Japan
(August 2004)Japan
(August 2004)
Travelling in Japan |
At Saturday Masa and I travelled to Nagoya, his hometown. We spend one night at the home of his parents and I met his parents and his brother. And then the next morning it was time to say good bye because Masa has meeting in Nagoya and I want start my trip through Japan.
My journey starts early in the morning from Nagoya to Takayama my first stop. It was difficult to choose a route in Japan because there are many interesting cities and the time (and money :-) was limited. I don't know why I chosen Takayama, I think I read in some traveller reports about this city. It is in the Japanese mountains located and a small and beautiful city. Second, I dont wanted to spend to much time at the trains. I looked for some cities near Nagoya and Kyoto. The train drove through a nice countryside.
At first I was looking for my accommodation, the Rickshaw Inn. After leaving my luggage there I started my trip through the city. Not far away from the train station is the temple Hida Kokubun-ji
At the footway you find signs with directions for tourist like me :-)
Walking through the city, Japanese like the big cat. I like more Tanyuki see
below :-)
The "Be careful" signs looks better then in Germany.
I took a bus to the folk village, for 900 Yen (6,58 Euro) you get a combi ticket for the bus and the folk village. In the folk village you will find a lake surrounded by old traditional houses. You can walk inside of the houses (and of course take off your shoes :-).
Takayama is a nice small city with beautiful buildings. Not far away from the Japanese Alps. As a short trip you can travel to some onsens there or walk in the mountains. I can recommend it for people who like to see more nature and traditional Japan.
I spend one night at the Rickshaw Inn and again, if you are travelling alone, then it is important which accommodation you choose. Here in Takayama I had a really good time. The minshuku was very comfortable (3200 - 6000 Yen, 24-44 Euro). And the best was the lounge. After I ate lunch alone in the city, I took a shower, tried the bathrobe :-) And I met in the lounge people from Spain, Denmark and England and we talked long in the night.
My next stop was Kanazawa. I arrived in Kanazawa at noon and I was hungry :-) In the train station I discovered a German Bakery and after 20 days in Asia I decided to eat real German food :-) OK, I also ate a piece of pizza what is traditionally not German food but today Pizza is for Germans an important dish like in many other countries of the world :-) And I ate also a Berliner like all the Germans call this kind of cake except in Berlin, we say Pancake (Pfannkuchen) and it taste like at home. Only with the colours of the flags they had some confusion :-) The German flag has horizontal stripes Black, Red and Gold. But here at the bakery they seems to think that every combination of this colours is fine :-) What may the Belgium people say about this?
Kanazawa is famous for the garden Kenroku-en. It should be one of the three best Gardens in Japan, says my travel guide. The garden is nice but I have also seen other nice gardens in Kyoto and Hida folk village. I have only a short impression of 2 hours and may be I didn't catch the soul of the garden. But I think that travelling to Kanazawa only because of this garden is not necessarily, especially if you are short on time.
But may be my mood was not the best in Kanazawa. I didn't found an accommodation there like in Takayama, so I stayed in a cheap business hotel. I paid more then in Takayama and the room was ok, not more and not less. But there was no lounge for talking at the evening and the room was not so lovely like in Takayama. But I tried everything :-) I asked at the evening for the hotel bar because my experience from my business trips in Germany tells me that in every hotel like this are some lonely hearts who wants talk. But there was not a real hotel bar but a karaoke club in the next house. But there I met only 2 businessmen and they didn't speak English. And I'm not good in Karaoke (not yet but I will train ! :-)
And also it was rainy at the afternoon, so this day was not one of the top of my days but I say always: New day, new luck and this should become true :-)
In Kyoto I looked also at first for my accommodation and one of the reasons because I was always looking for accommodation first was my heavy luggage. Here I got the Address of K's House http://kshouse.jp/ (Dorm 2500Yen, 18,30 Euro). I got only a bed in a 6 Bed dorm but it was a very good guesthouse. I was also snoopy to meet two more friends from Tulane again. In Korea I noticed that friend Min phoned with friend Kumi and she lives in Osaka which is not far away from Kyoto. So I wrote a mail and we agreed to meet at the the evening. Also Assami lives near Kyoto and she also liked to meet me again so it seems to become a big see again party :-)
Kyoto is full of historic places and they had the luck, that the Americans didn't bomb Kyoto into the stone age during WWII. Sometimes I really wonder. Thy destroyed Hue, the Vietnamese kingdom city, they (and the Brits) destroyed Dresden, one of the cultural most important cities of Germany a few days before Germany surrenders, without any military sense. Many Japanese cities was destroyed during the war.
Because you will find so many interesting places in Kyoto it is difficult to decide where to go. One good suggestion for the first day is to go by bus to the Ginkaku-ji temple (North East), look around and walk then slowly to the south along the Path of Philosophers. There are some other temples along the way and you will arrive at the Nanzen-ji temple complex. Have a look at the opening times of the temples.
The temple is located in a nice garden. In the garden you find not only nature.
There are also some artefacts build from sand and small stones. never saw before
and I think it needs a lot of time and patience to build this. Patience??
That's, what I need more :)
This temple and the garden was one of the nicest things I saw at my journey. I like it more, then its golden Brother Kinkakuji.
After visiting the temple I become hungry and I took lunch in one of the
restaurants near the temple. The food was Japanese style but the drink was like
at home ;-)
Nice Place for a dog...
The Teddy's watching the funny tourist like grandpa and grandma.
Then I walked the Path of Philosophers (Tetsugaku-no-michi)
to the south. Along the way are many smaller temples for visiting. It is a nice
walk on a small pedestrian way.
