Sunday 13 October 2013

Temples, Geishas, Monkeys and Manga : Our Kyoto Top 5

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!

So we have decided to try something a little different for our next post. Instead of giving you a blow-by-blow of all our experiences in lovely Kyoto, we are going to outline our five favourite sights we saw in the city. This is by no means a comprehensive list, we saw and did plenty of things in Kyoto, but if you were to ask us what are the MUST SEE attractions, this top five should be at the top of your list. In no particular order:
This monkey looked like he was none to happy to have his picture taken. "Damn you, paparazzi!"
1) Tour of Arashiyama: Home of the Bamboo Grove and Monkey Park

I think he was only there to check out the ladies
It should come as no surprise to you folks that the area containing a monkey reserve would make this list. Mike’s adoration for all things monkey is bordering on obsessive and this long trek up a winding, steep and picturesque mountain is definitely worth your trouble. The view from the top alone is worth the trip, but in addition, you are also treated with the company of a family of over 200 plus Japanese macaques. You’ll tread lightly as you snap photos of Kyoto from up on high, all the while making sure not to step on any wayward tails, or god forbid, baby monkeys. For a small fee (only 300 yen!) you can also buy a bag of diced fruit which you can feed to the monkeys, from inside a caged cabin of course. Do this and you’ll instantly become the most popular person on monkey mountain.

Yup, that's a lot of bamboo.

Reach for the sky!

If wild animals aren’t your thing (and when it comes to monkeys, god only knows why), you’re in luck because Arashiyama also has one of the most beautiful natural sights we’ve ever seen, the spectacular bamboo grove. This path through a park leads you straight through a bamboo forest with trees reaching up to the sky as far as you can see. Temples and shrines are also nestled in the park and seem to appear out of nowhere as they emerge from the sea of green. At the end of the path, you’ll also have the option of paying 1000 yen (approx. $10 CDN) to enter the Okochi Sanso villa. This spacious property was once owned by one of the most famous Japanese samurai movie star and is quite impressive in and of itself, but at the end of the long walk you’ll also be treated to a cup of matcha tea and cake which definitely helps with the relaxation after having to make your way through hundreds of Chinese tourists (who will no doubt end up in a large portion of your pictures).

2) Ginkaku-ji and the Path of Philosophy
How very philosophical!

In the mood for a bit of enlightenment? Who isn’t, am I right? Well you’ve come to the right place! Kyoto is home to hundreds of temples and shrines and while you may get sick of temple-hopping after experiencing a handful of them, we’ve decided to highlight our favourites to save you the trouble of narrowing it down. First up is the Ginkaku-ji. This temple is located at the end of a long winding path built next to a small canal. The path, called Tetsugaku-no-Michi, or more commonly “The Path of Philosophy,” a fantastically tranquil (albeit long) walk along the canal. It is far enough away from the main roads that you barely hear any of the hustle and bustle of busy Kyoto and is particularly beautiful in the fall as the leaves of all the surrounding trees begin to change.
No, this wasn't taken with a fish-eye lens.
Follow this path to the end and you’ll reach one of Kyoto’s top sights, the Ginkaku-ji.  What sets this temple apart is its immaculately maintained zen garden, complete with groomed white sand. The sand is not merely raked, as with most zen gardens, but is actually built into small sand sculptures. In addition to the sand, the garden itself is full of tiny shrines found in the middle of forest groves, ponds and cave rock that make it even more unique than your typical temple. Finally, if the walk doesn’t turn your crank, there are dozens of rickshaw operators who will eagerly bring you up the hill to your final destination (all for a small/hugely expensive fee of course).
I hope we're going the right way.
3) Gion at Night

After a long day of walking, why not end your night with even more walking! That’s just what we did and clocking in at over 20 kilometres, we decided we weren’t quite tapped out (or just refused to admit it to each other) and headed to the entertainment and geisha district of Kyoto, Gion. This area is home to Hanami-koji, which some call the most beautiful street in all of Asia. After experiencing its lantern lit, cobble stoned street, we inclined to agree (although we’ve yet to visit all of Asia, so take our opinion for what it’s worth). This street is full of high-end restaurants and teahouses, and while it ended up costing us a pretty penny, the food and the service at the restaurant we chose, Wabiya Korekido, was well worth the expense. Our seven course meal was made directly in front of us and even required a bit of work on our part too. Nothing too major though, stirring mostly. Even Mike can’t really screw that up!
It's a beautiful walk until you almost get run over by a car. You can even see one poking through the crowds.

