Hello Kyoto

Our first morning in Kyoto started out a little overcast and chillier than we were used to, but that was better than the typhoon we had been warned about coming our way. We started out the morning in Higashiyama south and later headed to Higashiyama north. It was a full day of temples, temples and more temples. All beautiful in its own way. All difficult to get to on their own level - stairs and more stairs and usually up a mountain. 

Knee problems? Thats for the faint of heart and not for those wanted to see the culture and history of Kyoto. 

I knew that Kyoto was the area to spot Geishas (and pretend to be one), but I didnt undertand how many people actually did it - until today. When preparing for the trip, both Ori and I read that there were  shops one could go to in order to get the Geisha experience - dress, make up, riksha, photographers - different packages for different pockets. And there is the same thing for men (in a male version of the Kimono and minus the make up). Who knew so many people actually wanted that experience. Kimono dressed women were all over old Kyoto. Everywhere we looked, there was another one, each with hair more elaborate than the next. 

We were worried about doing the route on a Saturday as we are not fans of big lines (who is?) and have been lucky to have missed the main tourist season. But because of the rain that was forecast, we didnt want to chance missing out on anything. We were lucky that while there were people, we still were able to enjoy the views an the temples. 

The first temple we arrived at, we started walking up the stairs and were approached by a young woman who introduced herself as Yuma. Yuma is studying English and offered to give us a free tour of the temple. As this offer worked wonderfully last time (in the garden in Okayama with the retired army general), I figured- why not? Well, I guess we did a good deed and let her give us a tour but her knowledge of the place leaves a little room for improvement. 

On with the day. Though i mentioned it started cloudy, the day quickly got hotter. and the humidity! OMG. I don't think I've mentioned the humidity in this country and is doing you a disservice. Its humid! Really humid. You think its hot, but its really the humidity that gets you. And when youre climbing up stairs and hiking up mountains, well the humidity only gets worse. 

We walked passed many stands selling ice cream. And unless youve been to Japan, i dont know if youll know this, but they love everything with green tea. Especially ice cream. So we stopped at a tiny little ice cream stand and i asked to taste the - pumpkin and chestnut concoction. It was really cool. Pumpkin ice cream and a chestnut preserve and then some more ice cream. It tasted interesting but... I was going to order something and the man suggested green team ice cream - his is unlike all the others. The others, he said, all use green food colouring. His, he went on to boast, uses real green tea powder. Ok, if you insist. It too was ok. Im glad I tried it, and made Ori take a taste off of mine, but I dont think ill be reordering it. 

We then continued to the North and walked on the philospher's path. We stopped along the way to look at Japanese house robes (sooo comfortable) and ended up trying on a Kimono (trully accidentally). One second Im looking at patterns and the next moment this old woman is wrapping me in a kimono and barking at Ori to get his camera out. 

Walking around the grounds of Nunzenji temple, we found a magical little place that seemed totally out of place in Japan, I thought it seemed more European in architecture. We waited a bit until the Japanese girls finished their photo session (they never end!) and took some shots on our own. Then came this lovely Japanese man who offered to take a few shots of us together. He had so much patience and waited until others were out of the background. He even gave a shout to some who rudely stepped in (so uncharacteristic of Japanese, but lovely lovely man). I love this shot!

The philosophers path was a real experience. Ori was really excited about walking in the path of philosophers. Can you imagine the decisions that were made walking these stones. 

Hungry after a day of walking climbing and pondering the meaning of life, we settled on Udon at a convenient place. Never do that! Its never good to decide on a place to eat in a hurry when youre hungry. It was not great, to say the least. We crossed the street to walk back to the hotel and what do we see through the glass window of a restaurant? A man hand making udon. We walked in out of curiosity and we saw that they also made vegetarian tempura - many different kinds. And even chicken tempura. All in different oil containers. Awesome. You might recall that in an earlier post I mentioned how difficult it is for me to find meals because of everything containing pork. It seems as if in Kyoto, its the same. I thought that gioza, or dumplings would come with different ingredients, but thats not to be. But tempura - well, you'd think that too wouldn't be an issue. But that seems to be always with shrimp. Well, this place is a heaven sent place for me. Fresh Udon, no pork soup, and veggie tempura. Tastes great, and did I mention cheap? And all the patrons were locals, not one tourist face around (other than ours) We were coming back for a late dinner (the earlier udon was a late lunch and was so tiny, and unappetising, it could not be called dinner).

We did end up coming back after a brief rest and it was worth it - and a half. Highly recommended. And they were all so very nice. A real mom and pop kind of place. 

After that we called it a night. Happy stomachs, happy travelers.