Narita
airport was becoming just like Barajas was in Spain, an airport that I was all
too familiar with. This was my fifth time in the airport in the past month. I
feel like the people in immigration and security should know me by name by now.
Instead of leaving out of the usual doors in terminal one, I made my way
downstairs to the train station.
I ordered a
Japan Rail Pass online and was hoping that what I ordered was legit. I took my
voucher to the exchange area and was successfully given a pass! I was
exhausted, nervous, gross and sweaty and the man behind the desk could definitely
tell. He told me to not worry, reserved some seats on the train for me, and
gave me very specific directions on how to get there.
I lugged my
giant travel backpack to the train and got on. Once on the train I forgot about
all my worries, all my exhaustion, and all my nastiness. My eyes lit up as we
sped past every rice paddy and small town. The man was nice enough to reserve
me window seats for all my rides. After 2 hours in the train I had to switch to
a different one but that was easy enough. I rode the second train for three
hours before I made it to Kyoto. The ride was amazing. One minute the train was
speeding past the ocean and the next minute it was cutting through hills and
mountains. Kyoto looked so cute in between all the hills.
Once arriving
at Kyoto station I looked at my directions and frowned. I was so tired and my
bags were so heavy and inconvenient. Why did I think it was a good idea to
carry two backpacks? I only have one back. I did something most skilled
travelers usually refuse to do, I waved a taxi. I gave him my address and got
comfy. Less than five minutes later, we were there. I was embarrassed; the
hostel was only a few blocks away from the station. It would’ve taken me less
than 10 minutes to walk there. Nevertheless, my fee was small and I didn’t have
to carry my heavy bags or get lost.
The first
night I rested and the second day I decided to do some site seeing. I had a
really great map that had all the attractions on it. Next to each site was the
hours it was open and how much it would cost to enter. It looked simple enough
to get around and the map made the city look small. I set off walking.
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| Castle Grounds |
The first
place I visited was Nijo Castle. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site so I
thought it would be worth seeing. It took way longer to get there than I
thought. I walked for a few hours before I got there. I also wasn’t used to the
heat and humidity. In the Philippines it was humid but we got to places by
sitting in an air-conditioned car.
I forgot
about how warm I was when I arrived at the castle. Similar to the palace that I
saw in Tokyo; there was an outer and inner moat here. The outer moat surrounded
the castle grounds; the inner moat surrounded just the castle in the middle. I
wasn’t able to see the castle in the middle because it burned down a long time
ago. Currently there is a new structure there but it is not the original. What
I saw was the Ninomaru Palace, which is located on the outer grounds. The
architecture on the outside was typical of this time period. It had the sloping
roof and the simple structure.
 |
| Ninomaru Palace at Nijo Castle |
I was able
to go inside the palace. First you had to take your shoes off outside. No
photography was allowed so sorry for lack of pictures. The palace had many
linked sections. The architecture was in shoin-zukuri style, which is very
simple but elegant. There are 33 separate rooms that all have tatami mats.
Tatami mats are the traditional Japanese straw flooring. The pathways that
linked the rooms were made of wood. As you walked the floor chirped. This was
called a Nightingale floor. It chirped like a bird when someone walked on it so
the warriors were able to hear if someone was sneaking up on them.
 |
| The Garden |
The rooms
were very plain. Most of them were empty. This was because people who used the
rooms would sit on the mats on the floors. Also the screens that divided the
rooms were either blank or had a painting on them. The paintings were not
originally there; they were done by different artists throughout time.
Afterwards I walked around the gardens in the castle grounds and climbed one of
the watchtowers on the corner.
 |
| By the Golden Pavilion |
My legs
hurt and I was tired but it was too early to go back to the hostel. I decided
to press on and head to Kinkaku, otherwise known as the Golden Pavilion. The
Golden Pavilion is a Buddhist hall that houses relics of the Buddha. Kinkaku is
especially famous for its looks. It is covered in gold foil and has a golden
phoenix on top. Each level of the structure is in a different style. The bottom
level is shinden style of the 11th century imperial aristocracy, the
second level is buke style of the warrior aristocracy, and the top is Chinese
zenshu-butsuden style. The other interesting thing about Kinkaku is that it is
located in the middle of a pond. It almost looks like it is floating there.
I was really
happy with what I saw. Less than a mile away from Kinkaku was the Ryoanji
Temple, which I really wanted to see. It was supposed to be full of really
spectacular rock gardens. I started walking in that direction but my feet
protested. They were absolutely aching. I tried to think back to how many hours
it took me to walk here but I couldn’t recall. I decided that it would be best
for me to start walking back.
