Kyoto

We went to Kyoto in early November 2004. It was my first trip to Japan.

We flew to Kansai then trained to Kyoto. It is an eighty minute train trip.

Kyoto has a population of one and a half million people.


We stayed in a hotel across the road from the railway station, the busy railway station.  Now the room was OK.  The pillows however were composed of ball bearings I am sure, and I lacked confidence to ask for 'normal' ones. (It was not the only time I was lucky enough to encounter such pillows)

Then there was the temperature inside the room.  It was quite warm, the guage saying 27 degrees. You could adjust the temperature dial, supposedly.  But the level of warmth remained the same. I was not too embarrassed to ask the front desk how I could overcome this issue.  The receptionist response was "open the window".  Ah ! The trains went till midnight. I ended up ummm not sleeping the best.


Now, the railway station building is a marvel !

The number of taxis waiting outside the railway station.  How did they ever earn a quid ?

There is the old Emperor's Palace. Warning, do not go up to the fence or the side gates and touch them.  As an alarm goes off and the security guards come driving around to check on you.

Inside the palace grounds, there isn't a stone out of place.

Love the canals around the city.

Two sweet Geisha listen to their driver.

You can spend hours in the narrow lanes.

There are many world famous tourist sites.

The tower is close to the railway station, and gives splendid panoramic views.

Loved the river walks, where you could "ooh"  "ah" at the dogs, and show the pictures of your beloved.

Beautiful tree lined walks.

And large bonsai'd (?) trees.

NARA

It is a 50 minute train trip from Kyoto to Nara.

Leading up to a famous large temple (with a very large Buddha) in Nara are wondering bambi's. For a dollar, you can buy a packet of food to hand out.

The temple gate.

A guard ?

A tall five storey temple.

A Japanese garden in Nara.

Autumn leaves in the area.

Shrine gates.

A tip about tipping. Don't. 

I had the change returned to my table after paying the bill at a restaurant, and I walked out leaving it for the waiter.

Ha ! He rushed out of the restaurant and gave it back to me with a gruff expression.

If you wish to show gratitude to your hotel staff, or tourist info officer, it is perfectly fine to buy them a little gift, which you then humbly give to them saying:  'Oh look, it's not much, but, thank you for all your help.'

HOW WAS I EVER ALLOWED BACK ???

Have you ever behaved appallingly,  disgustingly? In public?

Well 

There I was, overweight,  in Japan for the first time,  Rick keen to show me around. 

Then on the fourth day of walking,  walking,  my feet were so saw,  I plonked myself on the footpath,  took my shoes and socks off, and yelled NO MORE 

Rick strolled down the road a bit,  'I don't know him'.

Thank goodness, after a couple of minutes I put my shoes back on,  got up and shut up. So ashamed,  the mouth remained zipped for hours,  even with sore feet.

The hotel compounded things. A little. ( blaming the hotel ?? uh ?)

Little sleep. 

Those pillows, half filled with ball bearings, which can occur in Japan. But I now know that some you can turn over to the 'normal' side. 

The air conditioning was so hot,  27, but it couldn't be changed. The hotel clerk said "open the window"   .... to the noise of Kyoto's railway station. 

Little sleep. 

No excuse !  

What a rude dude I was. Tut tut reverting to a child's tantrum.