Kyoto has more temples

Day 6 in Kyoto (Day 3 for Zach and Emily, Day 8, I think, for Dean and Loryn) was our last opportunity to see the remaining temples.

To accomplish this, we woke early. The best part of exiting early is that we stumbled upon free coffee outside of the hotel restaurant (compared to the $8 Zach paid the day before while he was taking his accounting tests).

We got on the bus to Kinkakuji (gold temple) and made the long journey to the exact other quadrant of town. There, we stared with other visitors at the picturesque gold temple, with each level built with a unique design and purpose in mind.

[Photo of Kinkakuji]

From Kinkakuji, we walked to catch another bus and along the way ran into a sushi conveyor belt restaurant - the cheapest and most fun meal we had while in Japan. At least most fun based on the fact that the sushi and other items passed by you on a conveyor belt and you ordered by the dish and when your dish arrived the monitor would sound a signal.

This day we would continue our bus travels by stopping off at the Kijo castle (which was closed) and catching another bus to another temple up in the hills. This next temple was a Buddhist temple and when we arrived, the attending monks were chanting - we stayed here for a bit to cool off.

Walking down the hill, through the Gion district, we searched next for the Razorback (technically, "wild boar") temple. We found it near the parking lot of another more major temple and took plenty of photos to send into the Arkansas Alumni Association.

[Photo at Razorback temple]

To cap off our day of temple hopping, we made our way to the place of a thousand Torii gates - a location our mother had called us about earlier that day. To get here, we took one bus, walked a bridge, walked some alleys, caught another bus and then crossed the rail tracks. But, we made it, and walked the Torii gates, stacked one after another like trees in a forest - but bright bright orangish red.

[Photo of Torii gates]

After exhausting ourselves, we bussed it back to the hotel for showers. There we made final plans for renting our car to Mt. Fuji (next blog post) and split up to head to the "best tempura restaurant in Japan." Turns out the "best" also meant the "most extraordinarily expensive" and so the first half of our group that arrived there first suffered through an awkward "no thank you" and existed to wave the rest of us down near the entrance. So instead of tempura, we settled on McDonald's.

And after a good chicken burger, we made our way to the puricula booths for Dean and Loryn's first opportunity to create genius. With Haynes modeling for his next art installation and Dean and Loryn finding the way to best express awkward affection, I would consider our stop at Japan's best activity a success. And even more so because Tristan found us with two other Razorbacks in tow. He introduced us to two Japanese friends who graduated from the University of Arkansas - a great Razorback reunion, and yes, we did tell them about the Razorback temple.

[Photo from puricula]

And so the night came to an end after catching up on activities from the Hill.

Day 7, our final day in Kyoto, was an opportunity to start late, pack and make our way to pick up the car. Our only activities of the day were: Haynes and I skipping fare on the bus, finding a great Thai restaurant and packing the gear into the car.

Now we are off, to conquer Fujisan with our good friend Ryo. To find the sun on Japan's iconic highest peak.

Kyoto has temples

Day 4 in Kyoto sandwiched our trip to Nara. With the entire group intact now - all 7 Arkansans - we could now start the true week of adventure in Japan.

On day 5, we slept in. Today we would visit the temples that make Kyoto such a popular and beautiful place to see. But first, we had to eat soba (buckwheat) noodles at a 600-year old restaurant.

With our bus day pass, we caught a line that took us on the south end of the Imperial Palace green area. Off the bus, we walked the alley to the restaurant. There we ran into a Japanese family (mother and two daughters) who live in New York with their mother/grandmother. We sat next to them during lunch.

[PHOTO FROM LUNCH]

A wonderful lunch and great introduction to traditional Japanese food for our new arrivals. Though I sweat through lunch and had trouble sitting knees-crossed, it was definitely one of my favorite meals from our time in Japan. So after lunch, the grandmother of our new found friends listed several points of interest and stops for food for Haynes. She had been studying English with a focus on tourism with an English-speaking ex-pat who wrote a book on visiting Kyoto - with her knowledge, she proved to be a great guide.

Next we made our way to Ginkakuji (silver temple) – a temple meant to be covered in silver (until the owner ran out of funds) and surrounded by a beautiful example of Japanese gardens, a landscape filled with moss covered forest beds and designer rock beds meticulously kept like rows and rows of ant hills.

[PHOTO OF FOREST]

There we were Wisconsined – a new term we created after a kid from Wisconsin took a group photo of us but failed to capture the temple in the background. Because of this experience we started carrying around a green screen to snap group photos – later Haynes will fill in the background with another superimposed shot we took with the group removed. No, not really, but I think I just created a new product to market to travelers.

From the temple, with several stops for sweet snacks, we walked the Philosopher’s trail and passed a shop where I bought chopsticks and ran into a bicycle man who sold Zach a painted rock and gave us each a piece of candy. At the end of the path, we reached a beautiful temple next to the “water bridge” (or viaduct) – a Roman style, brick made piece of architecture where we posed for our first set of band photos.

