Kyoto, aka The Land of Sweat

So, I dug up these old gems and realized I hadn't posted them yet. There's one more conclusion post in the works (I've been back from Japan for a week) and then it's onto blogging about adventures in outdoor education! Enjoy:

“We can sleep when we’re back home.”

Kayaking on the Izu Peninsula: left base at 5 am

Climbing Mount Fuji: left base at 2 am

Exploring Kyoto: left base at 4:45 am

So much for relaxing on the weekends.

For our last (!) weekend in Japan, five of us opted to explore Japan’s historic former capital. After catching an early commuter train headed for Shinagawa, we transferred lines to ride Japan’s ever-so-famous bullet train. It was probably the closest I will ever come to flying first class. The legs on my 5’10” frame had space to breathe, the chairs were squishy and comfy, and the windows allowed  you to have a decent view of the landscape without having to awkwardly crane your neck. And, needless to say, the train was FAST.

 

A mere two hours later, we stepped from our wonderfully air conditioned bubble into the hottest weather known to mankind. After consulting with the tourist information desk at the train station, we set off for a bike rental shop, ready to take on Kyoto with everything we had. (Considering how much we sweated over the course of the day, we didn’t have very much of anything. Especially body fluids.) We handed the bike rental man some cash,  he handed us some bikes and some water bottles, and we rode our helmet-less, waiver-less, direction-less selves over to the orange torii gates of Kyoto. Many stops for help later, we arrived to what is probably my favorite site in Japan. Rows upon rows of orange gates with black kanji insprictions lined the hills, creating walking tunnels which hid small little shrines and memorials in the forest. It’s honestly one of those places that can’t be described—you really have to be there in person to truly experience it.

250 yen ice cream and the world’s smallest salad later, we weaved our bikes in and out of sidewalk traffic (aint no bike lanes in Japan, or if there are any, cars hog them) to find the Nijo castle and the imperial palace gardens. Forget the historical sites, trying not to hit every living person that came across my path was an adventure enough. It was like Davis on steroids.

Day 2 brought us to the bamboo forest, which was similar to the torii gates in the sense in that it totally enveloped you in an awe-inspiring sort of way. On the other hand, everyone and their mother wanted to see the Golden Pavilion, which, for me, slightly diminished the awe factor of being near a building leafed in gold. Still, it was a good item to check off the Kyoto sight-seeing list, and I’m glad we saw it before we made our way to our final stop of the weekend: the Gion district, famously home to the geishas of Japan. As amazing as I’m sure this area of Kyoto is, our travel group was far too tired to explore beyond a few side streets. A fruitless search for a glimpse of a geisha yielded no results and an angry policeman, so we made our way back to the station on a crowded bus, bursting into choruses of “gomenezi”s and fits of giggles when I dripped elbow sweat on a poor elderly Japanese women. (Yes, it was hot enough to have elbow sweat. If you didn’t know that existed, you’re welcome.)

 

All in all, Kyoto was a fantastic finale weekend to a wonderful 10 weeks in Japan. I’ll have one more entry summing up my greatest loves in Japan, and then it’s on to blogging about my new adventures in outdoor education in the mountains of Southern California!