Japanese Bath

After arriving in Kyoto last week we decided to visit a Japanese bathhouse. The Hakusan-yu (www.hakusanyu.com) is a bathhouse directly in the middle of downtown. It took some hunting to find since it was down a narrow side street, but it was well worth the time. Now, this is a true public bathhouse so it was not fancy. You remove you shoes and place them in a locker with a wooden peg you remove to "lock" your shoes up. You enter in the small lobby and an old Japanese woman takes your payment (I think it was 300yen) and rents you towel (200yen). Then you enter either the "female" or "male" side. Naturally I head for the male side and upon entering there were old guys smoking and watching sports. I removed my clothes and went into the actual bath area. The area is comprised of about 20 individual sitting areas where you wash-up. Now, this is where I made an ass of myself. At each sitting area was a stool and a hot/cold faucet, a hose and some bottles of generic shampoo/conditioner. There were also some bowls for rinsing at some of the areas and other soap products. I sat down at a stool, found some soap, and began lathering up my washcloth. About 30 seconds in, I had guy approach and inform me that I was sitting at his area and using his soap!!! I was so embarrassed. I apologized profusely and found another area to finish washing up at. He just smiled, collected his stuff, and left. Washing your body in Japan is very ritualistic. You must lather and cleanse as much and has hard as possible - this shows everyone that your body is clean enough to soak in the tubs with them. There was a hot tub with jets, an electric current, a medicinal tub with purple water, a cold water plunge, soaking tubs, and a sauna. I tested them all. I was the only Westerner in the there, but everyone was pretty cool. I'm sure they were all wondering how I found their bathhouse in the middle of Kyoto down a narrow side street with a simple neon sign indicating what the place was. I just thought to myself that a little research, perseverance, and a great deal of walking can get you far in Japan. Now the onzen at Tanzen-no-yu was a much different and unique experience in its own right...but, that's another story!

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!!