Japan: Day 9 and 10
Ah, here's the last little report. Updating from Darlene's house real quick. This one is going to be kinda small since we didn't do too much besides shop in our last full day and then Friday was the plane ride.
Day 9: Kyoto - temple market
Traveling: Bus, Bus, Bus, and more Bus
Day 9 was the day of busing. XP We went to a HUGE temple market in the morning and so had to take a lot of buses to get to it. The bus rides there weren't too crowded so that was alright. Going back was another issue though. But anyways, the temple market was pretty damn huge and they only gave us like 2 hours to go through it.
Here's the market, pic taken from across the street.
You can see some of the stands here. The streets were crowded everywhere.
It was pretty insane. There was a shitload of stuff and a lot of the group spent most of their money here. 'Cause there was a lot of really expensive old stuff. Like James totally stocked up on old scrolls and whatnot. Jordan found his cheap kimono. Etc. I didn't find a thing though. x_x;; Mostly 'cause I didn't see anything I had to have and everything was quite expensive and I was usually too nervous to ask for prices unless James or Jordan was around because I'm horrible with numbers in japanese so it would take me forever to figure out what they told me. lol I knew how to ask, just would be so confused on the number since I don't know anything in the double digits and beyond that well. x_x I fail. I did manage to buy a bracelet but that was a gift for a friend. There were also all the food stands and the game stands with like the fish. We wanted to try it but then realized that if we did, we'd end up with fish that we couldn't keep. ^^; Though I wonder if maybe we could've asked to just try it and then put the fish back in if we got any. lol There was also a few japanese PS2s on raffle that I considered for a moment til I realized I wouldn't know how to fill the raffle ticket out or know how or when they would announce the winner. ^^; Ah well. Still need to buy one of those some time soon.
But yeah, it was just too crowded and huge and overwhelming for me. And it was hot and I was just "blah". So not my favorite day by far. And I guess I really was more interested in more modern stuff than the older stuff. Though this one guy was selling his like old WWII stuff (or well it might've been later than WWII since most of it was Soviet stuff but still). O_O Dude! Suddenly it was like all of us in the group except the teachers managed to find that one at the same time since we were all trying the stuff on. XP I think we might've seriously bought some of the stuff but then thought about how hard it would be to get through customs. ^^; They'd probably be like "Uh, why do you have an old Soviet hat?" 'cause there was one in the pile. lol But oh it was cool.
After that we went in search of food and stumbled across a little noddle bar but it had 4 people already and there were 8 of us so we were about to give up hope on ever getting the ramen bar feel til 2 of the people said they were just about to leave so gave us space, which was really kind. So we got in! Yay! It wasn't actually a ramen bar though. It was udon and soba! Which is so much better so it was cool. lol And oh man, it was awesome since it was like totally out of one of those old movies type setting even. With the old-ish guy as the main cook with a bandana on his head, making the food right in front of us so we got to see how much care he put into each dish. And he had his apprentice helping him. XP We joked later that he must've been secretly a master of sword making too.
A picture of us in the noddle shop. Though stupid James leaned back and ruined the shot I wanted. XP I wanted to get all of us students in an angled row. Ah well. Chris was on the other side of the teachers so couldn't get him in anyways.
After that we went back onto a bus and oh my god o_o. Those oba-sans are vicious! The oji-sans too! We're just standing there on the street and they kept pushing us out of the way. Had one oji-san literally grab me by the shoulders and move me. -_-; Oh, and we just automatically called them oba-san and oji-san when we were there thus why I'm using that in this report. ^^; And then we get on the bus and it's packed and we were good and let all the elderly have the seats and stood with the students and that was kinda fun as even though we were gaijin, the students seemed to give us looks of understanding since we were similiar ages. All in eye contact mind you. But they were cooler and more respectful than other students we had run into before. But anyways, after this bus trip we came up with a new attack move to be used against ichiban gaijin-sama, the "Oba-san Elbow Attack!" 'cause those old ladies, man, when they wanted to get off, they let you know! I guess they're just so used to people not giving them space that they just automatically lash out. It's rather sad. We did our best to let them out but they still got all grumpy. At both us and the students. Poor James got attacked from both sides at one point too. He was letting out the lady in the seat next to where he was standing and then one comes behind him and starts elbowing him in the back but he couldn't move forward without crushing the little lady in front of him. ^^;; Poor James! Jordan hid in the seat behind him to avoid it when it happened and I just watched from the front. lol
Eventually we got off the bus and ventured a bit to find this big food market Holly wanted to show us.
