After the rain
We took a little shelter at the hotel before setting out again on the second trip of the day. Anyone who knows me really well will be surprised at this, because I don't tend to like starting new activities after 2pm.... I'm a morning person! However, our time was limited, and our activity list was lengthy, so we decided to go to Arashiyama, a small town outside of Kyoto known for its monkeys and bamboo grove.
Monkey Mountain
A few transit flubs later, we disembarked in Arashiyama, a beautiful setting along the Oi river at the foot of rolling hills and a mountain with monkeys near its peak. The Iwatayama Monkey park was a short walk away, and a bit of a trek up the mountain, but well worth the effort. Just before we hit the clearing where the monkeys congregate, we heard a large noise in the brush, and looked up to see a pair of 30 lbs primates barrelling down the hill 15 feet away from us.
Signs warned not to show the monkeys food, touch them, or 'look them in the eye'. I'd by lying if I said I wasn't worried about getting my eyes gauged out by a wild monkey paw....
In the 'monkey area' were dozens of snow monkeys of all ages, ooo ooo oooing, as we all know monkeys do. It was possible to feed them ( peanuts or apples) but only from inside a caged structure where they reached through the chain link to grab the food.
I found the older guys pretty revolting, but the couple of babies that we saw were enough like Curious George to appease me. The view was also nothing to scoff at.....
We made it back down the mountain, eyes intact, to see the bamboo grove, something that had been raved about by many other travellers, but that we both found quite underwhelming. Maybe we made a wrong turn? Or maybe we're just j j j jaded....
Biwa-ko
Sunday, our second last day of the trip, turned out to be my favorite of all. Surprisingly (or not), this wasn't because we saw anything spectacular or experienced anything supremely cultural. In fact, I'm sure that where we spent our day is on very few tourists' to-do lists, and I actually had trouble finding much information about it. However, I wanted a beach day, and a beach day I got.
As Kyoto is not on any form of coastline, beaches were not easy to come by in the area. Luckily, Japan's biggest (and oldest) lake, Lake Biwa, was an easy 40 minute train ride away. We packed up our suits, bought a tarp from a beach vendor, and set up shop on the shores of warm, clear waters, atop a white, pebbly coast.
Swimming and napping in the sun can be pretty stressful, especially when there are so many beautiful mountains in your view, but, somehow, we survived.
Tim stole the camera away for a few gorgeous shots:
I also took my favorite picture from the whole vacation, just before we left for the day.
Sushi belt
For our final full day in the land of the Rising Sun, I had fully planned to go to Hiroshima. This had been at the top of my list since planning the trip, months ago. Unfortunately, when I looked further into the journey from Kyoto, and finally figured out the prices, the tally ended up being about 270$ and 5-6 hours of travel. With that, we opted to go to a closer and cheaper destination: Osaka.
Osaka
The day showed no mercy with more 36 degree weather, bright sun, and super high humidity. Once in Osaka, a city of about 3.7 million (a figure which drops to 2.6 million at night, due to Osaka's status as an economic center of Japan), we hopped aboard a 120m high ferris wheel, just to check out the lay of the land.
Osaka's aquarium is world renowned for having one of the largest tanks in the world, housing a whale shark, among other petrifying looking creatures. Among them, spider crabs......
For our last stop in Osaka, we paid a visit to Osaka castle (a substitute for Himeji castle, Japan's best, which was under construction at the time). The castle was beautiful, but slightly marred by a large elevator shaft built onto the side.
In one of the most hilarious moments of the trip, I read about a time capsule that had been buried in commemoration of Expo '70, which the creators hoped would be recovered by people living in...... 6,1970. That's right, in FIVE THOUSAND YEARS.
Back to Gion, back to reality
After one more night in Kyoto, we woke on our last morning to pack and prepare for the journey back north. I made a quick sight-seeing run back to Gion, as I'm in the middle of reading 'Memoirs of Geisha' and wanted some visual aids.
I set off in search of 'Shinbashi', famed as 'perhaps the most beautiful street in all of Asia'. After finally finding it, I managed to stumble upon a movie set, and was quickly ushered through, obviously before I managed to snap any photos. Oh well!
I left Kyoto, unwillingly, with possibly even more on my Japanese to-do list than when I arrived.... guess we'll have to go back!
We took a little shelter at the hotel before setting out again on the second trip of the day. Anyone who knows me really well will be surprised at this, because I don't tend to like starting new activities after 2pm.... I'm a morning person! However, our time was limited, and our activity list was lengthy, so we decided to go to Arashiyama, a small town outside of Kyoto known for its monkeys and bamboo grove.
