor.  As I mentioned earlier, she was entertaining at a dinner upstairs in our ryokan, and our hostess knew how interested we were in the geisha culture, so she brought her down for an introduction.  And once again, we got to feel like enormous ogres as she carefully arranged her kimono and we hulked over her for the photo op.  But it was so worth it, and from that point on, I was completely smitten with the geisha.

That wraps up the first half of our time in Kyoto, but please do return for the next installment, or deal with the wrath of...

GAIJIN SMASH!!!!

Comments

[Old Warrior]

The Incubator and I frequently thought we would have enjoyed an Asian teenager, as well. But, we just settled for the challenge of our own Princess Angela.

Somehow, I suspect that the Asian teenagers are somewhat different at home than out in public where they are perfectly polite and charming. I base that on reports from the field that you were charming, polite, and practically perfect in every way once outside our immediate parental unit control zone.

[Jenn]

So you're saying that the people on The Amazing Race don't just have phenomenally bad luck with cab drivers in Japan?

[katelin]

loving all of these pics, it's like we went on vacation with you!

and your room and living room is so interesting and fascinating and ah, love your trip.

also, that last pic, priceless. nicely done :)

[Jessica]

Wow your room looks very interesting with it set up for day and night. I am so messy in hotel rooms, this would not work for me :)

[Nicole]

Nice Gaijin pic Ang! Toooooo funny! You left out the amazing pina colada that you had at our mexican lunch. ;)

[Brittany E.]

I'm reading this and thinking I never ever thought about meeting a geisha, but now I want to add "Meet a Geisha" to my life list. That is so cool! And I love how they transform the rooms, what a novel idea!