Adiva (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
travelingadiva) wrote2010-03-14 07:25 am
travelingadiva) wrote2010-03-14 07:25 am
Entry tags:
Kyoto part 2
Our second day in Kyoto was different but still fun. More of a modern thing. Sorta? We got to sleep in (till 8! We planned on till 9, but just...couldn't). Got up and ready and then met my friend Monica and her two friends Britney and Reny. Then off we headed together to Rokuon-Ji Temple (also known as the Gilded Palace. You will soon see why.)
Started with breakfast, obviously. I got a melon bun and a chocolate-cat bun. I really liked the bun parts--they were almost like Challah in taste and texture. Maybe a little sweeter, but not akjlghsdsSWEET which I've been running into a lot here. See, I like sweets. But for meals? I long for like, a raw carrot or something. I'm not sure the Japanese believe in raw carrots.
On the bus to the temple. I would like to point that, from left to right, we have Donna (Canadian), Britney (American), Monica, and Reny (both Norwegian). All coming together to meet for the first time in Japan. How neat is that?
We get to the walkway to the entrance.
Monica, Reny, Donna, Me!
That there is a giant bell.
The famous gilded pavilion. The gold sheets were placed in 2x2 inch squares, because that's how big they could make them in that time. And the entire thing is covered.
Close-up.
We ruin the view XD
There were a few of these all around the walking area near the pavilion. Each one is a specific shrine-offering-place for a particular something. People throw in coins (or try to get coins as close to the bowl as possible) and make wishes.
This one is for the performing arts. And I tossed a coin...and didn't even make it close. That is probably not a good sign, but it does sort of represent my "career" so far.
Lookit what I did!
A view that a foreigner is totally ruining.
And not even by being serious. By being silly!
It was the most adorable.
Monica bought these strawberry-paste-in-ricepaper things.
To share!
I find the first vending machine of our trip that doesn't contain drinks or cigarettes (yes, cigarettes; and the machines card you too).
I SAID I WOULD GET STRAWBERRY MILK AND SO I DID. See the milk!
See Adiva drink the milk.
Drink Adiva, drink (the milk).
From the temple we headed over to a shopping mall for wandering and lunch. Each of us got different things, and I ordered something-Udon. Luckily we had Monica, who is fluent (and it is cool traveling with someone who is fluent I want to be fluent baw), so we pretty much barraged her with questions on the food. The Udon was pretty good but really filling and chewy in a way I wasn't really used to. Did eat the whole thing though (I was hungry!)
The two white things are fish cakes apparently and they were...not that good? I ate one and just...uh, the other one did not get eaten. The BRIGHT!GREEN drink is melon soda. I liked it, but it was a bit hard to drink because I could taste the sugar and I'm so unused to sugar soda that it was a bit of a kick.
After lunch we headed over to the Kabuki theatre in Kyoto, as that was where we were meeting Peter Mackintosh, one of the world's leading foreign Geisha experts who happens to give tours of the district in English. We had been worried since we kept not managing to contact him to confirm the reservations, but it worked out all right in the end.
First it started with him giving a little talk about the Geiko and Maiko and what they do, what the names mean (Gei=song, Mai=dance, ko=Specialist of), and a bit about some of their things. From left to right we have what Maiko will sleep on so that their hair doesn't get messed up (Maiko use their real hair for the styles, and will keep the style for up to a week at a time), a box containing a usual handbag; one they would use to hold their fan, make-up, and NOT a cell phone (yeah, sure, says Peter). The next box had some hair ornaments that Peter explained, and lastly the shoes. Yeah.
Then the tour began, and we left this interesting scene, crossed a street and, well...
Kyoto.
Is it...?
Yes! This was a Maiko, making her greeting rounds. The poor girl was walking and all of a sudden fifteen foreigners and snapping pictures. Luckily Peter lives in the area and knows all the girls/women, so I felt less bad since they sort of know to expect it from his tours. His wife is actually an ex-Geiko (they're required to retire when they get married).
This is a normal boarding house. The girls are required to leave their name signs on the door to show where they are staying and who they get booked through.
This guy was just biking down the road, steering with one hand and carrying a couple hundred dollars worth of food on his shoulder with the other.
My money shot. She was just walking into the building and I mean. I was there. I took this. Wow.
Kyoto's inner alleys were almost more interesting if you looked up. Tangled webs of wires all over. Incredibly neat (I think) but sort of, um, dangerous looking too.
This board is essentially a class announcement board. The top row is classes, next row are the teachers of each class, and the last row are the dates and times for the month. Mind, this was not only written in chalk but displayed on the outside of a house. That means anyone could mess with it, if they wanted. Imagine how long that would last most other places. But here it's untouched.
A famous haiku by a famous playboy person. Er.
