Kyoto

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Our adventure finally took us to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan. Our first night, we've made reservations with K's House, a hostel that was recommended by two of our friends independently. In fact, the place was booked up and we were only able to secure a place for our first night in Kyoto. Given all of that, one would assume that it'd be a great place.
Perhaps it's because we've been spoiled with all the nice ryokans we've been staying at, and I suppose we've come a long way since having to stay in little capsules, but we were not happy with our place, mainly because there was no bathing facility. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but once you've been in Japan for some time, you really get addicted to the hot baths.
But let me back up just a bit, and describe our adventure from the train station to the hostel. We walked on the wrong street, parallel to the street we thought we were walking on, unable to figure out the street signs, and got lost amongst the little sidestreets, about 15 minutes after arriving at Kyotol.
Good thing we bumped into what looked like an old man in his 90's (apparently angels comes in all genders and ages, this one was not as attractive as the one in Nagoya) and after making a gesture for sleeping (raising his arm up and tilting his head so that his face is against is arm, if that makes any sense), he started leading us out of the labyrinth of narrow streets. Unsure if he even knows what we're looking for, we decided after a few blocks to look for our own way, but our angel was insistent, even on the brink of losing his temper as he yelled at us to follow him. We decided to give him another 2 minutes before making a run for it (it was kinda dark, and his little old man can look quite frightening in the dark), but alas, he lead us to the promised land.
So the first thing we did after arriving at K's House was looking for an alternative lodging for the following day, and luckily we found a decent ryokan by the canal (quite a charming location really) for a reasonable price.
And after that we set out for dinner in the Gion District.
The Gion District was said to have been the living quarters of the Geishas and is the center for night life in Kyoto. We had a tempura place in mind, and set out to look for it on foot. After about 20 minutes of walking on the streets of Kyoto, we realized that none of us brought our guide book with us and really had very fragmented memory of where this place was located. I vaguely remember that it supposedly is located on "a very picturesque street in the Gion District that would make for a great night stroll." And Susan vaguely remembers that it is called Ozuma (it's actually called Ozawa). So armed with these small details we recall from our reading of the guide book, we set out. Amit was skeptical, but I was optimistic. And after arriving a Gion (dizzying lights, hundreds of people, beautiful women, you know, the typical Japanese night scene), we soon came upon a side street along a canal lined with willow trees and lit by a row of warm street lights. The street was surprisingly quiet, with small restaurants on the otherside of the canal accessed by small arching bridges. It was indeed "a very picturesque street in the Gion District that would make for a great night stroll." So we turned in, but was unable to find "Ozuma."
But certain that this was the beautiful street I had read about, I walked up to an old lady in Kimono and asked, "Ozuma doko des ga?" She looked at me with a blank face. Then suddenly, remembering that Susan kept calling Koyasan "Kyosan," I realized that her memory of the name should not be trusted 100%, and in a moment of panic, I quickly added "tempura, doko tempura where?" and made "tempura" motions with my hands. "Ah! Tempura!" She understood! She pointed forward, and gestured for us to cross the first arched bridge. And that's how we found Ozawa, a spectacular tempura place where you pay a set price and the chefs make a variety of tempura items for you as you sit at the bar area and drink good sake.

The following day consisted of more getting lost and sightseeing. We first moved from K's house to Yuhara, our new home base, and set out from there to have lunch at a 1000 year old noodle shop. It was ok. The place looked nice, felt like eating in a zen garden, but the noodles were not so great, pales in comparison to the soba noodles we had at Nagano.
After lunch we set out for Nijo-jo, the castle of the first Tokugawa, with the famed Nightingale floor. But on our way we stopped by a market street where we promptly lost Amit. "But how can we lose him? He's tall, he's indian, and he's wearing a bright yellow t-shirt!" Susan couldn't understand that it was infact very easy to lose Amit and that I've managed to do just that many times in the past. "Susan," I assured her, "we've just lost our big bright yellow indian."
So after making some effort to look for him we decided he had a map and would be able to get himself back. So we proceeded to Nijo-jo.
I've read about the Nightingale floor in books before, and it is said to be special floors that creaks with the slightest pressure and was a special way of building the castle floor to alarm the guards of intruders and assasins. Very cool. But I have always imagined that it was just a floor that creaked a whiny wooden sound everywhere you stepped (kinda like old stair cases). But the floors actually do sound like birds!! As the group of tourists walked through the castle, it sounded like hundreds of birds chirping away around us. The sound was quite pleasant.
After the Nijo-jo, we went to Ginkaku, the Silver Pavilion, which is just a very beautiful garden with a remarkable sand garden. Unfortunately we arrived just 30 minutes prior to their closing and so sort of rushed through it a little bit, but it was quite a pleasant walk nonetheless.
So after charging through the Nijo-jo and marching through the Silver Pavilion, it was finally time to end the night with a quiet, relaxed stroll along the Philosophers Path, a quiet walking path through some of Kyoto's most beautifully built private residences. This path is along a scenic river. Unfortunately, 20 minutes into this relaxed stroll, I found myself in great need of using the bathroom, so we charged through the path of the philospher in search of a toilet.
After we got back to our ryokan we find Amit lying in bed already, and after a relaxing bath, we went out in search of Tomi Zushi, a sushi bar in downtown Kyoto. And thus begin another journey through Kyoto, getting lost, asking for directions, getting lost again, and finally finding the damn place.
And it was definitely worth it! The sushi was fresh, and the chef was friendly. We also made friends with two Japanese businessmen who got a good laugh at everything we ordered (apparently we're not pronouncing the word salmon correctly), and when we asked to order the fish heads that they were having (actually, Susan asked for the fish head, amit and I really had no interest in trying), it was all they could do to stop themselves from aspirating their Asahi. The chef promptly denied giving us the head, explaining that it's not on the menu and we really shouldn't have it.After a few hours of chatting with the chef and the two guys, we noticed that our cuts of fish was getting larger and larger, and decided that we really liked this place.
Day three was not unlike day 2, we started off going to the 33 room temple, which housed 500 life-size golden statues of Kanon, the thousand hand god of mercy, as well as a good variety of statues of the other buddhist gods. The statues were really well made, along we great descriptions of each diet. I finally got to see what Asura looks like. Each of the deities had eyes made of crystals, which glittered under the rays of sunlight leaking through the sides of the the temple. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in there, but it was definitely some of the most impressive statues I've seen.
Kiyomizu temple was a let down, though it was highly recommended by the girls in Nagoya as well as the sushi chef at Tomi Zushi, there was way too many people there and not much to see. We then went to see Nazenji, which was a nice quiet temple with beautiful gardens.
At night we headed out in search of a restaurant recommended by Frommer's, but after spending 30 minutes getting there we found it already closed (this was at 9PM). Disappointed, we wandered around the streets of Kyoto looking for a place to eat, and accidentally wondered into a noodle house which served up some decent ramen. The place had a relaxed feel to it, with 90's american pop playing in the background.
The next day, we set out for Beppu. With a stop at Fukuoka, the southern capital of ramen (the north being Sapporo).

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Photos

Dragon Fountain
at Kiyomizu Temple

Heian Shrine
Statue at Heian during sunset

Wishes
Tied to a string at Kiyomizu Temple