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Published: August 22nd 2012
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Waiting for my overnight bus.Back from my "weekend" with Lauren in Kansai! It was a very fun 2-day trip to see another part of the country and an awesome friend, even if it was ridiculously hot since it's the dog days of summer here. Blech.
My trip started Sunday night when I got on my overnight bus from Yokohama Station. It was a pretty slick process - they had sent me a confirmation email telling me where to meet since the overnight company doesn't have an actual "bus stop" and instead has everyone meet in front of a bank past the station. I found it just fine, but was surprised by how many people were there. It was the meeting place of over FOUR different overnight buses that night alone, all going to different places! So I had to pay very close attention to catch the Japanese I needed.
Fortunately, they had told me in the email what color vest the person would be wearing, so once he came out to start check-ins, I got checked in (all in Japanese). Then I had to wait for our bus, which wasn't marked with a number - and we were given numbers based on our
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The waiting area destination and route. So I had to listen AGAIN for him to call out the number of the bus and which one it was, and tell us where to go to get on. It was pretty insane, because there were 3 other people also yelling out instructions and things at the same time! But I finally got on my bus, 65, bound for Kobe and Himeji (my destination). When I checked in at the bus, the driver asked where I was from, haha.
The overnight buses are really slick. You get your own seat (mine was the "relax") seat; women are only seated by women unless they register in a group with a man, so that no one is uncomfortable. The seats recline (you ask the person behind you first if you can recline it!) and you get a blanket and this shield thing that goes over the top of your chair to block out any light. There isn't much light anyway, since the windows are covered with dark curtains. The girl next to me was from Tokyo, and we had a small, somewhat stilted conversation when I asked her what time it was and where the blankets were,
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LOL-tastic toilet at the rest stop and she asked me where I was staying in Himeji and how long I would be there. All in Japanese! YES, I'M AWESOME.
The bus itself has a screen at the front and every 2.5 hours or so they stop at a rest stop. You don't have to get off if you don't want to, but I did so I could go potty. It was tough to sleep on the bus, but from midnight until about 2:35, when we hit the next rest, I'm pretty sure I got a few hours. I dozed the rest of the time. It certainly wasn't a bad trip, and it was worth it since it was less than half the cost of the Shinkansen ticket. I got into Himeji Station at 6 AM needing some serious coffee but excited because my first solo travel adventure in Japan had gone so well.
Lauren met me there and got me to a conbini to get some coffee, and then we got on the trains to get to her place in Takasago (outside Himeji). She is in a pretty rural area, definitely removed. It was very cool for me to see the difference between where
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A dark shot of the overnight bus - it was really decent! she lives and the urbanized, Westernized suburbian area that I call home. And her apartment is super awesome! She had to run some errands, so I showered and "rested my eyes", and since I was pretty tired we took it easy the first day. We watched some movies, did some dramatic readings, and cooked a great healthy dinner of spaghetti full of vegetables. :D It was so much fun.
The second day was our Kyoto trip, and we could not have picked a WORSE day to try and go, haha. We got up early so we could get out there in good time (it's a 2 hour trip, about) and found out when we got to Akashi that someone had picked that day to throw themselves in front of the train and the ENTIRE JR Kyoto line was shut down. SERIOUSLY, DUDE? YOU COULDN'T HAVE WAITED ONE MORE DAY?! Since we were sort of like "well... crap... now what??" we ended up taking the private lines in and around the back-way, which took more time but was fun and I got to see some cool things out of the windows. However, it did put us very behind schedule so
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Torii in Takasago, near the station we ended up not getting into Kyoto until noon instead.
We got lunch at this ADORABLE little shop that had their own French Bulldog mascot (who was really there to greet people!). It was very delicious, and the owner let us take a picture with the puppy. ^____^ Then we set out to try and find Sanjuusangen-do, a famous temple, and managed to get on the wrong bus. This was also the time that it began raining. And not just spitting. FULL-ON TYPHOON RAINING. It was POURING. I haven't seen a storm this good since leaving Iowa two years ago. We got a little lost, got off the bus, went up to another station, and just took the subway over, but it was coming down SO hard that we had to stop several times to hide beneath conbini roofs because it was like the world was ending.
We had umbrellas, but we obviously ended up completely soaked anyway. Due to the rain, the delay, and getting lost, we were hopelessly behind schedule, but we finally made it to Sanjuusangen-do! There are 1000 statues of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, housed inside, along with about 20+ statues of Buddhist/Hindu
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Main shrine area deities. There was no photography allowed inside, but I got lots of pictures of the outside and the grounds. I put in a coin to light some incense in front of the Buddha statue, too, so that was very fun. Lauren wasn't feeling very well, so we decided to take it easy.
We got back and went to Gion, to a street in the city that is the "Geisha" street - full of old tea houses and buildings that look straight out of 1940! It was REALLY cool. At the end was another temple, Kenniji, and it was beautiful. The whole place was just gorgeous. Lauren still wasn't feeling very good, so we walked over to Nishiki Market to look at all the tiny stalls there. It was super cool. A lot of them are very small enterprises run by families out of the first floors of their homes. And I guess a lot of the restaurants in the area get their goods there. There were shops, food stalls, a small shrine for good business, and of course, izakayas! To let Lauren sit down for awhile, we stopped at an izakaya that she knew was good and had some
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It's really gorgeous drinks.
By the time we were done, it was pretty much time to get home, so we went back to the trains. We weren't sure if the JR Kyoto line was going to be up and operational again, but luckily it was, so it was a quicker way home (though more expensive - JR, why you so pricey?!). We were sooo tired when we got back that we didn't do much other than hang out and then sleep.
I had to get up early because I was taking the Shinkansen back to Yokohama this morning. It was the last form of public transportation I had to take in Japan, and man, it's nice (though, again, EXPENSIVE). Getting a reserved seat is a lot more money but guarantees you won't get stuck standing through the 2.5 hour ride. I didn't take the fastest one - I took the Hikari, instead of the Nozomi, which had more stops, but we made great time. I got on at 9 AM and got to Shin-Yokohama by 12:20 - that took an 8 hour bus trip the first time around!
I'm tired but I only have 5 hours of work today, so
that's pretty do-able. Back to the grind!
There were so many funny things I noticed while in Kansai. People stand on the opposite side of escalators there - here, you stand on the left and you walk up on the right. It's reversed down there. It's like a different country, man. And they have trains with front-facing seats! WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?! So weird! LOL the things you notice after living in Kanto, I guess. ^___^ All in all, it was a super fun weekend and I'm so glad I got to go and see Lauren and another part of the country!
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