Raining Cats and Dogs

Quite a storm today... here's 90 seconds of it, but it went on for a good two hours. I'd post a picture of Millie hiding between the wall and the toilet, but she's a bit camera shy and I didn't want to add to her misery.

Press play and wait for it, there are a few good booms toward the end:

P.S. I'm heading out tomorrow to join David on his whirlwind tour of Europe, so there may be a pause in the action for a couple of weeks. See you after the 4th!

Kyoto, Japan - Day 10

After yesterday's way-too-long tour of a-few-too-many-temples-and-shrines and an extremely crabby husband-who-thought-he-could-plan-a-better-day, David took the reigns and the maps for our last day in Kyoto. My only request was that a.) I find a samurai sword for my brother's 40th birthday and b.) we get to see that shrine that has all the red gates. The Fishimi Inari Taisha Shrine was, of course, the more interesting of the two, so if you want to see the sword, email my brother Ross.

"The Fishimi Inari Taisha Shrine has been deeply revered by common people as the deity of bountiful crops and good business. In Mt. Inari, the total area of which has been the object of faith from old days, a lot of red torii gates are placed. People have donated them, hoping that their wishes will come true. The original main building was burned down (I told you they all burned down at some point!) during the Onin Wars (1467~1477), and was later rebuilt."

Here's the main gate:

The foxes on either side represent messengers. Remember that Simpsons episode where Homer ate the Guatamalan Insanity Pepper and hallucinated? Of course you do. His guide was a fox - the intermediary between spirit and human world.

David preferred to refer to the foxes as "puppies", as a lot of them had scrolls or orbs in their mouths. Or as David said, "See? They have newspapers and tennis balls".

Did you notice from the beginning that all these gates and shrines are on Mount Inari. That means that there are a lot of stairs.

Here's the view at the top:

Or isn't it the top? Nope, there's more stairs:

Okay, this must be the top:

Nope, more stairs:

Okay, this better be it, I'm getting tired:

Nope, more stairs again. Dang it, how do we keep going up???:

Okay, this is the top. With a really crappy view. This was so not worth the climb.

Finally, a way down.

In case you were trying to count, you pass through more than 10,000 gates on the 4K walk.

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After a good hour on three separate buses trying to get home and going the wrong way twice (can I remind you that David was in charge?), we were well on our way to have some Japanese pancakes, when we passed a sign for a place called El Latino. Margaritas and chips and guac? Fantastic. And this place did not disappoint, it had a great dank feel about it:

We sat next to two older Japanese ladies, who during the two hours we were there, drank eight huge beers and didn't look like they were finished by the time we finally left. And the owner wandered around, chatting to everyone there, and gave us a great send-off:

Yes, our last meal in Japan was Mexican food. And it was great. Sayonara!

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P.S. Did you know you can buy beer on the street in Kyoto? How are people not drunk 24/7?

Kyoto, Japan - Day 9

Jeezum crow, we walked a lot today. Here's the abbreviated version of a very long but culturally-soaked day:

Kyoto has many " UNESCO's World Heritage List" sites, which means they are "internationally recognized as a place of exceptional and universal value: a cultural heritage site worthy of preservation for the benefit of all mankind." Rokuonji Temple (Golden Pavilion Temple) was the first we visited today.

It was a villa that was converted into a Zen temple in 1422. This temple, Shari-den "Kinkaku (Golden Pavilion)," where the ashes of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, are supposed to be enshrined, is particularly famous.

The pavilion is a three-story building. Each floor is built in a different style; the first floor in the court noblemen's residence style of the Heian period, the second floor in the samurai warrior's house style, and the third floor in the Zen temple style. Gold leafing has been applied to the second and third floors.

On the top of the roof has been placed the brilliant figure of Ho-o, a legendary bird in China. (Yes, it makes me think of Harry Potter, too).

