It’s Saturday morning on the 14th March and we are all set to go to Kyoto via the Shinkansen for the very first time…how exciting!!! After a quick stop at the local maccas for breakfast, we headed into the subway to get to Tokyo station and transfer onto the JR shinkansen terminal. Firstly I would like to say that because Tokyo is such a large city with so many train lines, it is confusing as hell trying to figure out where the hell you are going and how to get anywhere. But after a few goes on the subway and with a little help or two from the train station officer, we all started to get the hang of how the subway works, what exit to take to transfer and what trains to catch on what platform. I would also like to add that the trains here are super efficient, more efficient than the subway lines in New York when i was there in 2001. I have been paying particular attention to the times of the trains and all of them that we caught have been dead on time! It comes into the station and approximately 30 seconds later the door closes with no hesitations and the train scoots off again. It so cool that with so many people and how efficient the train system is, there is no craziness as people get on and off the train with only a slight nudge as they all try to cram into an already full car. We finally got into the JR shinkansen terminal and boarded onto the train when it arrived into the station…boy these things look like they are out of this world!
Shinkansen
At the front they have really long aerodynamic noses and I believe they travel approximately 250-300+ km/hr…awesome! Hitting high speed as we got out of Tokyo city was pretty unimpressive as i thought it was a lot faster than what seemed while looking outside of my plane cabin looking seat. We tried to guess its speed where i would count the number of poles we saw and timed how long it took from one pole to the other. I guessed that each pole was approximately 30m apart where you would divide it by the time taken to get its approximate speed…We got somewhere around the 200ish mark which sounded about right.
The train ride took about 2hrs and 40mins to get into Kyoto and all i could say was WOW to this massive terminal we were about to enter. The shinkansen terminal is absolutely huge with really nice passive architectural designs which allowed the terminal to be naturally ventilated, and covered by a gigantic curved glass roofing structure. Not only that, the terminal is equipped with its own 11 floor department store, restaurant floors, sky garden and observatory deck…how cool! After trying to find our way out of this massive building, we headed to K’s house which was only say 10mins walk down the road from the station. From approaching the Hostel you could tell that it was pretty new building as everything look swish from the outside and also from the inside as we checked in and headed to our rooms. Gee, this K’s house was awesome and it felt more like a hotel rather than a hostel….much larger than the one in Tokyo! It even had its own bar/cafe area onto the side which closes pretty late if you are hankering for a couple of beers or some rubbish coffee.
K's House Kyoto
We ended up at Sukiya (fast food curry joint and now one of my favourite places to eat) for dinner as we couldn’t decided where we wanted to go and eat, plus at this stage i swear i could have almost eaten my stinky sneakers because i was so hungry. I ordered a Mega bowl of curry beef which was basically in my opinion enough to feed a family of three, hahaha…but i smashed it like it was an entrée meal…aaaahhhhh much better! After dinner we headed off to see the Hanatorou (lantern festival) in the Gion district which was so amazing…It was like being thrown back a few hundred years where the streets were cobble stone lined and the buildings were still kept the old styled Japanese wooden look…absolutely stunning. Unfortunately i believe we were a little too late in the evening to spot any Geisha’s darting to their appointments as it was getting dark really quickly and the chances became thinner and thinner. The lanterns are lit for a few hours a night between March 13-22 where it winds itself all the way up to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple and seeing the spectacular lit up pagoda in the distance….What a magical place! Along the sidewalk there were stacks and stacks of sweets stores and souvenir shops selling traditional arts and crafts. I couldn’t help myself and bought a samurai sword with a stand for 14,500 Yen (about $220ish), which i bargained with the owner to give me 500 yen off. Mike told me that he was amazed that i even bartered with him because it is not usual for Japanese to barter on price….It must be the Vietnamese in me…hahahaha…SPECIAL PRICE!! 
Hanatorou Lantern Festival
We woke up pretty early in the morning because we wanted to hire some bikes to get around Kyoto and temple hop. K’s house had a fair few bikes for hire but it was first come first served kind of thing and we didn’t want any of us to miss out, so John raced down to secure 9 bikes as soon as the front desk opened at 5.30am! Our first stop was at the Nishiki Food markets as we wanted to see the weird and wonderful foods they have in Kyoto. I am always drawn to food markets every time i go overseas as i believe its the best way to experience their culture. We managed to find the markets after a few wrong turns and cries for directions, where i think we got there too early as they were only beginning to open up. In Kyoto, there are specific areas where you can only park your bikes, and finding one around that area was a bloody mission! We were forewarned that traffic cops are really quick in nabbing any bikes parked in the wrong spot where it is a 2300 yen fine when you pick it up from the bike pound. After trying our best to find a spot where other bikers have parked, and trying to dear life reading the bike parking sign; we managed to find a proper bike parking lot which was pretty cool. They had these awesome two tiered rack system where you park at the bottom or extend an arm that bends down and picks up your bike and retracts back into place. arghhhh….
As we slowly strolled through, Mike and Kim noticed one of those vending toy games with the arm inside it and gave it a couple of goes because the toy looked like Rusty (Mike and Kim’s boy staffy). After a few failed attempts, i decided to give it a go myself only on a different machine that gave out a big fluffy Stitch toy (from Lilo and Stitch). After a couple of goes, i manage to latch onto a toy which dropped into the prize winning basket; Lisa was ecstatic when i gave her the prize. After our leisurely stroll down the street market, Tony wanted to head into the Manga museum that was around the corner, so John followed him where the rest of the group ventured off to Ninjo Castle.
Ninja Chuck at Ninjo Castle
Next place we headed to was the Kinkaku-ji Temple or Golden Temple which in my mind symbolises Kyoto! It is such a beautiful sight when you enter into the temple garden and turn around a corner to see it floating over a pond filled with massive Koi’s. I won’t bore you with the history of this place but if you every decide to go to Japan for a holiday, definitely come to Kyoto where the old fuses with the new.
Kinkaku-ji Temple
By this time, everyone was getting tired and sore legs from all the riding as we headed into a Lawson’s (like 7-11 really) to stock up on junk food for a quick pit stop as we were running out of time. We had to head back downtown which seemed bloody ages as we decided to take the scenic route and cycled along the main river to Fushimi-inari Taisha temple. Now this was another stunning sight to see if you ever get to Kyoto where the temple has hundreds and hundreds of red torii gates that line the path all the way up to the mountain. It was absolutely magical as we walked the torii lined paths and headed through a bamboo forest..WOW! It was getting dark and the paths didn’t seem to be well lit, so we decided to head back before dusk instead of climbing the hill to the other side.
Red torii gates at Fushimi-Inari Temple
We were absolutely wrecked at this stage where my legs were feeling like jelly at this point and I am sure the rest felt the same way too…So we got a feed at the Kyoto train terminal, had a nice hot shower and went to bed to start it all over again in Hiroshima the next morning. Sayonara!!
Filed under: Japan Trip 09!
