day 150, Nara then Kyoto

Had an excellent sleep not ruined by snoring or shuffling or movement and woke up very slowly. As there wasn’t much to do in Nara during the night time I decided to head back to Kyoto sometime in the evening and ruled out going to Amanohasidate as it would be too expensive for what it was and didn’t fit in with the bus timetable to Hiroshima. I booked 2 nights back in Kyoto at the same hostel I stayed in, and with that weight off my mind I headed out into Nara on a beautiful day. I walked into town, got some light brunch and went in search of the Big Buddha at Todai-ji temple. The place was pretty busy with tourists however it’s attractiveness shone through, the gate to get in to the big Buddha hall was made out of wood and looked mightily old and held my attention for a good 15 minutes. After that the Big Buddha house (trying not to make the awful joke of saying it was the predecessor to the big brother house or something along those lines and failing, I’m sorry ali) was equally impressive, and the Big Buddha was amazing. Built in the 8th century it just baffles me, it’s 15m tall and huge and intricately made, and was great to see and walk round it. Half way round the Virocana Buddha was a queue about 100 people deep lining the wall, mostly school children. Intrigued I followed the queue to one of the massive pillars which at the bottom had a hole in, and yes people were queuing up to fit through the hole in the same building as one of the best things I have ever seen. From the big Buddha hall i walked round in a circle through the park and passing numerous shrines and loadsa deer, stopping off here and there to read my book. I made my way back to the hostel to pick up my bag and walk to the train station though the line to Kyoto was closed due to a badly translated “accident or death occurrence”, so got put in a bus to another train station then caught a train to Kyoto. Japan as the novelty wears off seems to becoming more expensive, so instead of taking the 2 quid bus I walked to my hostel for 50 mins with Michelle, my big bag, and a little pissed off about nothing in particular I walked into a shop and bought a carton of milk and some cake costing more then 2 quid. While I was paying for it the irony struck and I started smiling, then asked for a straw to drink my milk but the girl behind the counter didn’t understand, so I did the miming action  for a straw and she looked a bit startled, me a bit confused I pointed to my milk and she looked relieved and broke out in a nervous smile, walking down the street re-doing my straw mime trying to work out what she was startled about it hit me and I cracked up. Got back to my hostel and settled in. I’ve booked a bus to Hiroshima for Monday night, it’s half the price of a train and it is overnight so saves me accommodation for the night so am chuffed. I heard mark in the corridor so shouted to him, he was off for some food then to watch the Chelsea arsenal game, we went to a dumplings restaurant that was recommended by the hostel which was very nice, my love for oolong tea is increasing by the day, then headed off in search of football. The place that I watched the rugby was a private party, so headed to a british pub where we saw the Manchester derby. They were playing the united game though after a bit of persuasion turned it over and was a great game. Mark is a Chelsea fan and I inevitably ended up routing for arsenal, plus it was the Halloween party in the pub and some of the costumes and effort was extraordinary, from the best Japanese amy winehouse I’ve seen, to col gadaffi to my favourite, an american in a giant costume about8 foot tall and 5 foot long, a sort of giant black fish with teeth either side of his head, it had a harness and he couldn’t stand up without hitting the roof and had taken all the fake cobwebs off with him. He said it took him and 3 others 15 hours, though he was getting plenty of lady attention so he reckons a good investment. We finished the game and walked home. Mark is going to Hiroshima tomorrow, I have 2 days to kill really in Kyoto before my bus.

day 149, Nara

Woke up tired, packed my bag and walked to the train station which was 45 mins away as literally  had too much money for the bus, only a 10,000 note and couldn’t break it anywhere, then caught the train to Nara. I elected to take the slow train in order to see more stuff and thoroughly enjoyed it. Got to Nara and walked to my hostel where I was met by a Japanese man called Kiokso who is really nice, then headed off into Nara. Nara is quite small and has numerous things to do however wasn’t in the mood for any of it, so I walked up to the big hill (they call it a mountain) which had a stunning view of the area, read my book (PD james’ a certain justice) and watched the sunset till it got too cold. There’s lots of deer round Nara which is awesome, I got a hot chocolate (in a can) then headed back to the hostel, had a chat with Kiokso, got some tempura then as I’m the only person at the hostel had a quiet night researching stuff on my computer while my ipod is plugged into a big speaker blaring out some tunes!