Delicious, even if you have to do a bit of work.
They look so sad, even if they're dancing was beautiful.
As mentioned earlier, Gion is the geisha district of Kyoto and wandering around the area, you’ll probably happen to run into one or two walking around, entertaining a group of businessmen. It took a lot of effort on our part not to rudely interrupt and snap a picture of these unique hostesses. Thankfully, Hanami-koji is also home to the Gion Corner, which is found at the end of the street and is comprised of an hour-long show which explains and performs a variety of different Japanese cultural traditions, including our favourite, the geisha dance. This was actually quite inexpensive (for Japan standards) and if you can deal with 50 plus annoying tourists snapping pictures of the presenters during their performances, it is well worth experiencing.

4) Kinkaku-ji Temple

Our final temple on the list is the golden floating pavilion of Kinkaku-ji. As Kyoto is jam-packed with various temples and shrines, it really does take something unique to really stand out. The first temple we saw in Japan was amazing, but when you realize that there are basically hundreds more pretty much like it, visiting each of them becomes quite rote. Thankfully, the Kinkaku-ji temple stands out as not only one of the top sights in Kyoto, but perhaps one of the top in all of Japan. This golden palace is planted on the edge of an amazing pond which, weather permitting, is still as glass and reflects the image of the temple in beautiful, jaw-dropping splendor that can only exist in nature. Unfortunately, this is one of the top sights in Japan and crowds of Japanese elementary school students and busloads of Chinese tourists are pretty much unavoidable. If you can stomach large, pushy crowds and interrupting hundreds of posed photos, than we definitely recommend a visit.
You've got to love how gold shimmers in the sunshine!

4) The Kyoto International Manga Museum

MANGA
A poster for the museum's special exhibit
If you know anything about Mike, then you know there was no way we were going to turn down the opportunity to visit a museum devoted entirely to the appreciation of the comic book storytelling. This facility, which is a former 18th century Japanese school, is absolutely filled to the brim with every manga series imaginable (over 300,000 copies at last count). For those not in the know, manga is Japan’s version of comic books. The Japanese treat this medium very differently than we do back home though and the fact that they have a museum devoted entirely to the explanation, preservation and appreciated of both the storytelling and the art of manga should illustrate just how seriously Japan takes its comic books. While we couldn’t really grab a book, sit down and read a few chapters like many of the Japanese patrons, we did still enjoy flipping through, enjoying the art and learning about the history of not only manga, but illustrated storytelling in general. Mike particularly appreciated the section devoted to “American Manga” as it was nice to see Superman, Batman and Spider-Man get their artistic due in a museum, even if it was half a world away. The museum even offers workshops for those interested in learning and honing their own manga drawing skills, unfortunately these were only offered on weekends and missed that particular opportunity.


Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures in the museum, so this is the best you'll get. Sorry!
Walking the halls of the museum, we heard the booming voice of one traditionally-dressed Japanese man. As we followed his voice, we found him in front of a crowd of people, standing next to an odd display case which contained sliding pictures. We learned this was called kami-shibai (a humorous traditional Japanese sliding-picture show) and even though we didn’t understand a word this man was saying, his exuberance and knack for story-telling came broke through the language barrier. Mike even won Maja a replacement for her wedding ring by correctly identifying Astro Boy in one of the sliding pictures! Now if only he can talk her into selling the old one and using the plastic replacement, we’ll have an extra few dollars ready for our next trip! And before you ask: Yes, Maja did indeed actually enjoy the Manga Museum so it is well worth the trip even if you are not a comic fan!

We hope you enjoyed our list of our favourite Kyoto sights and we hope they will be useful if you ever plan on visiting the area. We definitely recommend the city as it’s an excellent combination of the quiet peacefulness of a small town like Takayama, with the interesting sights and experiences that are found in a larger city like Tokyo. All of the pluses, none of the minuses!
Dressed up and ready for our Shabu-Shabu dinner at our Kyoto Ryokan.
Let us know if you prefer this new format for our posts, we had a lot of fun putting it together, debating which sights will make it and which will end up on the chopping block. We even had fun trying to desperately to recover this file when we thought it was lost when the laptop unexpectedly shutdown. Okay, so that last part wasn’t so fun, but it was an experience nonetheless.

