Day 11 Kyoto and Nara
The experimentation with breakfast continued today. I had
cold soba noodles wth seaweed, pickles and vegetable tofu. Nice. Then two
pieces of toast with blueberry jam. Then some weird fruit juice. Felt fortified.
There was no time for mucking around this morning as we were
booked for an early tour and it was a rapid 18 minute walk to the meeting
place. Yes, Liz and her crew and the WA brothers had also booked for the same
tour. The guide arrived puffing as his train from Osaka had been held up by a
suicide on the tracks. He immediately launched into some local advice. “if you
are going to suicide on the train tracks, select a public line rather than a
private company line as the private ones sue your family for any delay caused
by you”. Useful, if strange advice I thought.
This guide, Tom, was
a huge (tall and broad) Frenchman who relocated to Japan about 8 years ago. He
had lots of local knowledge about the history and culture of Japanese people. Apparently
the people of Kyoto think they are a cut above others, often making backhanded
compliments. One funny bit of advice was
that if we are invited to someone’s home, and they offer you tea, that
is a sign that it is time for you to leave. ‘No-one ever gets the tea offered”.
The first bus stop was the Arashiyama bamboo forest. It was
thickly wooded and if it were not for the huge crowds, it would have been
serene and beautiful. Along the path we passed places that looked like cemeteries,
but there were no bodies or even ashes contained under the monuments.
Apparently people store the ashes of relatives in their homes. This of course
means that the spirits of the dead
sometimes like to pay a visit. This of course can be quite troubling and
Japanese people prefer new houses as these have no spirits lurking about.
Second stop was the Rokuon Ji Temple precinct. This had
fallen into disrepair and the monk decided to clean things up by setting fire
to it and building a new one. A bit radical. The new temple this was set on a
lake and was heavily guided. Recently, many more kilos of gold leaf had been
added to the main building. Again the crowds were huge, and even though we were
warned not to daudle when taking photos, I got separated from the group. I
paused for a second to snap the shot and when I turned around I couldn’t see
anyone from our group. I walked fast thinking that they had moved on, up
stairs, down stairs …but they were nowhere to be seen. I tried to ring Johnny
but there was no internet connection. In the end I camped at station 19 and the
group eventually caught up with me.
The Fushimi Imari shrine with its many red temple gates was the next stop. These gates are donated by people who want a visible show of their status. They cost a fortune and there is a long waiting list for those wishing to join. It sounds as bad as getting into the MCC. We were told that there are no public religious events, but if someone wants to, they can ask a monk to organize a private ceremony. We caught sight of a private ceremony at the temple. A five year old was all dressed up in traditional clothing and thanks was being given for his survival.
Of course there is no eating in the shrine precinct OR ON THE BUS! So we were pretty hungry after the shrine walk. We were warned that just outside the temple gates there were lots of shops, but these were mostly tourist traps. Johnny and I walked past these down towards the railway line. There was a decent looking place there that some of the school kids were visiting. The was a short wait but service was prompt and the food tasted good. I had a bowl of noodles with chicken and Johnny had maki sushi. The railway level crossing was not far away and we could hear the bells everytime a train passed. Johnny managed to get a video of 2 trains after lunch. We had just enough time to get an ice cream as we raced back to the bus. Help! We drank the strawberry slushy so fast (as the bus Nazi wouldn’t allow any food or drink in the vehicle) that we both got brain freeze.
Then it was a short trip to Nara and the colossal Todai Ji
temple, which is almost 1300 years old. If Harri was here, she would say it was GARGANTUAN. It was truly an amazing
edifice with an enormous bronze central buddah as well as two gilded wooden ones
and various fearsome looking guardians. The whole thing had been erected without
nails as these were too expensive to manufacture. Then we had some free time
outside where deer roamed and begged for food. They were tame enough to pat but
I kept my distance. We walked to the ice cream pavilion and got some pretty
nice vanilla and chocolate. A very assertive deer decided it might want to lick
mine and as I leaned back from it I overbalanced and went sprawling on the
ground. Bloody animal lost interest in me and wandered off. They can get very persistent
and we saw one little rogue chasing a schoolboy for his biscuit. He wasn’t
giving up.
The return journey to Kyoto was pretty fast and our guide
left us in the care of the mini-bus driver as he needed to catch a train back to
Osaka. We were dropped off about a 15 minute walk from he hotel. There was just
enough time for a beer, the blog and a change of clothes before we headed out
for dinner.
Well, dinner was an experience. The board outside looked hopeful, but once we descended the stairs, it was a bit confusing. It looked like a manga club meeting. We were quickly shown to a table. I guess we should have aborted the mission at that point, but politeness took over and we sat down. The tempura was ok but we left asap and went on to the big arcade for coffee and cake. I had an enormous slice of the grape sponge cake and Johnny had the Mont Blanc (three layered chocolate cake). ,