day 148, kyoto

Lazed the morning away as meeting Ayumi at 2, booked a hostel for tomorrow, had some Gyudon and caught the bus to the train station to meet Ayumi. She was as lovely as I remembered and proceeded to show me around a couple of Kodai-ji temple which was lovely and serene, and had a really interesting collection of artwork on show, very simple but delicately made of black paper all cut out stuck on white paper to form traditional family life scenes, for some reason I didn’t take any pictures, too busy enjoying them but they were delightful and intricate and looked fabulous. We then went out for dinner which was great, despite my request for sushi  we ended up at a meat on sticks with beer place  which the Japanese love, though it was extended to a bit of mixed rice, stuffed peppers and raw octopus in wasubi before saying goodbye to Ayumi and back to my hostel, where again had the intention of an early night but stayed up finishing ‘One Day’ which despite it’s flaws, it’s rom-com-ness and compared to Shantaram was a literature rag I loved.

day 147, kyoto

Had no plans for today and technically didn’t do anything, though it was a bloody marvellous day. Went for a wander round central town just having a look, then ended up walking round the imperial park which was lovely. Alternated between walking round with music in, reading my book and watching the kids play baseball/cricket/tennis. It was a little bit cold so walked around a bit more and got a pint of milk in, went back to the park for more reading and music, then walked back to the hostel for a proper amazing cup of tea. Had a chat with Mark and a Chinese girl staying at the hostel then quite a big palaver was happening outside the window (we’re on the 5th floor) with fire-engines, all the lights and sirens, people shouting, had a look outside the window and 6 doors down was a massive fire, so watched the fire-fighters do a great job, ended up having 5 fire-engines, lots of people gathered and the media came. Got some raman for dinner then read me book some more. Was going to Hiroshima tomorrow though Ayumi, a Japanese girl I met in Italy emailed me back and is showing me around tomorrow, so have checked into the hostel for another night and will prob head to Hiroshima on Monday now as prices double at weekend for the buses.

day 146, kyoto

Woke up today feeling really good, decided to have the day to meself and fancied an onsen, a hot spring bath/spa thing. I read in the lonely planet about the best one, asked the bloke working at the hostel how to get there and he recommended a couple of other things for me. I got a all day bus pass and thought I’d utilise it to the fullest so took the opportunity to take a bus to the train station to see the view from the sky garden during the day, and also to get another look at the stunning station. That was very cool, I got some more cash, stopped off on my way for gyudon (beef bowl with pickled ginger radish) then took the bus in the direction I was going and making my mind up on the bus where to get off. I decided to take it to the end of the line and went in search of Ryoanji temple, where they have this zen rock garden which is really famous. I looked at it for quite a while and just didn’t get it, however I was impressed how they had an exact replica on a tiny scale with all the brail by the side of it so blind people could ’see’ the garden, though when I had a go with my eyes closed I got scowled at a bit and a women came straight over after I finished to re-rake the gravel… from there I got a bit of cake in as it were me brother’s birthday and you got to have cake on a birthday, then headed off to Kinkakuji temple, this gold temple on a lake/pond which was very pretty. By this time it had got dark so I went in search of the onsen, I found it pretty easily and to my disappointment it was like a swimming pool only it were baths, ie not outside and all tiles, no sitting in between rocks or the like. They had several small hot baths, one massage bath, a cold bath, a sauna and a warm wooden bath outside, and after about an hour in there it probably says something slightly pikey of me that my favourite part was a shower where you sit down for. After that amazing shower I got a hot chocolate from one of the numerous vending machines (in a can!) and started walking back to the bus, and I felt infinitely relaxed. I caught the bus back, put some music in and decided I didn’t want to go back to my hostel yet, so I got on another bus to see a bit of Kyoto I hadn’t seen, sat in a bus with me headphones in looking out the window, saw the Toji temple which had an impressive pagooda all lit up, then got off to have some food and back on the bus, arrived at the hostel a full 11 hours after I left. Showered again and read a bit of ‘One Day’ which I picked up at a hostel, really enjoying it though found the first couple of chapters hard going due to the style, hard to think of anything more different then shantaram though am enjoying it hugely.

