Kyoto is known to be the heart of Japanese heritage and culture. Originally, it was the capital of Japan housing the royal family in the Imperial Palace. It has numerous UNESCO heritage sites and was banned from being bombed during WWII.
After spending one day in Tokyo, we quickly changed our plans to stay there longer. Unfortunately that meant cutting Kyoto short. We arrived Monday afternoon and stayed until Wednesday night where we took an overnight bus back to Tokyo to catch our flight to Thailand.
Our hostel was the sister hostel of the one we stayed at Japan. It had so much character. The first floor was a coffee shop/bar/restaurant. Very rustic and modern. I really have been blown away with the Japanese architecture and design on this trip. I guess I was expecting more things to look like the standard traditional Japanese architecture you so often see in sushi restaurants in the US.
That evening we wondered through the small streets and alleys dressed with street lamps dimly lighting the path. The larger Kamo river to our left and a small stream to our right. We happened upon a little restaurant called Takasegawa Qulio perched on the stream that seemed to be known for their Sukiyaki - pots of broth like dishes with wagyu beef, pork or tuna to fill it among many green onions, white onions and other flavorful goodies. We wondered in to a small room with a seat next to the window and had one of the best meals of our trip thus far. The Sukiyaki was brought to our table in a clay pot on a burner with uncooked veggies and meat. We let it cook for a few minutes, slowly stirring and it turned into the most flavorful like stew. Along with it came an eggplant parmesan - random I know but the Japanese seem to be obsessed with Italian food. The produce in Japan - particularly the eggplant we had was amazing. It doesn't even need seasoning it is so amazingly flavorful. We also had an appetizer of fried chicken tossed in a ginger, garlic, sesame like vinaigrette. But the Suriyaki is definitely one of the best things I have eaten on the trip.
The following day we hit up 2 more temples. Sanjusangen-do Temple - house of the 1001 Buddhas. Unfortunately we could not take any pictures inside so I pulled one from the internet to give you guys an idea. The drama of 1000 Buddhas lined up in perfect symmestry was pretty cool. They were built over hundreds of years by a few specially selected artists under intense training but if you weren't pointed out their differences, you would think all of them came out of a mold they look so similar.
We walked over to the Tofukuji temple known for its intricate zen gardens. This place was much quieter with few tourists. You sit overlooking a garden of gravel raked in specific patterns with moss "mountains" spread out in a small section. This place really showed how serene and tranquil the temples are meant to be. I felt like I was at a spiritual spa. Anyways I'll stop gushing but I have so much respect for the amount of thought and design that go into these places. They truly are a work of art. ALSO a school of Japanese teenagers were there and asked Christina and I to take a picture with them! Why they wanted to take a picture with 2 girls that hadn't showered in almost 2 days is beyond me but we felt like celebs.
Speaking of schools, we walked by a grade school walking in between temples and they had a whole set of unicycles! I would be so impressed to see little 5 year olds riding those guys around.
After the temples we went to the Nishiki fish market and wondered through the stalls of fresh fish, pickled everything - I don't even know what half of it was but it is definitely one of the foods of Kyoto, prepared food stalls and produce stands. We bought some veggies and fresh tofu (another specialty in Kyoto) to make a stir fry for dinner. It was so nice to get back to cooking and eating a fresh meal at home.
That evening, we walked across the street from our hostel and wandered into a wine bar called TSK we had been eyeing the past day. We were graciously welcomed and sat there drinking Champagne and red wine that tasted like heaven (we really miss good wine - we have become a bit of snobs for it living in SF). We sat at the bar talking to our new friend Shozo who was such a character. He loved us. He would ask us a question and we would respond by writing the answer on a little notepad so he could process it better. When we told him we were traveling for the next 7 months he was SHOCKED. Another couple from Toronto came in and we chatted with them about American politics - apparently it is their version of a sitcom and enjoyed a few glasses of wine together. Shozo kept giving us plates of different dried fruit including Kiwi, tangerines and coconut bites. We were obsessed - he kept refilling our little bowl bit by bit. We even got the name of where they were from (Tomizawa) and went and bought them the next day. The owner and chef - who's name is TSK - made all of us complementary octopus to end off the night.
We were supposed to wake up early and go on a hike up to the Futishima Temple but I think the last glass of wine ruined all hopes for that. We woke up and wondered to the Tomizawa shop and bought dried kiwi, coconut bits, banana chips and okra. I have been eating it nonstop since. We grabbed some salads at a market stand and ate along the Komo river. That afternoon, we headed over to Gion - the area of Geisha houses - wondering little allies searching to get a picture of a real Geisha. A ton of people are dressed up in kimonos but you see very few real ones. We found some couples that had recently gotten married and were there taking post wedding pictures.
We went back to our hostel bar and ate dinner. We needed to kill some time before we caught our night bus at 11 PM so we decided to go back and visit Shozo at TSK. He was SO happy we came back. We wrote on a piece of paper what we did that day. He was thrilled we went to Tomizawa. We sat at our same spot chatting with a couple from South Africa and now living in Amsterdam that showed us pictures of their rock and roll wedding from 2 years ago. I think I would be happy going to that bar every night for the rest of our trip sitting in our spot talking to Shozo and whoever else happened upon there that night.
We made our way over to the bus station and took an overnight bus bus to Tokyo. To my surprise, it wasn't too bad. The seats reclined and we slept the whole way there.
It's funny the things you come to appreciate while on the road. This hostel had curtains on the bed. I can't begin to explain how amazing that is. I think maybe I am noticing it more because I'm reading Wild and she keeps talking about how much she has grown to love the walls of her tent. Well that's how I feel about a bed with curtains.
I'm currently on a bus headed from Bangkok headed to Koh Tao for some Beach time. We then will be island hopping to other islands. Bangkok post coming shortly.
XO
CB
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