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Published: August 23rd 2008
They say Kyoto is the most visited tourist destination on the entire planet, eclipsing heavyweights like Paris and New York. Even so, we have yet to spot more than a handful of Westerners. With countless World Heritage listed temples and shrines, the mysterious Geisha underworld and a multitude of calming Zen gardens, Kyoto is in every sense the most traditional of all Japan's large cities.
Our Japanses-style guesthouse is in a fantastic location and the cheapest in town. (Who could go wrong for AUD $25 a night?)Management didn't even bat an eyelid when Dave's hair blanketed the tatami after reaching epic lengths. Too tight to pay for a professional cut, he let Pen loose with the kiddie-soft left-handed scissors for the first time in her life. (You be the judge of the results via our blog photographs).
We have allowed ourselves 4 days in Kyoto to soak in the soul of the city and we could easily double that and still barely scratch the surface. Highlights have been: a bamboo forest reminiscent of a scene from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"; strolling through the never ending corridor of vibrant red Torii gates at Fushimiinari-taisha shrine; and stalking the front doors
of tea rooms along Hanamikoji in Gion to catch a rare fleeting glimpse of a Geisha scuttling between appointments. (Most people never see a single Geisha. Unbelievably, we were lucky enough to spot three in the flesh!)
In a country where blowing one's nose in the street is a mortal sin and eating takeaway food in public is seriously frowned upon, we managed to disgrace ourselves in the most innocent of ways. Who would've thought tasting free samples in the Nishiki Food Market would rouse a famously meek and polite Japanese lady to scream indecipherable obscenities at us, amidst what we could only assume were a few colourful variations on, "You try, you buy." We surveyed her over-priced cookies with what must have looked like full intention of purchasing .... then bolted!
Apart from the crazy biscuit lady, everyone we have met on our travels through Japan has been generous, kind-hearted and helpful. Even fellow supermarket customers regularly feel oblidged to suggest their favourite products for us to try. This country never fails to surprise.
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Rosanne
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Re: Geisha in Kyoto
Penn and Dave, Loved the photos of the Bamboo place..Beautiful....and Penny I would have crouched down too to get a photo like that. Unreal...I love this sort of culture because it is just so different to ours... Now the haircut? It looks like Penny did a good job, Well you know now Dave she can always cut your hair... And eating in the street publicly is wrong over there...yeah I actually knew that one...so I laughed...you have to be careful too as sometimes in their cultures they curse you in the streets with their laungage and you wouldn't even know...But hey look on the bright side, You cleansed your sins away.... Love the Haircut - nothing wrong with it! Look forward to your next travel blog entry...