kyoto!
hi
met up with my school-chums at tokyo station for the overnight bus to kyoto. the bus wasnt too bad, it was a 6 hour trip but with reclining chairs and a little foot-rest for da feet. if you know me, you know that i cannot sleep in cars, airplanes and other such vehicles. the whole time i must have gotten 30min of sleep. once at kyoto station we headed over to the hotel, it was nice. we couldnt check in yet, but at least we could drop off our bags. that was cool. this trip went thru the 7th-9th (coming back home on the 9th at 11:00 or so). the first day was a lot of site-seeing. a japanese cultural teacher went with us and led us on our way - going with her was totally optional but she knew the best sites, and explained to us what we were seeing. nice. from the hotel we took a taxi to a large rock garden place, (ryoanji temple) it was pretty and peaceful - lots of nice trails with trees and such. weather was crappy all day though, strange weather at that too.. rainy then stop and then seriously like 15min later start up again, but sideways.. from there we walked to the golden pavilion (kinkakuji) site, its a large golden building on a large pond, so pretty. we ate lunch at this monk monastary place, it was alright. no meat at all since its for monks mainly, definetly different. hehe. then we went to this random temple place, sorry i cannot remember the name. that wasnt much fun. then finally headed over to the gion district and played around there for a bit. heavily packed but a lot of fun. lots of little shops going up this hill that led to kiyomizu temple - wow that was a neat place. theres a red temple, and then theres this other one, and then theres this pagoda if you walk down the trail.. etc. very pretty! all within the talllll trees. so pretty. from there jessica and i headed back on our own back to the hotel, got a little messed up but eventually got back to the hotel. we took the loooong way! hehe. after getting near the area near the hotel that we recognized, we bought ourselves a smirnoff ice or whatever and got into jammies, and relaxed while watching tv in our room. we were too tired to go out with a bunch of people, and in return got a lot of sleep that night. the room was really nice. 3 beds for christy, jess, and me, and a bathroom that came with a pump on the wall for shampoo and soap. (boo no stealing of soaps here, unless you want to take the mini-station..haha!) and a special hose/handle from the sink to the shower - turn the switch you have a shower, turn it the other way, sink. neato.
the next day 8th, we headed up to the closeby city of nara. there we fed lots of tame deer that surround the temples and different sites. - todaiji temple. i got seperated from everyone else cause i took a wrong turn, and my friend jesse kept checking up on me till i finally found everyone. i used my phone's gps to see his location and everything, it helped cause it showed that i was no where near him and the rest of the group. yay for cellphones! the temple is huge and so cool! the biggest buddah/daibatsu in japan is within the temple along with his different buddies. from there we walked around the park area and fed more deer, got mauled by more deer, haha! then we later found a section where a traditional shinto wedding probably just ended - since they were taking pictures of the bride and groom - which were in traditional clothing - while their guests wore black dresses and tuxes. the bride was beautiful. we got a late lunch and then headed back towards nara via the JR train - took about 40min or so. many of us were pretty tired so we took a nappy on the way. back in kyoto, some of our group left, while the rest of us (10 or so), we visited the yasaka shrine, it was soo pretty at night all lit up with random lights and lanterns. in one of the main buildings, we saw a scroll done with watercolor of a japanese monster parade, it was cool. and in the same building 3 girls (flute, cello, and violin) played music from different musicals. beauty and the beast, and rent were among the many played. our teacher left after that and the 5 of us or so headed to the actual gion street, saw 2 real geisha coming out of a building into a taxi, very graceful in everything they did. beautiful. then from there we (jesse, jessica, christy, bobby, and i) went to mcdonalds for dinner. teriyaki burgers are amazing. i love mcdonalds in japan.. sigh.. then did purikura together, coming out very funny. (for those who dont know, its a photobooth thing but providing different backgrounds and such)after that everyone but jesse (he was a tired boy) went and did kareoke for an hour. it was fun. they even had plastic tree songs! = so happy me! then to the local convience store for a little icecream, and then christy, jessica and i hung out in our room and watched tv. a few people stopped by for a visit, it was fun.
the next morning the 3 of us got packed up and headed to the hotel lobby area at 8:15AM - to check out. then the whole large group headed to kyoto station and put our belongings in the locker, then to meet there again at 5:15PM. we all did random things on this day, it was a lot of fun! then everyone came back together for the bullet-train back home which took about 2 hours or so, then from there (tokyo station) headed back home and went to bed.
