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Published: December 29th 2008
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Konichiwa!
The second half of our trip was just as fun and exciting as the last. We headed off to Koyasan by train. Heading into this beautiful country was finally what I wanted. I realized that Tokyo and Osaka were nice, but very built up and urbanized. I was looking for more green, and places that have the traditional Japanese looking roof tops. Koyasan provided just that. It's located up in the mountains, and the population was a lot less. We were able to stay overnight at a temple! Our room had traditional floor type furniture, and to our delight, a space heater! After dropping off our bags, we went walking around town, and through a beautiful cemetery. The head stones and plots were very elaborate, and it was set in a gorgeous tall Forrest (I'll just say 'tall', and leave it at that b/c I'm not good with my trees). It had a temple at the end, but I made us turn back early since my Hawaiian/Floridian toes were getting numb, and were complaining bitterly about the cold. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was much colder up in the mountains? When we got back to our temple, I
stopped to buy the disposable hand warmers (To my fellow Floridian/Hawaiians-- these are one time use packets that you open, and then rub together to get a chemical reaction going causing heat, that usually lasts under 24hrs. They are meant for your pockets, but they work great in socks too!!) Once we got back to our hotel room, er, I mean our temple room. We turned on the space heater and worshiped it for the idol that it was. We decided not to go out for the rest of the evening. Dinner was served to us in our rooms. They take away the table, and place two trays (per person) of food on the floor. Dinner was very elaborate looking, and I'd like to say it was just as delicious, but I'll just say that Amy and I got to try some new and interesting foods. I bumped into our 'neighbor', another friendly white face, on the way to the freezing bathroom. Susan was so cheerful that I grabbed Amy and headed over to her room where we talked for several hours. Susan lives in Colorado, and is on an extended vacation with her son, David. After chatting for a
while, we decided to take our new friendship to the next level by visiting the temple's small onsen (hot bath) together. Well, nothing brings women closer like chatting in a hot bath. We're practically sisters now. Anyway, we had coffee with Susan and David the next morning too. They were a very warm addition to our Koyasan memories. In the morning at the temple, they wake you up to attend the 'morning ceremony' at 7:00am. This is in a shrine(?) looking room. It had actual monks chanting in it! With incense and everything. I tried to meditate (have you ever tried to completely get rid of all thoughts in your brain?? It's very hard!). Luckily after a half hour, they escorted us to the 'fire ceremony' which was equally cool. Er, but warmer. 😊~ Then we came back to our rooms to find our beds taken away again (no naps! grr.) but, breakfast in it's place. After getting coffee with Susan and David after breakfast, Amy and I did a little more temple scouting, and headed off to Kyoto.
Kyoto was pretty neat. We took a self guided walking tour around the Geisha area (Gion, maybe?) We saw some more
Japanese high school girls
another interview for English class! lovely temples, a park, and some real live Geisha! One cool temple had fun things to do, like give money to have your wish come true, ring a bell for a prayer, write all your troubles on rice paper and watch them melt away, and drink mineral water to have long lasting good health. You could even walk blindfolded from one 'love rock' to another to see if you're going to find your true love. (I didn't want to do that one in case I missed!). The little streets were equally filled with cute little traditional Japanese houses, just like in Koyasan. Nighttime brought us to another karaoke hut (so fun!). You'd think we'd be rock stars by now, but I haven't gotten any calls yet..... And we also went to another onsen on our last night. Which rocked on a cold night!! This one had your regular hot tubs, electric-stimulating baths, and it also had a hot tea bath (yes, it was brown and smelled like tea), and another sudsy milk colored bath that was a little cooler than your average HOT bath. I like this one the best. There were even nice Japanese ladies to strike up a
I finally used a Japanese toilet
I figured this day would come... conversation with. Our last day was full of travel. We took a subway, two trains, and a plane........ No wonder I slept so much!!
Some things that Amy and I kept pointing out to each other as being strange and unique to Japan: It got DARK by 5:00p. On the first afternoon, it felt kinda late even though it was only 2:30p. Then we realized as it was getting dark by 4:30p that it really was getting 'late' early!
It was so clean everywhere! Even in the subways.
You can buy food from vending machines everywhere. Even hot corn soup. Really. It tasted like hot corn soup.
They have 'bidets' (Sp? the heated, spray-you-after-you-use-the-bathroom toilet seats) everywhere. Man! Americans need to adopt this heated seat concept. Very Nice!
Little kids travel on the buses/subways all the time. Alone. And everyone thinks it's normal.
They give you robes in all the hotel (and temple) rooms. And slippers. Very nice.
When you leave your hotel room to go out, you're supposed to give them your key. You don't take it with you. And you get it when you return to your room.
When you use a public bathroom, most of the time
there are no paper towels (and not even hand dryers). And there isn't any toilet paper sometimes too. You're supposed to bring it with you. Weird.
I think there were other things, but I've probably almost bored you by now. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this little episode of the 'Travel channel'.
I hope you are doing wonderful. And I send you all my best wishes in this holiday season! Please tell me how you are doing too. I only share so much b/c I'm interested in getting this much back!
Yoi ichinichi wo! (have a nice day!)
love,
Karen 😊
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