Once again, I'm writing this blog post during the day while we're out. As we've gotten back to the hotel each evening, I've found that I have very little motivation to sit and type up what I've been up to. Right now, we're on a two-hour bus ride from Kyoto to Kobe so this seemed like a good time to write something.
The last few days have been packed, but we've had lots of fun. We spent the first few days visiting temples in the area. One of my favorites was Fushimi Inari Shrine, which consists of thousands of black and orange gates along a path that leads to the top of a mountain. We didn't have enough time to make it all the way up, but we hiked past a small lake and stopped at a place with a nice view of Kyoto. We've also visited temples such as the iconic Golden Pavilion and a temple with 1001 Buddhas called Sanjusangen-do. Most of these places have also had amazing gardens, and we've had opportunities to sit and relax and sketch. Yesterday was spent in Nara where we visited Todai-ji, the largest wooden structure in the world, and Horyu-ji, one of the oldest. At this point, we've visited so many temples that it's hard to keep them all straight. Although I can appreciate all of them, I'm ready to move onto the modern stuff.
Despite slightly higher food costs, we've been eating well while we've been here. Although I've had a few meals from the local McDonald's and local convenience stores, I've also been enjoying lots of good Japanese cuisine. For lunch yesterday in Nara, we had a Japanese meal that consisted of small portions of a number of things including octopus, tuna sashimi, miso soup, and tempura. We've also discovered a place across the street from our hotel where a grandmotherly Japanese woman makes the best fried noodles with pork. She makes them on the grill in front of you and you serve yourself off the grill. The other nice thing about this place was that it was only 600 yen (about $6.00) for the noodles. That's pretty cheap for Japan. In Kobe today, we'll get to have a lunch with real Kobe beef, so I'm excited about that. I'm fully expecting it to be the best meal so far.
In the evenings, I've been going out with different groups of people and we've been exploring Kyoto. Spending all of our time together has made me feel like I've really gotten to know everyone, even those I hadn't met before this trip. One night, we went out and did karaoke with most of the group to celebrate Danielle's birthday. Another night, we went on an excursion to the bank (Japanese ATMs talk to you!) and also to the Camera Store, which is actually a giant 7-story electronics store. I particularly enjoyed the Japanese toilets and the massage chairs, even though I was too tall for them. Last night, a group of us went to explore the Kyoto Station, which is absolutely massive. It includes 4 or 5 different malls and numerous train platforms on different levels. When we first got to Kyoto and passed through the station, I thought it was huge, but I didn't realize that the part of the station I saw that day was only a tiny corner. Last night, we had dinner at a food court there then went up to the roof to enjoy the views of Kyoto. We walked across a skybridge that crosses the giant atrium of the station, then found our way back down to our hotel.
Today, we'll be checking out some works by Tadao Ando in Kobe and tomorrow we'll be taking the bullet train to Nagoya. After that, another day in Kyoto, then onto Tokyo!
And lastly, some pictures so far. I'm linking to the Facebook album so I don't have to upload to this blog as well. I'm trying to upload as fast as I can, but I'm a little behind. Here's the link...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2493044&id=3431093&l=f1dcf3acc4
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