Saturday, June 25, 2005
I think I ate seaweed.
This morning I walked down to Mcdonalds again and attempted to buy an Egg Mcmuffin, I pointed at the picture right in front of me and confused the girl behind the counter completely. After stumbling lamely I finally managed to order. She gave me my order sans the hash brown and gave me a number so they knew who to give it to when it was ready.
A few minutes later she came over with i t in a basket, as well as another Egg Mcmuffin. I don't know how I ordered two, but whatever.
Today was probably the hottest day I have ever experienced in my life. It wasn't just hot, but incredibly humid. The minute I wasn't in front of a fan and inside the guesthouse sweat just poured off of my face.
Today I decided to take the Subway to Kitaoji station and from there walk about 3 miles to Kinkakuji, the "Golden Pavilion", and Ryoanji, the famous zen rock garden.
When I arrived at Kitajo the exits took you to "Vivre" a sort of shopping plaza, they had a huge supermarket filled with food, I made a mental note to come back after my excursion and get some food for cooking, and stuff to drink.
From there I left and went on my way down Kitaoji-dori, not really knowing if I was going in the right direction. My expert directional skills served my once again as I saw an exit sign for Kinkakuji, which was a few miles away. The walk was a long one but I had a busy mind and was too busy enjoying myself to care. Eventually I got to an intersection and made a left turn when I shouldn't have. This took my down to Ritsukeikan University which touted a "Museum of World Peace". I entered and saw a lot of lobbies on various floors, but no museums. I left and kept going down and got to a highschool, where some over ambitious student hit a bowl over the fence and right over to me. I picked it up and threw it to him and he said "aahh, sankyuu" and I bowed.
I then realized I was going the wrong way and should have just kept going straight so I backtracked, and got back to the intersection. A relatively steep hill later and I was finally at Kinkakuji. There would be no admission fee dodging today, but it was only 400 yen.
I recieved my ticket and a flyer with a map and some info.
At the entrance was a large bell.
And finally, the Golden Pavilion, made out of real gold, and said to be so bright on nice days that you must look into the pond's reflection to get a good look at the temple. Which is why the pond is named "Mirror Pond".
After seeing the temple you go up some stone stares and eventually see this little thing in the middle of a pond
A few feet past that is this shrine, with a bowl you're suppose to try and catch money in. I threw two 50 yen coins in and missed both times.
Past that is a cool little waterfall
After visiting the temple I went to the rest area and drank some coke, and almost died from the heat. From there I went westward, looking for Ryoanji! I finally found it and payed the 300 yen admission fee.
At the entrance was an explanation of the temple and a map
Before you get to the rock garden you see a huge pond
I saw a turtle on a rock
This is a cool little tori you go through after going over a small stone bridge
Finally I made my way to the rock garden. Since it's inside of an actual Zen Temple, you are not allowed to wear your shoes inside.
From there you take a left on the wooden floor and the rock garden awaits in all its glory!
Personally I didn't think it was too spectacular, but it was still cool looking, in a glass display they had a lot of old relics from way back in the day.
When I got back to the exit/entrance I bought a Kyoto series lapel pin to put on my backpack. It was also a little past lunchtime so I went into the Ryoanji resturaunt. After ordering and taking a retardedly long time to get enough money out (coins are not easy to negotiate) I ordered Soba noodles with tempura prawns. I sat down and was given a cold cup of tea, which tasted awesome thanks to the immense heat.
My food arrived shortly and it was awesome. Soba noodles are kind of a wheat noodle, in broth with onion sprig. On top of it were two of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen, battered and deepfried to perfection. Tempura may be deep fried, but it is very healthy for you, because the oil used is derived from soy.
After eating I decided to call it a day and walked back to Kitaoji station. Before leaving, however, I purchased bread, a huge bottle of water, a 1.5 liter (huge) bottle of Coke, and a smaller but still big bottle of "Qoo" which I am hoping is a Coca Cola sponsored orange juice, we'll see tommorrow morning.
The bread in Japan only comes in loafs of about 6 slices, however, the slices are each huge, about 2 inches thick if not more. In Japanese super markets the cashier rings your food items up and puts them back in your basket, then you take them off to the side and bag them yourself. After I was done shopping I took the subway and headed back to the Greenpeace.
A few hours later I decided to get dinner. I went to a 7/11 and bought this huge plastic tray that was a japanese dinner. It had various kinds of balls of rice, various fish, various vegetables, and weird tendril things that I couldn't identify, probably seaweed. The guy at the 7/11 cooked it for me in the microwave, then I took it home and ate it. It was very good.
Not too sure what I'm going to do tommorrow, we'll see.
