kyoto
I arrived in Kyoto and experienced the usual frustration of trying to find the right exit from the train station. It is a maze of tunnels, escalators, passages and concourses. All I wanted was to get to the south exit. One would think that would be pretty straightforward but not here. But after slogging my bag around for 45 mins, I got to the right exit. The station is a magnificent building though. Modern, marble, massive.
It was snowing but not sticking when I ventured off to find accommodation. I walked to two hostels. Fully booked. I was starting to wonder whether I would have to sleep outside. Then logic prevailed and I started to call places by telephone. I found another Ryokan, right alongside a lovely canal. It was much better situated then the other two hostels so I was quite happy. Add to that a stereotypical elderly Japanese lady who ran the Inn. She was no less than 80 years of age. She could barely walk, had no English but was very endearing all the same. Our shunted conversation was just an endless series of her saying 'hai, hai, hai' to everything I said. I never knew it was possible to insert the word 'Yes' so many times into a ten minute chat. I felt guilty too when she had to climb the stairs to take me to my room. God, she took ages!
I had a gut feeling while walking around that I would like Kyoto. It is the cultural capital of Japan afterall, with no less than 17 sites designated as World Heritage Sites. My intention was to stay no more than 2 days but I ended up staying 4 days. I choose a compass point each day and walked off exploring. Using a crude measure, I reckon I covered some 15 km per day (complete with packed lunch).
It is a very beautiful place. The temples and shrines are amazing in their artistic qualities and workmanship. It is much easier too to get around with some street signs in roman characters or romanji as it's called. Moreover the road systems are based on a grid system and even I can figure that out. I was also getting braver with going into restaurants where there are no English menu's. I either pointed at picture menu's, dragged the waiter outside and pointed at the window display, or siad 'setto' meaning 'set meal' and hoped they wouldn't bring some disgusting fishheads. Having said that, I usually sought out my favourite dish of all time. Kobe beef. It's really expensive but tastes like heaven. These cows are really lucky cows. They are reared on beer and their farmer gives them daily massages! This mothering ensures the texture of the meat is simply divine. I hate to think how much money I spent on Kobe beef but it was worth every yen.
Naturally I toured the Irish pubs in the evening. One night four Japanese played excellent Irish session music. It was just like being at home. I got talking to some old Yank who was telling me how he had lived in Japan for 36 years. He got mightily uptight when I asked him what brought him to Japan. The army? At that he dashed out of the pub. There was almost a vapour trail! Very strange. I reckon he went AWOL during the Vietnam war.
On my final night I couldn"t find my final target Irish pub. Whether it still existed I don't know but I called off my quest and decided to head back to the Inn. I walked along the river, a quite part of town and was kind of day dreaming when a taxi pulled up ahead of me, opposite a little restaurant. Two Geisha's (got out of the taxi and my jaw dropped at the sight. Amazing, just like porcelain dolls, immaculate, graceful, delicate. Given that there are only 100 or so genuine Geisha's left in Japan (80 of which are siad to work in Kyoto) I felt very priviledged to have got a glimpse of them. And this came about because I couldn't find a pub!
It was snowing but not sticking when I ventured off to find accommodation. I walked to two hostels. Fully booked. I was starting to wonder whether I would have to sleep outside. Then logic prevailed and I started to call places by telephone. I found another Ryokan, right alongside a lovely canal. It was much better situated then the other two hostels so I was quite happy. Add to that a stereotypical elderly Japanese lady who ran the Inn. She was no less than 80 years of age. She could barely walk, had no English but was very endearing all the same. Our shunted conversation was just an endless series of her saying 'hai, hai, hai' to everything I said. I never knew it was possible to insert the word 'Yes' so many times into a ten minute chat. I felt guilty too when she had to climb the stairs to take me to my room. God, she took ages!
I had a gut feeling while walking around that I would like Kyoto. It is the cultural capital of Japan afterall, with no less than 17 sites designated as World Heritage Sites. My intention was to stay no more than 2 days but I ended up staying 4 days. I choose a compass point each day and walked off exploring. Using a crude measure, I reckon I covered some 15 km per day (complete with packed lunch).
It is a very beautiful place. The temples and shrines are amazing in their artistic qualities and workmanship. It is much easier too to get around with some street signs in roman characters or romanji as it's called. Moreover the road systems are based on a grid system and even I can figure that out. I was also getting braver with going into restaurants where there are no English menu's. I either pointed at picture menu's, dragged the waiter outside and pointed at the window display, or siad 'setto' meaning 'set meal' and hoped they wouldn't bring some disgusting fishheads. Having said that, I usually sought out my favourite dish of all time. Kobe beef. It's really expensive but tastes like heaven. These cows are really lucky cows. They are reared on beer and their farmer gives them daily massages! This mothering ensures the texture of the meat is simply divine. I hate to think how much money I spent on Kobe beef but it was worth every yen.
Naturally I toured the Irish pubs in the evening. One night four Japanese played excellent Irish session music. It was just like being at home. I got talking to some old Yank who was telling me how he had lived in Japan for 36 years. He got mightily uptight when I asked him what brought him to Japan. The army? At that he dashed out of the pub. There was almost a vapour trail! Very strange. I reckon he went AWOL during the Vietnam war.
On my final night I couldn"t find my final target Irish pub. Whether it still existed I don't know but I called off my quest and decided to head back to the Inn. I walked along the river, a quite part of town and was kind of day dreaming when a taxi pulled up ahead of me, opposite a little restaurant. Two Geisha's (got out of the taxi and my jaw dropped at the sight. Amazing, just like porcelain dolls, immaculate, graceful, delicate. Given that there are only 100 or so genuine Geisha's left in Japan (80 of which are siad to work in Kyoto) I felt very priviledged to have got a glimpse of them. And this came about because I couldn't find a pub!
posted by Ciarán at 6:32 a.m.
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