A few weeks ago in November, I and a group of friends headed out to Kyoto for a bit of sightseeing. It was a wonderful weekend for it as the fall colors where exploding across Japan and Kyoto, a city that has more temples and gardens per square mile than anywhere else in Japan, was a wonderful backdrop from which to see them. We stayed at the Kyoto Globetrotters Hostel which had rather affordable accommodations compared to other places in Kyoto (about $15 a night). It was a pretty comfy place and the owner was a quirky and friendly Brazilian guy. There was a slight booking problem and there weren’t enough beds for us, but he apologized and made due by clearing the furniture out of a tatami room that I think was his own private living room and laying down some futons.
The first night we wondered around the city a bit, catching a flea market where we snacked on the samples of dried fruit. Later we had dinner at an izakaya followed by the quintessential Japanese activity of karaoke.
The next day we wondered around the Imperial Palace, then hopped a train to the nearby town of Arashiyama which is famous for its temple and bamboo grove. The evening was spent back in Kyoto wandering the Nishiki Market and Teramachi Arcade munching on tofu donuts and okonomiyaki. We ended up by the Kamo-gawa river drinking beers we had purchased at the local convenience store, which is actually a very common past time for locals and tourists alike. There was a group of fire jugglers that we watched dancing about to the beat of a drum circle.
On Sunday, Bronwyn and I headed off to Nijo-jo castle which was home to a very important shogun. The building and surrounding garden were both impressive, and the castle had the peculiar feature of “nightingale floors” which were wooden floors built such that when someone stepped on them they would squeak in the sound of a nightingale. This was a security measure to guard against assassins. There is a home about a few minutes south of Nijo-jo called Nijo-jinya often called the “ninja house” that has even more built-in security including fire-resistant walls, hidden staircases, hidden passageways, and trap doors. I would have loved to have seen that, but it’s something for which you have to make reservations in advance, so it will definitely be on my to-do list for a future Kyoto visit. After the castle, we wondered a bit more around the city, seeing the old-style neighborhood of Gion, followed by the Tadasu-no-mori temple where adorable children were dressed up in little kimonos for the holiday of Shichi-Go-San. That evening, Bronwyn and I had dinner with the host family she stayed with when she studied abroad in Kyoto in 2005. They were extremely warm and friendly and their hospitality left me stuffed.
Monday was the last day of the trip, so the one activity we squeezed in before everyone had to catch their bus home was going to Saiho-ji, the Moss Temple. Entrance was a little steep at 3000 yen, but it was totally worth it. It begins with a bit of zazen prayer with the monks followed by wonderings in the garden. It was by far the most beautiful temple I have seen yet. Pictures don’t do it justice. And since the entrance fee is so high there were very few tourists, helping preserve the delicate moss as well as the tranquil atmosphere. It was an excellent break from the mobs at Arashiyama and Gion, and a great way to wrap up the Kyoto weekend, at least for the group.
For my part, I had taken the bus out with everyone, but had brought along my bike with plans to ride back. I was staying one more night at the hostel so that I could get an early start the next morning, so after the temple I said my goodbyes at the bus depot, then headed off for a bit of my own wanderings. Being the bike geek that I am, I had to swing by I’s Bicycles, home of Cycles Grand Bois. The shop was a lot smaller than I expected, but very well organized with drawer after drawer of sorted parts. I wish I had had more time to rummage through them if only to see what he had, but instead I just talked to the owner for a bit and snapped a few photos. Before leaving, I picked up a pair of their tires, which are gaining a lot of popularity in the randonneuring world. I was surprised to see how cheap they were here, 3675 yen, or about $35 depending on the exchange rate. In the U.S. they go for about $55 each. Nothing like going straight to the source. Afterwards, I hit up a few more bike shops that weren’t nearly as impressive, wandered around Teramachi again, had a dinner of tofu donuts and coffee, then spent the rest of the evening in the hostel watching Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness and sewing up a pair glove liners that had started to fall apart.
More photos on my Flickr.
In the next post: my 5-day, 500-kilometer trip home.