Here's the inside of the market. It went on for a really long time too.
And the market lead straight into the shopping arcade so we got to go there again for our final few hours of shopping. Once again we came back to those capsule machines and I stared at the Saint Seiya one for a while since I finally had more 100 Yens. Brennan told me I prolly have bad luck and if I do it, I'll get the same one again so I should let someone else do it for me. I was going to make him do it but then he disappeared so I just went ahead...and got Dohko for a third freaking time! So then I like yelled at the thing 'cause I could totally see the other figures in there. And then went into the manga store and bought the really awesome Advent Children Reunion book, which was totally worth getting. And then made sure I got 100 Yen change back. XP So this time had Jordan put the money in for me. And I got Shiryu! Oh my god, I was so happy. lol Wanted Shaka but Shiryu is my 2nd fav so fine by me. ^_^ And then poor Jordan tried to get some Naruto cards out of the one machine but they wouldn't come out like they were supposed to so they were stuck there and he trying to use cards he had to get them out and I got all nervous 'cause I'm sure it looked like he was trying to rob the machine the way he was doing it. x_x He never did get them out either. Then we went to several more anime stores and I got stuff to make up for the lack of buying at other places. lol Though I'm still not sure what happened to the Saint Seiya cards I got as I have the wrapper but only one card still in it and not sure where the others went. I'm afraid they might've fallen out at the hotel and I didn't notice or something sad like that. ;_; Ah well.
Then we went back to Mister Donut. Actually, we went there twice. Once just to get donoughts and relax and then the 2nd time 'cause we ran into Holly and she wanted to go there and I had gotten a point card so I gave it to her since she's a frequent visitor and uses the points for stuff. XP While we were there the 2nd time I got what I consider my favorite picture out of the whole trip...
Monks at Mister Donut. XP
Adam finally managed to get his sword and had it shipped home before we left Japan. Then we shopped til it got to be dinner time and then went to a Thai place for our final dinner. lol But it was real Thai food which I had never had before so I was excited to actually get to have real curry. And I did and it was wonderful. *_* Ah, it was so good. I had prawn curry and that flatbread thing in spinach flavor.
Then most of the group had planned to spend their last night clubbing and bar hoping but Holly, Brennan, and I didn't want to do that. But there wasn't really anything we could do that late at night as the only things open beyond like 8/9 pm are the bars, clubs, restaurants, and pachinko. ^^; So Holly tried to find us a cake shop but we failed to find any that were open. And settled for a little place called Holly's Cafe, ironically. XP Brennan and I had ice cream and Holly just had coffee and we chatted for a few hours. Though I came to the conclusion that Brennan is a lot like my eldest brother in the fact that he's so pesimistic and annoying. XP He only has one tone for everything too as I had to explain to Holly throughout the trip when she wasn't sure if Brennan was being sarcastic or serious at times. It's really hard to tell with him. So he was the source of a lot of our teasing and insulting throughout the trip as there really is only so much Brennan one can take. XP So after that we just wandered back. The rest of the group ended up spliting even further down as a few of the guys got bored and tired after a few bars. Chris only went out really so that he could get the pictures he developed to the waitress girls he met and gave them his e-mail. XP James and Brad were the only two that stayed up really late. And James managed to meet a girl at one of the clubs and was whining about leaving the whole next day. XP
Day 10: The Last Day
Traveling: from Kyoto escort bus to Kansai airport to plane to Dallas Texas to smaller plane back to Dulles International
That morning we all did some final stops to Circle K, our conveinence store and then packed up. We has some time before the bus showed up so we decided to finally check out the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial palace across the street. It wasn't that much to see but it was a nice park area. And of course it was raining again.
Here's the gate though.
And this was just a cool little Shinto shrine that was open on the street near our hotel and it looked nice so took a picture since I missed all the shrines in Koya-san as I was camera-less.
