Exploring beautiful Kyoto
9 november 2012 - Kyoto, Japan
The flight to Japan marked the end of our land-journey. After over 10000 km by car, bus, but mostly train, Hong Kong was the place where it ended. We felt kind of sad about it. We were apparently not destined to make it over land to Nepal (as Tibet is still closed for foreigners) so why not take a flight to Japan? We could of course have taken the ferry, but as it was 2,5 times more expensive, we had moaningly settled for the flight. Luckily, we had coincidently booked the second flight to Nepal, as airlines to Japan do not let you board without a return ticket!
1,5 hour later and a time zone further we landed on the brand new Terminal 2 in Osaka, Kansai airport. We decided to directly go to Kyoto, as we only have the limited time of 2 weeks and were told the old capital Kyoto is worth a few day trip, and hopped on a train. The nice, humble acting man at the ticket office actually wanted to refer us to the Japan Railways office, as he didn´t want us to suffer a long journey and multiple changes :) but we insisted on taking the slow, inexpensive route. 2 hours later and nice support from other Japanese guys, we arrived at Kyoto Kawaramachi station, even closer to our hostel than we would have been with the fast train! Perfect!
Kyoto is beautiful. Although absolutely something else than we expected (I'm not sure what we did expect though...), it's pretty, more town-like than a city. On our rental bike we explored the area, getting lost in the streets that all look the same. No streetnames, no optical landmarks to orientate on. And traffic on the left! You need to concentrate all the time! As soon as we let our mind wander off in the landscape, we found ourselves driving on the right again! I was getting angry about the guy coming towards us, wondering why on earth he was not driving on his side of the bikelane...until I realised it was me who made the mistake...:)
Sorry, I had to stop writing for a second, as we caught a glimpse of Mount Fuji!! (Right now writing this in the train from Nagoya to Shimoda, on the Izu Peninsula, 1 hour before Tokyo), wow... nice view!! :)
Kyoto is full of shrines (Japanese Shintoïsm) and Temples (Buddhism). A world full of hidden treasures! We enjoyed most to wander around and find those that are not necessarily described in the book, free of entry and thus less crowded. The silence was ear-deafening. We drove along the philosopher's path, and breathed in the fresh air around the many gardens. The trees are colouring red and yellow like Indian Summer in Vermont We keep travelling with the Autumn!! (In Norway the trees were changing colour... in Finland the wind and rain made us happy to be inside a warm sauna... Russia coloured bright yellow and orange, Mongolia received the first snow and China became colder during the nights....) Now the darker period prevents us from heading to the mountains, but instead we enjoy Kyoto in the Golden season, a treat in itself!
In the Gion area ("Redlightdistrict") we were able to try food: lots of green tea sweets, lots of pickled vegetables. It is also the place where we've seen the Geisha's and Maiko's running around, although it is a seldom sight. Else in Japan it is even more difficult to find them, as it is nowadays a rare privilege of rich businessmen to hear them play instruments (or doing other things ;). It is unbelievable how they can wear these 15 cm high flipflops (getas) without stumbling!
I guess we missed out on many of the world heritage temples, but we enjoyed our time anyway! Gives us a reason to come back one day!
In Kyoto we tried to find a couch via couchsurfing. It appeared impossible, as there are little hosts, high prices and many surfers. We ended up in a hostel: quite nice to have our privacy, quite sad as you don't understand anything of the culture, apart from what you read in a book!
1,5 hour later and a time zone further we landed on the brand new Terminal 2 in Osaka, Kansai airport. We decided to directly go to Kyoto, as we only have the limited time of 2 weeks and were told the old capital Kyoto is worth a few day trip, and hopped on a train. The nice, humble acting man at the ticket office actually wanted to refer us to the Japan Railways office, as he didn´t want us to suffer a long journey and multiple changes :) but we insisted on taking the slow, inexpensive route. 2 hours later and nice support from other Japanese guys, we arrived at Kyoto Kawaramachi station, even closer to our hostel than we would have been with the fast train! Perfect!
