When we were walking back towards our hostel and food we caught a glimpse of the mountain and decided to walk up toward the direction where we could see it. Then it unveiled itself.
Here I got a little “snap-happy” and took pictures like a crazy person.
We ate breakfast at the local Family Mart and then made our way back to the hostel to check out. I took a picture of the scenery.
We checked out of the hostel and they gave us a ride to the local train station. Still happy that Fuji was visible I took another picture.
We decided to pay the extra money to take the rapid train since it came first and would be about an hour faster (note: the rail pass doesn’t cover any rails but JR rails, so we still have to pay sometimes). We had a good view out the window so I bet you can assume what I did.
We couldn’t see Fuji anymore so I just took pictures.
After about 3 hours of train travel Erin and I made it to Kyoto. We had a little bit of trouble finding the hostel so I asked an old man where みなみざ (Minamiza, one of our landmarks) was. He pointed in a direction and told me that it was down on the left but I guess he figured we would get lost so he walked with us and talked to me as we walked. After about a kilometer I asked him if a building we saw was Minamiza. He said yes and walked away as I thanked him. We made our way from the theatre to our Hostel since from there the directions were easy.
My first impressions of our hostel, 一円相 (ichiensou), were great. The guy working there, Yashi, was really nice and greeted us warmly. He also had an Australian accent, which sounded really cool coming out of a Japanese person. I asked him where he picked up from and he said that he had lived in Tasmania for 4 years. Cool eh? When we were getting set up in our room he invited us to go to dinner with him and some of the people at the hostel. Erin didn’t really want to so we went and found dinner on our own. We wandered up the street and found a ramen place that was really cheap. When we got our food we were impressed by just how good it was. I got a huge bowl of miso ramen and some gyoza (stuffed dumplings, I don't know what is in them but they are good).
After dinner Erin and I wandered around with my tripod and took some night shots of Kyoto. The first picture is from Shijo Bridge and boy was it beautiful.
Here is the Minamiza that I mentioned.
The other side of the Bridge.
After taking pictures, we went back to the hostel and Yashi invited us to go out with him and some of the other people in the hostel. We decided to go this time and went with the group to a bar called “Sex on the Moon”. I say bar, but it was really an izakaya, or Japanese drinking place. Also, everything on their menu was 300 yen, which also included food. The drinks were good and cheap, but we mostly talked. I got a drink called the “Ninja Turtle” that was Gin based. I don’t know what was in it but it was green and very tasty. I spoke a lot of Japanese with Yashi while we were there. It was good practice. We mostly talked about Japanese food and my impressions of Japan. He is good at speaking Japanese to people who are learning, I.E., slow and clear. We eventually had had enough laughs and decided to leave that place. Half of the group decided to go to a club. Our half of the group decided to go back to the hostel and sleep since it was late. One of the people in that group I had recognized. I asked her where we had met before and she said that she was in Tokyo at the same place we were for a night, so we met there. Her name was Mary Anne, and she was from Australia. I guess that is the good thing about staying in hostels… you get to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the place. Also included in our group that went out that night were; a couple from Morocco, a couple from Canada, a woman from Poland that lives in Scotland and several Australians. They are all really cool people.
Anyway, after that we went to bed because we were tired.
1 comment:
That looks like a very peaceful place. Mt. Fuji, all ways impressive.
....climb it.
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