I was
ridiculous on the way back. I walked like an old lady because of how sore my
feet were. I considered hopping on one of the buses that drove by but I was
unfamiliar with the routes and feeling too pathetic to ask. I stopped to rest
at a coffee shop on the way back but it didn’t help all that much. Eventually I
got back to the hostel, peeled of my shoes and laughed. The bottoms of my feet
were bruised and I had two huge blisters on the bottoms of my heels.
I had big
plans for the next day. I was determined to be smarter with my decisions! The
hostel rented bikes for super cheap. I grabbed a bike key and was making my way
out the door when I noticed a whiteboard by the main desk. It showed a drawing
of an umbrella and said 90% chance of rain. I wasn’t going to let this ruin my
ambitious day so I grabbed an umbrella on my way out.
Having a
bike was great! I was able to get around so much quicker and I didn’t have to
further hurt my feet. The only problem with a bike is that it’s much easier to
get lost. When walking I would usually miss my street by a block or two. When
riding a bike I would miss my streets by five blocks or more because I would be
pedaling so fast that I would wiz by.
 |
| Myohoin Temple? |
I set off
to see Jishu-jinja shrine. I biked quickly and in no time I was there! I parked
my bike and climbed up tons of steps. This looked promising. When I made it to
the top I was surprised at how small it was. I asked one of the ladies if I had
to pay the entrance fee and she said it was free. This confused me because my
map said it cost 300 yen. I rested here, saw the shrine and left even more
confused than before. Looking back on this moment, I had taken a wrong turn on
my bike and had arrived at Myohoin Temple; or at least I think that is what it
was. I’m really not 100% sure.
The sky was
cloudy, but it didn’t look bad so I decided to keep going. I really wanted to
see Ryoanji Temple where the rock garden was. It was on the complete opposite
side of my map but I heard it was worth it. I made a plan to go there first and
then on my way back to the hostel hit the closer things. The directions were
easy; just go straight until I hit Kitaoji-dori on the other side of the map.
I was
really enjoying my bike. It was a bit too tall for me so I had trouble stopping
at crosswalks. I also had trouble dodging people in the busy parts of the city.
I don’t understand why people wouldn’t scoot over a little bit. Some people
would walk in a line so I had no way to pass. I suppose this is similar to how
people walk in the city in the U.S.
I biked for
hours and knew I must have been getting close. This should’ve been the same
path I walked yesterday, so why didn’t anything look familiar? I had gone way
too far. I ended up by one of the universities. As I was trying to figure out
where I went wrong it started to sprinkle. I decided to have some late lunch in
a sandwich shop and wait for it to stop.
It didn’t
really slow down so I decided that it was only sprinkling and I would continue
on anyways. I biked a few more blocks and out of nowhere it began to downpour.
In Japan lots of people hold their umbrellas while they ride their bikes. It
looks easy enough, but I quickly realized I was lacking in coordination. If I
held the umbrella above my head it was harder for me to steer my bike. I was
doing alright but then I had to stop at a crosswalk. This was already difficult
because the bike was much too big. I had to bail from the bike and try to not
hit people with the umbrella. The wind got crazy and blew my umbrella inside
out so I took refuge in a Starbucks.
I thought I
would wait until the rain slowed down a bit. It couldn’t last forever. Boy was
I wrong, I sat in Starbucks for two hours and watched the rain pour just as
hard all the while. It looked like it was going to stay like this all night. I
finally said, “screw it” and got back on my bike and headed back. During my two-hour
bike ride the rain didn’t let up once. It stayed just as strong the whole
while. I wanted to curse and throw a tantrum and be mad at the rain but I
couldn’t; the situation was just too ridiculous that I had to laugh. At least
in Japan the rain is warm.
It was
still raining the next day, but at least it had calmed down a bit. I really
wasn’t ready to leave Kyoto. I was just starting to become familiar with the
city and still had so much that I wanted to see. The city was wonderful because
between all the big buildings were little shrines or small temples or gardens.
There was so much hidden beauty. I considered extending my stay but I had
already booked a place in Osaka.
Lots of things were holding me back
from leaving but the worst was my giant traveler’s backpack. I could hardly
carry the thing and it was horrible to have to hold my other backpack in the
front. I looked so ridiculous. Realization hit that I was pretty immobile with
the thing. It made travelling exhausting and not fun at all. Nearby was a
suitcase store where I found a cheap duffle style suitcase with wheels. The
stuff from my travel pack easily fit inside and it was so easy to carry around.
I left my travel pack in the closet that said, “Free to a good home.”
My time in Kyoto can only be
described as a wonderful disaster. I feel like my time there is not completed
and if I get a chance I would love to go back. My hostel was great, the city
was inviting, and there was so much to see.
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