Day Ten: Kyoto (Japan vs. Australia)

Due to the lack of a laptop charger, we have not been regularly blogging for a little while. I propose to gloss over this error by posting updates for all the days we missed and acting like it never happened. So even though this is actually the very early morning of Day 14 at the time of writing, please pretend it's Day 10 (Feb. 11) all over again.

It was on this day that we experienced our first breakfast at IchiEnSou, our hostel. An explanatory note first: breakfast has been a decidedly mixed bag on this trip. There's been a real scale involved, but it has no upper end. It just goes from bad (7 Eleven) to average (any number of random chain restaurants and imitation Italian cafes). So to have an essentially homemade breakfast was a real treat. Yoghurt, eggs, bacon, organic bread, tea. It was really, really good. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, we don't have to revisit it in further posts.

February 11 is National Foundation Day, celebrating the reign of Japan's legendary first emperor, Jimmu. That much I learned from Wikipedia. The public holiday passed us by more or less: the trains and buses were still running, the shrines were open and the charm-selling tourist traps would be damned if they missed out on the crowds (I really almost did buy a charm which had the advertised aim of 'to against disaster'). So we piled onto a bus and headed for one of Kyoto's more famous attractions: the Golden Pavilion.

The pictures will tell you more about the place than I possibly can. It was cool, even if it is a reconstruction.

While we were there, Daniel went back in to get some photos of the building once the Sun came out. Ali and I stayed behind, and did not witness this alleged event so make of this story what you will. Supposedly, Daniel was mobbed by a group of Japanese girls who kept saying the Japanese word for 'photo'. Daniel first thought that they wanted him to take a picture of all of them. After all, he had his camera out and no one had given him lens-envy that day. But no, it turns out that they wanted a photo with him. As I say, no one else saw this happen; it's all uncorroborated and second-hand. But the mix of smug self-satisfaction and outright confusion on his face as he narrated this tale leads me to believe that he's telling the truth.

We spent the afternoon doing very little - lunch, looking around the shop, that kind of thing - before we headed to a bar to watch Japan play Australia in a FIFA World Cup qualifier. The place was packed. We turned up about 10 minutes before kick-off and there was barely room to stand. The match was okay, I guess. Australia was lucky, in our opinions, to hold the Japanese to a 0-0 draw. But it was fun and the bar staff didn't kick us out despite the fact that we didn't buy anything. Perhaps, in that small way, Australia was the real victor that night.

After the game came a real highlight though. Yashi, our host and guide, had been at the same bar and offered to take us on a walking tour of Gion. After clearing some pretty seedy territory dotted with some establishments of rather dubious character, we entered the traditional part of the district. Moving down the narrow streets, past all kinds of tiny shrines and religious sites that held all kinds of different meanings, as well as through some bigger temples, was a very strange experience. It's odd to feel so safe and at ease in such a big city, and to see the way the city looked after dark. It was the kind of thing that we wouldn't have been able to do without the help of a local, and it was a great way to spend an hour or so.

You know the drill - the next day will be up shortly.