Monday- Tom’s b’day. After a refreshing sleep I had planned a hard core sight seeing day for us. We went to kinkakuji, honen in, nanzenji, kyomizu dera temple and we wondered around the gion area where we came across geisha and random little temples to explore. It was a sweltering day again which was nice at first but was quite draining, especially with my hard core walking tour! I had visited most of these places before except kyomizu dera which reminded me of Chinese architecture and decoration. Around this temple were heaps of cool little lanes lined with shops to look in. It was really cute and of course we took full advantage of the free samples in the sweet shops J
That evening, I had booked a meal for us in an area I had not really been to. It was at a kaiseki restaurant which is the traditional meal from Kyoto. It was at a riverside restaurant and we sat outside on a deck over the river, under the lanterns served by kimono clad women. It was a cool setting, and we got to try 10 different dishes! Although I have tried a lot of Japanese food, I still had no idea what some of it was. The tofu, ume and the sesame was amazing though. It was a once in a lifetime event. After that we wandered around the pontocho streets, amazed at the life and vibe exuding.
Tuesday- we checked out of the lavish surroundings and headed for our new accommodation- k’s. we then went for a trek up fushimi inari. One of my favorite places. It was good but very hot! We then had lunch in a restaurant near the hotel and later that evening we went for drinks in the city. We found a bar called Zappa which is named after David Bowie apparently visited. It was empty and it felt a bit odd going in, but it was fun to look around this tiny place and chat with the jerv. We then went to a bar that I have been to before and spent a good while chatting there.
Wednesday- we headed on a train over to Arishayama and Sagano. I had never been here, but it turned out to be a quiet and interesting place away from the city life. We saw a few random shrines, walked through an eerie bamboo grove and saw a beautiful gardens. After our exploration we headed back to the city to walk the streets in search of a 100yen sushi place. We found it after lots of walking, and ate lots of good sushi. We then looked in a few shops before returning to the hostel and having a quiet night in chatting to other travellers.
Thursday- we left Kyoto and headed to kobe. After walking in the rain, we found our hotel and left our bags. We then took another train to Himeji to see japan’s most famous castle. It was not as I expected, a lot newer and not as impressive after other thing I have seen, but still worth the trip I think. Unfortunately the rain hindered our ability to explore much, and so after climbing our way to the top of the castle we headed back to kobe. That evening we had fun in the city. It seemed really lively at night with a tonne of restaurants and bars. We surprisingly settled for a tiny Turkish restaurant where we were once again the only customers. But the Turkish guy who owned the place cooked us ammmazing Turkish food (humous, kebabs, feta salad..) but it was interesting to talk to him and find out about how he has found living in Japan. He had been in the country for years and had married and had children. After this lovely meal, we went and had a drink in a reggae bar. Tom was extremely excited about this prospect and I have to say the place was decked out pretty well! After bob Marley was dancing around in our heads we went to a mellow but groovy café near the hotel. It was a cool place and we met a guy whose daughter is one of the most famous Japanese tennis players, and he also use to play on the circuit. It was good chatting to him!
Friday- the rain had stopped thank goodness and so we explored kobe on foot. We went down to the port, to look at the earthquake memorial in a park and to see the habourland- where I broke my sodding camera. We walked through China town trying not to drool on the delicious Chinese delicacies, and chose to eat at a thai restaurant. We had a huggggge meal, which was actually pretty damn authentic and tasty. I was ready to burst afterwards and so we ended up going for a huge walk to look for a place we never found. But I like seeing random parts of cities, so I dodnt mind! It was then time to get the train back to Fukui to let Tom see my little Japanese life!
Saturday- up and dressed to go to the house of a lady from tea-ceremony. She was getting married for her traditional Shinto wedding and she had invited us to go see. I was really excited as I had no idea what to expect. Firstly we met Mayoumi who drove us there. Mayoumi looked stunning dressed in a light green kimono and with beautiful accessories. But I didn’t envy having 4 layers of clothing on in the stifling heat. The house was really big and new. It was empty like most Japanese houses-very few possessions or furniture. There were some very old ladies from the local neighbourhood all sitting in seiza in a room where they were watching the bride get ready. It is a really long process and two ladies had been employed to do hari, make up, dress and accessories. She was wearing quite a plain kimono but her fake hair and accessories were amazing. Apparently it had taken 3 hours to get her ready! She looked very nervous too, but so would I be if I had 7 old ladies watching me get ready like a reality tv show! Mayoumi told us that the wedding ceremony would take 2 hours and the bridge would get changed three times into different kimonos. A lot of hard work!
After chatting and taking photos we went outside with a crowd of Japanese people to see the bride off into her taxi- which had an opening roof to fit her hair in!! With great care due to the outfit, she bowed to everyone and went off in the car with her mother and her assistants. It was cool to see. Tom and I then went for coffee and then picked up some food to take to Tojimbo and have a picnic and a walk.
Later that evening we met JandK, Meagan and Andy in the local izakaya. It was cool for tom to meet my friends, and we had a fun evening. After food and drink, I drove us to Harue for karaoke. We spent 3 hrs singing our hearts out and having a generally good time. I do love karaoke!
Sunday- I went running and then we made a picnic lunch to take to Matsuoka park. We chilled out for the afternoon and left as the park closed at 5. next we met gallina in starbucks for a quick coffee, before going home for a well deserved quiet evening!
No comments:
Post a Comment