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 11 (Feb. 12) all over again.
We began our day with yet another great breakfast - thanks again Yashi! - before heading out for a full day of temple appreciation. First stop was the Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple complex within walking distance of our hostel. It is famous for being constructed without the use of a single nail - the whole thing is made of interlocking pieces of wood. As with the Golden Pavilion yesterday, I will let the pictures do the talking.
We didn't read up on the temple extensively before we went, and little English-language information was provided. As such, we missed out on the ritual of drinking the water of the stream within the complex, which supposedly confers good health, wisdom and long life upon those who consume it. Our loss, I suppose.
From there we went to the Sanjusangen-do, another nearby temple. This one is famous for having 1001 statues of Kannon, a Buddhist figure whose exact role and nature I still don't fully grasp even after having been through the entire hall. It was impressive enough, I suppose, but not the greatest holy site we visited (despite being the most expensive). Pictures cannot tell the story on this one, as photography was forbidden, but (and this is my personal opinion - Daniel had a really good time there) you're not missing out on too much. You want to see a really big statue? Wait until the Feb 12 update.
We spent the early evening walking around Gion, retracing our steps from the previous night so Daniel could take photos.
Back at the hostel, we had dinner with Yashi. He made octopus balls (that's balls made with octopus, not what some people have thought upon hearing that term) which were delicious. We ate with Yashi, an Israeli guy named Avi who we would spend some time with in the next little while, and an Australian ex-pat from Abu Dhabi. He moved there after his previous boss, the Hon. Peter McGauran of the National Party, lost his job as minister for agriculture. I didn't like the look of him from the start. Upon finding out that little tidbit, I considered my initial opinion completely vindicated.
Anyway, we went out and had a couple of drinks. One of the bars had a SNES, which meant Street Figher II, which meant nothing good as far as I was concerned. We whittled away the rest of the evening in some British pub knock off, basically because it was the only place we knew how to find. On the way home we ran into Avi and planned out the next day, which involved a trip to nearby Nara. But that's another story for another time, i.e. tomorrow.
I will wrap up this series of retrospective updates when I can. But for now, I sleep.
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.
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 9 (Feb. 10) all over again.
To keep this remotely interesting, we have to skip over like half of this day. That's not an exaggeration. The first 12 hours of the day do not merit mentioning. We were on a train. Then we had breakfast. Then we got back onto another train. And then another.
I know I'm glad I didn't spend a lot of time reliving it, and all of you out there (those who have stuck with this silly enterprise thus far) are no doubt happy that I limited the whole experience to a single paragraph and half a dozen sentences. But fear not, because once we hit Kyoto things got more interesting.
After some searching, we found our hostel in the Gion (geisha) district of the city. It's a great little place called IchiEnSou run by a guy named Yashi. I highly recommend it if you're ever in that part of Japan. It's run by Yashi and a couple of his friends and they're great friendly people. Also, they make a mean breakfast.
Anyway, back on topic. We headed out from the hostel to the Fushimi Inari shrine, a sprawling series of small shrines scattered across a mountainside. The shrine is for the Japanese spirt of foxes, amongst other things, and statutes of the animals watch over many of the buildings within the complex. The paths are lined by dozens of red torii gates which guide you up the mountain to a rather spectacular view of the city. It was quite a trek but the view was well worth it.
We made our way back to the hostel and asked for recommendations on good places to eat. In some madcap series of events from there, we wound up at an izakaya with Yashi and two random Finns from Helsinki named Kare and Anise. They were great. Kare regaled us with tales of his travels, including the time he got shot in South Africa. That was a fun story. Anise spoke less English, but was still a great guy to hang out with.
Kare payed for the meal, ostensibly on the basis that we'd but him a drink at a bar across the street because it was his birthday in a couple of hours. I say "ostensibly" becuase once we were there he insisted on buying all the drinks anyway. We were dead tired after a day of near-constant train travel and mountain-shrine climbing, so we weren't the best company to party with. It was okay though: when we left, Kare was already making friends with an American (who thought I was an American as well, or at least imitating one. I have no idea why) and a couple of random Japanese guys.
That's February 10 out of the way. Feb 11 coming soon. Watch this space.
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 8 (Feb. 9) all over again.
The last day in Sapporo was a slow one. We checked out sometime mid-morning. That wasn't, however, to say that we actually left the hostel. We would, in fact, spend most of the day there until our train at 10pm using their internet and toilet and vending machines to our heart's content. Whether they were happy about this we couldn't tell. But given the temperature outside, unless they physically dragged us out of there, we were going to stay.
That's not to say that we did nothing though. We went to the Sapporo Beer Museum, housed in the building once occupied by Japan's first ever brewery. The museum itself was small, unguided and entirely in Japanese. But the experience was redeemed by the museum bar at the end of it, which made for good times.
As you have no doubt gathered by now, sometime between returning to the hostel and departing for the train station, we used the laptop, eventually leaving the charger behind. Not a high point for us, but it all worked out in the end.
The train ride back to Tokyo (and then on to Kyoto) was always going to be a challenge. The rough ride we took to get into Sapporo gave us some indication that it wouldn't be all fun and games, but the return journey was always going to truly test our manliness. One train left Sapporo at 10pm, arriving in Aomori at 5:39am. 12 minutes later, the next train left Aomori, arriving in Hachinoche at 6:48am. Seven minutes after that, a final train left for Tokyo. Once there, we got on a 3-hour train to Kyoto with relative ease. But it's fair to say that we didn't sleep well at any point along the way.
See, that wasn't so difficult, was it? I bet it felt like February 9 all over again, and I bet you were glad to be there. For one thing, it meant that you were a few days younger. And if you were one of my sisters, it would mean that it was your birthday again! Yay! Check back in like 15 minutes for coverage of Day 9 (Feb 10). It's a blast from the past!
