That Time I Went to Kyoto Alone And Survived.

So with the child stricken with his red dotted plague and thus every other plan cancelled, it left a problem of a last shopping trip for souvenirs in ruins.

On one of the days I resolved to finally venture forth on my own, back to my favourite cafe for a snack and a bit of a book read. For the first time I headed out to the Japanese wild on my own without my handy translator at my side.

I made it there fine, and with confidence walked in knowing what to do. Seat for 1 please. Then the waitress asked me something and I had no clue what she was saying. She asked again, then went bright red at the thought of not knowing what to say in English and my total lack of understanding. She tried to call over another waitress, who also didn't know what to do. Then finally a THIRD waitress, behind the counter making coffee, gave the answer. 'SMOKE?'. Oh. Dammit. I still haven no idea what the words they used for it, but were trying to ask if I wanted to go in the smoking section or non smoking. Sighhhh.

With that embarrassment behind me I got seated and ordered without any issue. To say the least that dented the confidence. And as I was preparing to undertake the journey of a lifetime the next day, travelling alone, taking the train, and heading to the massive city that is Kyoto to do some final shopping...I was no longer feeling quite so capable.

I sat for awhile. finished my waffle and coco, paid without incident and headed home. For the next day Naomi made some instructions, things to ask for, house number and address on a cheat sheet for me to take with me just in case I got in a pinch. I looked up some videos on youtube on how to use the trains and buy tickets etc. Even after watching Naomi do it enough times I was still slightly worried. The most  confusing part for me is the station platforms and knowing which train is which. Buying tickets is fine as the computer system you use has an English button so that is no problem. And the train going from her hometown to Kyoto is simple enough as there are only two choices and the platform is very obvious. Kyoto however has a huge station full of all kinds of trains, so coming home (or lack there of) is what was frightening.

The next day I left the house just after breakfast. I walked to the station, about 20 minutes or so and was certainly feeling the heat with my thick coat and not a cloud in the sky! I managed to get my ticket and proceed to the proper platform without a problem (if for some reason your ticket is wrong the little gate would slam shut you go through and ring an alarm, a truly awful feeling. Though that really only happens when you get to your destination, if you paid for only 1 stop but went for 5 for example).

It was standing room only at that point, nothing I haven't experienced before, and off I went to Kyoto. Got there fine and dandy and took a moment to look around the platform first to make sure I had things figured out for the return trip. As I headed up the stairs to the exit I found myself literally stuck in a human flood of people pushing their way out. Holy hell it was busy. Japan is still in their holiday week and so it was nuts. I barely managed to break my way out before getting to the exit so I could stop and see where I need to go to get on the train home. After that I thought I better just buy the return ticket now to make things easier when finished. After waiting in line for 5 minutes to get the ticket, I headed off towards where the shopping area of the station was (called The Cube, its a big square 3 floor basement level area). Once I knew where to go I thought I would head to Starbucks to check the internet and take a break.

The night before I had checked a map of the area around the station. In about a 30min walk or less in any direction there is so much you can do and see. Noting there was 2 big temples nearby I thought  I should be adventurous and just go for it. Using the big Kyoto Tower (pictured earlier in the blog) as my landmark I headed off after some coffee. A quick walk got to the first one and..as per this trip..all the main huge buildings were totally covered in a thick sheet metal for renovations. I just laughed, didn't even bother crossing the  street to go look in and just headed straight for the next one.

Another 5 minutes, the whole time thinking what is the point I am sure it will be the same, and there I was. First sighting was good, no visible renovation...this might be OK.

One of the first gates I found. It had 4 that I saw just on the East side alone. 

I went through the first one I saw which led to this little area that was walled off from the other part of the temple. 

Another gate I passed by. I saw the bigger crowds going into another one up ahead. 

Across the road from the main gate was this little gate that cars drove through. Not sure where it led to or even why it was over there. 

And the main gate! 

Nishi Honganji Temple. Established in 1602 by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. This temple and the other one I tried to go to are actually the result of the Shogun splitting them into 2 temples to help diminish the power of the Jodo sect (a type of Buddhism). 

After heading through the main gate, to my delight, there was no construction to be seen! Finally, I had hit the jackpot. A pure undisturbed temple. And it was beautiful. 

This main building, the Founder's Hall (Goeido) was completed in 1636 and is one of the largest wooden structures in the world. 

