Friday, June 24, 2005
Kiyomizu and Melons.
Alright, I purchased a domain for this blog as well as a new server, no swear words! We're PG-13.
The website is WWW.ITHINKIAMINJAPAN.COM (doesn't have to be in capital letters).
Today I finally decided to suck it up and tackle the subways in Japan. Surprisingly they are incredibly EASY. I'm not sure how the ones in the US operate, but in Japan you simply look on the map for your destination, next to the destination is the price for an adult or a child. You then put that much Yen into the machine, and click on the button that is your fair. You then get a ticket and hop on the subway and wait until you reach your destination, get off, put your ticket through the machine, and leave! Inside are Fare Adjusters, in case you mess up or change your mind and need a higher amount ticket.
I decided on a whim to go to Shijo-dori
I'm on top of a bridge type thing that goes over the road, letting you cross to the other side without crossing traffic.
I walked around Shijo for a while and purchased an egg salad sandwich and an orange juice. My beverage purchasing seems to be the highest expensive, seeing as heat manages to dehydrate me so often.
Frim Shijo-dori I somehow made my way onto Gojo-dori and from there consulted a map. It sort of next to Gojo-dori was Gion, but I was going in the wrong direction. If you don't know, Gion is an old Geisha district in Japan. Geisha can occasionally still be seen, but it's a rare thing.
But ooh! I saw one! She even posed for a photograph!
I started going the right way and about 3 miles later was not in Gion at all, I got kind of sidetracked, and never ended up going (for another day). What I DID find was Kiyomizu Temple. This is one of Japan's most famous temples, you might recognize it. "Kiyomizu" translates to "Holy Water" and later on you will know why it's called Holy Water Temple.
The hill getting to the temple was so steep and got so crowded sometimes, cars still somehow managed to get through everything.
On my way back a group of japanese high school girls were running down the hill and one of their camera fell from their bag and went right underneath an oncoming taxi, almost getting crushed by the wheel. When the camera fell out all the girls yelled "EEEEEEEEEE!" (ehh) in unison. One of the girls later almost got creamed by another taxi, and they all laughed.
The entrance to Kiyomizu was very lively and had tons of souvenir stands. Selling things such as Big Dicks,
and Tshirts
(I am currently wearing this shirt.)
As well as shaved ice and icecream. One of the stalls that sold icecream also sold some kind of weird wrapped up candy, and they were constantly giving out free green tea to everyone. Three girls were drinking some tea, one of which had a tshirt that read "I <3 Juicy" and a bug landed in the one of the girls' hair. It then flew out and get somewhat near the girl sitting down, who freaked out and screamed, sending green tea all over her seat and pants.
Apparently Kiyomizu temple costs 600YEN to enter, but I never payed. I'm thinking I went in backwards, or when I was suppose to show my ticket my determination and shear size intimidation scared the ticket taker so much he couldn't manage to ask me for a ticket. Either way I got in completely freem oblivious to having to pay an admission fee. I later saw the ticketmaster, who stopped someone who walked in without showing him their ticket. I amaze myself.
Down at the bottom of the temple you could get a good look at the beautiful trees. They were cool because the leaves would start way at the top, showing off their skinny tall trunks.
From the bottom of the temple you could kind of see the main attraction, but this view doesn't do it justice.
From here I went to the holy stream, where you take a silver ladel and catch water from the falling stream and wash your hands in it, then drink it. The water is said to be holy and to have healing powers. It's free to use a silver ladel, but a "holy bowl" is 200YEN, I think I was the only foreignor that got in line to try the stream out.
People caught the water in the ladels, and when they were finished put them in a metal contraption that sterilized them instantly using ultra-violet light.
A little explanation of the temple, and the stream ceremony I'm about to partake in:
I feel revived!
Now that I've holyfied myself I decided to scale the steps to the temple. Here the temple is from far away:
Alittle closer
At the temple
The view from here is incredible, you can look over and see all of Kyoto.
Other parts of the temple:
That big rope connects to a bell. People give a 10YEN offering into the box, ring the bell once, and then say a prayor.
Big golden Buddha.
After the temple I went to some of the souvenir shops and ended up buying two postcards, a backscratcher, two tshirts, and a pipe.
I bought an iced slushee type thing, and could actually read the name in Japanese so I ordered it. (it was me-ron, you guessed it, melon) I must have sounded fluent because when I said me-ron the lady went off in a lot of Japanese, to which I responded with a lot of nodding. The melon flavor was so sweet it made me sick for a few minutes afterword.
After buying some souvenirs I made my way to Gojo Station and took the subway back to Matsugasaki, and finally to the Greenpeace. I spent a lot of time trying to get my website up, and slept a lot, waking up at about 12:00am. I'm still a bit jetlagged, and I'm lazy and naturally have weird sleeping patterns. I just realized I didn't have dinner.
Oh, also, for breakfast I had Mcdonalds. You would be amazed and pleased at the Mcdonalds in Japan. The employees are the nicest most hardworking people I've ever seen. When I made my order the lady took my money with two hands, bowing. She then wrapped my drink and food carefully in the back, folding the top and tucking the corner in. I bought a sausage mcmuffin and it was put together perfectly.
Japan has the best work ethic I have ever seen, surprisingly so because tipping is unheard of and insulting here!
Also remember, I don't always post every image I take! Go to http://www.ithinkiaminjapan.com/6-24-05/ to see ALL of the photos I take (well not all, some photos are just plain bad and I don't save them.).
If you have a question regarding a photo I don't post on the blog, leave a comment asking about it and I will answer.
The website is WWW.ITHINKIAMINJAPAN.COM (doesn't have to be in capital letters).
