Weekend in Kyoto
By yennyotero. Wednesday, 30. April 2008, 01:42:01
One of the "must do" activities for anyone visiting Japan is to see Kyoto, and that is what I did two weeks ago.
To get there, you can take the very famous Shinkansen, which I took from the Tokyo Station. Finding my way around in the Tokyo metro is getting much easier and the Shinkansen has big english signs so it is too hard to get lost. The trains are very nice inside, with comfortable chairs and super polite candy-selling ladies who bow every time they leave the train car...
In Kyoto, I got to see how navitime works and it is great! It is a GPS powered application that shows your location in real time. It has this little green guy that moves with you and shows the path you have taken.. quite cool right? Why cant GPS be same as simple in Europe? Why do we need to buy super heavy and expensive GPS devices when it is here included in all phones since 5 years ago?
In the hotel, close to the Kyoto station, I found something that reminded me of my teenager years. In the reception, the first thing you see when you enter the building is this plastic movable band shaking by the rhythm of "wav" songs and dancing in a totally different beat than the music. This could so much have been taken out of a "Sam and Max hit the road" game! I was just waiting for the rabbit to enter the door and ask a random question to the super-extra-polite guy (that seemed like he had never seen foreigners before)... Ohh, good old times when computer games were more about the story and the funny adventures than about graphics or repetitive shooting/jumping combinations!
First thing to do in the morning was to get some breakfast and it was very interesting to find a store where it is forbidden to wear helmets. Is it to make sure people has the correct head size when they pay? Is it to make sure nobody steals the cashier and goes without being recognized? I cannot imagine something like that happening in such a seamlessly safe place!
The temples in Kyoto are very beautiful! Kyumizudera was the first one I visited and it was amazingly pretty, all surrounded by almost bloomed sakura trees. Even more important than weather forecasts, daily forecast of sakura tree blooming is displayed in the receptions of big hotels. This is part of the sakura madness that I briefly explained in my last post.. (note the sakura == cherry blossom ice cream)
I find it so interesting how through Asia, gates are guarded by two lions. In China it is usually a male which plays with a ball and a female who keeps a baby lion under her paws. In Thailand they are more decorated, with sharper teeth and hair or more expressive. Here in Japan, the guarding lion had nothing under his paws but seemed to be smiling.. almost like if he was laughing.... maybe of all the tourists and the have-to-take-picture-of-sakura madness, who knows?
Palaces and shrines are amazing. Very cute to see a place where you make a wish, write it on a wooden block and hang it. I found this one that was just adorable " I wish that there will be no more animal testings ... I wish for wisdom and insight into the human conditions. And peace for all ... I wish for lollipops!! ". We found it! The secret for world peace is to find happiness in lollipops
Something else I found was the famous (?) love stone! I didnt really get how it worked but seems like in that place you could get a wooden plate for everything: "More chance for love, ¥1000", "Bind your love tightly, ¥2000", "For conception, ¥1000" and "For against disaster" and "For passing examination" ¥500. The explanation of the love stone was not very convincing either, neither make much sense but well...
In the other hand, I also found stones with carved idols that had some small red clothes, like dresses. I have never seen a stone idol dressed and that was just looks so cute!
The tradition tells that, every time you travel, you should bring some of the traditional food from that place home. The thing to get in Kyoto seems to be the goma (sesame) sweets which are delicious. You can find them in different colors but my absolute favorite was the kuro goma (black sesame).
Something really handy is that you can use a carrier company to transport anything, anytime for a great deal of money. I have heard stories of people arriving to the Tokyo airport and sending the luggage by post because they dont want to carry it in the subway madness. One of the companies doing that has a yellow logo with two cats, and they had adds even between the food shells.
And between the small charming alleys, the tourist traps and the beautiful temples, there was something colorful running around the place. For some of those girls with kimonos you could really see they have never worn one before and they were just foreigners renting one to take pictures. Some others were even elder ladies that carried their kimono with elegance and were going to an afternoon tea with friends.
It seems like there has been a design contest from google and they had the winners displayed in paper lamps between the Kyoto temples, very unexpected to see Google between the temples of beautiful Kyoto... very interesting way of promoting what they stand for
And about food, that weekend I discovered my -so far- favorite food in Japan. Is called yakiniku and it it a grill where you can make meat and other things yourself ... really yummi!!
