did not quite start out as planned... When I was packing in the evening the day before I managed to injure my little toe and rip of quite a bit of its skin. Since I did not have any bandage, I used some whiskey for disinfection and made a provisional badage to stop the bleeding. The next morning, I had a hard time getting into my shoes and walked lik an 80 years old lady... So I decided to postpone my trip to the ATM until I found plaster and could retape my toe (Credit cards are only rarely accepted in japan and I ran out of cash the day before). At the station I did indeed find a shop where I could use almost all of my last yens on plaster and disinfection liquid and retaped the toe. That way, my walking skills improved somewhat - lets say from 80 to 70 years old or so...
I took the Shinkansen "Kodama 599" to Kyoto which takes only about 40 minutes. You can watch a small video clip of the train leaving the station here: http://folk.uio.no/yvonner/Japan/ (Shinkansen_departure.avi)
In kyoto, I had just about 300 yen left, enough to catch a local train and get ready for temple-hopping at Fushimi Inari Shrine, just south of Kyoto.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is the most famous of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari across Japan. Inari is the Shinto god of rice. There are a lot of fox statues around the shirne, since foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers.
In addition, Fushimi Inari Shrine is famous for the countless torii gates which are offerings by worshippers. They cover the hiking trails of Inarisan, the wooded mountain behind the shrine's main buildings. The entire walk is supposed to take two hours - because of my toe however and the fact that there was a lot more to see in Kyoto I just walked around the trail for a short while. It was very nice in the dense forrest, and at several places you could leave the torii gates and find small shrines hidden in the forrest.
Before I caught the train back to Kyoto I tried to get some cash at around 15 different ATMs in the centre of Inari. I was getting thursty since it was quite hot outside, and no shop wanted to accept any card... But - neither did any of the ATMs... So I decided to go to dowtown Kyoto and find a postoffice since their ATMs always work. But for some reason they did not... And - as always when things like that happen they do so on a sunday when no bank is open, and not enough with that: Monday and Tuesday were official holidays (=banks are closed).
Still thursty, unable to take a buss anywhere and slightly frustrated I started to hobble to the Toji temple, which was just about a 15 minutes walk from the station.
Toji (lit. "Eastern Temple") was founded as the city's guardian temple in the year 794, the same year in which Kyoto became Japan's new capital. It is best known for its five storied pagoda, which actually is Japan highest (57 m).
From Toji I started my long and painful walk to my hotel. On my way, I tried to get some food and something to drink as I was getting really thirsty and hungry. But it proved to be an impossible task without cash. I also tried some 15 new ATMs and even contacted the police in order to help me to call Visa - but without any luck. From the hotel I called my parents who (very early on a sunday morning) tried to find out what was wrong with my card.
In the meantime, driven by hunger and thirst, I tried my card at even a nother 20 ATMs (so in case you ever go to Kyoto and need to know the location of an ATM - just ask me! I pretty much know'em all..) and finally managed to find a store which sold me a baguette. They took my card :D You can believe me when I say that that women had never seen anyone who was luckier about a simple baguette than I was...
It was really frustrating to think that I could by a car, cloth, souvenirs, check into the most expensive hotell or eat at expensive restaurants since they all take cards - but simply to take a bus, by food or eat at a street kitchen, get some water or pay the entrance fee to a temple was impossible... At around 4 pm we figured out that my bank had an update problem - and they told me not to use the card for another three ours. So I decided to walk to the old town and the Geisha district whch were only about 20 minutes from the hotel.
I was extremely lucky - just when I reached the old town a group of Geisha apprentices came out of one house after class.
Not long time after, I reached a place were a lot of people were standing with their cameras, waiting for something. After a while, a taxi pulled in and two Geisha came out of a teahouse and jumped into the taxi, while everyone was desperatly trying to get a picture of them. They are famous as moviestars, and it is very hard to spot them as they usually dissapeared very quickly again...
It was a beautiful warm evening, and I wandered around in the pitoresque streets of the old town.
And... for some reason.. this day was special: Some important social gathering was going on, and a lot of Geisha were coming out of a teahouse. So I just ended up standing in the street watching one Geisha after the other running to avoid the masses of camera lenses and tourists. It was difficult to get nice shots of them as they often hid behind and accompanying persons, or held something in front of their face.
I met a woman from australia, Cindy, who was watching the Geisha as well, and we decided to walk around together after we had seen enough of the Geisha. She spoke a litte japanese and helped me find another ATM - which did not accept my card, even though more than three hours had passed and my card should work. We had a very good time together, and it was really great to have someone fun and nice to walk around with:-) We decided to have dinner, and since I still did not have any cash she bought me a meal at McDonalds :-) I cannot remember the last time McDonalds was THAT delicious!!!!