We picked up bento lunches and got on the escort bus which was really nice as it was a few hours to the airport so they even gave us hand towels and we got a bathroom stop. Holly was staying extra days in Japan so she waved us off and looked so sad to see her "ducklings" leave her. ^^; The airport was also really really cool. It was huge and of course, had a huge mall in it. XP We went to our gate and ate our lunches. I had suishi and it was good. Did a little bit of shopping and just sat and waited.
We found an Ichiban headband there and made Brennan buy it so he really could be Ichiban Gaijin-sama-dono-bozu XP He looks so proud of himself here. ^^;
So then we had yet another really long flight and this time we actually had some night time flying so it was easier to sleep. Slept most of this one in fact. And bah, the food wasn't that great. It was decent on the way to Japan but I didn't like any of the stuff on the way back home really. Watched a few more movies, listened to the radio stations, etc. Then we arrived in Dallas and immediately we were all hit by the culture difference and we were just kinda sad to no longer be in Japan. As the manners and behavior is just so incredibly different. *sigh* But anyways, we only had an hour before our next flight so we tried to hurry. Customs didn't take us long at all but the immigration part took quite a while. And then we realized we had to take this shuttle thing to get to the part of the airport we needed and we got on it...only to find out it went all the way around instead of going back the way we needed to go so it took us a lot longer than we had hoped. I'm sure there was one that would've taken us there directly but we were in too much of a rush to figure it out. So we literally ran the rest of the way to gate and...didn't make it in time. We were like just 2 minutes too late as they had like just closed the door. x_x So close! *sigh* So then we had to transfer to a later flight. Which was really only an hour later so it wasn't too bad. We ate pizza while we waited. This plane was a lot smaller than the one we were supposed to get on though but it was only like a 2 and a half hour flight or so, so it was ok. The guy next to me and Adam was playing King Kong on his laptop and I was just "-_-;;" because that had been the main movie on 2 of the flights we were on so I had already seen it once without sound, once with sound, and then again on this guy's computer after Adam told me the one on the flights had been edited. But yeah, got kinda sick of King Kong. lol Didn't even like the movie to begin with. XP But anyways, didn't take long for us to arrive and we all got our Shisengumi jackets out like planned.
Chris really doesn't look like he belongs here. XP
And our dorky picture with Brad-sensei. XP
And thus ended our trip to Japan.
Ok done. Now just gotta entertain myself til people arrive and we go to the con. ^_^
~Lyn
Day 9: Kyoto - temple market
Traveling: Bus, Bus, Bus, and more Bus
Day 9 was the day of busing. XP We went to a HUGE temple market in the morning and so had to take a lot of buses to get to it. The bus rides there weren't too crowded so that was alright. Going back was another issue though. But anyways, the temple market was pretty damn huge and they only gave us like 2 hours to go through it.
Here's the market, pic taken from across the street.
You can see some of the stands here. The streets were crowded everywhere.
It was pretty insane. There was a shitload of stuff and a lot of the group spent most of their money here. 'Cause there was a lot of really expensive old stuff. Like James totally stocked up on old scrolls and whatnot. Jordan found his cheap kimono. Etc. I didn't find a thing though. x_x;; Mostly 'cause I didn't see anything I had to have and everything was quite expensive and I was usually too nervous to ask for prices unless James or Jordan was around because I'm horrible with numbers in japanese so it would take me forever to figure out what they told me. lol I knew how to ask, just would be so confused on the number since I don't know anything in the double digits and beyond that well. x_x I fail. I did manage to buy a bracelet but that was a gift for a friend. There were also all the food stands and the game stands with like the fish. We wanted to try it but then realized that if we did, we'd end up with fish that we couldn't keep. ^^; Though I wonder if maybe we could've asked to just try it and then put the fish back in if we got any. lol There was also a few japanese PS2s on raffle that I considered for a moment til I realized I wouldn't know how to fill the raffle ticket out or know how or when they would announce the winner. ^^; Ah well. Still need to buy one of those some time soon.
But yeah, it was just too crowded and huge and overwhelming for me. And it was hot and I was just "blah". So not my favorite day by far. And I guess I really was more interested in more modern stuff than the older stuff. Though this one guy was selling his like old WWII stuff (or well it might've been later than WWII since most of it was Soviet stuff but still). O_O Dude! Suddenly it was like all of us in the group except the teachers managed to find that one at the same time since we were all trying the stuff on. XP I think we might've seriously bought some of the stuff but then thought about how hard it would be to get through customs. ^^; They'd probably be like "Uh, why do you have an old Soviet hat?" 'cause there was one in the pile. lol But oh it was cool.
