Tuesday after final: A group of people were planning on going to the Kyoto Handicraft Center and an old imperial palace in Kyoto. Well, I did some research and discovered that you have to go on tours, you can't just walk and look at palace sans tour guide. At least this is what I could find on the internet. Well, considering nobody was even meeting for half an hour before the last tour, I had a feeling this was not happening---and if I waited that long I'd not be home for dinner. So Diego and I took off early---why wait just to be aggravated about lack of planning? Eh, we did a lot of walking, somebody-ahem not me--forgot their umbrella. The center had a lot of cool things, didn't get anything though: the prices were higher than I'd seen them elsewhere, and most things I had seen elsewhere. It was neat to see all the things in one place though.
Wednesday: Everybody had afternoon finals this day, or at least like me had to show up for 15 minutes of a class for collecting papers....Ooh ahh, fun! In the morning it was more of the same 'ooh ahh fun' by closing my bank account. Not really an enjoyable activity, although it wasn't too terribly hard to figure out how to do. If I recall correctly I went to Floresta for one last amazing doughnut (Japan is going to kill me with all of its sweets).
Thursday: Diego and I stuck to our original plans, since the other days were less flexible (friends wanted us to switch the days around, but if I we did so we were under the impression the crowds would be horrendous. Turns out its too cold for anybody else, so we could have, more on that later) and went to Osaka. We wanted to wander the shopping district called Shinsaibashi and the other known as Den Den Town. Turns out they are way closer together than we'd imagined, and neither held a ton of interest for us, I don't think. Diego got his strange and fabulous pictures (which was the interesting part---moving crab-signs, the huge Glico man sign, the canals...) I found some little gifts for people. It was a nice, but utterly freezing and horrible, day. No rain at least, plenty of wind.
Friday: Okay, now we get to the part where you will ALL go: are you suicidal?! See, somebody told me that Japan's weather is like that of LA. Uhm--does LA get snow every year and have gorgeous pictures of temples covered in half a foot of snow? NO! Japan is colder, thanks. But, in order to see the gorgeous world of Arashiyama (bridge, mountains, river, bamboo) all lit up with lights at night I dressed as warmly as I could. That came at night though, first, all dressed up like the Pillsbury Doughboy, Diego and I went to Ryoanji---this Buddhist temple supposedly houses the most famous zen rock garden in all of Japan. I think The Karate Kid spoiled me---I was expecting something huge and gorgeous, and the little rectangle of rocks was then disappointing. Beautiful, got some interesting thoughts as I pondered the philosophy of life looking at the stones (which yes, is what you are supposed to do).
My thoughts: Okay, so there were what 14? 12? Big stones in the middle of this white gravel pit. I thought---okay even while these are so much bigger, they're still surrounded by their fellows. All humans interact, and even when a man seems like an island he is not. Heroes, politicians, celebrities---all these people who seem so distant are not. Yah yah...silly thing to think of looking at rocks. I like this one a bit better--even when you're separated from those you love, the bond and connection is still there in little trails--because of course the gravel was raked into beautiful lines and ripples.
Next stop: Lunch. I am NEVER ordering that type of sandwich again, certainly not in Japan---that's just dooming me to nausea. The french fries that accompanied the sandwhich were delicious however.
Then we walked some more, right up to a temple known as Kinkakuji, although that is not it's official name--Kinkakuji means the Golden Pavillion or somen' like that---it is basically a temple whose outside upper two stories are covered in gold-leaf. It was pretty reflecting on the pond. At one of the offering places, a cup set off of the path where you were supposed to try to throw coins into it, Diego and I took a few shots. He got a coin in 2x, but it never stayed in--bounced off of hte coins already in, and landed outside of the cup. I tried with the very-light yennies (more properly termed 1 yen coins) and had some wild shots that were a foot away from the goal (the cup was 3 feet or so away from me, and you really can't expect me to have good aim EVER) and one that was just an inch from it---sooooooo close!
On the way out I found a vending machine that sold the wonderful Meiji hot chocolate--bought two, and warmed up my hands with one of them before drinking it. It was kind of funny: Diego had been wanting one all day since it was cold, but none of the vending machines had any! So when I saw it: bingo! Time to warm up. From there we walked to the tram and rode to Arashiyama--saved us probably half an hour of walking in the cold. Maybe more. Got off at Randen-saga station looked at souveneirs, tried some snacks, waited til dark fell so that we could take our pretty pictures....or rather so Diego could take his pretty pictures, as I'd forgotten my camera. Very lovely: I rather enjoyed the surprise he had that I could climb up the river bank quickly, easily and safely in my boots (with a 1.5 or so inch heel). Three Rivers you treated me well! Lol. The boy was insanely cold---he really should have found a way to wear more layers or bailed out and bought long johns---he was ducking into shops all over hte place for a few minutes of warmth. I didn't mind the going in and warming up myself. My gloves could be warmer since my hands are always so cold in the winter.