day 145, Kyoto

Met up with Mark the English guy to head off to Arashiyama. We thought about taking the train though it was very expensive so we went back and got the bus out . The place was beautiful and relatively quiet, right next to the mountains with a river running through. We stopped off for some udon (noodles with something, in my case prawn in a tempura batter) then walked on, past a few temples in search of the bamboo groove, a walkway between a bamboo park which was stunning. From there we chose a path that went up and walked to nowhere in particular, following the river for a bit till we decided to head back. On our way back we stumbled across this lookout point of the city which was ridiculous, literally took my breath away and we sat there for 20mins just looking out. We headed back down and through quiet streets in search of a certain temple. We accidentally found ourselves at another one, though it was amazing, no one else was there, the gardens were beautiful, the temple building was understated but elegant, there was a very impressive thatched roof building, gorgeous trees, I loved it. From there we started walking back then stumbled upon a massive pond which was so tranquil that we got an ice cream and just sat there for a while. We  wandered back down then caught the bus back to Kyoto station. Jason told me of a sky garden at Kyoto station which he said I should check out, so went in search of that. Kyoto station is over 13 floors, 2 below the ground and 11 on top, the bottom 3 act as the station, the rest act as a mall, restaurants and business premises. The place is architecturally awesome, with escalators going up between the 11 floors all in a line, and weirdly they had escalators which weren’t covered by a roof. We reached the sky garden to look out over a night time view of Kyoto which was incredible, though they had put Perspex sheets in front which slightly hindered the viewing experience. Took a bus back to the hostel, had a much needed dinner, showered and chilled for a bit, then settled down  in the common room to relax for a bit. They had a tv which flicked through, watched some intense Japanese boxing which finished abruptly then x-men 2 came on, only it was in Japanese. Really fancied a film though they didn’t have any dvds, so fetched Shantaram and carried on reading. By this time it was 9 and I was knackered, and had a good plan to get an early night, however Shantram was immense and I couldn’t put it down, ended up finishing the book sprawled across the couch covered in blankets at half one in the morning. I decided then to not set an alarm for the next day, with no real plans and will see where the wind takes me.

day 144, kyoto

As Jason left early this morning was planning on having a relatively quiet day and I achieved it which was fabulous day. They were having this festival thing which was more a parade marching through the streets, around 2000 people in traditional dress going back 1000 years in chronological order, both men and women dressed in everyday gear and warriors and geishas etc. it was really interesting to see them go through  though after 2 hours of standing still I got a bit cold so went ‘upstream’ a bit to where the parade had started from, the imperial palace gardens, and had a walk around there which was amazing, beautiful trees and landscapes with wide gravel paths, no-one really about and it was brilliant. I wandered round aimlessly, read more of shantaram, stumbled upon a softball court where they had 5 matches playing and was really good to see, then a tennis court and watched a coaching session, where the standard was pretty damn high. I went in search of a bar and ended up at a sports bar with a massive projector and couches, sat down with a Swedish bloke called Per to watch the rugby and got half a pint in (a full pint was 900yen) and thoroughly enjoyed the rugby, was a great spectacle, and started out a neutral I ended up routing for the French and thought the last 5 mins were a bit anti climatic. Went back to the hostel to see when the city united game kicked off, met an English bloke called mark who’s been travelling for 11 months and is doing almost my trip in reverse which is cool, so set off with him to get some food and watch the football at a pub, enjoyed the game immensely, treated myself to  a whole pint then fought the temptation to watch the qpr Chelsea game and went back to me hostel and thought I’d skype a few people, had a great hour and half then bed