A few minutes later she came over with i t in a basket, as well as another Egg Mcmuffin. I don't know how I ordered two, but whatever.
Today was probably the hottest day I have ever experienced in my life. It wasn't just hot, but incredibly humid. The minute I wasn't in front of a fan and inside the guesthouse sweat just poured off of my face.
Today I decided to take the Subway to Kitaoji station and from there walk about 3 miles to Kinkakuji, the "Golden Pavilion", and Ryoanji, the famous zen rock garden.
When I arrived at Kitajo the exits took you to "Vivre" a sort of shopping plaza, they had a huge supermarket filled with food, I made a mental note to come back after my excursion and get some food for cooking, and stuff to drink.
From there I left and went on my way down Kitaoji-dori, not really knowing if I was going in the right direction. My expert directional skills served my once again as I saw an exit sign for Kinkakuji, which was a few miles away. The walk was a long one but I had a busy mind and was too busy enjoying myself to care. Eventually I got to an intersection and made a left turn when I shouldn't have. This took my down to Ritsukeikan University which touted a "Museum of World Peace". I entered and saw a lot of lobbies on various floors, but no museums. I left and kept going down and got to a highschool, where some over ambitious student hit a bowl over the fence and right over to me. I picked it up and threw it to him and he said "aahh, sankyuu" and I bowed.
I then realized I was going the wrong way and should have just kept going straight so I backtracked, and got back to the intersection. A relatively steep hill later and I was finally at Kinkakuji. There would be no admission fee dodging today, but it was only 400 yen.
I recieved my ticket and a flyer with a map and some info.
At the entrance was a large bell.
And finally, the Golden Pavilion, made out of real gold, and said to be so bright on nice days that you must look into the pond's reflection to get a good look at the temple. Which is why the pond is named "Mirror Pond".
After seeing the temple you go up some stone stares and eventually see this little thing in the middle of a pond
A few feet past that is this shrine, with a bowl you're suppose to try and catch money in. I threw two 50 yen coins in and missed both times.
Past that is a cool little waterfall
After visiting the temple I went to the rest area and drank some coke, and almost died from the heat. From there I went westward, looking for Ryoanji! I finally found it and payed the 300 yen admission fee.
At the entrance was an explanation of the temple and a map
Before you get to the rock garden you see a huge pond
I saw a turtle on a rock
This is a cool little tori you go through after going over a small stone bridge
Finally I made my way to the rock garden. Since it's inside of an actual Zen Temple, you are not allowed to wear your shoes inside.
From there you take a left on the wooden floor and the rock garden awaits in all its glory!
Personally I didn't think it was too spectacular, but it was still cool looking, in a glass display they had a lot of old relics from way back in the day.
When I got back to the exit/entrance I bought a Kyoto series lapel pin to put on my backpack. It was also a little past lunchtime so I went into the Ryoanji resturaunt. After ordering and taking a retardedly long time to get enough money out (coins are not easy to negotiate) I ordered Soba noodles with tempura prawns. I sat down and was given a cold cup of tea, which tasted awesome thanks to the immense heat.
My food arrived shortly and it was awesome. Soba noodles are kind of a wheat noodle, in broth with onion sprig. On top of it were two of the biggest shrimp I've ever seen, battered and deepfried to perfection. Tempura may be deep fried, but it is very healthy for you, because the oil used is derived from soy.
After eating I decided to call it a day and walked back to Kitaoji station. Before leaving, however, I purchased bread, a huge bottle of water, a 1.5 liter (huge) bottle of Coke, and a smaller but still big bottle of "Qoo" which I am hoping is a Coca Cola sponsored orange juice, we'll see tommorrow morning.
The bread in Japan only comes in loafs of about 6 slices, however, the slices are each huge, about 2 inches thick if not more. In Japanese super markets the cashier rings your food items up and puts them back in your basket, then you take them off to the side and bag them yourself. After I was done shopping I took the subway and headed back to the Greenpeace.
A few hours later I decided to get dinner. I went to a 7/11 and bought this huge plastic tray that was a japanese dinner. It had various kinds of balls of rice, various fish, various vegetables, and weird tendril things that I couldn't identify, probably seaweed. The guy at the 7/11 cooked it for me in the microwave, then I took it home and ate it. It was very good.
Not too sure what I'm going to do tommorrow, we'll see.
|| Jake Zigler, 11:05 AM
3 Comments:
well congratulations, you've suceeded in going to a tmeple and eating. Your going to have booring time in japan unless you go meet some people.
YEAH! TEMPLES ARE FOR LOSERS M I RITE? Hey, I'm enjoying your journey so far.
I'm sorry I'm not meeting your quota of fun and I'll get right on with the meeting people part, maybe someone as pretentious as you?
