There are nuances to travel, it is a skill, an art form, practiced by many, but mastered by few. As one has to remember skills once learned, so is the art of travel. There is a pace, a rhythm to the way the road feels on your skin. It is remembering how to take a shower while piling all your clothes on one hook so they don't get wet, washing underwear as you take a shower. Getting to your hostel after 36 hours of travel and having to make your own bed and not getting to tired to go get dinner. Mornings where you need to get up so you can catch a train, but having no alarm clock.
Woke up at 6:45, the perfect time for still making it to Tokyo station to catch the 8:00 train to Kyoto. One CC lemon, espresso, and chocolate danish later we are on the train to Kyoto. From Tokyo this is about the distance from SF to LA, but Japan knows the benefits of bullet trains and it only took three hours to get there (this should happen once the high speed rail is installed in California). We get into Kyoto around 11 and decide to have an early lunch so we can move for the rest of the day. Tonkatsu (pork cutlet), miso soup, rice, and cabbage salad. Very impressive restaurant and a hearty meal to keep us going. After this it was off to Tenryu-ji temple, which is on the outskirts of town and is about a 45min bus ride from Kyoto train station. This wouldn't be bad if it weren't for three things: the bus was super hot, Cuyler and I do not fit well in the seat made for two people, and there was a crazy man behind us who kept breathing in rhythm with the bus, humming, and preying to the toilet god(no joke). The conversation of the daY:
Cuyler: I think the guy behind us is crazy.
Me: Yeah he is, crazy is a universal language.
Get to Tenryu-ji and explore the temple and the grounds, which include a pretty impressive bamboo forest. Later on we were wondering around and fell upon monkey mountain, now some might as "what is that?" It is exactlly what it sounds like, it is a mountain with monkeys on it (140 to be precise). It is home to the snow monkey and they are all over the place, and the mountain has great views of the city.
After this it was onto the golden temple. I wont go into the details of this, it is a temple and it is gold.
Got to the new hostel, went out to get Okonomiyaki and then off to an Irish pub (oh YES!!!!) for a pint. All said and done it was a very productive day and looking forward to more tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow is the day that they reason for this whole trip will be revealed and it is marvelous. To yokohama!!!
American car sitings: 2
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2 comments:
Nathaniel,
This is your cousin Bowman and your grandmother. We are sitting in the back office reading your blog and really get a kick out of your travels. I've never been outside the country as you may know, but this whole adventure sounds like a blast! We hope the rest of ur trip goes as planned, and have another amber colored beverage for us :D
-the Chaneys (with a capital A)
Hey guys, thanks for reading the blog, I do it so that everyone can try to stay in touch while I travel. It was a great trip.
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