The pavilion was set fire and burned down in 1950, and re-built in 1955. "The young man who set fire to Kinkaku-ji entered the priesthood after being entranced by the building's beauty, and gradually became obsessed with the idea that the only thing that would bring his asthetic senses to perfection would be the sight of the building going up in flames." Before it was burned down, it had stood on this site for 500 years.

People were throwing coins at this, trying to hit the bowl, so we did too.

FYI, my coin jumped out of the smaller bowl and into the bigger one, so I figured that had to be extra good luck or something.

The next site was Ninnaji Temple, which was completed in 888, and has stood here for more than one thousand years. In Meiji 20 (1887), most of the palace buildins of Ninna-ji were lost in a fire, and it was reconstructed was completed in Taisho 3 (1914). Here's the front gate:

Which were guarded by these guys:

David liked these guys because their hammer-toes were almost as bad as his.

The screens inside the rooms were beautiful:

And the gardens were also very peaceful:

On the grounds were a lot more shrines, which at this point started to look the same after a while. They have statues of dieties enshrined inside, but you're not allowed to see any of them.

This is the Five Story Pagoda - that's David there with the sun umbrella. He made me walk under it with him, because only ladies usually have umbrella's not men, and he didn't want to seem silly.

After a small Udon-noodle and tofu lunch, we headed to Sanjusangen-do, which was my favorite site for the day, and one fo the most impressive things I've ever seen. It was destroyed by fire (did they all burn down at one point?) but was rebuilt in the 3rd year of Bunei (1266) where it has stood for over 750 years.

Each statue was different, either headdress, objects the arms are holding, etc.

This was in the middle, a famous thousand-armed buddha. Pictures don't do it justice, this statue was huge.

We spent the evening trying to do another walking tour, which, in addition to sore feet and crabbiness that bordered on tears and a serious need for a drink, resulted in a wholel lot of pictures of closed temple doors because it was past visiting hours.

What street are we on now? On the map, this was Nishino-dori. And you wonder why it's so hard to get around in this city.

Here's the tallest pagoda in Kyoto (also closed).

We finally made it back to the hotel, feet hurting, but had enough energy to snap a pic of the mountains at dusk:

Fun fact for the day: Did you know that the toothpick was introduced into Japan in 538 AD? Buddha had originally taught his disciples to clean their teeth with a tufted toothbrush. Among the "18 Essential Items" that a Buddhist monk was allowed to passess, the first is the toothpick. At the Sanjusangen-do Temple, a Buddhist service for toothpicks is held on Sunday in January and 3rd of March.

Now you know.

Tokyo to Kyoto - Day 8

Today we took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto! It was surprisingly easy to get a ticket, pretty much like the subway, but expectedly complicated to figure out exactly what to do when we obtained said ticket, as the ticket didn't have a time, destination or platform number on it. After a bit of half-English, half hand-waving with someone at the counter, we finally realized that the trains come about every 15 minutes, and we could hop on any one of them. We bought "non-reserved" because it was cheaper, not realizing that this meant finding a seat was a free-for-all in one of the first two cars. But we were then able to grab an extra seat for our suitcases, so it all worked out.

Once we got settled on the train, it was a smooth and quick ride to Kyoto. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't see much good scenery, you're literally moving too fast to watch anything without getting a headache.

In Kyoto, we chose to stay at Ryokan, which is a fancy word for "sleeping on the floor".

It was very peaceful - no TV or radio, and we had our own little Japanese garden ouside the sitting room. Other than the bathroom (it was a little too much like the size of the one in my dad's camper) the place was great. Especially the super friendly Japanese lady at the front desk, who seemed to know anything and everything about Kyoto.

Our first stop for the evening was the Kyoto National Museum, which I can't reccomend because it was tiny and nothing was in English. Afterward, we wandered around the covered mall:

No, it's not the Dollar Store, it's the 100 Yen Store!