This huge Icho (has yellow leaves apparently) tree sat outside the main building. It has been here since the temple itself was finished. Apparently it is hard to burn. 

This lovely fountain sat beside it. Looked like a flower petal.

The two temples are linked by this nice little walk way. The other one is the Hall of Amida Buddha (Amidado). 

Looking back on the larger building.

At first I wasn't going to bother going up and looking around, seeing as how I saw 0 foreigners there, but after seeing one other white guy I figured hey why not. After putting my shoes in a grocery bag, as is custom (or leave them at the steps) I headed up. The floorboards all make a squeaking bird noise, the famed Nightingale floors. I mentioned those in the last blog when we came to Japan  before. They were designed this way to detect would be assassins as usually very high ranking people would come and stay here.   

These massive iron gates sat above each door into the temple. It was a little creepy walking under them as I couldn't help think they could come swinging down. 

Crossing the bridge over to the other side.

Looking back at yet another gate. You can see some ladies in Kimonos under it. 

I didn't try and sneak pictures of the inside as its probably a nono, thought I saw no signs saying so, but it was also full of people praying. However the interiors were gorgeous, full of art and carvings.

Another large tree, though I am not sure if it is the same type as the other one.  

Looking back at the smaller temple, and the girls in Kimonos were still there, getting pictures taken. 

It was definitely worth it. I headed back to the station after this to do the souvenir shopping I came to do. Which actually was somewhat lousy! Happy I made the side trip to make it all worthwhile. I grabbed some food to go from the HUGE food area underground there, and headed back to the station platforms. I found the right spot, luckily things were labelled pretty well. Being in no rush for a particular train certainly helps. Waited in line, with quite a few looks back at the signs and electronic ones to make sure I was going to the right place. I was. 

Nice ride home (with a seat!) and then walked back to the house. Mission accomplished. I wish I had done this earlier as I certainly feel a lot more comfortable getting around on my own. Probably could have squeezed a lot more in! Oh well. Next time for sure. 

This may be the last real blog as we leave Naomi's parents tomorrow morning, take the bullet train back to Tokyo, stay a night then fly out the following day. I may get some things in around Tokyo and such and if so will update a final one. 

Otherwise, see you next time.

Oh, and Tommy Lee Jones is still the Boss apparently. 

New Years, Food, And Whatnots

So Christmas came and went, very quickly. Between then and New Years we didn't do that much. I took Charles to a park once while Naomi was doing some dusting, he ran around the big field playing with a beach ball, that was so lite it would constantly get blown around in the wind. Other families came and went including one with a kite. He was in love with it and watched it for quite awhile.

We also FINALLY got some good ol fashioned conveyor belt sushi!! We actually tried to go a couple nights beforehand and as we got there (it was a cheapo place for sure, but still figured it would be OK) the staff never said anything about grabbing a number (from this little digital machine by the door). The guy just said he was preparing the tables. Then as we realized what was up Naomi was pissed, ripped a strip off the waiter for being a dunce and we left. Sushi from the supermarket instead, oh well.

However we finally went to a huge mall nearby (think Mayfair with 3 stories and a movie theatre) and it turned out, in their GLORIOUS restaurant section (I could have eaten there for a month) they had a nice quality, slightly pricey, conveyor sushi place. Of course we went! No idea why micky and mini were in their advertising.

Side track, they have these awesome kids shopping carts there. Have another 3 types as well I believe. Full of buttons, switches, steering wheel, everything you need to distract your child. Worked wonderfully.

 Ok back to sushi. This place also had the digital number waiting system. The waiter did his job and actually told us about it. Good guy.

This is just our  soy sauce and the help yourself green tea.

A super frosty ice cold beer. It was delicious. The glass is basically frozen solid. 

Enjoying some green beans and goldfish crackers.

The closer one is chawanmushi. An egg pudding with fish stock, some salmon eggs, mushrooms and fish cakes in it. The other is an Udon noodle soup with a tofu pocket.

Some deep fried octopus legs. (Japanese Kentucky Fried Octopus)?

Some inari on the left (tofu pockets stuffed with rice) and tuna on the right. 

BBQ eel with BBQ sauce. 

Unidentified white fish, with a plum sauce on top.

Tai (sea bream) with green onions. 

Negitoro. Tuna belly with green onions. My favourite. 

