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Published: September 5th 2006
Welcome to Kyoto, land of the expensive buses...
We left Tokyo today and rode the Nozomi Super Express (bullet train I believe) to Kyoto. Let me say this, the Japanese know trains. Their rail network is so efficient, whisking you anywhere you wish to go. And when the sign says a train is coming in 2 minutes, it's right on schedule, every time.
Tokyo Station is where we caught the train, and what a big station it is. Navigating through the stations is fairly easy though, as there are English signs as well as Japanese. We bought a quick pork sandwich to eat before boarding and then we were off. The train was very nice, there are power outlets at every seat, and they come through with tea and bento boxes to purchase (a bento box is a Japanese lunch box). It was a short 2 and a half hour ride with a couple stops before ours. I don't know how fast it was moving, but I've never seen scenery move so fast outside a train window before!
We arrived at Kyoto station where we had to transfer to a different line to get to the part of town we are staying in. Unfortunately the Guesthouse did not have a map to email us so the directions were very vague and we got quite lost. The part of Kyoto we are in is about 20 minutes from the city, and it feels like a small town. We misunderstood the directions (probably because they were so vague) and thought we had to catch a bus from the train station. We walked and walked until we finally came to a main road and saw our bus number driving by on the opposite side. Hmm. What do bus stops look like? We crossed the street and kept on walking until we saw our bus number driving towards us yet again, this time we tried to flag it down but the driver only looked at us jumping and waving and kept on going. So off we run. We tried to keep up to the bus to at least see where he stopped but he disappeared from view around a corner. Thankfully we kept walking and came to the bus stop (it was marked Kyoto Bus, go figure). Now, at least the train fares are somewhat simple to figure out. Just pay the least amount you can and when you try to leave the station you put your ticket through the gate. If you haven't paid enough it beeps at you and go to the "Fare Adjustment" machine and pay usually an extra 60 yen (60 cents). The bus was not so easy. There is a big sign at the front of the bus, with stop numbers, and a fare price. We only had to go one stop before asking the bus driver where our stop was and being told he already drove past it. Oh, well we'll just stay on and go back around, we thought. Not so. A nice English speaking man told us that would be quite expensive to do, and would take hours. Oh. So off we hop at the next stop (220 Yen each, for a block and a half ride...) cross the street, and wait for the bus to come back on that side. Not a few minutes later we were back on the bus. We asked the driver what stop we needed...and he looked at us confused and said. Next stop. Next stop? But wouldn't that put us right back where we started in the beginning? Ok. Listen to the man. Sure enough the next stop is ours. Now, here is a bit of background on how the buses work. You get on from the backdoor and take a little ticket with a number on it (the stop number you just got on at). When you get off, you walk to the front of the bus and feed the ticket into the machine and then feed it money. You would think it would show you how much money to give it, not so. So I start dumping coins in. And more coins. And more coins. And I look back at Dev and ask for more coins. And I look to the driver to confirm I'm doing the right thing...He nods. Keep stuffing coins in the machine...Finally I just hold out my hand with the coins in it and look at the driver to help me out. He shuffles through them, dumps more coins in the machine, then smiles and motions for us to get off. Frustrated, we hop off the bus, look around, and yes we are back right where we started. And we just put about 600 Yen worth of coins into that machine. What did we do wrong?! Where is this damn Guesthouse? On top of this all, we were noticing a lot of people driving past and staring at us. Hardly anyone stared at us in Tokyo, so this was something new. We must have looked lost, because an employee from the Esso station came running towards us yelling something. When he came closer we understood, he was saying "Bola-Bola? Bola-Bola?" (the name of our Guesthouse). YES!! We said with relief and he pointed us down a small side street. Where was he when we were catching the silly bus back and forth! We wander down this teeny side street staring up at the homes around us, wondering which one looks most like a hostel. Finally we come across the sign and make our way in.
This is where things start to turn back around again. The Guesthouse is actually a Japanese home, the owners live here and have converted some rooms to guest rooms. It is very traditional, with sliding doors on the rooms, tatami mats on the floors, and futon bedding folded up in the corner. Our window shade is even made of paper. (We'll have to post some pics when we take some) There is a nice little common room and kitchen, and 2 showers and 2 toilets. Dev is like a giant in this place, everything is so small and he has to duck to clear the doorways (he figured that out the hard way). It appears that us and 1 or 2 other couples are the only people staying here. The owners speak quite good English and seem so sweet and ready to help with anything. They also gave us a map of the area (finally).
After we put our stuff down and unpacked we went out to wander around and find some dinner. The area we are staying in is very nice and quiet, the streets are small and it has an old feel to it. As we were coming out of the driveway we noticed a family with a dog...another corgi! They are so popular here it seems! This one was just a pup, 3 months old, but we went over and said hello and patted him. He was so adorable, Nisho was his name. All these corgis are really making me miss Ziggy! He would fit right in here!
We found a cheap little place for dinner that had pictures of soup and gyoza and noodles so we went in. No one spoke a word of English in the place, and a lot of the customers were staring at us. The food was amazing though, and so cheap! Dev had some kind of fried noodles with meat and veggies, I had a big bowl of noodle soup, and we shared 6 gyoza. Mmmm, it was so delicious, I think we've decided not to eat American fast food for a long time. The Japanese food is just so good and filling! We are here for 6 nights, so we plan to go back and try other things on the menu.
Tomorrow we don't have a plan yet, there are a million temples around Kyoto, that seems to be the main attraction. Expect some amazing photos in the next few days.
We miss you, and our pets SO MUCH! It's hard to think we've only been gone less than a week, it already feels like we've been here forever. Japan is interesting, but we are eager to move onto China where things are hopefully less expensive.
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Mom
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OOOPS!
This will be fast and dirty as 1500 kids are coming through the doors. Our internet at home crashed on Thursday night - go figure. The only time in my life hwn I actually wanted to spend some time on it. Didn't get any of your messages except the first one until I arrived at school this morning. Will work on getting it fixed ASAP. This all sounds so marvellous. Can't wait to have the time to read through them all. Have to run. Stay HEALTHY!. Love from Mom and Dad High Five from Ziggy