After that we went in search of food and stumbled across a little noddle bar but it had 4 people already and there were 8 of us so we were about to give up hope on ever getting the ramen bar feel til 2 of the people said they were just about to leave so gave us space, which was really kind. So we got in! Yay! It wasn't actually a ramen bar though. It was udon and soba! Which is so much better so it was cool. lol And oh man, it was awesome since it was like totally out of one of those old movies type setting even. With the old-ish guy as the main cook with a bandana on his head, making the food right in front of us so we got to see how much care he put into each dish. And he had his apprentice helping him. XP We joked later that he must've been secretly a master of sword making too.
A picture of us in the noddle shop. Though stupid James leaned back and ruined the shot I wanted. XP I wanted to get all of us students in an angled row. Ah well. Chris was on the other side of the teachers so couldn't get him in anyways.
After that we went back onto a bus and oh my god o_o. Those oba-sans are vicious! The oji-sans too! We're just standing there on the street and they kept pushing us out of the way. Had one oji-san literally grab me by the shoulders and move me. -_-; Oh, and we just automatically called them oba-san and oji-san when we were there thus why I'm using that in this report. ^^; And then we get on the bus and it's packed and we were good and let all the elderly have the seats and stood with the students and that was kinda fun as even though we were gaijin, the students seemed to give us looks of understanding since we were similiar ages. All in eye contact mind you. But they were cooler and more respectful than other students we had run into before. But anyways, after this bus trip we came up with a new attack move to be used against ichiban gaijin-sama, the "Oba-san Elbow Attack!" 'cause those old ladies, man, when they wanted to get off, they let you know! I guess they're just so used to people not giving them space that they just automatically lash out. It's rather sad. We did our best to let them out but they still got all grumpy. At both us and the students. Poor James got attacked from both sides at one point too. He was letting out the lady in the seat next to where he was standing and then one comes behind him and starts elbowing him in the back but he couldn't move forward without crushing the little lady in front of him. ^^;; Poor James! Jordan hid in the seat behind him to avoid it when it happened and I just watched from the front. lol
Eventually we got off the bus and ventured a bit to find this big food market Holly wanted to show us.
Here's the inside of the market. It went on for a really long time too.
And the market lead straight into the shopping arcade so we got to go there again for our final few hours of shopping. Once again we came back to those capsule machines and I stared at the Saint Seiya one for a while since I finally had more 100 Yens. Brennan told me I prolly have bad luck and if I do it, I'll get the same one again so I should let someone else do it for me. I was going to make him do it but then he disappeared so I just went ahead...and got Dohko for a third freaking time! So then I like yelled at the thing 'cause I could totally see the other figures in there. And then went into the manga store and bought the really awesome Advent Children Reunion book, which was totally worth getting. And then made sure I got 100 Yen change back. XP So this time had Jordan put the money in for me. And I got Shiryu! Oh my god, I was so happy. lol Wanted Shaka but Shiryu is my 2nd fav so fine by me. ^_^ And then poor Jordan tried to get some Naruto cards out of the one machine but they wouldn't come out like they were supposed to so they were stuck there and he trying to use cards he had to get them out and I got all nervous 'cause I'm sure it looked like he was trying to rob the machine the way he was doing it. x_x He never did get them out either. Then we went to several more anime stores and I got stuff to make up for the lack of buying at other places. lol Though I'm still not sure what happened to the Saint Seiya cards I got as I have the wrapper but only one card still in it and not sure where the others went. I'm afraid they might've fallen out at the hotel and I didn't notice or something sad like that. ;_; Ah well.
Then we went back to Mister Donut. Actually, we went there twice. Once just to get donoughts and relax and then the 2nd time 'cause we ran into Holly and she wanted to go there and I had gotten a point card so I gave it to her since she's a frequent visitor and uses the points for stuff. XP While we were there the 2nd time I got what I consider my favorite picture out of the whole trip...
Monks at Mister Donut. XP
Adam finally managed to get his sword and had it shipped home before we left Japan. Then we shopped til it got to be dinner time and then went to a Thai place for our final dinner. lol But it was real Thai food which I had never had before so I was excited to actually get to have real curry. And I did and it was wonderful. *_* Ah, it was so good. I had prawn curry and that flatbread thing in spinach flavor.