Namaste,
M&M


P.S. As for the Mike/fish situation, check out the following story told via pictures:
 

 


Tuesday 8 October 2013

Kyoto In Pictures

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!
We're trying something a little different this time. Since our picture posts seem to be everyone's favourite, and in conjunction with the fact that we are having just way too much fun in Kyoto to spend our evenings writing, we have decided to post yet another picture post for you lovely people!

Enjoy!

Mike is searching diligently where to find Kyoto's giant orange Torii in his Lonely Planet Guide book. Where could it possibly be?!?
The impenetrable Nishi Honhan-ji Temple. Seriously, don't even try to break into this place.

Buddhist shrine within the Nishi Honhan-ji. All this gold is the reason for the impenetrable walls
This crane outside the walls of the Nishi Honhan-ji is actually a guard in disguise. See? They take security VERY seriously.
Found in front of a shrine at the Chion-in Temple: The ultra-rare Praying Praying Mantis!
Carefully cultivated sand sculptures inside the Ginkaku-ji Temple. Sadly, minutes after this picture was taken, a bully smashed through this work of art, ruined the sculpture and kicked sand in the eyes of the monks who built it.

Mike and Maja peacefully enjoying the bamboo grove prior to running for their lives from a giant black smoke monster.

"Oh Tintin, you old cad, you!"

Mike absolutely BUTCHERING "Here Comes The Sun" by The Beatles. And we do mean BUTCHERING! Seriously, be glad you weren't there...

A small but colourful shrine at Chion-in Temple. This is where all the Buddhist clowns go to pray.
  
Mike admiring the aqueduct at Nanzen-ji Temple. Eat it, Romans.
Posing underneath the aqueduct. Aren't we adorable?
Mike looking unnecessarily stressed-out at the Ginkaku-ji zen garden. Seriously man, relax!
 
What Maja didn't tell Mike is that she realized the meaning of life during her walk down Kyoto's Path of Philosophy. So selfish!

Mike putting his calligraphy skills to the test at the Okochi Sanso house. Little did they know, Mike practices writing kanji during his spare time back home so this was an absolute breeze. 
The jaw dropping beauty of the Kinkaku-ji Temple. No jokes here, this place was just too gorgeous.
 And you knew this was coming. The moment you've all been waiting for : 
MONKEY PICTURES!


A baby macaque just monkeying around on a warning sign at the Arashiyama Monkey Park.
("Monkeying around" hehehe)

Mike feeding the monkeys from the specially designed feeding cage. Don't worry, it was the humans who were caged, not the monkeys.

This guy was pretty intense. I think he was going through banana withdrawal.

These baby macaques are the best of friends. You can tell because they are hugging it out. 

Even monkeys like to take in the spectacular view of Kyoto from the top of the Arashiyama Park (can you blame them?)

Maja really embraced the Buddhist philosophy of meditation. After a only a few minutes of quiet contemplation, she didn't nag Mike for the rest of the day!
Namaste,
M&M

P.S. Still no fish for Mike yet!
P.P.S. No monkey poo on Mike this time either! HOORAY!

Sunday 6 October 2013

Takayama: The Alps and Japanese Old Men Have No Shame

Good morning, good day, and good evening world!