More pictures here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24849304@N00/sets/72157604503316857/
Next time I will write about how "A kestrel stole my lunch".
To get there, you can take the very famous Shinkansen, which I took from the Tokyo Station. Finding my way around in the Tokyo metro is getting much easier and the Shinkansen has big english signs so it is too hard to get lost. The trains are very nice inside, with comfortable chairs and super polite candy-selling ladies who bow every time they leave the train car...
In Kyoto, I got to see how navitime works and it is great! It is a GPS powered application that shows your location in real time. It has this little green guy that moves with you and shows the path you have taken.. quite cool right? Why cant GPS be same as simple in Europe? Why do we need to buy super heavy and expensive GPS devices when it is here included in all phones since 5 years ago?
In the hotel, close to the Kyoto station, I found something that reminded me of my teenager years. In the reception, the first thing you see when you enter the building is this plastic movable band shaking by the rhythm of "wav" songs and dancing in a totally different beat than the music. This could so much have been taken out of a "Sam and Max hit the road" game! I was just waiting for the rabbit to enter the door and ask a random question to the super-extra-polite guy (that seemed like he had never seen foreigners before)... Ohh, good old times when computer games were more about the story and the funny adventures than about graphics or repetitive shooting/jumping combinations!
First thing to do in the morning was to get some breakfast and it was very interesting to find a store where it is forbidden to wear helmets. Is it to make sure people has the correct head size when they pay? Is it to make sure nobody steals the cashier and goes without being recognized? I cannot imagine something like that happening in such a seamlessly safe place!
The temples in Kyoto are very beautiful! Kyumizudera was the first one I visited and it was amazingly pretty, all surrounded by almost bloomed sakura trees. Even more important than weather forecasts, daily forecast of sakura tree blooming is displayed in the receptions of big hotels. This is part of the sakura madness that I briefly explained in my last post.. (note the sakura == cherry blossom ice cream)
I find it so interesting how through Asia, gates are guarded by two lions. In China it is usually a male which plays with a ball and a female who keeps a baby lion under her paws. In Thailand they are more decorated, with sharper teeth and hair or more expressive. Here in Japan, the guarding lion had nothing under his paws but seemed to be smiling.. almost like if he was laughing.... maybe of all the tourists and the have-to-take-picture-of-sakura madness, who knows?
Palaces and shrines are amazing. Very cute to see a place where you make a wish, write it on a wooden block and hang it. I found this one that was just adorable " I wish that there will be no more animal testings ... I wish for wisdom and insight into the human conditions. And peace for all ... I wish for lollipops!! ". We found it! The secret for world peace is to find happiness in lollipops
Something else I found was the famous (?) love stone! I didnt really get how it worked but seems like in that place you could get a wooden plate for everything: "More chance for love, ¥1000", "Bind your love tightly, ¥2000", "For conception, ¥1000" and "For against disaster" and "For passing examination" ¥500. The explanation of the love stone was not very convincing either, neither make much sense but well...
In the other hand, I also found stones with carved idols that had some small red clothes, like dresses. I have never seen a stone idol dressed and that was just looks so cute!
The tradition tells that, every time you travel, you should bring some of the traditional food from that place home. The thing to get in Kyoto seems to be the goma (sesame) sweets which are delicious. You can find them in different colors but my absolute favorite was the kuro goma (black sesame).
Something really handy is that you can use a carrier company to transport anything, anytime for a great deal of money. I have heard stories of people arriving to the Tokyo airport and sending the luggage by post because they dont want to carry it in the subway madness. One of the companies doing that has a yellow logo with two cats, and they had adds even between the food shells.
And between the small charming alleys, the tourist traps and the beautiful temples, there was something colorful running around the place. For some of those girls with kimonos you could really see they have never worn one before and they were just foreigners renting one to take pictures. Some others were even elder ladies that carried their kimono with elegance and were going to an afternoon tea with friends.
It seems like there has been a design contest from google and they had the winners displayed in paper lamps between the Kyoto temples, very unexpected to see Google between the temples of beautiful Kyoto... very interesting way of promoting what they stand for
And about food, that weekend I discovered my -so far- favorite food in Japan. Is called yakiniku and it it a grill where you can make meat and other things yourself ... really yummi!!
More pictures here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24849304@N00/sets/72157604503316857/
Next time I will write about how "A kestrel stole my lunch".
