Kansai Adventures Part 1 - Kyoto

Long time no see!

Sorry I haven't been writing lately. Jeez this keyboard I'm using is crazy loud... (ADD)
Kansai Adventures Part 0 - Introduction
Anyways for those who don't know, I am now in Kansai for 5 days BY MYSELF. Kansai is a region in Japan that includes the cities of Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. I took a bus, which is a cheap alternative to the Bullet Train. I could've sworn that the bus arrival time to Kyoto was 2:30PM, but apparently I was wrong because I ended up arriving at around 6:00PM. The trip to Kyoto had me pretty anxious for the latter half of the trip because I expected the bus to arrive at 2:30PM and I had reserved my spot in the hostel saying that I would arrive by 3:00PM but it didn't end up being a problem at all. The drive to Kansai was also very beautiful since we passed by Tokyo Tower, Mt. Fuji, and hours of mountains and rural village between the valleys.

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11.24 - Ramen and Kodaiji Temple

 For my first night, I'm staying at a place called A-Yado Gion. The hostel is pretty well positioned being extremely close to Gion (Geisha District), but I have yet to see any Geisha -- I've heard it's quite rare to see one anyways.Regardless, there are a lot of beautiful scenic places nearby. A-yado, however, is on the side street alleys so it's not all that beautiful in the immediate area. I paid the same price that I paid for Nui. Hostel & Bar Lounge, which is where I stayed during my first few days in Japan, but in my opinion this is definitely a downgrade. Everything is pretty much a downgrade comparing it to Nui. Nui had a bar lounge on the first floor, really nice bathroom, and a good amount of OUTLETS. This place has no outlets. On my bunk, the only two outlets are being used by the lamps that are next to our beds. Near the computer area, the outlets are being used to power the computer. The only open outlets I could find are above the sink -- which isn't really convenient. This is probably the more realistic definition of a hostel. Complaints aside, however, I'm safe and sound, I have a place to sleep and I have a roof over my head -- what more can you ask for?

So anyways, for the first night in Kansai I am staying in Kyoto. Kyoto is the old capital of Japan prior to the Meiji restoration, which moved the emperor and the capital to Tokyo. Since it is the historic capital of Japan, it has tons of cultural awesomeness like Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Some famous temples you might know about (or might not) include Fushimi Inari Taisha (The shrine w/ tons of red gates) or Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion). Today, I did not visit either of them because both of those close at around 5:00PM. Instead, I visited a temple called Kodaiji Temple. It came as a recommendation by the manager of A-Yado Gion. The temple was really cool in my opinion! I left to the temple after eating Tonkotsu Ramen at a place called 一か for ￥690, which I ate at around 7:00-7:30PM. After I finished my ramen, I spouted a nice little 「ごちそうさまでした」thanking them for the meal, paid them and left for Kodaiji. After casually walking and most likely taking the long (scenic) route, I finally found my way to Kodaiji (with the help from a picture of a map that I took) at about 8:45PM. The temple closed at 9:30PM so I still had time, and I don't think they kicked anyone out when the clock struck 9:30, so that's cool. The temple was illuminated everywhere and it made for really awesome pictures. There was a White building that was lit up that had lit up red, orange, and yellow autumn-colored trees beside it. There was a zen rock garden that was decorated and lit up for a very slow, zen-like light show... I took pictures of the best part though, which was when they shined green and purple lights on the rock garden. Besides the light show, the most awe-inspiring scene was a Japanese garden with red, yellow, and orange colored trees around it. The trees were illuminated with lights, and the reflection of that reflected perfectly on the still water from below. It basically created a mirror effect, which I thought was pretty awesome. We also walked through an area that had a model of the old Japanese thatch houses and later through a bamboo grove. I wish I could've been in those pictures but hey -- what are you going to do?

Traveling by myself, there are definite pros and cons. For one, there is no one to take pictures of you... also, you are solely dependant on your own Japanese to get you places around town and you don't have anyone to juggle thoughts with if you become lost. The pros however are that I get to be independent and get to set my own schedule and see whatever I want to see. However, it's still difficult because I don't often do things completely by myself especially in a land so foreign. The first time I was by myself was my first few days in Japan where it took me 2 hours to find my hostel after getting lost (I was always ~15 minutes from it the whole time ._.) This time however, I was a BIT more prepared. My phone still doesn't have wifi and I can't use data so I took a picture of a map online and used that to find my hostel and it luckily WORKED despite having a slight but constant uncertainty in the direction that I was going. I just hope I don't run into the same problem tomorrow when I go to Osaka in the morning. Anyways, got to check out by 10:00AM tomorrow, so I will update you with more deets as they come.

LATERR!!