WOW! Sorry I haven't posted in a LONG time! I've been super busy. Mu house has basically been a revolving door through all of May. The good part of that is that I've been having plenty of adventures! I'll start back at the beginning of Golden Week which was my spring vacation. My aunt and uncle came and we all traveled down to Kyoto together. I was so excited. This was the number one place I wanted to visit since I came to Japan. So much so that I originally asked to live in the area. So basically, I was pumped.
We hopped on a shinkansen (bullet train) and headed over to Kyoto. First thing we had to do was check into our hotel. Our hotel was really nice! I was surprised at how nice it was given the deal that we got. I was most excited though to have a real bed to sleep on for the week!
After we got all settled in, we tried to find something close by to go to. Lucky for us, our hotel was about 10 minutes walking distance from Nijo Castle. We walked over and had a great time. It was really cool. The most interesting part of the castle were the nightingale floors. They were called this because when you step on them, the boards creek and sound like a chorus on nightingales. This was to alert residents of the castle if a ninja was trying to sneak in. Super awesome!
 |
| Me and the castle |
We headed out to dinner and crashed in bed afterwards.
The next day was by far my favorite day of the trip. It all started with a sudden change of plans. We were going to
spend the day seeing the Golden Pavilion and Kiyomizu temple. However, that
morning was cloudy. We wanted to be able to see the Golden Pavilion in sunlight
to get the full effect so we hopped on a different train last minute to a temple
called Fushimi Inari. Some of you may know this
temple as the one with thousands of tori gates in a row. It was definitely on the top of my list of places to see in
Kyoto. Once I got there, I started reading the guide book and stopped dead in
my tracks. The gates all lead up to the top of a mountain. Cool. Except that I
was nowhere near dressed or prepared to handle a two and a half mile hike up a
mountain. I’ve gotten really into Japanese fashion. Anyplace where it is
socially acceptable and encouraged for you to wear a black mini skirt with knee
high socks, heels, and an oversized shirt is totally awesome in my opinion. So
there I was staring at the gates up the mountain with my skirt on and no water.
I decided it was just time to put my big girl pants on, suck it up, and do it.
I didn’t come across the country to NOT do this hike.
It was well worth it. There are no words that can describe
how beautiful and peaceful it was on the path. When the sunlight hit the tori
gates in just the right way, they shimmered. I swear I can understand why some
people say it’s a path that can lead to inner enlightenment and peace.
 |
| We're ready to go! |
 |
| Me in the gates |
 |
| Beautiful view of Kyoto |
 |
| I DID IT! |
 |
| LOVE IT! |
That’s not to say it was easy though! It was very hot. We
huffed and puffed our way up taking frequent breaks. Our legs ached for days but
it was all worth it.
After the exhausting hike, it was only about 1 o’clock so we
couldn’t very well call it a day. We took the train back
to get to one of Kyoto’s most famous temples: Kiyomizu. It’s mainly notable for
the fact that the whole thing was built off the side of a cliff using no nails only wood
in the construction. It also has a famous spring that people from all over
Japan flock to drink from. Taking a drink for this spring supposedly grants you
a wish if you wish and pray hard enough while drinking.
I was totally
surprised by the size of the main temple off of the cliff. It was almost
unbelievable that this thing was standing and stable let alone that no nails or
anything like that was used in the construction.
 |
| Very cool |
The water from the spring is pumped into
three overhead rivers. It comes down almost like a waterfall next to a
platform. When it’s your turn to drink, you have to take this metal cup
attached to a long bamboo pole to catch the water and then drink what you got
out of your hands. I was surprised by how strong the water flow was. I almost
lost my grip on the cup. Then there was the difficulty of trying to fish it
back onto the platform without hitting anyone else. I got about three handfuls
of water in my cup. Hopefully my wish will come true after all that.
We also stumbled upon a smaller love temple. The main attraction here were two pair rocks on either side of the temple. You have to walk between them with your eyes closed. If you can do it, your love will be granted. I did it successfully. Yay!
 |
| Victory! |
After our fun
afternoon at Kiyomizu, we headed towards a nearby shopping district: Gion. Gion
is most famous for how well preserved it is. The shops and restaurants are very
reminiscent of Kyoto in its heyday as the capital. The reason I was really
interested in going though was because that’s one of the only places in modern
Japan where you can catch a rare glimpse of geisha. I knew the odds were against me to have a geisha spotting but I
patiently strolled to streets seeing if I could catch a glimpse of one heading
to an engagement. Lucky as I was, not only did we see one but two. They were
hurrying along the street to get to their destination. A couple of people
approached and asked for pictures but they continued on, ignoring them. I
thought I would give it a shot as well. I approached and tried my best in my
stumbling and broken Japanese to ask them for a photo while bowing just to show
how passionate about this I was. They got a kick out of it and said sure. So to
these two lovely ladies: Thank you for making my life.
 |
| AMAZING! |
