5/13
Today was a very tiring yet very interesting day! We woke up at 4:50 in the morning, but even earlier, someone had been calling me over and over again from a 734 area code number at 3 in the morning -_-. I now strongly suspect that it was the University of Michigan alert system calling about the severe weather warning back in Ann Arbor...SIGH. My uncle had bought us sandwiches for breakfast, as well as a slice of chocolate cake for me. I didn't want the cake to melt in my backpack, so I gobbled it down for breakfast instead. Probably not a good idea...
We then went to the Kaohsiung International Airport to board our plane at 6:15. We rode China Airlines again (my uncle got our flight package from them), and for brunch, they served chicken with rice. I thought it tasted fine; the rice was actually properly cooked this time and the chicken wasn't over-seasoned. The flight took less time that we thought too. We soon landed at Osaka's Kansai International Airport with the sun shining brightly through the grayish blue sky.
Right away, we started to experience the language barrier, but my grandma did her best in communicating with the Japanese she knew. With this, we were able to obtain round-trip tickets from JR (Japanese Railway) to and back to the airport from Kyoto Station, as well as a smart card called ICOCA with 2,000 yen on it. The ICOCA card can be used as a train and/or subway pass; all one has to do is add money to it. After getting this and exchanging some money, we went down to the JR platforms to wait for the JR Haruka train, then boarded it when it arrived.
So cute!
Entrance to the platforms downstairs.
That's a cute bag! Our train is also arriving in the distance.
We first passed what seemed like the suburbs; the houses seemed larger and farther apart, with gleaming roof tiles. We eventually entered the city area, which was like a neater version of Taiwan, though just as crowded.
The two-story house in front has a fantastic roof!
The train ride to Kyoto was quite fast as well. Before I knew it, we were heading up the stairs into the famous architectural wonder that was Kyoto station.
More pics from the evening later...
Now was the challenging part: finding our hotel. My grandma talked to a traffic director, and he pointed out the general direction. Even then, we weren't really sure, so we asked a guy on a bike at an intersection. Although the crosswalk light turned green almost immediately, he stayed behind and tried his best to explain the directions to us in English. In the end, he was kind enough to offer to walk us to the hotel! I couldn't believe that a stranger could be so caring; it was something that was somewhat unfamiliar, yet very comforting. Fortunately, the hotel was only two blocks further down, and we thanked him profusely before he said goodbye and biked off.
The hotel we will be staying for the next four nights is the Rihga Royal Hotel. The lobby was well-decorated and the staff was very helpful in directing us towards our first destination: Nijō Castle. First though, we went to our room to have a look and drop off our luggage...
Paper cranes on the lobby desk.
I don't mind getting the sofa bed. :)
The bathroom is quite simple.
We initially were going to a pathway called Philosopher's Path, but since we were unfamiliar with the bus system and the city in general, we only had time to go to the castle. It didn't matter though, the castle was very beautiful, even in the extremely high temperatures.
Ninomaru Palace up ahead!
Beautiful designs.
We approached Ninomaru Palace and went inside. Before we could enter the actual palace though, everyone had to take off their shoes.
The shoe shelf. No need for locks!
The walls inside were decorated with elaborate murals of tigers and eagles among groves of trees. Each room was vast and furniture-less; everyone sat and slept on the tatami mats that covered the room floors. The hallways themselves were very special, with "nightingale floors" that literally sounded like a tree full of little chirping birds as we and other visitors made our way through the palace. The sound was quite pleasant in my opinion! In the room where the shogun met with the lower feudal lords, there were sliding doors next to him with large red tassels hanging from the handles. Apparently, the shogun's bodyguards would hide behind them while he talked to the lords and immediately dash out to save him, should anything bad happen.
We finished going through the palace and went on to the Ninomaru Garden. The garden had many sculpted, round azalea bushes and a pond with stone bridges.
The path led through the garden and around the castle grounds. We passed through the inner gate, looked over the moat, and went up to a lookout for a view of the entire area.
Right outside the inner gate.
View from the lookout area.
From there, we headed back down and around the grounds towards the entrance from which we first came to the castle. Along the way, there were numerous colorful flowering bushes and shady trees on one side, and the castle moat full of carp on the other.
The largest crow I have ever seen in my life!
Castle moat reflections.
Souvenir and snack shop near the end of the route.
We left then left Nijō Castle and took a bus back to Kyoto Station for dinner. Kyoto Station has a "ramen street"on the tenth floor, which we explored. We finally decided on a shop that had one of those famous ordering machines, where one selects the type of ramen they want by pressing the corresponding buttons, and then receives a ticket to give to a restaurant worker. I chose a small pork ramen, which turned out to be really good!
The ordering machine right outside the shop.
Very rich broth with delicious pork slices and egg!
With our stomachs full, we strolled around the station and admired it futuristic architecture. It was indeed an awe-inspiring space.
Mirrored walls create a sense of vastness.
View of Kyoto from the top of the station.
Reminds me of a typical space terminal in sci-fi movies.
At 7:30 though, it was time to go down to the basement floor where the station's supermarket had started to slash prices in hopes of selling the rest of the day's food. Each stand's workers were now yelling over each other, trying to draw in the huge crowd of people that was now eyeing their markdowns. I noticed that many of the people were dressed in business attire (suit and tie), probably picking up dinner on the way home. Anyway, the energy in the supermarket was extremely high; people rushed around, taking the last bento box or the last box of side dishes in a blink of an eye. There was no time to hesitate and come back later for something! We were sucked into this ritual as well, and we hurried to choose and purchase our own dinner and tomorrow's lunch. This lasted a half hour, and then the floor slowly emptied out at 8, when the entire supermarket closed. Overall, it was an exciting experience, I highly recommend it!
Back at the hotel, we rested our sore feet and ate dinner while watching Japanese TV shows.
Returning to our hotel after a long day...
My uncle recommended Kyoto's strawberries, so we bought some. They all looked perfect, and each one was sweet!
Okay, I'm really behind again...every day has been so busy and I'm just totally worn out by evening, but I'll try my best to catch up. Good night for now though!