From there we caught the train to Kyoto station---uhh let's change that statement. We caught a train that soon became a jam-packed train---I felt like a sardine!! Really, truly, honestly, how can people ride those? The girl in front of me looked like she was in pain, a man next to me was holding on at the ceiling with his back all curved to the side like he was stretching--- his body was something like this character: /` instead of |. We ate dinner at the station, then caught the train back toward the dorms and my host family's house.
Saturday: On Saturday, my last real day in Japan since I am packing today, I went out and did a few things: went to Uji, did some errands at school and got a nice surprise :) went to Sweets Paradise and went to Kuzuha mall. Not in that order.
Because school took longer than I'd expected, visiting places one last time and dealing with some gifts there at school, we went to lunch first. Sweets Paradise... hmm... how do I rate it? At first I would rate it as one of my top 3 favorite restaurants in Japan, but as the aftereffects of eating too many sweets set in.....maybe not? I dunno I cant' decide. So basically Sweets Paradise is a buffet---where half of the food is sweets. There's drinks, there's pasta and salad, there is white chocolate fondu, there is about 3 dozen types of cake out at any given moment....and you're given 80 or 90 minutes to eat. Uhh...yeah...my stomach started hurting a bit later....
After a large sweet lunch designed to induce a diabetic coma....we got on the train to Uji. Uji is a town near Kyoto known for tea and its inclusion in a very old story--Tsuen tea shop, which we visited, is considered one of the oldest tea shops in the world, and the story is also considered one of the oldest novels--if people consider it a novel, which is argued about. The tea shops were pretty cool--lots of green tea, and green tea snacks and such about. Another spot with a lovely bridge crossing a river--this river is a bit faster though. We saw somebody collecting water samples at the river edge--Diego at first thought it was a homeless person, then I pointed out the little test tubes. Ha, I win!
From Uji we headed back to the Hirakata area, and went into Kuzuha mall to get the last of our shopping done. Yes, I'm done with what I'm getting in Japan--few stocking stuffers to get back home. I laughed at Diego when I pointed out he'd bought too much to bring it back in his suitcase---how did that go for you? Lol! Good-natured laughing, not "ha ha what an idiot." Nah, a lot of what he's bought is pretty cool, or is the sort of thing people actually want, not junk.
Sadly this was our last full day together for a while--splitting up is no fun, and leaving a country where you still have so much you want to see isn't fun either. I really wanted to go see the whirpools by Shikoku island, but I didn't have the time, nor was I willing to put so much money into going and seeing them: quite expensive to get both ways, and not a short trip either. Maybe someday in the future?
Then when I got home I was surprised by some gifts from my host family. I'd imagined they were planning on spending time with me last night, I wasn't expecting gifts. Shortly after receiving them I ran up to my room and grabbed the green tea candies I'd bought for them, and the card. I hadn't had any idea whether I should give them a going-away gift at all, so I'd just bought a small thing of sweets that they could all enjoy, or so I hope. I screwed up on the card, alas---I have a bit of a block on some of the direction kanji--east, west and south...North I remember quite well. So I used an online dictionary to find the kanji--only to find out that the dictionary fed me the wrong kanji....one line extra. Drats! I'd had trouble getting that card too, had to ask what the meaning of a sentence one was, since I wanted the card to be completely in Japanese.
Ah well. We also had a lovely dinner together (Ryoichi wasn't home until rather late, so he only was there for the presents and the photo they wanted). It was quite good. Okaasan, Yoko and I, plus the dog Ruby (who finally no longer gets freaked out by me) walked for a ways, all bundled up, to go see some Christmas lights that a nearby neighborhood does every year. It was pretty! We all had a good time I think. Everything was last night, or at least a great deal was, since Yoko will not return from work tonight since she works so late, and I think has an early shift the next morning. That kind of sucks for her, nobody wants to work at 8 am or so after working til midnight or so the night before.
Today: Today is a packing day, and saying my final goodbyes to Yoko before she leaves for work. I will get dressed and go downstairs at noon or so for socialization and lunch, camera in tow. Need to do some packing, figuring things out before then though.
Tomorrow is my flight home. Long trip to the airport (actually no longer than by car since I don't have to fuss with traffic), longer flight...and STILL arriving on Monday. Stupid time zones!
Well: be seeing everyone back home soon, goodbye to those readers I met in Japan, and I hope we can meet again sometime!
XO
Jessica
No comments:
Post a Comment