[BAND PHOTO]

From there, we caught a bus back to the hotel to freshen up and then headed out back near Kyoto City Hall (near to where we ate lunch) to eat yakitori (Japanese kebabs). My favorite = the chicken heart. We also drank hot and cold sake. From here, we left to meet up with Tristan for karaoke. Unfortunately, Erin's phone died and so we didn't have the exact location. We split the group into search parties and walked up and down the arcade (covered shopping) areas, but could not find him. With what seemed at the time just a bit of energy left, we found the closest karaoke location and squeezed into the room for an hour, bringing in our own beer. Here, I will end for the night. As you can imagine, loud Americans, even louder competing Riley's, and a stereotypical (and maybe offensive) playlist of songs - from Styx' "Mr. Roboto" to Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."

Kyoto, it's been too long: The traveling life of a Riley twin

During my usual travels, or at least those on my own and with Haynes, our modis operende is to visit (or find a place), stay a day or two (or three/four at the most) and move on. That’s it – constant movement. I guess I like the feeling of being on the move – it must be that feeling of the threshold that fulfills me.

Going against this travel style, however, we planned our Asian journey to post up in towns for several nights at a time as our home bases – venturing out for day trips. We started planning like I traditionally like to write a paper – write it all and then edit down. Knowing that what is reality and what is in my mind when it comes to travel time, our month long journey at first even included a stop over in the remote Papua New Guinea and wearing fins in Cairns for a quick dip near the Great Barrier Reef. After months of discussion between the several parties here (as I write this, I’m sitting in the car with 6 other North Little Rock-ians), we cut out several of the stops and arrived at a reasonable itinerary – balancing the stop-and-go with a few anchor-spots.

To the point of this blog, Kyoto was the first of those anchors. After leaving Miyajima, Erin, Haynes and I jumped a bullet train to Kyoto and settled in for 6 days and 5 nights. Not all of the days/stories are complete as we have found it hard to find free internet and, even more so, free time while traveling with such an amazing group, but the following photos and stories highlight our time in the second capital of Japan – a hilltop/river village of 1.4 million speckled with temples (and what seems to be the capitol of World Heritage Sites).

Day 1 - Thursday, Aug. 1

From Kyoto Station, Haynes, Erin and I took a cab to the Westin – where Dean and Loryn turned us onto a good deal (splitting a hotel cost is just as cheap as staying in a hostel most times in Japan). After settling in, we walked down our street in search for fresh fruit for Erin and dinner. We passed by a gallery as soon as we left the hotel and talked to the owner for a bit. The work was screen-printed wall paper and just under ten pencil drawings hung at varying heights on top of the yellow, black and white printed wall. Further along the walk we stumbled upon a hip area along the river and found a place called Salvatore’s where we had a salami pizza. Afterward, we went to the grocery store next door and stocked up on fresh fruit, two root beers and an Inca cola. Then back to the hotel for an early night in.

Day 2 - Friday, Aug. 2
We woke up and ran varying miles up and down the hills of the hotel area, which was on the east side of town. We spent some time in the hotel using the internet we had paid for to blog and plan parts of the trip that we needed to finalize hotels or travel. Haynes did some research on food and we commenced our day by journeying uptown through the art district and university area to eat at a vegetarian restaurant named Sunny Place.

The proprietors were a great example of collaboration. The younger woman was a mother of 3 children, whose only son was excited about the Kamen Rider exhibition at the International Manga Museum. She had lived in New York City for 2 years and in Boston for a while and was a devoted vegetarian, working in vegetarian restaurants in both places where she also studied and learned English. The older woman, her friend, wanted to start a Sake bar/restaurant in Kyoto. The younger woman, who wasn't named Sunny, convinced the older woman, who also wasn't named Sunny, to open something a little more unique, since Sake bars and drunk Japanese men weren't the ideal business opportunity for the aging woman. Well, we're happy they made that decision, because we ate a delicious lunch and decided what to do with the rest of our afternoon from the conversation we had. To learn more about the Kamen (or "Masked") Rider, we walked by the walled Imperial Palace and through the surrounding park to the International Manga Museum. There we observed the masses reading Japanese comics (comics may be underselling the importance and widespread readership of Manga - not to mention the widespread influence). After journeying through the evolution of the Kamen Rider, we left for dinner at a yakitori (chicken on a stick) place and once satiated, braved the rain and clouds back to the hotel where we reunited with Dean and Loryn for a champagne toast before shut eye.

Day 3 - Saturday, Aug. 3
We ran. Found a new place to stay at Hostel K's. While cooling down, we worked. Then we walked to the 5-storied pagoda where Erin, Haynes and I each sketched a version. See mine below.

After, we caught a random bus north and got off before it started turning west. We walked around a narrow cool street near the river and decided on eating at the top of a shopping mall. We settled on a Chinese buffet and there ran into a fellow Arkansan - Tristan Evans from Searcy. That day I was wearing my Arkansas Intramural soccer championship shirt - while traveling, I try to wear Arkansas items as a means to connect. This time, as almost always, it worked. With all of the variables in place - in Asia, in Japan, in Kyoto, on this date, taking a random bus, walking a random distance down a random almost-alley, passing all of the Japanese restaurants because we would eat this food when Zach and Emily arrived, arriving at a major crossroads, deciding on dining at a shopping center food court, selecting a Chinese buffet, wearing a Razorback t-shirt and the personality of Tristan - the world proved itself small again. So, we exchanged contact information with Tristan and planned to meet up when the rest of the group joined.

COMING SOON: Day 4 - 6 in Kyoto, Mt. Fuji and lots from Tokyo!