18 May 2010
Day 3: Transporter
Posted by Roland under: Travel .
I got more rest the first night in Kyoto, although that statement has to be prefaced by the fact that I got almost no rest in Tokyo so any rest would be a good amount. I would end up waking up around 5:30 AM and with little to do I would wander the hostel a bit, treating myself to a very early morning shower and eventually finally a free ethernet plug that I hooked up my computer onto. I would finally enjoy some reasonable internet speeds (fast enough that I could engage people for Japan early morning/California afternoon chats). The hostel would slowly wake up around me while I tried to kill time on the laptop.
Today’s plan was to meet up with one of my Japanese blog friends and tour a few spots around Kyoto. Only with the Japanese would you be able to meet someone online, meet for the first time and expect that you would be treated to having them plan a tour of Kyoto for you. What a country!
Me and Tom would head out to the station for some Mister Donut and did our best to kill time around the station, although we would eventually give up and just wait at the taxi office where I was supposed to meet my friend for the first time. Did I also mention I didn’t know what she looked like? Although she had a fair idea of what I did, as I lack the sensibility to censor my image online (if the internet wants more Roland, it gets more Roland!)
However, the taxi office was empty enough that when she did so up, Sally (her nickname) would easily recognize me and Tom. Apparently she had gone to the trouble of booking a taxi service that would also act as a tour guide for us. Fanciness aside, I was definitely happy with the effort she put it into this…by the way did I mention again we just met for the first time?
So we would bounce around random sites in Kyoto. She was a self-described “Buddha otaku” (otaku being one way to describe a super fan of a certain thing) so the sites we did visit were Buddha heavy. But they were very enjoyable sites, especially Sanjusangen-do, which housed 1001 Buddha statues in a very long hallway. I wish I could post pictures but they forbid it so look it up online if you are so inclined. The three of us even took a little excursion to an arts and crafts center in Kyoto where you can engage in various hands-on activities, so me and Tom now left with little incense bags to remember our Kyoto stay by.
Sally was a great guide for us. Although the driver/guide she hired (a Japanese version of the “Transporter” as Tom described him, the driver was a complete professional indeed) did give a bit of a tour of the various sites we visited, it was all in Japanese. She did her best to point out the things she could with her English. And she was very gracious in giving her time to both me and Tom, genuinely interested in getting to know the both of us better.
What may be the best part was that Sally had read my blog enough to know that I enjoy ramen. So much so that a ramen stop over for lunch was built into the tour. 3 days in Japan, 3 ramen meals! We’re going strong.
Unfortunately, Sally would have to leave back home early so we said our goodbyes at around 2. With time left me and Tom headed out to the Golden Pavilion, which even though I saw two years ago, was still fantastic, although this time jam packed with tour groups. But while nice, it didn’t really have too much to see so we were in and out and back on the road towards the hotel quickly. After a brief rest just hanging out at the hotel, we would grab sushi dinner at the station (for lack of anything else to do…the conveyor belt sushi place I went to with Ajay two years ago had turned into a shabu shabu place, another sign that not everything was like it was two years ago).
Post dinner Tom had pressured me to take him to pachinko, for lack of anything else to do tonight (if one didn’t want to party party like Tom had in Tokyo). Pachinko parlors, being a loud place, made it hard for me to teach Tom the finer points of pachinko in great detail, it’s more something one has to do to actually learn. While I didn’t hit any jackpots (nor did I find any Koda Kumi machines open to play), Tom was lucky enough to get a few, although neither of us left with any money, so my lesson of teaching Tom how to turn pachinko parlor tokens into real money would have to for a time when the fates were kinder.