Kyoto is beautiful. Although absolutely something else than we expected (I'm not sure what we did expect though...), it's pretty, more town-like than a city. On our rental bike we explored the area, getting lost in the streets that all look the same. No streetnames, no optical landmarks to orientate on. And traffic on the left! You need to concentrate all the time! As soon as we let our mind wander off in the landscape, we found ourselves driving on the right again! I was getting angry about the guy coming towards us, wondering why on earth he was not driving on his side of the bikelane...until I realised it was me who made the mistake...:)
Sorry, I had to stop writing for a second, as we caught a glimpse of Mount Fuji!! (Right now writing this in the train from Nagoya to Shimoda, on the Izu Peninsula, 1 hour before Tokyo), wow... nice view!! :)
Kyoto is full of shrines (Japanese Shintoïsm) and Temples (Buddhism). A world full of hidden treasures! We enjoyed most to wander around and find those that are not necessarily described in the book, free of entry and thus less crowded. The silence was ear-deafening. We drove along the philosopher's path, and breathed in the fresh air around the many gardens. The trees are colouring red and yellow like Indian Summer in Vermont We keep travelling with the Autumn!! (In Norway the trees were changing colour... in Finland the wind and rain made us happy to be inside a warm sauna... Russia coloured bright yellow and orange, Mongolia received the first snow and China became colder during the nights....) Now the darker period prevents us from heading to the mountains, but instead we enjoy Kyoto in the Golden season, a treat in itself!
In the Gion area ("Redlightdistrict") we were able to try food: lots of green tea sweets, lots of pickled vegetables. It is also the place where we've seen the Geisha's and Maiko's running around, although it is a seldom sight. Else in Japan it is even more difficult to find them, as it is nowadays a rare privilege of rich businessmen to hear them play instruments (or doing other things ;). It is unbelievable how they can wear these 15 cm high flipflops (getas) without stumbling!
I guess we missed out on many of the world heritage temples, but we enjoyed our time anyway! Gives us a reason to come back one day!
In Kyoto we tried to find a couch via couchsurfing. It appeared impossible, as there are little hosts, high prices and many surfers. We ended up in a hostel: quite nice to have our privacy, quite sad as you don't understand anything of the culture, apart from what you read in a book!
The Japanese people have been very, very friendly and helpful to us so far!!! When we were looking for a camping shop that of course was written wrong (again!) in the Lonely Planet, we soon found ourself surrounded by 15 young people trying to help us! Pull out a map in the train and you are bound to find someone trying to help you, whenever we had difficulties someone offered his help unasked!! Apart from that, we do notice that they are shy, quite reserved and very polite, which makes it difficult to interact on a 'deeper' level!
And although it is a very well developed country, we are mystified that so little English information to get around is available. Here, Google translate often don't even help (as many characters online are added as an image, not a letter). It is impossible to book tickets online, and the many (not central organised) train companies make it hard to find out how to get anywhere (if you don't want to use shinkansen). Also, we had a hard time finding ATM's that take our Visa card. Most Japanese Banks take only cards issued in Japan or China. So here's to those of you travelling to Japan once: post offices, major train stations and 7 Eleven convenient stores are where you should go. Forget about the rest!
And although it is a very well developed country, we are mystified that so little English information to get around is available. Here, Google translate often don't even help (as many characters online are added as an image, not a letter). It is impossible to book tickets online, and the many (not central organised) train companies make it hard to find out how to get anywhere (if you don't want to use shinkansen). Also, we had a hard time finding ATM's that take our Visa card. Most Japanese Banks take only cards issued in Japan or China. So here's to those of you travelling to Japan once: post offices, major train stations and 7 Eleven convenient stores are where you should go. Forget about the rest!
One of the best things about the whole trip so far, has been the food. Trying out new things everyday, from the pelmini in Russia, the fatty sheep in Mongolia, to the ricenoodles in China and of course the Sushi in Japan! In Kyoto, we had the opportunity to try Kaitenzushiya at Musashi Sushi, one of the oldest Sushi bars in Kyoto. Kaitenzushiya means a sushi conveyor, driving sushi around that you can pick up piece by piece, whatever you like! It was delicious, and relatively cheap! One concern is of course the Fukushima-fish-possibility. In Japan, information about this is scarce, but there are blogs that have mentioned crippled fish being sold to low-price restaurant. Hmmpf. We decided that we probably die earlier of lungcancer caused by the smoke and smog Asia before the results of radiation hit us. Not sure if that makes sense, but time will tell. The sushi was marvellous anyway!
In Kyoto, we managed to get in touch with a friend of one of our friend's :) (It is a small world!!!), currently living in Nagoya: as it is on the way to Tokyo, we decided to seize the opportunity to meet new friends! One busticket later we were on our way again!!
more to come in the Nagoya blog entry.....