I guess it’s about time we checked in again with you all and we’re happy to report that we’ve arrived safely in sweltering Kyoto! But before we give you the load down on Kyoto, there is still more we have to share about our time in the Japanese Alps.
If only we could always be travelling, then we'd be this happy all the time!
 We fell in love with the small town of Takayama, with its alleyways full of ancient shops, Hida beef restaurants and gorgeous mountainous vistas, but our time there flew by. With only two days to spare in this wonderful little town, we had tried our best to cram in as much in our final day as possible. We hopped on a local bus which weaved through the city streets, giving us a glimpse (through a bus window) of some of the real local Japanese daily life we wouldn’t have normally experienced. This bus drove us (for two hours) to the Japanese Alps which surrounded the areas. Once there we climbed up, with the help of two cable cars) to the top of Nishi Hotaka-Dake, the 2909 metre tall, pine tree covered mountain. While we found the weather in Takayama to be far cooler than what we were used to in Tokyo, at the top of Mt Nishi, it was surprisingly refreshing. At the observation deck, we were treated to an amazing view of the town and the Alps which was quickly swallowed up by some menacing looking clouds. Thankfully, we didn’t have to deal with another awful rainy day as it turned out to only be a false alarm. While the view was fantastic, we recommend that anyone interested in visiting to perhaps choose late Fall as the leaves on the trees were only just slightly beginning to change colour. Had we been only a few weeks later, the mountain would have been painted in breathtaking shades of red, yellow and orange.
Maja's just hanging around at the Japanese Alps

On our way back down, the smell of sulfur was overpowering. If you’ve never smelt it, consider yourself lucky, imagine rotten eggs mixed with garbage and you’d have a pretty close approximation. Now that we’ve gotten that wonderful description in your mind, now picture us following our noses to the source of this stench where we found a natural hot spring (“onsen”) that the Japanese use as a footbath. As we sat on some large rocks we dunked our feet, leaned back and relaxed. It was a great experience.
Well we HOPE the smell was sulfur.. and not the stinky feet of all the people dunking their feet in the foot bath!

On our way back to Takayama, the bus stopped at another local hot spring called the Hirayu Onsen where Mike got to experience the Japanese in all their glory. Literally. In Japan, it is customary to soak in the onsen completely nude. They are, of course, separated into male only and female only baths, and while Maja chickened out, Mike stripped down to his birthday suit and laid back for a relaxing soak. Or at least what he thought would be relaxing. Turns out that constantly having 60 and 70 year old man bums and privates in front of your face as they get in and out of the bath can put quite the damper on the relaxation powers of the Japanese onsen. While it may have been a tad uncomfortable for our prudish North American sensibilities, we definitely recommend trying an onsen at least once on a journey to Japan.
One of our few relatively successful attempts at nighttime photography
Upon our return, we borrowed some bikes from our ryokan (Japanese hotel) and had a lovely ride through town where we tried our hand at some night photography at the Takayama shrines and temples. Needless to say, we think we may have to take some photography lessons when we get back home as only a handful of our pictures actually turned out.
The unbelievably delicious steamed Hida Beef bun! I say close some sharwarma shops and open more steamed bun shops in Ottawa!  
As we departed Takayama, one the biggest takeaways we’ll remember is the famous Hida beef. Takayama is found in Japan’s Hida region and this beef is considered to be some of the best in country. After trying it ourselves, we can see why it has such a reputation. Months ago, we left Calgary, Alberta blown away by their steak. It was the best we had ever tasted. While we won’t say that the Hida beef has usurped that title, we can definitely say that it is comparable. One item in particular that we enjoyed was the steamed Hida beef buns that were sold by many street vendors throughout Takayama. These buns were branded with kanji symbols and were filled with shaved beef and miso sauce. They were amazing little snacks that we wish we could find back home. If you ever get the chance, pick one of these up. The best part? They’ll cost you no more than 400 yen ($4.25 Canadian)!

Namaste,
M&M


P.S. Mike Fish Report: Mike still has yet to eat fish. He’s stubborn like that. (Although he did really enjoy some tasty vegetable tempura!)

Friday 4 October 2013

Tokyo In Pictures

Hachiko Statue at Shibuya Station. Google the Hachiko story, it's adorable and worthwhile.

Wandering the stinky Tsujiki Fish Market.



Wandering the beautiful flowers of Rikyu Garden.

Maja enjoying her pre-tea confectionary

Maja welcomes you to the park!

Some adorable Japanese lanterns. PIKACHU!

Super Giant sandals on the wall of the Senso-Ji

Don't worry, that swastika is actually a Buddhist symbol. They aren't racists.

Gorgeous painting on the ceiling of the Senso-Ji

Yup, they've got shawarma's all over the globe and everywhere they are slightly different.

Engraving on one of the grave sites at the Yanaka Cemetary.

Maja's newest outfit

Maja's newest husband.

Elaborately decorated rice barrels in Harajuku

If I were you kid, I'd listen to the man. He's a little intense.