this weekend roooockkkked!!!!!! :)
met up with my school-chums at tokyo station for the overnight bus to kyoto. the bus wasnt too bad, it was a 6 hour trip but with reclining chairs and a little foot-rest for da feet. if you know me, you know that i cannot sleep in cars, airplanes and other such vehicles. the whole time i must have gotten 30min of sleep. once at kyoto station we headed over to the hotel, it was nice. we couldnt check in yet, but at least we could drop off our bags. that was cool. this trip went thru the 7th-9th (coming back home on the 9th at 11:00 or so). the first day was a lot of site-seeing. a japanese cultural teacher went with us and led us on our way - going with her was totally optional but she knew the best sites, and explained to us what we were seeing. nice. from the hotel we took a taxi to a large rock garden place, (ryoanji temple) it was pretty and peaceful - lots of nice trails with trees and such. weather was crappy all day though, strange weather at that too.. rainy then stop and then seriously like 15min later start up again, but sideways.. from there we walked to the golden pavilion (kinkakuji) site, its a large golden building on a large pond, so pretty. we ate lunch at this monk monastary place, it was alright. no meat at all since its for monks mainly, definetly different. hehe. then we went to this random temple place, sorry i cannot remember the name. that wasnt much fun. then finally headed over to the gion district and played around there for a bit. heavily packed but a lot of fun. lots of little shops going up this hill that led to kiyomizu temple - wow that was a neat place. theres a red temple, and then theres this other one, and then theres this pagoda if you walk down the trail.. etc. very pretty! all within the talllll trees. so pretty. from there jessica and i headed back on our own back to the hotel, got a little messed up but eventually got back to the hotel. we took the loooong way! hehe. after getting near the area near the hotel that we recognized, we bought ourselves a smirnoff ice or whatever and got into jammies, and relaxed while watching tv in our room. we were too tired to go out with a bunch of people, and in return got a lot of sleep that night. the room was really nice. 3 beds for christy, jess, and me, and a bathroom that came with a pump on the wall for shampoo and soap. (boo no stealing of soaps here, unless you want to take the mini-station..haha!) and a special hose/handle from the sink to the shower - turn the switch you have a shower, turn it the other way, sink. neato.
the next day 8th, we headed up to the closeby city of nara. there we fed lots of tame deer that surround the temples and different sites. - todaiji temple. i got seperated from everyone else cause i took a wrong turn, and my friend jesse kept checking up on me till i finally found everyone. i used my phone's gps to see his location and everything, it helped cause it showed that i was no where near him and the rest of the group. yay for cellphones! the temple is huge and so cool! the biggest buddah/daibatsu in japan is within the temple along with his different buddies. from there we walked around the park area and fed more deer, got mauled by more deer, haha! then we later found a section where a traditional shinto wedding probably just ended - since they were taking pictures of the bride and groom - which were in traditional clothing - while their guests wore black dresses and tuxes. the bride was beautiful. we got a late lunch and then headed back towards nara via the JR train - took about 40min or so. many of us were pretty tired so we took a nappy on the way. back in kyoto, some of our group left, while the rest of us (10 or so), we visited the yasaka shrine, it was soo pretty at night all lit up with random lights and lanterns. in one of the main buildings, we saw a scroll done with watercolor of a japanese monster parade, it was cool. and in the same building 3 girls (flute, cello, and violin) played music from different musicals. beauty and the beast, and rent were among the many played. our teacher left after that and the 5 of us or so headed to the actual gion street, saw 2 real geisha coming out of a building into a taxi, very graceful in everything they did. beautiful. then from there we (jesse, jessica, christy, bobby, and i) went to mcdonalds for dinner. teriyaki burgers are amazing. i love mcdonalds in japan.. sigh.. then did purikura together, coming out very funny. (for those who dont know, its a photobooth thing but providing different backgrounds and such)after that everyone but jesse (he was a tired boy) went and did kareoke for an hour. it was fun. they even had plastic tree songs! = so happy me! then to the local convience store for a little icecream, and then christy, jessica and i hung out in our room and watched tv. a few people stopped by for a visit, it was fun.
the next morning the 3 of us got packed up and headed to the hotel lobby area at 8:15AM - to check out. then the whole large group headed to kyoto station and put our belongings in the locker, then to meet there again at 5:15PM. we all did random things on this day, it was a lot of fun! then everyone came back together for the bullet-train back home which took about 2 hours or so, then from there (tokyo station) headed back home and went to bed.
this weekend roooockkkked!!!!!! :)