Kyoto Trip (20 Sept)

I figured it's easier to name the trips by dates instead of by numbers. It's confusing to follow Kyoto Trip 1, Kyoto Trip 2 etc.

I'll start updating regarding my day today, then go backwards. Haha. So, yep. here goes.

I wasn't going anywhere today actually. Decided that I needed to read the 60 pages of readings Prof Steven set us. But, the soreness of missing the Full Moon Matsuri weighed heavily on my mind. So, I researched a few days ago on the forth-coming Matsuris in Kyoto area and came across one that I can actually attend (which is not on a schoolday). It was the Hagi Matsuri (Bush Clovers Festival) at 梨木神社 (Nashinoki Shrine).

Actually, the reason why I decided to stay home was because of the stupid typhoon. But, this morning, I was informed that it missed us and was on the way to the Honshu area So, on the spur of the moment, I decided that I was going to Kyoto today (again!) Put on my sports shoes (alot of walking expected. don't wanna be cinder-huey again today!), nice yellow sundress that I just bought yesterday (and since today I expect the weather to be atsui, sundress suited me just fine) and set off for Kyoto!

I walked from Sanjo Station to Marutamachi Station because I didn't want to pay the additional amount (I don't remember how much it was) and because I enjoy walking very much :) The route from Sanjo Station to Marutamachi is just along the river. Just straight. No way I could get lost (I only got lost from Marutamachi to Nashinoki Shrine). This is a rather beautiful walk, full of trees to shelter me from the glaring sunlight (with the typhoon gone, the sun is back out again).


So, yes, after reaching Marutamachi station, I wandered around randomly looking for Nashinoki. Nashinoki Shrine was not on my map, so, eventually, I ended up at Kyoto Gyoen National Garden (where the Kyoto Imperial Palace is). It is another beautiful garden. Huge. Sprawling grounds. It's amazing!!!






















Well, as u can see, it's really really huge. And I've only visited a part of it. Planning to send a request to the Imperial Household Agency to request for a tour into the Imperial Palace. In October/November, when the leaves turn red, it will be a beautiful place to be in.

I chanced upon this group of people playing Japanese baseball (the people here are absolutely wild about Hanshin Tigers, the local baseball team). Apparently it's for some tournament, cos there was a trophy on the table. But then, there was a very small turnout of spectators. Maybe only ten? Haha. I didn't stay long though. While the garden is a really nice place, I was bitten quite a number of times by some mosquitoes. Don't know why they don't bite other people, why bite me?!!!! =(

Anyways, backtracking, while waiting for the Limited Express train at Hirakatashi, Alex called me (yay, the great thing about having a phone. can keep in contact easily =)) to ask me what I was doing today. I sort of tried to persuade him to come to Kyoto with me. haha. but he told me he'd think about it after lunch. So anyways, while at the National Garden, he called me and I told him I was lost, cos I cldnt figure out where the Nashinoki Shrine was. In fact, I didn't even know the name of the shrine and he had to check it out for me (as usual, blur me). So anyways, he was trying to teach me how to ask for directions to the jinja over the phone. "Nashinoki Jinja wa dochira desu ka." I know this sentence structure though and told him so. "It's not the question that is the problem. It's the answer that's the problem!"

Well, anyways, that problem was resolved. I asked a guy who pointed me to go straight. But later, he realised he was wrong and rode his bike (I'd already walked some distance) to come tell me. I thought that was very nice of him. He could have just ignored the mistake and let me continue walking, but no! He rushed all the way to tell me that he made a mistake. Such good hospitality, the Japanese have! =)

While wandering around looking for the jinja, I chanced upon this tree. Very strange tree right? The others are all green, but this tree has red leaves! :) Imagine the entire row of trees with red/yellow leaves. How pretty it would be! :) Haha, sorry, I'm so suaku. But never been in autumn/winter before. So, am a little bit excited :)







Eventually, found the Nashinoki Jinja :) It was just outside one of the exits from the National Garden.


And of course, as it is the Hagi Festival, the entire place was full of bush clovers... Enthusiastic photographers were taking close up pictures of these bush clovers. I'm a bad photographer, so no. Sorry, no close up pictures :P

Fortunately, I arrived just in time to watch a bow-and-arrow performance at 1.30p.m.

The priests(?) are dressed in the ancient costumes. During this bow-and-arrow performance, the girl (in red) places a wooden plank on a stand. There were 8 archers, who were supposed to shoot the plank into smithereens.


Several archers missed. This archer didn't! :) I didn't manage to take an actual picture of the plank being shot, but here's the girl (in red) picking up the smithereens. I left during the second set cos it was a little bit boring after seeing it once.


