Jun 09, 2006 11:53
On May 3rd, we left for Mount Koya. We were all fairly excited about this place because we were going to be staying at a buddhist temple. We were warned ahead of time that the meals would be vegetarian, which would be an interesting experience since I'm not a huge fan of tofu.
We took the subway, then another subway/train, then a cable car, then a bus to get to our temple. Long ride but it was alright. Mount Koya was a HUGE contrast to Osaka. It's so quiet and gives off the feeling of peacefulness.
Our room was really nice, and they were big. You'll see the pictures soon. We were required to wear slippers inside the temple. Those were a real nuisance. The stairs are rather steep and I couldn't seem to keep the slippers on very well while climbing them. it actually fell off my foot once and one of the buddhists picked it up for me. Josh resorted to taking off the slippers when climbing the stairs.
There was a beautiful Cherry tree in the yard that everyone stopped to look at and take pictures. It was really pretty and the petals (leaves?) were falling off and flying in the wind.
We made a HUGE accomplishment that day. We ordered food at a restaurant without pictures. hehehe. We were all very proud of ourselves. Or rather, I was proud of myself. We had seen a few other restaurants along the way but they were all full. We wrote down the characters for some of the food we saw on display so it would be easier to order. Well, when we came to this restaurant, I managed to remember the characters we wrote down as well as read of the other other characters. So, we ordered food at a restaurant without pictures. Whoo!
After lunch, we visited some of the temples. There was an area 5 temples together. As we were about to leave, a line of buddhists walked to each temple and performed a ritual at each one. It was quite a sight. I'm glad we got there when we did. We would have missed it otherwise.
Oh, I totally forgot about the snake. We decided to walk along the mountain side. The "stairs" were horrible (i.e. difficult for someone with short legs) but it's nature. Along the way, Josh and Yuxi encounter a snake. Yuxi decides to step on its tail. (I can't remember if he stepped on it or poked at it.) the snake slithers off under a pile of branches. I think that snake was planning its revenge on Yuxi....
Back at the temple, we watched a bit of TV and then it was time for dinner. Dinner was spectacular. it was so big, and so well presented. And it was so good. Ask JP for these pictures cuz the rest of us didn't have our camera. The tofu was thicker than normal tofu. it didn't break apart as easily. And the beans were the best part of the meal. Absolutely loved the beans. There were 2 parts or sets to the meal. Unfortunately, after the first set, I was already stuffed. Come the second set, I only sampled stuff. I felt bad for leaving food behind but I'm not going to deliberately make myself sick. JP, however, decided it was unforgivable to leave anything behind. We were given a bucket (it's actually just a really big bowl) of rice that all of us scooped from. JP decided to try and finish off that bucket of rice. I think he ate about 4 bowls of rice in the end. There was still rice left in the bucket but he had enough.
When we got back to the rooms, our beds were laid out. The guide in the room mentioned something about the buddhists making our beds during the dinner. I couldn't believe they actually did it.
The guys decided to take a walk while I went to take a nice hot bath. Never taken a bath in a public bath before but it was really cool. It was extremely hot in there and it looked exactly like in the animes. It was really nice. Luckily for me, I had the whole thing to myself. That made it extra relaxing. =)
When the boys got back from their walk, we all got into our Japanese robes and had a little tea party. A tea set and desserts were provided in the room. We played poker again and this time, Yuxi didn't lose. In fact, Yuxi just kept on winning every hand. It was incredible. I stopped his winning streak though. hehehe. In the end, Josh won the game. It was a really fun night. Then off to our very comfy and warm beds.
japan