Blogs from Kyoto, Japan, Asia - page 81

Kyoto, Japan's former imperial city and arguably the country's cultural heart, is supposedly home to over 2,000 temples and shrines. I wonder who counted them, and whether anyone has managed to visit them all... We certainly didn't! On our way from Beijing to San Francisco, we spent a couple of days enjoying Kyoto's sights and its laid-back atmosphere. After several weeks in China's big cities, the peacefulness of its temples and gardens provided a very welcome change of pace. Unlike before, I won't talk in detail about every place we visited. Instead I'll just sum up their names, and mention some of the highlights... We arrived at Kansai-Osaka airport on Friday aboard an All Nippon Airways flight from Beijing, and left on Wednesday on a United Airlines flight to San Francisco. For what it's worth, I ... read more

061806 (Sun) Kyoto actually, this was the only day I got time traveling in Kyoto. I started my journey ~8am. Walked to Kyoto station w/ the help of a room mate. Then got a one-day pass of the bus(Yen$500) -v. cheap! Actually, the bus system there is well-developed & there’re some lines that are designed for tourists. On bus, there’re both Japanese & English telling what’s the next stop & what sightseeing pt there & some bkg! Great! Went to 銀閣寺 (Ginkaku-ji) I knew someone also from HK was also on the bus! Because she was also alone, so we joined together & found out she was also just graduated from HKU! What a coincidence! But unluckily, the address e-mail I gave her is the one previously I used, but now non-exist… may be still 2 ... read more

Hey all! So, Japan is fantastic! I love it here! I hadn't really thought a huge amount about it before I got here, I just assumed it would be interesting and a little harder for me to navigate. In fact it's awesome and really easy to get around - most signs are written in Roman script as well in Japanese and the public transport system is so good that you're never waiting around for very long. I had one full day in Tokyo before I left for Kyoto. On this day I decided to take it easy and just get my bearings of the city from the hostel. Of course, as everybody knows, 'getting your bearings' entails heading off in the wrong direction and walking in cirlces for a good 45min! Having completed this, I marched ... read more

The past two weeks have been so incredibly, absolutely, phenomenally, wonderfully, tiringly, amazingly, groin-grabbingly packed and full to the brim with activity. So much has happened that there is no way for me to recount everything through this blog. If you want to know about the goings on, you'll have to settle for asking me when I get back to the States. However, I will recount the most recent happenings here, and as I am moving into my gaijin house next week I will no longer be constrained by the necessity of coming downstairs whenever I want to use the internet, so you can expect updates to be more frequent. So anyway, on to the show.... Thursday Night: A Page Out of Order After moving all my stuff out into another room, I set out with ... read more

We havent been kidnapped! Internet has been hard to come by so we havent had a chance to update in a few days. Well be in Tokyo soon (in our two days) where our hostel will have internet. Right now were in the Kyoto Tourist center and using their computer here to check up on stuff real quick and I thought Id leave a message here. More to come! Amanda and Robert... read more