This. Oh my god it was amazing. Very lightly grilled tuna (with blowtorch), pepper and BBQ sauce and onion on top. It was amazing. I think I had 4 plates. 

Not pictured is the copious amounts of the above I ate again and again most likely. I forgot to take a picture of our stack of plates at the end! For shame.. If you notice the plate colours, that is how they tell the price and tally it up. The most expensive I think was 4 dollars. Cheapest about 1.50. 

And some pictures of the place in action

That black nozzle thing is where your hot water comes out for tea. Just push your cup into it.

Plates prices are blurry in the background. Trying to take quick pictures in case someone sees and gets offended.

It delicious. Very hard to control yourself at these places.

Next up is a couple shots from my favourite cafe! Hot chocolate with whip and cheese cake and a berry sauce. Scrumptious as always.

Naomi had a sweet potato cake. Also quite good! 

And Charles in yet another shopping cart. Not as fun, but different. 

Naomi's sister and 2 kids came to visit us. Her husband has been in China for over a year now I think (posted there by work) and will still be for a year or so more. Poor guy. Charles got along great with them and had fun playing with toys together. That day Naomi's mom decided we should go for lunch at, funnily enough, the conveyor built sushi place Naomi chewed out the other night! Hey why not. It was more successful this time at least. 

They have these touch tablets where you can express order whatever you want. The nephew instantly sat down and pounded out a big order of sushi. Over the next 45 I am pretty sure it was a constant flow of stuff coming.

Oh, and it would come like this (mostly, unless it was soup or drink). Delivered via shinkansen! You push a little red button when you are done to send it back.  It was awesome. Funny though because most people just end up doing this the food going around on the conveyor is rather sparse. Why take the old one when you just order a new one? Bit of an odd system but a neat one.

This was the cheapo place, but I enjoyed it. I didn't bother with food pictures as it was similar to before, just less nice looking. I would say it equals 95% of all Victoria sushi joints however at about 1/3 the price. 

It was nice they came to visit early (it was supposed to just be on Jan 2nd when her brother and kids were going to come too, but her sister thought it was not enough) as it would turn out the family gathering got cancelled. More on that in a minute.

New years eve we managed to stay up till 12am (spent 4 hours watching a yearly music show that went until 11:40). As you can see the party was in full swing. There was actually no countdown on the channel we were on. It was showing live footage of a bunch of different temples around Japan, and when it hit 12am one of them showed the priests all lined up ringing one of those huge bells like you saw earlier. I guess that would be a fun event but with a kid this young would probably not be easy to go to. Next time maybe! 

So the January first rolled around. Plan was to head to a temple and do some other things out and about. However, when we woke up we noticed Charles had a fever. Hm. A little while later when we went to change his clothes we found he had little red spots showing up on his legs and stomach area as well as one hand. Huh. Nono it can't be chickenpox... Fast forward a few hours later after at trip to the doctor (after finding one that was actually open!) and yes, confirmed, it was chicken pox. 

Great. He was scheduled for his latest vaccinations around now, which include the 2nd chicken pox ones, and just our luck we had not done it yet. Sigh. However since he had the first one it turns out it made his case not nearly as bad as someone without them! That following night was pretty rough and the whole day he was quite depressed and just wanted to be held. However since then has slowly gotten better and as of now his scabs are healing over so it should be ok for going home! It never spread to his face either, just legs, 1 hand and bit of back and stomach. 

Needless to say this pretty much cancelled any other plans we had, including the temple visit and family get together on the 2nd. 

ANYWAY. Back on to less depressing news. News years morning we had a traditional breakfast with sake (Japanese wine), mochi soup and a collection of fishcakes (that had little pictures on them) as well as tiny fish which I hastily, when nobody was looking, dumped on Naomi's plate.

Dessert was different sweets. Sweet red bean paste inside mochi. 

And with Sakura leaf tea (which was super fishy tasting, dont ask me why. I traded that for green tea).

We still managed, even with the sicko baby, to get birthday cake on the way home from the doctors. It was a collection of different types. Green tea, strawberry mousse, chocolate, and vanilla sponge. All were delicious! Well the few I had anyway.

Also, from one of our trips. Before he got sick. Stopped by a local Mister Donut (Tim Hortons). I love these guys. Refillable coffee and the donuts, from the left, were a strawberry icing, strawberry cream filled, double chocolate with whip cream center, and a kids one that had a green jelly in the middle.