We headed back to Kyoto station soon after the tour ended, since Donna and I still had the 2.5 hour ride back to Tokyo to do. Our group parted ways there, but not before I got a picture of Monica modeling her new scarf, a present I made for all the help she gave us in preparing for our trip.
Started with breakfast, obviously. I got a melon bun and a chocolate-cat bun. I really liked the bun parts--they were almost like Challah in taste and texture. Maybe a little sweeter, but not akjlghsdsSWEET which I've been running into a lot here. See, I like sweets. But for meals? I long for like, a raw carrot or something. I'm not sure the Japanese believe in raw carrots.
On the bus to the temple. I would like to point that, from left to right, we have Donna (Canadian), Britney (American), Monica, and Reny (both Norwegian). All coming together to meet for the first time in Japan. How neat is that?
We get to the walkway to the entrance.
Monica, Reny, Donna, Me!
That there is a giant bell.
The famous gilded pavilion. The gold sheets were placed in 2x2 inch squares, because that's how big they could make them in that time. And the entire thing is covered.
Close-up.
We ruin the view XD
There were a few of these all around the walking area near the pavilion. Each one is a specific shrine-offering-place for a particular something. People throw in coins (or try to get coins as close to the bowl as possible) and make wishes.
This one is for the performing arts. And I tossed a coin...and didn't even make it close. That is probably not a good sign, but it does sort of represent my "career" so far.
Lookit what I did!
A view that a foreigner is totally ruining.
And not even by being serious. By being silly!
It was the most adorable.
Monica bought these strawberry-paste-in-ricepaper things.
To share!
I find the first vending machine of our trip that doesn't contain drinks or cigarettes (yes, cigarettes; and the machines card you too).
I SAID I WOULD GET STRAWBERRY MILK AND SO I DID. See the milk!
See Adiva drink the milk.
Drink Adiva, drink (the milk).
From the temple we headed over to a shopping mall for wandering and lunch. Each of us got different things, and I ordered something-Udon. Luckily we had Monica, who is fluent (and it is cool traveling with someone who is fluent I want to be fluent baw), so we pretty much barraged her with questions on the food. The Udon was pretty good but really filling and chewy in a way I wasn't really used to. Did eat the whole thing though (I was hungry!)
The two white things are fish cakes apparently and they were...not that good? I ate one and just...uh, the other one did not get eaten. The BRIGHT!GREEN drink is melon soda. I liked it, but it was a bit hard to drink because I could taste the sugar and I'm so unused to sugar soda that it was a bit of a kick.
After lunch we headed over to the Kabuki theatre in Kyoto, as that was where we were meeting Peter Mackintosh, one of the world's leading foreign Geisha experts who happens to give tours of the district in English. We had been worried since we kept not managing to contact him to confirm the reservations, but it worked out all right in the end.
First it started with him giving a little talk about the Geiko and Maiko and what they do, what the names mean (Gei=song, Mai=dance, ko=Specialist of), and a bit about some of their things. From left to right we have what Maiko will sleep on so that their hair doesn't get messed up (Maiko use their real hair for the styles, and will keep the style for up to a week at a time), a box containing a usual handbag; one they would use to hold their fan, make-up, and NOT a cell phone (yeah, sure, says Peter). The next box had some hair ornaments that Peter explained, and lastly the shoes. Yeah.
Then the tour began, and we left this interesting scene, crossed a street and, well...
Kyoto.
Is it...?
Yes! This was a Maiko, making her greeting rounds. The poor girl was walking and all of a sudden fifteen foreigners and snapping pictures. Luckily Peter lives in the area and knows all the girls/women, so I felt less bad since they sort of know to expect it from his tours. His wife is actually an ex-Geiko (they're required to retire when they get married).
This is a normal boarding house. The girls are required to leave their name signs on the door to show where they are staying and who they get booked through.
This guy was just biking down the road, steering with one hand and carrying a couple hundred dollars worth of food on his shoulder with the other.
My money shot. She was just walking into the building and I mean. I was there. I took this. Wow.
Kyoto's inner alleys were almost more interesting if you looked up. Tangled webs of wires all over. Incredibly neat (I think) but sort of, um, dangerous looking too.
This board is essentially a class announcement board. The top row is classes, next row are the teachers of each class, and the last row are the dates and times for the month. Mind, this was not only written in chalk but displayed on the outside of a house. That means anyone could mess with it, if they wanted. Imagine how long that would last most other places. But here it's untouched.
A famous haiku by a famous playboy person. Er.
We headed back to Kyoto station soon after the tour ended, since Donna and I still had the 2.5 hour ride back to Tokyo to do. Our group parted ways there, but not before I got a picture of Monica modeling her new scarf, a present I made for all the help she gave us in preparing for our trip.
