Our gracious host/ringleader, Niki, led the six of us to Yokohama station to check in and get on an overnight bus on Halloween night to Kyoto. While it may have been a much cheaper option to take the bus to Kyoto (as opposed to the Shinkansen bullet train), we learned that there was a sacrifice made. In my case, it was an utmost level of comfort. The chairs on this bus were the reclining sort, but for some reason, mine would not. Which is fine to a degree, but the person in front of me definitely knew how to recline his chair. Because I brought so much clothing with me (and a textbook, and my laptop, and chargers galore, and food for the trip), my bag was a mountain. And I didn't feel safe giving it up to storage below the bus, so I took it with me inside. Big mistake. It, plus Mr. Recliner man, made it such that I could not stretch out my legs whatsoever. Eventually I was able to swing my leg over into the aisle and actually give my poor legs a break, but for the first 4 hours of the 7 hour ride, it was hellacious. I must also mention that the chairs on this bus were awful awful awful, such that by the end of the journey, I could not recount a time I had been more sore and uncomfortable doing anything really. Such is the price we pay for cheap transportation, ne? I definitely don't blame Niki, since she had no idea and also did so ridiculously much work to make sure everything worked out for us, but it was just an unlucky turn of events.
As a result, I didn't sleep at all on the bus. Aided by the fact that it was so hot, our group was literally sweating in our chairs (despite it being chilly outside), I did not get a wink of shut-eye. It didn't help me at all the next day, since we were to start our tour-ish events as soon as we got to the hostel to drop off our bags. My first impressions of Kyoto: "Wow, this place has a lot more modern buildings than I expected". These impressions definitely faded as I learned more about the city, but upon the station arrival, it was more advanced than I thought. Just goes to show how times change even the traditional former capital of Japan. Our hostel was simply the best. My opinions of hostels are so much more positive now. This place, K's Backpacker Hostel, was superb for many reasons. It felt like a hotel in just about every way. It was clean, it was fun and quirky, it was aimed at the traveler looking to have a good time (there was a bulletin board with dozens and dozens of places to go/things to see, all in English). It had great staff, very helpful, and just fantastic facilities. I definitely want to go and use their services again if I get the chance to travel elsewhere in Japan.
After dropping off our stuff, we hit the road immediately, putting our one-day Kyoto bus passes to use. We went to Kiyomizudera Temple, one of the most famous in all of Kyoto. The pictures really speak for themselves, so please visit the flickr (INSERT LINK HERE) and see everything. I loved my time spent there, simply put. We got there before the crowds arrived, since it was about 9AM I think (on a Thursday, no less), so plenty of good pictures were taken. The changing leaves were definitely one of the standout points of the trip. I was so glad they were changing some by the time we arrived. If it was all green, it would have looked significantly different. Just like how I wish we could have been able to come during snow season. ざんねんですね。
The group split up somewhat near this time, going off in our own directions while attempting to keep in contact with one another. At one point, we tried meeting up to go to Kotokuin Temple, another popular spot, but for 700 yen (almost $10), I decided to skip it. Instead, I took the opportunity to visit the giant Kannon statue (bodhisattva, Buddhist deity) and the surrounding temple area. Lucky for me, there wasn't a soul in sight, so I got the entire temple to myself. The entrance fee even included a lit incense stick, so I went to place it in the designated spot and do a little prayer. Perhaps my favorite part of the entire trip this weekend was the time I spent there by myself, particularly when I found a nearby sitting area and took a nap. Sleeping underneath a giant bodhisattva statue, in unbelievably beautiful weather, with nothing but ambient sounds to soothe me, was just unreal. So perfect.
Eventually I headed back out to meet everyone so we could move on to something else. Once our time with temples had passed for the day, we went to Gion, a well-known shopping street/district in Kyoto. It had a fascinating mixture of traditional Japanese shops (parasol stores, fan stores, knick-knack places) and department store-like brand name spots. As always, Japan embodies the fusion of old and new in a way unlike anything else. Real geisha walked the streets, right alongside business men, tourists, and school kids. Shops in a certain were very much like swap meet stands, peddling random wares at discounted prices. However, this also led to shady establishments from time to time.
One such place was an arcade with an abundance of UFO catchers. I found a PopN' machine outside that offered 3 credits (12 songs!) for a mere 100 yen, but while playing, learned of the trick. The judgment on the system was SUPER harsh, penalizing any mistakes immensely more than normal machines. Thankfully, I've gotten pretty good at the game, so it wasn't such an issue for me, but I can see how it might suck money from some people. But what was a much bigger money dump were the UFO catchers. While playing, I was approached by Fion, David, and Anastasia, telling me I HAD to come help them when I was done. Apparently, the staff running the arcade had decided to try and help us "win" some figures. If we could beat a single machine at the arcade, they would give us a stack of Neon Genesis Evangelion figures. Really nice ones, actually. And we kept coming into contact with incredibly difficult machines. We just couldn't get it. The staff member on hand kept "helping" us, showing us how to win, adjusting things to make it seem easier, and whenever we would start to feel beaten, would add another figure to the pile. This eventually ended up being a 9 figure-high stack of potential winnings, could we just beat a single machine. Soon, however, I realized exactly how scammed we all had been.
I helped them around the time they had moved to a third machine, so I didn't lose nearly as much money as the others. Each try was 200 yen, which was my first mistake. It's a rule that I don't do machines that cost that much per try. You can win almost anything for cheap if each try is 100 yen, but doubling that makes it easier just to buy it in an online auction. The machine I tried first was a simple claw game. A big Minnie Mouse plush was laying head-only on a bowl-like container, while it's limbs dangled down. If we could get the plush to drop, we'd win. The thing with this was that 1. the head must have been weighted immensely, as any attempts to push or pull it were rejected, but more importantly, 2. the machine was rigged. We would try it over and over again, but from time to time, the staff member would show us how to do it. And it would work, dropping the figure. The difference was that, when he dropped the claws, they would do their normal action routine by dropping, closing to get a grip on an object, and then pulling up. However, when we would do it, the arms would drop, then just lift right back up. Without that gripping motion, it was simply impossible. He added another figure to the stack and moved us to the next machine.
This one was a different beast entirely. It had a round, transparent "plug" suspended over a platform with three holes. Each hole, if plugged, had a button that would be pressed and drop the corresponding prize. The third hole was significantly bigger than the first two, so the prize associated with it was supposed to be less amazing. However, with our prize cache waiting, it was just another means to scam us harder. They had this auto-win setting they would flick to prove it was totally possible to win. Tricky, ne?
After the escapade with the arcade (and the others got consolation prizes for spending a ridiculous amount of money), some random kid outside part of a school field trip approached me and thanked me in broken English. What for? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe coming to Japan. But he thanked me over and over again and asked if he could shake my hand. What a photo op this became. Little 10-year old boy shaking my hand, and then later on approaching me again asking for an autograph. AN AUTOGRAPH. He said I looked like Tom Cruise. I laughed so hard. The irony is that I actually share a birthday with Tom Cruise o_o
A lot of shopping later and we headed back to the hostel to knock the crap out. The hostel continued to be amazing and such a great deal for the price. And I came back home with a new cuddle buddy. Anastasia and Fione together convinced me to purchase a giant baby seal plushie named Sirotan. But given this boring, unoriginal name, I brought back the one and only Sir Francis of Norway. Despite advances by Fione to steal my beautiful new friend, I got to sleep soundly alongside the softest seal I've yet to come across.
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