Health and Sports Day Traveling: Kyoto

So, as for our degree of enjoyment for Kyoto, it was certainly in a great deal of fluctuation. Kind of like kissing a big, dead fish (see picture below). It was something that sounded like a good idea, smelled and tasted funny, but you knew that it would be a memory you'd keep for a while...

Kissing a big, dead fish outside a restaurant in Shinjuku, where we caught our overnight bus (8 hours) out of Tokyo to Kyoto.


First temple we visited in Kyoto


some pretty cool drain pipes


Engrish words to live by

Now, no trip to Kyoto is complete without a stay at the Uno House. What claimed to be a traditional Japanese ryokan actually turned out to be a garage that was converted into a... well, it was still a garage, just people were supposed to sleep in it. This place was undoubtedly memorable, but not really in a good way.

Our beds were roll-away mattresses with mismatched covers. The place was ripe with the smell of mildew, which even graced us with its presence in the towels. There were two showers for however many people were staying there (obviously a lot because we were told we were entering a four person room, but actually there were five.


Here's a picture of our mystery roommate. (That's my bed at the foot of his. The cockroaches liked to crawl up and down the legs of the bed.) The list of notoriety for the Uno House goes on and on, but what do you expect for 1500 Yen per night? We should be thankful that we got so much extra value(?) thrown in at no additional cost!


This is a train on the way to Nara. I just wanted to show that there are cars for women only at specific, high traffic hours of the day, when the businessmen tend to get a little too touchy-feely.




There was a traditional Japanese wedding going on at this shrine that we went to. Well, traditional aside from the fact that the groom had blonde hair and blue eyes.


View over Kyoto from the Silver Pavilion


Sake and wishes on the right side of the picture

We rented bicycles from the Uno House, and they were nice to throw in a flat tire at no extra cost. When I called from a bicycle repair shop, I wanted to make sure that they would foot the cost of the tire replacement, since it was because the tire was too old, and not because of misuse. After exchanging "Please come back to Uno House," and "I cannot, because I am very far from Uno House with a flat tire" seven more times than necessary, the mysterious Uno (the owner of the Uno House) insisted to the man on the phone that I should be responsible for 1/3 of the cost, because I was riding it and it broke. I asked them if they were just waiting for a guest to use the bike and have the tire pop so that Uno wouldn't have to pay for it. There was silence for a while, and then, "Please come back to Uno House." After some more jovial conversation, I gave up and decided to foot the bill and work it out later. We talked to our friend the bicycle repairman, who was extremely helpful, and then, instead of a complete tire replacement, he just used an old tire to patch up the the worn areas. It was much cheaper and lasted throughout the day. And what's more, Uno House was so impressed with the lower price that they refunded me in full.

Wishes on a tree

I must seriously suggest using the Kyoto International Tourist Center, because, I mean, look how happy Gary is. They were insturmental in hooking us up with Hotel Iroha, a real ryokan (for only 500 yen more). This place had real tatame mats, gave us robes, and had a public bath...

I went to the bath late at night to catch this rare glimpse of the onsen for you. You wash up around the sides before getting into the center tub. I was highly satisfying with the shave I had there.


The Golden Pavilion


I've determined that the rock garden is the predecessor to the modern Etch-a-Sketch - beautiful designs are created then erased naturally by the shaking of earthquakes


Pretty

Okay, so I must say that in the end, even with Uno's curse upon us (flat tires, everyone getting sick from the mildew, have a roommate lose a lot of money, etc.), Kyoto wasn't really like kissing a dead fish. It was more like this Big Sandwich I bought before getting on the Shinkansen (bullet train) back home - reminiscent of "the lovely flavour of the wind in the meadows." The Shinkansen was basically like riding in an airplane on the ground, without the turbulence. It was really relaxing and exciting.

Kyoto was the start and the end of the trip, but for organization sake, the Osaka side-trip edition is being released alongside Kyoto.