Monkey Mountain
A few transit flubs later, we disembarked in Arashiyama, a beautiful setting along the Oi river at the foot of rolling hills and a mountain with monkeys near its peak. The Iwatayama Monkey park was a short walk away, and a bit of a trek up the mountain, but well worth the effort. Just before we hit the clearing where the monkeys congregate, we heard a large noise in the brush, and looked up to see a pair of 30 lbs primates barrelling down the hill 15 feet away from us.
Signs warned not to show the monkeys food, touch them, or 'look them in the eye'. I'd by lying if I said I wasn't worried about getting my eyes gauged out by a wild monkey paw....
In the 'monkey area' were dozens of snow monkeys of all ages, ooo ooo oooing, as we all know monkeys do. It was possible to feed them ( peanuts or apples) but only from inside a caged structure where they reached through the chain link to grab the food.
I found the older guys pretty revolting, but the couple of babies that we saw were enough like Curious George to appease me. The view was also nothing to scoff at.....
We made it back down the mountain, eyes intact, to see the bamboo grove, something that had been raved about by many other travellers, but that we both found quite underwhelming. Maybe we made a wrong turn? Or maybe we're just j j j jaded....
Biwa-ko
Sunday, our second last day of the trip, turned out to be my favorite of all. Surprisingly (or not), this wasn't because we saw anything spectacular or experienced anything supremely cultural. In fact, I'm sure that where we spent our day is on very few tourists' to-do lists, and I actually had trouble finding much information about it. However, I wanted a beach day, and a beach day I got.
As Kyoto is not on any form of coastline, beaches were not easy to come by in the area. Luckily, Japan's biggest (and oldest) lake, Lake Biwa, was an easy 40 minute train ride away. We packed up our suits, bought a tarp from a beach vendor, and set up shop on the shores of warm, clear waters, atop a white, pebbly coast.
Swimming and napping in the sun can be pretty stressful, especially when there are so many beautiful mountains in your view, but, somehow, we survived.
Tim stole the camera away for a few gorgeous shots:
 |
| a baby turtle! |
I also took my favorite picture from the whole vacation, just before we left for the day.
 |
| after watching these japanese boys horse around for an hour, they finally got tired and sat in the water just like any other boys. |
Sushi belt
That night we undertook the very Japanesely efficient task of eating at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in downtown Kyoto. The place was packed, mostly with locals, and had a great vibe, though it was a bit stressful to feel like you were eating from an assembly line. I had eaten about 10 pieces of sushi before I realised it wasn't a race.
The system was pretty simple, but interesting: grab a dish from the belt that looks good and leave the empty plate in front of you. When you are finished, the staff tally up your bill by counting your plates. If you have an extra drink, staff give you a special plate that represents the price of the drink.
Following the sushi (3 activities in ONE day? Who AM I??), we took a stroll to the other side of the Kamo river straight into the setting of Memoirs of a Geisha: Gion. Gion is a very popular tourist destination as it is home to one of the most well-known geisha districts in Japan. We didn't spend much time in the area, but enough to get a very romantic and mysterious vibe that I'm sure many people feel when walking through the streets, hoping for a glimpse of the elusive, white-faced geisha. We didn't spot any, but I'm sure we just weren't looking hard enough
 |
| Minamiza theater |
For our final full day in the land of the Rising Sun, I had fully planned to go to Hiroshima. This had been at the top of my list since planning the trip, months ago. Unfortunately, when I looked further into the journey from Kyoto, and finally figured out the prices, the tally ended up being about 270$ and 5-6 hours of travel. With that, we opted to go to a closer and cheaper destination: Osaka.
Osaka
The day showed no mercy with more 36 degree weather, bright sun, and super high humidity. Once in Osaka, a city of about 3.7 million (a figure which drops to 2.6 million at night, due to Osaka's status as an economic center of Japan), we hopped aboard a 120m high ferris wheel, just to check out the lay of the land.
Osaka's aquarium is world renowned for having one of the largest tanks in the world, housing a whale shark, among other petrifying looking creatures. Among them, spider crabs......
For our last stop in Osaka, we paid a visit to Osaka castle (a substitute for Himeji castle, Japan's best, which was under construction at the time). The castle was beautiful, but slightly marred by a large elevator shaft built onto the side.
In one of the most hilarious moments of the trip, I read about a time capsule that had been buried in commemoration of Expo '70, which the creators hoped would be recovered by people living in...... 6,1970. That's right, in FIVE THOUSAND YEARS.
Back to Gion, back to reality
After one more night in Kyoto, we woke on our last morning to pack and prepare for the journey back north. I made a quick sight-seeing run back to Gion, as I'm in the middle of reading 'Memoirs of Geisha' and wanted some visual aids.
I set off in search of 'Shinbashi', famed as 'perhaps the most beautiful street in all of Asia'. After finally finding it, I managed to stumble upon a movie set, and was quickly ushered through, obviously before I managed to snap any photos. Oh well!
 |
| far off view of the film shooting |
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| paws, fighting to stay. |
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