After being snowed out of the volcano experience in Aso, we moved on to the wonderful city of Kyoto. Ironically the two biggest tourist cities in Japan share the same set of letters Tokyo and Kyoto). Kyoto is one of the old capitals of Japan, and the rumor is that Tokyo was named by the Japanese Jumble champion some 300 years ago.
Kyoto. This city is rich in history. It houses many wonderful temples, and castles. Our personal favorites included Nijo-jo (large castle in the center of the city), and the Fox temple (see our pictures section for the 'hanuted fox temple'...creepy!) The same bartender who helped us validate the fame of Johnny Depp-san, advised us to visit this temple at night, as it is rumored to be a gathering place for spirits at night. This was confirmed by a few locals in the bar who seemed shocked that we would even dare go near the sacred mountain (which the temple sits on) after dusk. Apparently something only foolish tourists do, although we were practically alone when we arrived. Still we thought the people in the bar were just messing with us about the legends and stories. They told us that people often see spirits, and they tried to convince us to wait until morning. After a couple more bottles of liquid courage we decided to go and explore it anyway.
We can't really explain our experience wandering this enourmaous temple complex. While we didn't see any spirits, there was definitely an eerie feeling that grew as we moved further and further up the mountain. The scene begins with a large temple at the base of the mountain, followed by a creepy path of orange torri climbing 4kms up the mountain. (there is a great picture of this in the pictures section!) Let's just say we both felt very uneasy on this forrested trail surrounded by mean looking fox statues. Sorry just can't explain any more. Thankfully on our retreat down the mountain we wandered down a slightly different path through a large buddhist cemetary...yeah thanks...cause we needed that exclamation point. I think we actually ran at one point. Of course as far as you're concerned we were just making sure we didn't miss the last train ;)
Anyway back to Kyoto...there was also a wonderful area of temples to the west of the city...very nice.
The higlight of Kyoto, however, resided just beyond the train station. We are not sure of the proper name of teh restaurant, but it will forever be known to us as '210 noodles'!!! Here you can get one of the best bowls of noodles in Japan for only 210yen (approx $2). We may have eaten here 20 or more times in 7 days. And we may have brought all of the other people at our hostel there one night for dinner.
During our stay in Kyoto, we also took a day trip to Nara (a small temple town 30 mins outside the city.) It was easy to enjoy the grandiose temples in what felt like a rural environment.
The next couple of stops included Osaka and Kobe which we used to rest up for China.
Almost forgot... for Jen's birthday we managed to find an Outback Steakhouse!!!! We were walking around Osaka on the way to a bookstore when we spotted (ok, Jen sniffed out like a bloodhound) the big red sign. To say we gorged ourselves would be an understatement!!
We boarded the ferry bound for Tianjin, China, and arrived after 51 LONG hours at sea.
Check back soon for our disastrous first day in China. We were dropped on the dock and thrown to the tigers... and quickly learned that not a single person in China speaks English.
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