Kyoto Trip Part 1

My trip to Kyoto, for me was very spontaneous. My friends Monica and Chris has asked me earlier in the week if I wanted to go "somewhere" for the long weekend. I sorta just ignored the question, cause I'm lazy. Didn't want want to think. :) Then they spent the night on Thursday night (Nov. 19th) because they live far away, and we had a 2 day JET Prefectural meeting in Yamaguchi city (right next to Hofu). So they saved on driving time, and we got to chill.

The next morning (Friday) I wake up. I get ready. We need to leave at 8:30 a.m. to get to Kencho. At 8:15 I say "Hey, can I still come with you guys?" and they say "Yeah, lets go to Kyoto". So thats how it all began. haha. So from 8:20-8:30 we make hostel reservations.

After Kencho is done, we jet to an ATM which is newly filled with money (payday), and get to the train station...where we bought Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto on the spot. It was my first ride on a Shinkansen!! It was like a Disneyland ride for me all the way! Shinkansen is Japanese bullet-train. Its really fast. Although it still took us like 3 hours to get to Kyoto. Well thats pretty fast. It would have taken us 8 hours and probably over 100 dollars in tolls to go by car.

Anyways, we get there, we find the hostel (that was no small endeavor either), and the hostel guy can't find our reservation. What?!? No reservation. After convincing him to look harder, he finds our reservation. For DECEMBER 20, 21, 22. Oh no!! We then realize that this is like the busiest weekend of the year for Kyoto, and there is no way we were going to find a place at 10p.m. at night. The hostel guy called around for us, but everywhere was booked. So...you see the picture that I opened this blog with? Thats me posing in the room he let us sleep in for free. The employee storage room!!! Who else can say that in a state of emergency, they slept in an employee storage room!! It was nice though. He pulled in clean mattresses for us, and I was happy.

We were really in a bind. That is the kind of thing that I would have loved to do for someone in need when I worked at the Days Inn... but in America you just can't do that. What if I had tripped over some cleaning solution and broke my arm, and had emotional suffering? You know? I'm glad there are places in the world where you just don't really have to worry about litigation.

Each day that we were in Kyoto, we picked up all day bus tickets for 500 Yen a day. Thats a pretty sweet deal, but then we had to ride the buses. :/ Do you like this line to get into the bus? Whenever there was a crazy line like this, the next bus coming would already be full. So each bus that stopped would allow 4 or 5 people to SQUEEZE on much to the chagrin of current passengers.

I love this picture. What are those hordes of people looking at!? Leaves. Yep. :)

Do you see what I mean by "Kyoto was packed?"

Our hostel guy told us that usually Kyoto has 2 million residents. But during this specific weekend, the city is crawling with over 7 million people! Now I didn't check any numbers or anything, but it seemed obvious to me that the 7 million was an understatement.

This was the perfect time to be in Kyoto for "the changing of the leaves". Its really special, to be able to be in such a beautiful place, when all the leaves are in a vibrant limbo. Japanese people really respect nature during Autumn and Cherry Blossom seasons.

The deep oranges and reds were really something. My camera actually died on the trip, as did my phone, because I tried to take too many pictures of trees. Its a lost cause. You just have to see it yourself. Everyone. Go to Kyoto in late November. There.

This is part of Inari shrine. We walked for hours around here and Nanzen-ji, and basically one corner of a corner of Kyoto. Going here for these 3 days just makes one realize that you need a year to see it all. And thats probably one stressful/check things off your list, year.

My blog only has so much space, but this picture just gives you a taste of how the whole mountainside is covered with shrines and holy-water holes. :)

Here...for 500 Yen, you can put your own wish up on the wishing wall. Foxes in Japan are an important part of Japanese culture and folklore. They are wise and magical beings, who have great power, and sometimes even more cunning and mischief, so we must make offerings. This is to prove that we are staying humble. So here we can make an offering, and get a wish. I wished for my family's health and happiness, and also for the health and happiness of mi prima amiga at home, who is about to have a beautiful baby girl! I love you Diana~!

This big Christmas tree was in Kyoto station. Like most big train stations, there was a lot of shopping inside, but unlike the amazing shopping of Korean stations...this place was expeeeensive. In fact, this Christmas tree was right outside of the Starbucks. Yes. The Starbucks which I miss every day when I am in Hofu. So I drank it each day. 3 days. 3 Venti cups of regular hot coffee. 460 Yen per. grrrrr. I miss my $190 Venti at home...

This video shows Monica walking through one of the many hallways covered by orange special overhangs. Each one of those banisters is paid for by a business-person hoping to find and keep prosperity by donating a piece of beauty to this special place in Japan.

Wikipedia says: Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) is the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines.

Because Inari is the god of business, each of the Torii is donated by a Japanese business.

Merchants and manufacturers worship Inari for wealth. Donated torii lining footpaths are part of the scenic view.

So each orange banister is called a torii. This whole area was so completely beautiful. If you watch the video one more time, you can see Monica, and the other international tourists fighting for the good picture. Must wage war to get an unhindered picture!...thats for sure!