There was, of course, some elaborate ceremony. Here, one of the archers takes some.. erm, sharp object and pushes it into a mould of sand (?). I didn't really understand the significance of it all, cos I don't understand Japanese. But it was quite interesting all the same! =)





Haha. I must complain about this Jinja. I acquired the MOST NUMBER OF MOSQUITO BITES in this jinja!!!! And the most ferocious one was this! It was really really bad. Now, the swelling has gone down. In its place is rash. :( And I was hanging around the Jinja for sometime, cos I was waiting for Alex to come from Hirakatashi, and walk down to the Jinja. So, yeah, I got bitten quite a bit. I can count more than 5 serious bites on my legs (and I was wearing ankle tights today) Very itchy, very itchy. You always feel mosquitoes here, but never see them. It's annoying like hell, cos u wanna slap them and kill them, but they're never around for u to slap! :(


Well, okay, enough about my miserable scars. So Alex appeared, we walked around the Jinja one more time, before going into the National Garden for a while. I have one last picture to show of the National Garden. This picture has the beautiful mountains in the background. I absolutely love the National Garden. Masayuki was right. It really is a beautiful place. haha. I only wish I can bring my kor here to see it. :( Sighs.





Anyways, we decided to walk back to Sanjo. Apparently, today, Ann and Yui were out shopping for girly Japanese clothing (haha, cannot ask me along, because I'll spend like crazy!) at Kyoto (don't know where, but my suspicion is Shijo). So, we wanted to meet them at the station and then go for dinner. These are scenes from the walk back to Sanjo station...










The first picture is of the river from the bridge. It's really beautiful isn't it? The second picture is of three men walking in the river. Later on, Alex and I observed that they washed their faces with the river water. This means that the river water is considered clean. Better yet, Alex saw (but I didn't!) small black fishes in the river. So that means the water is clean enough for life. That's amazing isn't it? Well, at least I thought so! Haha. Alex is in the last picture. We were sitting on the steps observing the three men when I took this. It looks a bit mountainy doesn't it? Haha, cos u cant really see the water. All u see is grass!










The sun sets maybe around 6pm. It was 5pm when I took these pictures. I found the reflection of the buildings in the river very beautiful. Haha, Alex was commenting about how creative the two japanese in the 2nd picture are. They used their bikes as nets, and then started playing badminton. Haha, necessity is the mother of all inventions, I presume? :P The last picture isn't focused so much on the man, but rather his shirt. According to Alex, the shirt says, "Don't kill. Don't get killed. Don't force others to kill." it ends with "No war, no more." Very impressive shirt. Possibly an anti-war activist. =)

Reached Sanjo. Kyoto is an amazing city/old town. Look at how the buildings look amidst the backdrop of the beautiful multicoloured sky! How gorgeous, isn't it? I'm sure you can find this in Singapore (or anywhere else in the world) too, but, maybe I'm just biased. I think it's more kirei (pretty) here than elsewhere! We found a shop selling very very very old CDs for 500 yen or 250 yen (depending on condition of CD and also on the recency). Saw Larc-en-ciel's CD/DVD for maybe about 2900 yen. Haha, was strongly reminded of SJ, but I think SJ will prob already have that lah. I even found Spice Girls CDs. Goes to show how old these CDs are, doesnt it? :) But of course, there are newer CDs. I don't really listen to music other than those my friends recommend, so I didn't know what to buy. But 500 yen sounds like a good deal to me :P

We called Ann and found out that the two ladies were already on their way to Makino. *shrugs* So, Alex and I went for dinner together instead. This shop (I don't remember what the name is, except that it starts with an O), had reasonably priced food! =)

What Alex had is still a mystery to me! It was fried vegetables with a certain kind of sauce. When I ate it, I was almost certain it was caramel! It was so bloody sweet! Haha, he was so funny. he said, "I'm sure by the time I return to America, I'll be a vegetarian! Everyday, I'm eating less and less meat."




Mine was katsu-don. Trust me, it WAS delicious. Although it looks normal, the chicken chop was fried to crispiness that I cannot describe. And the sauce they added over it was some fruit vegetable sauce. Oishii desu yo!! [delicious] I mailed Daryn and told her about it. She was like, "heee, with me, you seem to keep trying to avoid going to a restaurant." So I promised to bring her there next week, when we go to Kiyomizudera again for hiking. :)


Both of us were tired out from lack of sleep [I slept only at 3am last night, cos I was talking to Masayuki] so after dinner, it was straight back home.

I enjoyed myself. =)

The reason I enjoyed myself today was because... well, I felt like I had a lot of time on my hands to slowly explore. Even if I got lost, it was still okay, because I have a phone to inform okaasan if that happened. Just another lazy, exploring afternoon. <3 haha, I love days like this, when you feel like you don't have any troubles at all.

It's good to be alive! =)