Kicking it Kyoto Style

Kyoto is now one of my all time fav cities.

We started off a little shaky.. we had a very hard time finding accomodation in Kyoto, as it is one of the peak seasons because of the leaves changing colours. I called many places.. all full.. and full... and even with the help from the kind gals at our hostel in Hiroshima who spoke Japanese we got turned down at one place because the owners were concerned about our lack of Japanese (or as they put it, because they couldn't give us the attention we needed).. and then we got a break at the Bon Guesthouse.. and they thought they could only accomodate us for 2 nights (it all worked out and we stayed 5)...off to Kyoto.

We confirmed our suspicion on this overnight bus trip.We have discovered that gaijin:s get sent to the back of the bus!! At least these gaijin. Every overnight bus trip, or even a long bus trip we have done we have been seated in the last row of the bus (despite it not being full). even when we have Japanese people book our ticket!! Well the trip from Hiroshima to Kyoto was particularly uncomfortable! which meant arriving in Kyoto at 6am feeling slightly strung out! However, the sun eventually came up and we killed some time on the river Kamo before heading to our guesthouse.

We decided to take it easy on our first day, massages, onsen.. and good food. Now we were prepared to take on Kyoto. The city is magical and mysterious.. it is the spiritual mecca of Japan, and wonderful mix of Hip Urban, Buddhist, Shinto, Samauri, Geisha, Japanese tourist, Gaijin tourist, locals and expats.... there is something for everyone.

We did a walking tour with Johnnie Hillwalker.. (must be in his 70's and doing this for years) he gave us the low down on the history of Buddhism and Shinto in Japan and Kyoto, the history of  pottery, mala beads, fans,sweets, tatami matt makers and other industry in Kyoto, aka..Japanese families working out of their homes for generations.... and how that is all changing,Geisha and so much more.

We explored on bikes.. and discovered beautiful temples and gardens.. shops.. canals..restaurants. We hooked up with couchsurfers and danced (well not really) to a Japanese band playing video game music, wearing taped masks, one guy fully naked rocking to a crowd of animae clad japanese youngsters (CRAZY).We spotted Geisha, saw lit up temples...went to a Zen meditation..ate green tea ice cream, went to a crazy craft market at a temple..... and so much more. I look forward to my next visit and I have only been gone a day!!