Blogs from Kyoto, Japan, Asia - page 74

It’s pre-dawn and the bakers, err mochi makers, in Kyoto are busily creating the Shogatsu (New Year) sticky rice that will be eaten and used for decoration throughout the city. Their ‘mochi ovens’ are fired up, emitting a steamy substance into the early morning sky while the murmur of their machines is the only sound on the unassuming side street where they work, steadily, purposefully. While pounding the sticky rice, mochi pounding, is a fun pastime during the holiday season, the actual mochi is a strong symbol of the new year. The mochi used purely for decoration, called Kagami Mochi, where large and a small disc-shaped mochi slabs are placed one on top of each other and then topped with a daidai, or bitter orange; other symbolic additions are added to the decoration but those are ... read more

Seoul (Nov. 17-22), Japan: Tokyo (Nov. 22-26), Kyoto (Nov. 26- Dec. 2), Bangkok and Cambodia (Dec. 2-10) It begins with things like the toilets- the differences in Asia, that is. Coming from Laos and Vietnam and heading straight for Korea and Japan is a stark contrast possibly humorously described by toilet experiences. Even in pretty decent Vietnamese restaurants, there is a hole in the ground with 2 places for your feet (thank god I am a guy!). The bathroom in the lobby in Seoul had about 8 buttons and a seat warmer (no wonder Scott hung out there for 30 minutes at a time). I have to admit, I really missed the warmth of Vietnam but fall was in full session in eastern Asia, it was beautiful to see the various colors of leaves and to ... read more

Last week I had the privilege of visiting Kyoto for a third time. I have already shared a fair amount about the wonders of Kyoto, so I will just focus on a few highlights. - The "Moss Temple". This was truly a unique experience, and I suspect relatively few westerners are able to make it out to this one. The general public requires special permission to visit, and because of this, the place was tranquil and serene - just the way a temple should be. The temple grounds are covered in a bright green moss, and because it is fall, many of the trees had turned a lovely red hue. Before seeing the grounds, we spent some time in the temple itself, first listening to the monks chant and then copying about 100 kanji characters on ... read more

Rich and I went to Kyoto towards the end of November to check out the autumn leaves. All of my students tell me that Kyoto is the place to go to see the seasons change, and for good reason! We headed to Arashiyama first in hopes of avoiding some of the crowds, but after a bit we realized that was impossible (plus we had some dramas trying to find an ATM). We did make a brief stop at Tenryu-ji temple though for some nice photo ops. After that we decided to head to Kyoto-proper and check out one of the city’s most famous temples- Kiyomizu-dera. The walk up to the temple was aggravating at best… hoards of people, all going in different directions, on a very small street. One thing this country seems to lack is ... read more

Hi everyone, (Barb, my room-mate Leona and I are still in awe at the fact that you used to babysit her children! What a small world indeed! The things I learn about my friends when I travel around the world!!!!) Wow. What an evening we had! We went to a famous restaurant for Shabu-Shabu. (It's essentially a fondue dinner concept, only instead of using oil to deep fry everything, you use a broth.) Dinner was Miso Soup, rice, Japanese pickles, and various items for the Shabu: beef, veggies, tofu, etc. Yum. Yum. Yum! You will see from the pictures that we had a ball! Then came the entertainment. Geisha girls entertained, and helped us with dinner as well. Then there was the Drum performance. Awesome. All of it! We had an opportunity to pose for pictures ... read more