Lost In Kyoto
Up until tonight, I had amazingly not gotten lost much. And since I didn't know Fukuoka but I know parts of Kyoto fairly well, I thought that streak would continue. Ha ha.
I shall copy some emails I sent, with timestamps, as that will give the best idea:
6:32 PM: Here, have a Lego Model of Kyoto Station.
Taken in Kyoto Station, where I have been wandering in circles for the last hour. I swear it has either been enlarged since the last time I was here or there are great swathes I never encountered last time. You wouldn't think it should be this hard to find the goddam gigantic front entrance.
6:54 PM: OMG, STILL lost. This is so aggravating. My feet hurt and Kyoto Station has 100 restaurants which I KNOW are great, and so far all I've found is the ridiculously expensive business dinner one. I also found the same subway stop THREE TIMES.
7:18 PM: FREAKING FINALLY.
One of my very favorite dishes, and almost impossible to find in LA: ochazuke. Rice and stuff (salmon, salmon eggs, and seaweed, in this case) with broth (traditionally, tea) poured over it.
Obtained after fight with ticket machine in which I accidentally ordered three beers. I think the waiter thought I was drunk already. (I've never seen this in the US, but some Japanese restaurants have machines where you punch in what you want to eat, feed in the payment, get a ticket, and give the ticket to a waiter.)
While I was lost I ran into the same, increasingly cranky-looking pair of tourists two or three times. I saw them for the last time right before I went into the ochazuke place! Guess they too were hunting for the food court.
I still can't believe I got lost in Kyoto Station for an hour and a half. WTF.
Upon arriving in Kyoto Station, I made a beeline for the tourist info office for an autumn leaf map. I am what I have been told by my friend Halle's Canadian boyfriend is called a "leaf-peeper" over there. (Still not sure if he was pulling my leg or not.) The tourist office lady informed me that I came to Kyoto at the wrong time and the leaf season is only just beginning. I dragged her over to a leaf listing entirely in kanji where several places had four autumn leaves, which means they're at their best, and demanded to know which ones they were. She told me they were very hard to get to.
"But just tell me which ones they are," I begged.
"They're not even in Kyoto! They cannot be reached by train! You would have to have a car." Grudgingly, she gave me the name of the third temple, Shoko-Do, which can be reached by two trains and a bus. When I looked it up, I found that it is also not in Kyoto, but somewhere called Yawara. It seems pretty off the map.
I think tomorrow I'll check out some two-maple-leaf temples, and if they're unsatisfactory I will consider Yawara. Or maybe just consider doing my leaf-peeping in and around Tokyo. I bet they're nice in Nikko right about now. And there's a ginkgo festival in Tokyo at Meiji Jingu on the 15th. When I looked it up just now, I found this: The Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Festival, organized to coincide with the leaf peeping season, attracts a large crowd with stalls offering gourmet food and fine merchandise, as well as family events.
Sorry for my unfair suspicions, Halle's Canadian boyfriend! The phrase sounded extremely funny the way you said it.
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I shall copy some emails I sent, with timestamps, as that will give the best idea:
6:32 PM: Here, have a Lego Model of Kyoto Station.
Taken in Kyoto Station, where I have been wandering in circles for the last hour. I swear it has either been enlarged since the last time I was here or there are great swathes I never encountered last time. You wouldn't think it should be this hard to find the goddam gigantic front entrance.
6:54 PM: OMG, STILL lost. This is so aggravating. My feet hurt and Kyoto Station has 100 restaurants which I KNOW are great, and so far all I've found is the ridiculously expensive business dinner one. I also found the same subway stop THREE TIMES.
7:18 PM: FREAKING FINALLY.
One of my very favorite dishes, and almost impossible to find in LA: ochazuke. Rice and stuff (salmon, salmon eggs, and seaweed, in this case) with broth (traditionally, tea) poured over it.
Obtained after fight with ticket machine in which I accidentally ordered three beers. I think the waiter thought I was drunk already. (I've never seen this in the US, but some Japanese restaurants have machines where you punch in what you want to eat, feed in the payment, get a ticket, and give the ticket to a waiter.)
While I was lost I ran into the same, increasingly cranky-looking pair of tourists two or three times. I saw them for the last time right before I went into the ochazuke place! Guess they too were hunting for the food court.
I still can't believe I got lost in Kyoto Station for an hour and a half. WTF.
Upon arriving in Kyoto Station, I made a beeline for the tourist info office for an autumn leaf map. I am what I have been told by my friend Halle's Canadian boyfriend is called a "leaf-peeper" over there. (Still not sure if he was pulling my leg or not.) The tourist office lady informed me that I came to Kyoto at the wrong time and the leaf season is only just beginning. I dragged her over to a leaf listing entirely in kanji where several places had four autumn leaves, which means they're at their best, and demanded to know which ones they were. She told me they were very hard to get to.
"But just tell me which ones they are," I begged.
"They're not even in Kyoto! They cannot be reached by train! You would have to have a car." Grudgingly, she gave me the name of the third temple, Shoko-Do, which can be reached by two trains and a bus. When I looked it up, I found that it is also not in Kyoto, but somewhere called Yawara. It seems pretty off the map.
I think tomorrow I'll check out some two-maple-leaf temples, and if they're unsatisfactory I will consider Yawara. Or maybe just consider doing my leaf-peeping in and around Tokyo. I bet they're nice in Nikko right about now. And there's a ginkgo festival in Tokyo at Meiji Jingu on the 15th. When I looked it up just now, I found this: The Jingu Gaien Ginkgo Festival, organized to coincide with the leaf peeping season, attracts a large crowd with stalls offering gourmet food and fine merchandise, as well as family events.
Sorry for my unfair suspicions, Halle's Canadian boyfriend! The phrase sounded extremely funny the way you said it.
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