Fun in Kyoto!
Mom and I spent and I spent the past two days in Kyoto walking around and seeing the sights. Both days started out with a bit of rain, but by the time we got to Kyoto everything had cleared up and it was sunny and even pretty hot.
Wednesday we went around to the basic "must-see" shrines in my opinion. We went in a circle hitting Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Heian Jingu, and Yasaka Jinja from which we walked to Kiyomizudera. The weather was perfect and the walking wasn't too bad. There were a lot people around since this is the busiest week to travel. I still got around using a cane and got a few funny looks, but not too many more than usual.
Thursday we traveled over to Arashiyama, a mountain on the west side of Kyoto, on a very crowded train. The area is famous for it's natural sights. On our schedule was a visit to the Iwatayama Monkey park. It's a small park of around 150 Japanese monkey's at an observatory on top of a small mountain. Each monkey has a name and information collected on them is used by researchers and students who carry out surveys of the monkeys. The climb up to the park was steep and we had to stop a few times to rest, but getting to the top was worth it. The monkeys are everywhere and within feet or even inches of you. You can go inside a small hut and feed the monkeys fruit too! It was a fun afternoon of monkey antics that I recommend to anyone.
After the park we took a small rest, had a beer and I had some takoyaki (an octopus snack in ball form) and mom ate some small donut things that we were deceived into thinking had custard in them. Then, we walked off to see the bamboo forest that is often shown in advertisements for Kyoto. It was only a short walk from the monkey park area and was very cool. It's bamboo in every direction and reminded me of playing Bushido Blade for some reason. After walking through we left for Hikone and walked home from the station. We ended the night with some yakiniku (grilled meats) at a nearby restaurant where we got seated next to the owner who was eating there with his family. When we went to order the owner sent over his son to speak practice speaking English with us. Later on the owner came over and helped cook some of our meat while talking to us a little bit. It turns out he and his wife are both dentists and owning yakiniku restaurants was their hobby.....what a hobby.
MORE PICTURES!
Wednesday we went around to the basic "must-see" shrines in my opinion. We went in a circle hitting Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Heian Jingu, and Yasaka Jinja from which we walked to Kiyomizudera. The weather was perfect and the walking wasn't too bad. There were a lot people around since this is the busiest week to travel. I still got around using a cane and got a few funny looks, but not too many more than usual.
Thursday we traveled over to Arashiyama, a mountain on the west side of Kyoto, on a very crowded train. The area is famous for it's natural sights. On our schedule was a visit to the Iwatayama Monkey park. It's a small park of around 150 Japanese monkey's at an observatory on top of a small mountain. Each monkey has a name and information collected on them is used by researchers and students who carry out surveys of the monkeys. The climb up to the park was steep and we had to stop a few times to rest, but getting to the top was worth it. The monkeys are everywhere and within feet or even inches of you. You can go inside a small hut and feed the monkeys fruit too! It was a fun afternoon of monkey antics that I recommend to anyone.
After the park we took a small rest, had a beer and I had some takoyaki (an octopus snack in ball form) and mom ate some small donut things that we were deceived into thinking had custard in them. Then, we walked off to see the bamboo forest that is often shown in advertisements for Kyoto. It was only a short walk from the monkey park area and was very cool. It's bamboo in every direction and reminded me of playing Bushido Blade for some reason. After walking through we left for Hikone and walked home from the station. We ended the night with some yakiniku (grilled meats) at a nearby restaurant where we got seated next to the owner who was eating there with his family. When we went to order the owner sent over his son to speak practice speaking English with us. Later on the owner came over and helped cook some of our meat while talking to us a little bit. It turns out he and his wife are both dentists and owning yakiniku restaurants was their hobby.....what a hobby.
MORE PICTURES!