Kyoto and Stuff

Don't have time to add pictures and stuff now. This will either be edited or I'll make a new post. Most likely the latter.

Sooo, went to Kyoto a weekend or two ago. Started off with meeting by the cafeteria and loading up on a bus. Went to the train station. Got on the shinkansen for a few hours. That's the super fast bullet train. Took a bus to Nara and went to a temple. We fed deer. That's really the most interesting part that I remember. But we went to Kofukuji and Todaiji temples. Then arrival at the hotel and check in before leaving for dinner. It was shabu-shabu, which is kind of a hot pot. One side has water, the other some kind of broth. You get a plate of veggies and one of meat and you cook them. Endless food and drink. They didn't provide us with a ride home after so we had to walk back to the hotel through the dark. I was with Jeremy and Julien though, and both are advanced Japanese speakers, so we made it back fine.

Saturday we woke up and went to Sanju-sangendo, then to the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Lunch at a random hotel that wasn't our hotel, for some reason, then back on the bus to visit Nijyojyo castle and then Kinkakuji, which is a golden temple that actually looked really cool. Then we got free time to feed ourselves that night, and went to bed. Though, most everyone went to Osaka, me, Chris, Christ, Brian, and Mitch stayed at the hotel and watched the Watchmen.

Next morning we get up and check out of our rooms, leaving our bags in the lobby. Then we wandered around 'til it was really time to leave WikiBrian took us to a nearby temple and the most fun part there was that there were pigeons everywhere and you could feed them. So we fed pigeons all morning. Got back on the bus, I got sick and still am sick a week or so later with the same cold (though it's going away), and we rode back to the train station, got back on the Shinkansen, arrived at a foreign station, and once more Nogami-san said "well, that's it. Find your own way home" and then he left us. But, we made it back.

And that was the Kyoto trip. I definitely prefer Fukuoka. Kyoto is full of tourists, is crowded, is hard to find your way around in, and we kept getting ditched by our adviser. It was a lot of rushing between temples to tour too, and each one was stuffed full of tourists. We'd get about 1.5 hours at each and by the end we'd all be in this big group sitting around waiting to leave again. We never stayed entertained for the full time.

I need to figure out how to send postcards, how much it'll be, and also where to find some neat ones.

The week after Kyoto was pretty laid back. Didn't do much exciting. Just going out to find new places to eat at and stuff. I'm going to get on photobucket and make a new account for more pictures. My posts are too plain and photo-less now. Then I'll have things to talk about once I see pictures I've taken since I've last posted some.