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Published: April 19th 2010
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After a few days in Tokyo we made the first use of our Japan Rail Passes, heading west to the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto. While the name might look like the dyslexic cousin of Tokyo, Kyoto is in fact the cultural capital of Japan, where you find the pagodas and architecture of the classically romantic version of Japan.
We boarded our first Shinkansen (bullet train) after a guard got quite pissy with me for leaning over a barrier, such was my desperation to get a good snap of the iconic transport. Like everything else in Japan, it runs beautifully. A well-drilled staff of cleaning ladies jump on, spin the seats and give the carriages a quick spruce-up. The guards are immaculately turned-out, with sharp suits and pristine white gloves. And the timely train arrives to the second. It leaves bang on time too, the idea that you might be late anathema.
The journey itself was uneventful. The train tears along, in a flying blur, but you don't gety any real sense of the speed because it's so perfectly smooth. The most interesting thing was everyone's box meals of sushi. Perfectly compartmentalised and efficient. Unlike our messy and awkward
monkey nuts.
Sadly, we arrived in the rain. The weather was pretty terrible for the first couple of days, restricting our movements. By the second day we were fed up of spending our time in our simple yet expensive ryokan, so hired bikes regardless. We cycled about in icey rain, with raw knuckles and deflated enthusiasm. Fortunately, we broke up the days with yet more stunning food. One highlight was Shabu-Shabu, which involves endless plates of beef that you cook for yourself before dunking it in various delicious sauces (see pix). We managed four plates before the meat sweats set in.
Tired of the rain we retired to the first proper Onsen (traditional baths) that we visited. It was called Goko Yu, but I only have pictures of the outside, because inside everyone's in the buff. The place is split into male and female bathing areas. Going into my half it was a challenge to respect the right protocol, because I had no idea what to do first. I settled for copying locals, making sure I glanced only long enough to glean the order of things, and not looking so long that my attention could be misconstrued as
unduly diligent. If you know what I mean. Turns out you strip, douse yourself with some buckets of water, then enter the main room. Here, showers line the walls and in the middle of the room are four big communal baths, each with a different type of water. You sit on stalls at the showers and rinse yourself thoroughly before picking a bath and relaxing in the scorching water. That's what most people did, although I saw one guy sitting at a shower, repeatedly washing himself for over an hour, then leaving. That was a bit odd. But not as odd as the electric pool (not sure that's the proper name) which seemed to have electrically charged, zappy water in it. I only put my hand in for a few seconds, not risking more sensitive parts. Upstairs there was a sauna and a freezing plunge pool.
Em and I emerged from our respective sides after an hour or so, refreshed and warmed against the freezing rain outside. The best Onsen use natural hot spring water straight out of the ground for its healing properties, but we had to settle for water with salts and stuff added to it. Still,
it was an invigorating, alien and fun experience.
Nara was our next stop as it's just an hour or so on the train from Kyoto. This was the older capital of Japan, from 710-784, and has buildings dating from as far back as the tenth century. Once again, the clouds dumped on us for most of the day, but it was still a cool place. We saw the biggest wooden building in the world, and wandered among the many temples and pegodas alongside the hundreds of deer that roam the city.
Back in Kyoto, the sun finally found it's hat and came out to play. In defiance, we headed inside to the Manga Museum. This was a real highlight for us. Most of the displays and pretty much all of the manga were in Japanese, but the art work was still awesome to see. They have manga aimed at all ages and social strata, so you have manga for kids teaching them not to eat soap etc, and manga for adults breaking the days' news. It's incredible. The stories in the Samurai books can be a bit cheesey, but the art is awesome.
With the sun still
The Golden Temple
Bit of a tourist trap really, but we braved an hour long bike ride uphill on a bitter day to see it. So here it is shining on our final Kyoto day, and before we got the train to Takayama, we hired bikes and rode out to the Philosopher's Path. This walkway runs alongside the canal, and is a perfect cherry blossom spot. Fortunately, despite the earlier rubbish weather, some of the trees were in bloom (see pix), maing an ideal send off to the city.
Despite the weather and some pretty average ryokan, we loved the city. It had a laid back charm in comparison to Tokyo, as well as beautiful parks, delicious food, friendly locals and nudey baths. All this, and it's the home of Nintendo.
Takayama next, and then the first chapter in our Australian odyssey.
Love you, bye!
xxxxx
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