Day 5 - Kyoto

Hello again.

Yes, for you observant people, we have skipped day 4, Wednesday.  It was a rest day and so we basically got up really late, walked around the city a bit, ate the walked around a bit more, then ate some more and grabbed another banana and chocolate crepe from the old japanese man in one of the side malls, tried to get a coffee at the closed Starbucks and so went home to bed.

O, check out the prices on the fruit.... They are rockmelon and 1 Yen is around AU$0.90.

There are some day 4 photos below but that's about all you get, sorry.  Scroll down for Day 5.

Lunch.

Expensive fruit.

More expensive fruit.

Nicely presented expensive fruit.

More nicely presented expensive fruit.

Bakery....

Lined up for the subway.

Lunch.

On the way home...

Dinner.

Subway rush hour.

Train station rush hour.

Dinner the fancy Japanese way.  Awesome meal.

Now onto Day 5.

David here, Up at 6:45 for a 8:00 departure. We check the forecast for our trip to Kyoto and find chance of light rain and snow with a Max of 7 deg. So after grabbing gloves and scarves we set off to find food on our way to the subway. James has made it his Mantra to taste every possible type of food on this trip. Nothing is off limits. He and Frank find Japanese “Hot Dogs” which taste like “Sweet bun and cold sausage”, the rest of us pick a selection of pastries and sandwiches. The subway takes us to Shin-Osaka station where we connect to our Kyoto train.
We arrive in Kyoto 30 minutes later and after a number of wrong turns make our way to the Tourist Info centre where we get assistance on planning which shrines and temples to see and how to get there. We decide on a Day Pass for 500 Yen which gets us on all buses all day. We decide to start at Kinkaku-ji Temple which is literally a gold-plated temple in beautiful gardens. Frank and I were duelling with our Nikons and Frank scored first with some impressive exposure lock mastery. I counter with a switch to video mode and we call it a draw as he hasn’t learned to use that yet…
The girls plus James go in for a traditional green tea and Japanese sweets while the boys stand outside and keep Adam away from more vending machines.
Back on the bus we travel to Gion where we walk through Yasaka Shrine and narrow cobblestone streets lined by very old timber two story houses and shops. This area is very old and some of the businesses have been trading for over 400 years.
Lots of gift shops so we take the opportunity to pick up items for the family back home. 
Even though it is hovering around 4 deg, the child of the group has acquired a penchant for Crepes with fruit and Ice cream…. and so has Adam. Frank’s favourite is Banana and chocolate, or Banana and custard cream. He seems to be able to find these little hole in the wall vendors from 400m away.

We decide to find something a little more substantial to eat and find a little place where we leave our shoes at the door and sit on the floor at low tables. The girls found this quaint however for some reason us boys had a little difficulty getting comfortable. Laura insisted that we needed to ‘savour the true Japanese-style eating experience to appreciate…’ 
‘Chairs!’ chimed in James, as he tried to find room for his substantial limbs under the low table. Mental note for David - book Physio upon my return. 

We finally arrive at our last temple and it seems we have left the best for last. Kyomizu-dera Temple is regarded as Japan’s most-visited tourist spot. Founded in 798 its present buildings were built in 1633 and not a single nail was used in its construction. A lot of maintenance was being carried out on the main buildings and they utilise the same construction techniques and materials as have been used over the past 400 years.
Zio Luigi (Frank’s father) would have been proud of the standard of scaffolding being used. (Note to all Brisbane residents- if you see Bamboo scaffolding start to appear on some sites, don’t say we didn’t warn you).
The Temple takes its name from the waterfall within the complex which runs of the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means pure water.
The popular expression “to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu” is the Japanese equivalent of the English expression “to take the plunge”. This refers to an Edo period tradition that held that, if one were to survive a 13m jump from the stage, one’s wish would be granted.
Thankfully the practice is now prohibited, otherwise ‘I’ll-try-anything-twice-just-to-make-sure’ James would have happily attempted it. He was otherwise content to have his picture taken with all the young girls dressed in traditional Japanese costumes.
He is really immersing himself in the Japanese experience and doing all he can to progress Aussie-Nippon relations.

Laura here again - David has gone to get himself a massage… not worth explaining to him that ‘Happy Ending’ here means you give them a tip…

Returning to Osaka meant a train and Subway ride back, and this time I was able to take a back seat while David (‘when you know where you’re going, I’m already there’) and Frank (‘when you know where you’re going, I’ve already left there’) took the tour guide reins and got us back in one piece. This has been a constant challenge for me on this trip - keeping together 8 gaigins (foreigners) without appearing like a Gestapo (Ada is laughing right now). Adam wants to stop at every vending machine… Frank wants to stop at every ice-cream shop… James wants to stop at every FOOD outlet… Louis keeps wining about no internet access*….and David keeps lagging behind to capture the money shot for the trip. I just noticed that I have only mentioned the male members of our group. Enuff said.

(*Today was declared No Internet Day, not by altruistic design but because David forgot his Dongle… Apparently it’s not attached to him.)

Anyway, back in Osaka, we spend 80 minutes (no exaggeration) at the Hotel reception trying to figure out how to get ourselves to Nozawa Onsen tomorrow.
Bullet train - express train - regular train - Bus - then walk with luggage through snow to Hotel. Frank swore under his breath something like ‘Dave, what have your bozo mates got us into, where the heck is this god-forsaken ski resort and I am going to slap you. (or words to that effect..)’.

Dinner time, we decided our last dinner in Osaka should be an encore of local delicacy Okonomiyake (Japanese savoury pancake) - this time at Chibo, a nice place recommended by our weary and flustered Hotel Concierge (I think she is now on stress leave). We sat at the bar - Teppanyaki-style - and were treated to a fantastic meal.

Approx 11pm, most of us were quite weary and made our way back to the hotel (with obligatory stop for Banana Custard Crepes). 

But not our intrepid North Queensland adventurer. Armed with extra cash and with Tessa as muscle back-up, the two set off on a multi-cultural escapade. (‘Multi-cultural’ meaning ‘Alcohol of many cultures’). Like all international diplomatic tours, the details of this one will remain strictly classified and only resurface once James has posted some dodgy photos and videos on his Facebook. From my trained interrogative techniques, I gleaned from the ramblings of a hungover James that they started in an English Pub and ended in a Spanish Bar. Throughout the evening, the duo added to their group 2 Frenchmen, one ex-pat Aussie, a Brazilian barmaid, a huge native Ghana man in a weird white fur coat, and any number of intoxicated locals who marvelled at James’ stories of riding kangaroos to work every day. 


Forget Lara Bingle - James is Tourism Australia’s next big thing.