Today I finally decided to suck it up and tackle the subways in Japan. Surprisingly they are incredibly EASY. I'm not sure how the ones in the US operate, but in Japan you simply look on the map for your destination, next to the destination is the price for an adult or a child. You then put that much Yen into the machine, and click on the button that is your fair. You then get a ticket and hop on the subway and wait until you reach your destination, get off, put your ticket through the machine, and leave! Inside are Fare Adjusters, in case you mess up or change your mind and need a higher amount ticket.
I decided on a whim to go to Shijo-dori
I'm on top of a bridge type thing that goes over the road, letting you cross to the other side without crossing traffic.
I walked around Shijo for a while and purchased an egg salad sandwich and an orange juice. My beverage purchasing seems to be the highest expensive, seeing as heat manages to dehydrate me so often.
Frim Shijo-dori I somehow made my way onto Gojo-dori and from there consulted a map. It sort of next to Gojo-dori was Gion, but I was going in the wrong direction. If you don't know, Gion is an old Geisha district in Japan. Geisha can occasionally still be seen, but it's a rare thing.
But ooh! I saw one! She even posed for a photograph!
I started going the right way and about 3 miles later was not in Gion at all, I got kind of sidetracked, and never ended up going (for another day). What I DID find was Kiyomizu Temple. This is one of Japan's most famous temples, you might recognize it. "Kiyomizu" translates to "Holy Water" and later on you will know why it's called Holy Water Temple.
The hill getting to the temple was so steep and got so crowded sometimes, cars still somehow managed to get through everything.
On my way back a group of japanese high school girls were running down the hill and one of their camera fell from their bag and went right underneath an oncoming taxi, almost getting crushed by the wheel. When the camera fell out all the girls yelled "EEEEEEEEEE!" (ehh) in unison. One of the girls later almost got creamed by another taxi, and they all laughed.
The entrance to Kiyomizu was very lively and had tons of souvenir stands. Selling things such as Big Dicks,
and Tshirts
(I am currently wearing this shirt.)
As well as shaved ice and icecream. One of the stalls that sold icecream also sold some kind of weird wrapped up candy, and they were constantly giving out free green tea to everyone. Three girls were drinking some tea, one of which had a tshirt that read "I <3 Juicy" and a bug landed in the one of the girls' hair. It then flew out and get somewhat near the girl sitting down, who freaked out and screamed, sending green tea all over her seat and pants.
Apparently Kiyomizu temple costs 600YEN to enter, but I never payed. I'm thinking I went in backwards, or when I was suppose to show my ticket my determination and shear size intimidation scared the ticket taker so much he couldn't manage to ask me for a ticket. Either way I got in completely freem oblivious to having to pay an admission fee. I later saw the ticketmaster, who stopped someone who walked in without showing him their ticket. I amaze myself.
Down at the bottom of the temple you could get a good look at the beautiful trees. They were cool because the leaves would start way at the top, showing off their skinny tall trunks.
From the bottom of the temple you could kind of see the main attraction, but this view doesn't do it justice.
From here I went to the holy stream, where you take a silver ladel and catch water from the falling stream and wash your hands in it, then drink it. The water is said to be holy and to have healing powers. It's free to use a silver ladel, but a "holy bowl" is 200YEN, I think I was the only foreignor that got in line to try the stream out.
People caught the water in the ladels, and when they were finished put them in a metal contraption that sterilized them instantly using ultra-violet light.
A little explanation of the temple, and the stream ceremony I'm about to partake in:
I feel revived!
Now that I've holyfied myself I decided to scale the steps to the temple. Here the temple is from far away:
Alittle closer
At the temple
The view from here is incredible, you can look over and see all of Kyoto.
Other parts of the temple:
That big rope connects to a bell. People give a 10YEN offering into the box, ring the bell once, and then say a prayor.
Big golden Buddha.
After the temple I went to some of the souvenir shops and ended up buying two postcards, a backscratcher, two tshirts, and a pipe.
I bought an iced slushee type thing, and could actually read the name in Japanese so I ordered it. (it was me-ron, you guessed it, melon) I must have sounded fluent because when I said me-ron the lady went off in a lot of Japanese, to which I responded with a lot of nodding. The melon flavor was so sweet it made me sick for a few minutes afterword.
After buying some souvenirs I made my way to Gojo Station and took the subway back to Matsugasaki, and finally to the Greenpeace. I spent a lot of time trying to get my website up, and slept a lot, waking up at about 12:00am. I'm still a bit jetlagged, and I'm lazy and naturally have weird sleeping patterns. I just realized I didn't have dinner.
Oh, also, for breakfast I had Mcdonalds. You would be amazed and pleased at the Mcdonalds in Japan. The employees are the nicest most hardworking people I've ever seen. When I made my order the lady took my money with two hands, bowing. She then wrapped my drink and food carefully in the back, folding the top and tucking the corner in. I bought a sausage mcmuffin and it was put together perfectly.
Japan has the best work ethic I have ever seen, surprisingly so because tipping is unheard of and insulting here!
Also remember, I don't always post every image I take! Go to http://www.ithinkiaminjapan.com/6-24-05/ to see ALL of the photos I take (well not all, some photos are just plain bad and I don't save them.).
If you have a question regarding a photo I don't post on the blog, leave a comment asking about it and I will answer.
|| Jake Zigler, 12:09 PM
2 Comments:
Great blog, keep it up. Japan sounds like such a surreal place to be.
Hi Jake,
Sounds like you are having the time
of your life. The pictures are great. Mom and Dad are surviving without you, but they miss you.
Just golfing and the weather here is alos humid and hot. Take care and be safe.
Sounds like you are having the time
of your life. The pictures are great. Mom and Dad are surviving without you, but they miss you.
Just golfing and the weather here is alos humid and hot. Take care and be safe.