After a while, Cindy had to get back to her Hotel and do some more work. I decided to see the old town once more by night. The atmosphere was so beautiful there in the evening, with the ligts from the houses, and all the smell of food from the teahouses.
When I finally decided to head back to my hotel I felt like having a nice, cold beer and enjoy the evening mood since it still was a warm summernight... And would you believe it??? None of the bars in the old town accepted credit cards, so I ended up at the hotel bar, with a nice, cold Kirin and a Japanese Whiskey. Yes, they do have Japanese Whiskey, and my first thought was probably just the same as yours: Can that be any good? Probably like Scottish Sake?? I asked the bartender if he had a good, japanese Whiskey and he gave me a 12 year old Nikka Yoichi. Just wonderful! :D :D Fantastic taste! Of course I found out afterwards that this Whiskey had marked the highest score in "The World's Whiskey Tasting"...
Back in my room I got the message that Visa apperantly had a problem as well - beeing the reason for why I still could not get any cash. So I went to the reception - now very determined not to let this Bank-update-Visa-whatever problem ruin one more of my days in Kyoto, and they ended up lending me 10 000 yen. Can you imagine that??? I could have just drawn my card and paid them back immediately - but they are totally unfamiliar with the concept of "taking out money" by paying for it by credit card. So they lend me the money in stead...
The next morning I tried two ATMs, at the post and Citibank, just to see wether I could get money, but without any luck. Then I found a new ATM below a Starbucks at the station in the Kyoto Tower Building (where I decided to have breakfast because they took my card and I was trying to save as much of my 10 000 yen as possible for bus rides and temple fares). And - totally unexpected: the machine was willing to spit out MONEY :D :D CASH!!
So I set off for the Golden Temple in beautiful weather. When I entered the buss I met Maria, John, Ellen, Timothy and Evan from Michigan which had seen me the day before in the old town. John turned out to have norwegian ancestors from Molde. They were as well heading for the golden temple and invited me to join them!
Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion) is a Zen temple formally known as Rokuonji. It is covered in gold leaf, and functions as shariden, housing sacred relics of the Buddha.
Kinkakuji was constructed in 1397 as part of a new residence for the retired shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. The Golden Pavilion was first converted into a Zen temple after Yoshimitsu's death in 1408. However, some fanatic monk burned down the pavilion in 1950, so that the present building dates from 1955...
From the Golden temple we decided to walk to the Ryoanji temple, which is famous for its Rock garden. On the way, we came across a gallery where we could make our own prints in a traditional japanese way. Had to be tried - obviously.
At the temple we had some icecream, here John, Maria and I. :-)
The rock garden is the main attracktion of the temple. It is the most famous of its kind in Japan, and consists of nothing but rocks and neatly raked gravel. I heard that the meaning of the garden's arrangement is unknown and up to each visitor's interpretation. I still don't have one - but it was still nice to see it.
From the Ryoanji we decided to take a cab to the Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji). Ginkakuji, formally known as Tozan Jishoji is a Zen temple which is located a the foot of Kyotos eastern mountains (Higashiyama). It was modeled after the Golden Pavilion, but plans to actually cover it in Silver were never realized.
There is a path through the temple garden which ascends a litte into the mountains and gives a nice view of the temple and Kyoto.
Ellen and Timothy had planed a surprise for Maria and John, so they headed off after the temple visit. I decided to do the "Walk of Phiosophy" (Tetsugaku no michi) - a pleasant path along a canal that connects the Silver Pavilion with the Nanzenji temple.
It is 1.8 km long, and there are several smaller temples and restaurants along the way. It was a beautiful walk in the evening sun and a pleasant and different way of sightseeing.
Unfortunately, when I reached Nanzenji Zen temple, it was already closed, but I walked around and enjoyed the sunset.
From the temple I took a buss back to the city centre. I went souvenir-shopping, but most shops were about to close. So I decided to slowly walk towards the old town where I was meeting with the others for dinner. It was still warm, and a lot of people were enjoying the evening mood along the riverside.
When I reached the old town, it had gotten dark, and the nightlife had started again.
Unbelievably enough I spottet yet another Geisha entering a tea house. Afterwards, people were even taking pictures of her through the window... Well - from my experience I cannot really agree that you'll not see real Geisha in Kyoto... But I might just have been extremely lucky.
Maria, John, Ellen, Timothy, Evan and I went to a local restaurant for dinner - and with the help from Ellen and Timothy we even understood what was on the otherwise totally cryptical menue. Thanks guys!!! The surprise for John and Maria was by the way that they got to dress up like a Samurai and Meiko - the pictures they got where amazing!!!!
Thanks for a really nice and fun day John, Maria, Ellen, Timothy and Evan :D Looking forward to seeing you in Oslo/Tsumago and climbing Mt Fujii ;-)
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