Kyoto: Japan of the past
Trip Start
Oct 06, 2008
1
25
38
Trip End
Apr 18, 2009
Kyoto, Kinki, Japan
Saturday, January 24, 2009
We caught the morning bus the following day to visit the famed Golden Pavillion. The building itself is covered in pure gold leaf, and along with the surrounding gardens, forest and large pond in front, it made for an astonishing sight. After a long walk around the idyllic gardens, we visited Gion, one of the most famous geisha districts in Japan.
The historical streets of Gion have been declared a 'national historical preservation district', meaning that efforts have been made to restore the streets to preserve their original beauty. Although our guide book states that the number of geishas are rapidly decreasing and the chance of spotting one is extremely small, we were extremely lucky to see two! One was running down a small alleyway, whilst another was being escorted from a taxi, so although breif glimpses, we both left feeling very priviliged!
Although we had both already eaten, we discoivered an interesting sushi restaurant on the way back to the hostel, and determined as I am to always try new culinary treats, we popped in for a sampler! Interestingly, the sushi moved around the restaurant on a convayor belt, and diners would just grab what they wanted off it! I know I had some raw eels and something that looked a little like salmon, but I think I'd rather not know what some of them were! All in all, I'll put my hands up and admit, Catrin was right, they all tasted as bad as they looked. With a belly full of raw fish, we walked home, one of us looking a certain degree paler than the other.
We woke up at 5am the following morning as we had an enormous jounrey ahead of us; we had to catch three different trains to get to the airport, needing to get there in time for our lunchtime flight to Beijing. We had a fantastic time in Japan, and were looking forward to our next big destination. So, it was time to say, "sayonara" Japan and "nia hao" China!
