Thursday 17 May 2012

Kyoto (May 16-17)

The sight-seeing tour in Kyoto was exhausting but worth the effort. My first impression from this city was a little bit disappointing. I thought it was smaller (now I know it has 1.5 million inhabitants) and with less concrete. Nevertheless Kyoto is one of the most interesting cities in Japan from a cultural point of view with countless temples, castles and gardens. Especially the gardens are beautiful (I guess even more in spring) and they make the temples look very picturesque. Yesterday I did a walking tour in the afternoon, visiting the temples which are more or less close to the guest house and today I purchased a day-pass for the bus to see the monuments which are farer away. The sight-seeing is a bit annoying as distances between one place and another are substantial. The weather these days was fantastic with warm but not hot temperatures and sun all day (and with a nice smell of spring in the air). I really enjoy this climate without having to sweat all day long (as happened before in the tropical countries).

Yesterday the photo-shootings with kids continued (4 shoots in total). It’s cool to get some group photos with Japanese kids for my own photo album but it became a bit annoying to attract their attention wherever I go. It was like running the gauntlet for me! Like in Nara, the temples here are crowded with school classes from every corner in Japan and sometimes it can be difficult even to find a place from where you can take a picture.

The guest house is very comfortable (even sleeping in a dorm room) but not as family-run as the guest houses I stayed in before. It’s more like a perfectly organized hostel machine. There are people here of all ages and nationalities but it is harder to hook up with people.

Tomorrow I will have my first long train ride to Mishima, from where I will take a bus to Mount Fuji. I am really looking forward to taking the Shinkansen train and seeing this famous volcano!

No comments:

Post a Comment