Day 11 - Kyoto

This morning we checked out of the Bakpak Hostel and into the Toyoko-Inn. It's cheaper and 100 times nicer!! We took the subway to visit the Kiyomizu-dera temples, it was beautiful and there was this wonderful smell we couldn't find. It smelled liked peaches or something, we searched and searched... The temple and area was really nice and I think we should have good luck for quite sometime as we rubbed rocks, got our fortune, drank holy water, etc...

After leaving the temple we stopped for coffee at some little local coffee shop. The older guy who owns it gave us this amazing coffee... It was infused or something, I'd never seen coffee made the way he did it. Once we finished that we wandered the city, checking out shops and walking quite a bit. I also believe we found a geisha neighborhood. Some boys asked us to take their picture for them and we asked what the place was and Jeff heard "very delicious" and I heard "many geisha". Jeff responded delicious and if they said what I thought they said then Jeff looks like a huge perv!

Lunch was at a surf cafe that we found. I had this fantastic tune fish sandwhich and salad and Jeff had some spicy ramen dish that he is still raving about. After tasting my sandwich he said "I like tuna fish now, we're going to have to start making this at home". HAHA! Japan has opened him up to all sorts of foods that he now likes. Sounds like we'll be recreating some of the dishes we've had here at home.

I ended up buying a few more souveniers and then we started making our way back towards our area of town. We stopped at the station and picked up our bags from the lockers we stashed them in and then headed to the hotel. Once settled Jeff and Sean skyped for an hour or so while I got ready and then we heded out for dinner - sushi! Jeff had read of this cheap but good sushi place in the Kyoto station so we went there. It was both cheap and good so good call on that one!

We decided to have some sake after and found a cool place by our hotel where we had this sake sampler. I found a new brand of sake I really like, hope they have it at home!!

Here are pictures from the day!

Day 10 - Miyajima

Today was our day to catch the ferry for Miyajima as a side day trip. We have now officially traveled by air, land (train and bike), sea (ferry) and foot. The train to Miyajima was really quick, just 8 quick stops and then we hopped off and got directly on the ferry. It was free with our JR Pass - man that things has really paid for itself!! As we boarded the ferry we noticed that this was the first time we'd seen so many foreigners such as ourselves. They sounded to be more from Europe and Australia though, didn't notice any other Americans.

The ferry was a 10 minute ride to the island and of course very photogenic. The red archway is one of the top 3 most photographed items in Japan so I'm sure you'll recognize it. We were a bit worried it was going to be a giant tourist trap but we were very wrong, it was beautiful and I would definitely stay there for atleast a night.

One we got of the ferry we rented two bikes (best idea ever!) and headed out. I instantly saw the deer and insisted on petting them. We weren't sure if they would go for that but they sure did. Didn't even bat an eyelash, they were like tame dogs, but smellier. The funniest moment was when we stopped to take our picture with the archway in the background and left our bags along with a paper map in the basket of our bikes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 deer sniffing our stuff quite aqggressively. Then the one grabbed the map and started eating it. Jeff rushed over and tried to save the map and the deer from this not so helthy snack but was unable to do so. The deer was so funny he stood on the rest of it so Jeff couldn't take it from him. We kind of had to shove the deer out of the way to get the rest of the paper back. He didn't want to give it up. I snapped pictures and laughed so loud and so hard while Jeff wrestled with Bambi. It was so funny!!! After that we kept an eye on our stuff for fear they would try and eat my purse just for the hell of it.

After all that excitement we parked the bikes and checked out the local shrine and pagoda. I swear, Japanese buildings are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The architectual design is just amazing. I've seen pictures of course but seeing them in person is beyond what I thought they would look like. If I could have a house like that I totally would! Not sure how well it would work in with the neighborhood but who cares. :)

We got to participate in our first shrine hand washing which was cool. Jeff laughed at me b/c the only reason I knew what to do was b/c I saw a video on youtube. It's amazing what kind of info you can find out there! Miyajima was great and after a few hours of just cruising around, shopping and snacking it was time to head back to Hiroshima to catch the train to Kyoto.

Kyoto was just over 2 hours and pretty easy to do - just one train change. Once we arrived we had to figure out how to get from the Kyoto station to the gion neighborhood where our Bakpak hostel was... The hostel was in a great location - right on the river. Once we checked in we wandered the neighborhood and I actually saw a real Geisha with several men walking down the street. The area is a bit seedier than I had thought with strip clubs and girls who are obviously escorts. The Memoris of a Geisha view I had in my mind was somewhat there but this other side of it kind of dampered it a bit. Thankfully we found a more traditional looking area and the Kyoto I imagined came right back. It was dinner time so we ended up in a small place where we had skewers. The guy wasn't real chatty in Japanese or English but the food was good, plus they had Sapporo, which hasn't been easy to find surprisingly!

After dinner we went back to the hostel to sleep on our box spring bed... the very very uncomfortable bed. It was a box spring with a sheet on it. It sucked! In my next post you will hear how we bailed on staying there and went back to our Toyoko-Inn (which is where I am typing this from right now at 5:10pm on Saturday, Day 11.). :)

P.S. I had read that when in Japan most attractions and stations have stamps you can get and to bring a book as it's an easy souveneir of your trip. I had kind of forgotten this until one day I noticed one. Now Jeff and I seem to see them everywhere and have finally started getting stamps wherever we go. It's fun to look for them now. I highly suggest doing that if you ever come over here!!

Day 8 - Transition

Today was more of a day of transition and not really much to report. We packed up from Sendai and then hopped the train to Hiroshima. We had to switch in Hakata. It took a little over 2 hours.

Once at the hotel we just relaxed and then went down at 6:30pm for the curry rice the hotel was feeding us for dinner. I have never had a hotel give free breakfast AND dinner. We have stayed in the Toyoko-Inn in a few cities and it's really reasonable and always in great locations. Perfect for backpacking b/c then you don't have to haul your bags very far from the station. They are western style hotels but for the price you can't beat it. We saved over $3000 for the trip and haven't even made it half way through our money yet. Everyone told us how expensive Japan was and it definitely can be but we've managed to do really well on food and the rail pass has paid for itself as that is our only mode of transportation thus far. We haven't used any cabs, which are expensive, and staying close to the station has worked out well. We venture out on buses. trams or the trains to explore the areas we stay in.

Anyway, back to my post... Jeff LOVED the curry rice and has requested we make it at home as he now seems to love curry. He actually ate 2 big bowls of it b/c the kitchen lady made him take another bowl later in the evening. We took a walk to check out the small suburb of Hiroshima we are staying in... Now much here but a Pachinko parlor, which we checked out. When we returned she made him take more rice, which he gladly did of course!! Once in the room we watched a movie (War of the Worlds) and caught up on blogging and downloading pictures.