Then most of the group had planned to spend their last night clubbing and bar hoping but Holly, Brennan, and I didn't want to do that. But there wasn't really anything we could do that late at night as the only things open beyond like 8/9 pm are the bars, clubs, restaurants, and pachinko. ^^; So Holly tried to find us a cake shop but we failed to find any that were open. And settled for a little place called Holly's Cafe, ironically. XP Brennan and I had ice cream and Holly just had coffee and we chatted for a few hours. Though I came to the conclusion that Brennan is a lot like my eldest brother in the fact that he's so pesimistic and annoying. XP He only has one tone for everything too as I had to explain to Holly throughout the trip when she wasn't sure if Brennan was being sarcastic or serious at times. It's really hard to tell with him. So he was the source of a lot of our teasing and insulting throughout the trip as there really is only so much Brennan one can take. XP So after that we just wandered back. The rest of the group ended up spliting even further down as a few of the guys got bored and tired after a few bars. Chris only went out really so that he could get the pictures he developed to the waitress girls he met and gave them his e-mail. XP James and Brad were the only two that stayed up really late. And James managed to meet a girl at one of the clubs and was whining about leaving the whole next day. XP
Day 10: The Last Day
Traveling: from Kyoto escort bus to Kansai airport to plane to Dallas Texas to smaller plane back to Dulles International
That morning we all did some final stops to Circle K, our conveinence store and then packed up. We has some time before the bus showed up so we decided to finally check out the grounds of the Kyoto Imperial palace across the street. It wasn't that much to see but it was a nice park area. And of course it was raining again.
Here's the gate though.
And this was just a cool little Shinto shrine that was open on the street near our hotel and it looked nice so took a picture since I missed all the shrines in Koya-san as I was camera-less.
We picked up bento lunches and got on the escort bus which was really nice as it was a few hours to the airport so they even gave us hand towels and we got a bathroom stop. Holly was staying extra days in Japan so she waved us off and looked so sad to see her "ducklings" leave her. ^^; The airport was also really really cool. It was huge and of course, had a huge mall in it. XP We went to our gate and ate our lunches. I had suishi and it was good. Did a little bit of shopping and just sat and waited.
We found an Ichiban headband there and made Brennan buy it so he really could be Ichiban Gaijin-sama-dono-bozu XP He looks so proud of himself here. ^^;
So then we had yet another really long flight and this time we actually had some night time flying so it was easier to sleep. Slept most of this one in fact. And bah, the food wasn't that great. It was decent on the way to Japan but I didn't like any of the stuff on the way back home really. Watched a few more movies, listened to the radio stations, etc. Then we arrived in Dallas and immediately we were all hit by the culture difference and we were just kinda sad to no longer be in Japan. As the manners and behavior is just so incredibly different. *sigh* But anyways, we only had an hour before our next flight so we tried to hurry. Customs didn't take us long at all but the immigration part took quite a while. And then we realized we had to take this shuttle thing to get to the part of the airport we needed and we got on it...only to find out it went all the way around instead of going back the way we needed to go so it took us a lot longer than we had hoped. I'm sure there was one that would've taken us there directly but we were in too much of a rush to figure it out. So we literally ran the rest of the way to gate and...didn't make it in time. We were like just 2 minutes too late as they had like just closed the door. x_x So close! *sigh* So then we had to transfer to a later flight. Which was really only an hour later so it wasn't too bad. We ate pizza while we waited. This plane was a lot smaller than the one we were supposed to get on though but it was only like a 2 and a half hour flight or so, so it was ok. The guy next to me and Adam was playing King Kong on his laptop and I was just "-_-;;" because that had been the main movie on 2 of the flights we were on so I had already seen it once without sound, once with sound, and then again on this guy's computer after Adam told me the one on the flights had been edited. But yeah, got kinda sick of King Kong. lol Didn't even like the movie to begin with. XP But anyways, didn't take long for us to arrive and we all got our Shisengumi jackets out like planned.
Chris really doesn't look like he belongs here. XP
And our dorky picture with Brad-sensei. XP
And thus ended our trip to Japan.
Ok done. Now just gotta entertain myself til people arrive and we go to the con. ^_^
~Lyn