There's some great pedestrian alleyways, packed with restraunts:

Which also overlook the river in Kyoto:

And that evening we visited our first shrine in Kyoto. This one was free and open 24-7, which is nice. Oh, and by the way, if it's a "shrine", it's Shinto, and if it's a "temple", it's Buddist. No, I have no idea what the "Shinto" religion is about. I'd better Google it.

This is the Yasaka Shinto Shrine, where Susanoono-mikoto (the god and prosperity and good health - also known for his defeat of a serpent with eight heads by getting it drunk and chopping off all the heads in one swoop), Kushiinada himeno-mikoto (she was saved by Susanoono from the eight headed snake by being turned into a comb and stuck in his hair) and Yahashirano-mikogami (I couldn't find any information whatsoever) are deified. Here's a picture of Susanoono:

The foundation dates back to 656, and one of the most famous festivals in Kyoto, The Gion Festival, is held here every July. It has been held every year since 869. That's a really long time. Here's what it looks like when its during the day and crowded:

Here's David inside the shrine grounds, contemplating who-knows-what.

Mythology lesson: In Japanese mythology, Susanoono, the powerful storm of Summer, is the brother of Amateraus, the goddess of the sun, and Tsukuyomi, the god of the moon. All three were spawned from Izanagi, when he washed his face clean of the pollutants of Yomi, the underworld. Amaterasu was born when Izanagi washed out his left eye, Tsukuyomi was born from the washing of the right eye, and Susano-o from the washing of the nose. I can just heat the teasing when they were growing up: "Yeah? Well at least I didn't come out of dad's nose...!"

Tokyo, Japan - Day 7

The original plan for our last day in Tokyo was to venture further afield and take a train to a place called Kamakura, which is supposed to have some great temples and such.  Instead, we picked the lazy route and did a little sleeping in, and a whole lot of wandering around some other must-see places in Tokyo.

We first went to a place called Electric Town, where we spent way too much time finding David a new pair of glasses, getting in an argument over which way to go to see to something interesting, and then wandering six floors of the Sega building, were I learned there was such a thing as video Majong.  Electric Town is home to every electronic gadget known to man, and Maid Cafes.  What's a Maid Cafe?  Here's the description:  "Wanna walk on the wild side of Tokyo's fetish for kawaii (cuteness)?  Try being served by girls dressed as French maids!  You'll be welcomed as go-shujinsama (master) the minute you barge into this cafe.  This animae-esque staff, decked out in victorian pinafores is drowning in kawaii; titallating, but it's no sex joint.  Maid cafes are where Tokyo's otaku get their kicks."  

Yeah, the places was filled with mostly men.  It wasn't dark and creepy or anything, it was bright and cheery, and felt like a diner.  Alas, we were not allowed to take pictures inside.  The food was terrible, but the people and waitress-watching was fantastic.  The waitresses sing a little song over your dinner, something about adding love and magic to the food.  You can also pay $5 and they'll pay little games with you, like Hungry Hungry Hippo or Pick Up Sticks.  If you win, you get your $5 back.  It's sort of like a PG-13 version strip club, without the stripping, and lots of giggling waitresses wearing stuffed animal backpacks.

After we had wasted way too much time in Electric Town, we headed to Ueno, which is a huge park area with a few museums.  We failed to get to the National Museum before we would have to leave for the most important errand of the day (I'll get to that later).  On the way back to the train station we passed this statue:

Every see The Last Samurai?  This was the guy.  No, not Tom Cruise, the other guy.  Saigo Takamori, on whom the movie was loosely based.

Our last errand of the day was to find... the Patagonia store.  (There's no Patigonia here in Singapore, and the summer clothes are perfect for the climate here.  Anyway, David just loves the stuff.)  I won't go into detail on how we finally found the store tucked away into a back alley, but it involved multiple negative comments about the navigational skills of yours truly.  We finally made it to the place, stocked up on a ton of stuff, and upon returning to the hotel and checking on patagonia.com, realized we probably paid double what we could have paid online.  Bugger.

Tomorrow, the bullet train to Kyoto!  And hopefully a little more relaxing schedule...