Given that we only had a limited amount of time in Kyoto, we got a Shinkansen at 9:30... well that was the plan, but because of stuffing around, by the time we got to Tokyo station, the tickets had already been booked to the point that there was not 4 seats together. So we had to wait until 10:30 to get one. The train trip down started in sunshine, went to rain, snow, then back to sunshine when we got to Kyoto. But it was chilly. Kyoto is a windy city, but it also is like Melbourne, in the way it can change quite quickly.
After searching around for lockers big enough to hold our bags, we got lunch (okonomiyaki) then got on a bus to Shijo where the Nishiki markets are. We pottered around for ages, with all the smells of the market (good and bad) wafting on the breeze... or wind, because as soon as you got near a cross roads, the temperature dropped by a couple of degrees as the wind cuts through. By 4:30, we were in need of cake, so we pulled off into a side street and went to a place we had been with Conrad a few years before. Cake was had, but we were getting tired, so we got the subway back to the station, got our bags and headed to Mukomachi where our accommodation was.
For this trip, we had been using AirBNB. It was ok on the first night, as it wasn't really doing much other than being a place to catch some sleep, But at least it was clean and cheap. The place in Sapporo was underwhelming. The pictures made it look all bright, new and modern, but on getting inside it was old and dated. It was still comfortable, but a bit of a let down. This would be our third place, and we weren't holding out high hopes. We got to Mukomachi station, then grabbed a taxi. This driver looked like he had been driving since Toyota made looms, and his sight wasn't the best. We gave him Mum's phone with the address, and even after changing glasses, he still couldn't read it. He took it over to his friend in the next cab (He didn't have a strap, so we had to take 2 taxis), but the second taxi knew where to go, so old man cabbie followed him. As we winded through the tiny streets, we had our reservations about our cabbie. Yes the streets were small, but we were hoping our cabbie wouldn't hit the walls. We eventually arrived at the place and made our way toward a set of stairs. Toshi, the host came down to meet us, and helped bring the bags up. He gave us a quick walkthrough then left. The pictures on Airbnb undersold this place. Yes, it wasn't the Ritz, but it was clean and spacious. I bagsed the room with the fridge and microwave, but got vetoed by Whitney and Amber. There was a nice view from the balcony and being away from all the hustle and bustle, it was heaps quiet. After unpacking a few things, Mum and I decided to go for a walk down to the convenience store on the map the host left. It wasn't there. I think he needs to update his map. He also said that there a was a supermarket near the station, so after walking about 1km, we found the building the supermarket was in, but it looked closed. We walked a little more, before I spotted a 7-11, so we went there and grabbed supplies for dinner and breakfast. The plan was just to have some fruit for dinner, then grab a bento for breakfast, to save having to get everyone up at a bad time.
With a couple of bags, mum and I jumped a cab back to "Fespa" the name of the units. It seems they're a share house setup, but we didn't hear any noisy students or anything. After some strawberries and cheese and crackers, we all turned in. I stayed up a little longer and watched some TV shows, before finding out the charger for the netbook has gone bust, so I can't charge it.
The next morning, I woke up early and went for a walk. Right next to the block of flats was a car park. It was cool in the fact that it was filled with drift cars. Heaps of C35 Laurels, a few skylines, S12 silvia (gazelle), AE86, and a few other bits and pieces. then I wandered through the bamboo forest and took pictures and stuff. It was really quiet, and pretty, but damn that wind was cold. On making it back to the sharehouse, Whitney and Amber had only just gotten up, so it took a little more time before we were all fed and ready to go. The destination for the morning was the Arashiyama Monkey park. We grabbed the Hankyu subway train to the nearest station the wandered around before my camera decided it didn't want to play ball. The walk up the mountain was tiring. These monkeys better be worth my knees being shot... The monkey were ok. They still wild, so it's not like you can go pat them, plus scenes from Outbreak came to my head, so I didn't even feel like buying a bag of apples to feed them with. We stayed for a while, then made our way down. Fortunately, it was a bit quicker, but Whitney's legs were now jelly. We walked back to the station then got a train towards Kawaramachi/Shijo. After grabbing some lunch at Takashimaya (Whitney was getting low), we started walking toward the Disney store. On the way we found a couple of sisters and a brother doing public witnessing, so we stopped briefly, said hello then kept going. While Whitney and Amber pottered around the Disney store, Mum and I tried to find somewhere to sit. Then we headed to Gion.
For those who haven't been paying attention, Gion is the districts famed for the geishas. No, they're not prossies, they're entertainers, who perform dances and tea ceremonies. We walked through for a bit, taking pictures of the old streets and buildings. We'd seen it before, but wanted to show Amber. Lots of people dress up when they come to Kyoto. Girls in Kimonos, Guys in the traditional Japanese robe, but if you don't have them, you can always hire them, as quite a few places advertised. We walked around a bit, but we decided to taxi it back to Nishiki Markets, as it was a good 3km walk. When we got back to Nishiki, I found the nearest camera shop to see if they could help me with my camera (a Ricoh KR-5 film SLR), but they said it was stuffed, and they would have to send it back to Ricoh to repair. So I walked out a little despondent. After finding the girls, we walked back to Takashimaya and grabbed some cake. Mine was a lemon cheese cake. We jumped a subway back to our nearest station (Higashi-Mukomachi) and grabbed some dinner. The previous night, I had seen a gyoza chain, so I pointed us in that direction. I got a kimchi and pork and beer for the princely sum of 880Y. I think all of us were fed for about 3200Y, so that was nice. We stopped at the 7-11 for some breakfast supplies, then caught a taxi back to the unit. All up we walked over 25000 steps, but that didn't take into account the stairs at the monkey mountain. The next day we were heading to Himeji, so we turned in about 9pm.
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