Some temples at the way...
... and some more
Then I arrived finally at the Nanzen-ji, one of the bigger and famous temple areas in Kyoto. But I was short on time. It is open until 5pm and I arrived at 4. At first I walked to the second level of the San-mon - gate. It was a great scenery and second reason was a short but heavy rain :-) Many tourist waited there for the end of rain.
Then I walked with my wet sandals to the temple complex and visited the stone gardens and rooms.
Dinner at the bakery but this time French style. It was similar to the German
bakery in Kanazawa :-)
Lounge and Internet Place. I used often the Internet to keep in touch with
Germany and this evening also to read where I will meet tomorrow Asami at Kyoto
station. Korean and Japanese keyboards are sometimes really difficult.
Especially if you have some special signs at a password or if you need other
special characters ...
Friendly stuff No 1. I saw a sign there that I can burn my photos on CD and I
need to do this because my SD-card was full. It was her first time to burn a CD
but with my help we got it (Y) :)
Friendly stuff No 2+3. Nemo and Dory wathcing the lounge. There was also a
Automat for cold drinks and beer :-)
Video Lounge. I didn't use it but one night it was closed because some more
travellers slept here :-)
It was the first time on this trip to sleep not in a single room. I know why I
prefer single rooms :-) I slept right at the top bed. Below me was an older men
who like to snore a little. On the left side slept younger men who liked to wake
up at 7 and make a lot of noise with plastic bags :) and use a deodorant spray
in a small six men room is also not the best idea even if you are convinced that
everybody need to like the aroma :-) But the bed was very comfortable and I
slept well.
In Germany we try to use natural resources like water very carefully. But
toilets like this one I didn't know. You wash your Hands and the water from hand
washing runs in the toilet reservoir. Good idea!
First day was a nice excursion through Kyoto and I saw a lot of temples and tourists :-) In Kyoto are so many temples, that is not possible to see all, thats why I needed to decide what to do next. And I like to watch not only the main attractions which are full of tourists. I also like smaller, not so famous attractions. And also I like nature and in my travel guide I found a walk in the north west of Kyoto. So I decided to make an excursion to Takao and start with Jingo-ji temple.
The good thing was that I started with the bus from the Kyoto train station and the bus was from the JR Lines so I could use the bus with my JR Rail pass. The only question was, where to get off the bus. But if I don't know, then I need to ask and so I played again the stupid tourist and showed the bus driver my Kyoto tourist map and pointed to Jingo-ji and he told me when to exit.
But there was my second problem :-) Are this signs to the temple? Or show they
opening times of the shop behind?? At first I walked a way which looks good but
I arrived a a big empty parking place and found a women which collects the money
from the cars. She showed me the way back and later then I found the real way to
the temple.
Hey here is really a sign in both languages :-) I'm on the right way :-)
Um, so many stages .... OK, it is like sport but it was also very hot.
Finally and after many stages and with a wet shirt I arrived at the mountain temple and it was a nice old temple. Only a few tourists and a nice view from the top.
I like this kind of .... Hm, what is this ?? An animal? If I remember the name
correct then it was Tanyuki or? They should bring luck and customers to a
shop...
...and so I decided that I need a rest after so many stages and I took a really
cold beer to cool down an this hot day.
At the beginning of the way you find some restaurants on the riverside.
The Kiyotaki is a smaller creek surrounded by forests and mountains. Because of
the heat of the day and the cold beer was long ago, I decided to fresh up in the
river. Water looks very good and no body was there. I jumped quickly in the
river, this was really good :)
During my 2h walk I met only two people. Some times I was unsure if this will be
the right way but I need simply follow the river. The signs along the way
doesn't helped so much - I could not read them. Sometimes I was confused because
the walking way crossed the river with smaller bridges but finally you can not
make many mistakes because usually there is only a way at one side.
After 1,5h I arrived in the village Kiyotaki and met some people :-) Some people did a barbecue at the riverside. My way continued behind the village.
After further minutes I saw a kind of small kiosk with drinks and food, a bridge and a small train station. At the kiosk I asked the people there (I showed my map and pointed to train station and Kyoto :-) Then one men asked me where I come from and after I told him, that I'm Doitsu then I listened a Guten Tag. So many Japanese people learned some German in the past and remember Guten Tag or Danke , Bitte .
Then they explained me in English, that this railway is the Sagano Sight
Seeing Tram and it is more expensive and slower then the JR. I need only a
few minutes more then I'm at the Hozukyo JR station. The Train station
was really nice and I found many of the Tanyuki.
I continued my way to the JR station and met a student at the who also discovered the nature around Hozukyo. We waited together for the train and travelled back to Kyoto.
This was a very nice day in Japan and a walk (and swimming :-) through beautiful nature. I liked it very much.
At first I need a shower that's why I went to K's House and took a shower and
then again back to Kyoto Station to met Asami and I was a little late, sorry :)
I don't like. We recognize each other quickly, it was only two years ago that we
saw last time. We also wanted meet Kumi this evening but she will come a little
bit later and so we decided to visit a temple.
In the evening they illuminate the temples and this looks nice. I tried to make
some photos. I think it is the Yasaka-jinja (Shrine) but I'm not sure.
This should be Sake barrels. I was thinking about: Full or empty :-) ??
Asami was phoning with Kumi, where we will met us at the evening. They both want
show me a special area in Kyoto with deluxe restaurants and there you can some
times see Geishas at their way. And we saw some.
Then later we ate dinner together and we ordered different things so I could try many things. And I tried everything also snails. It was ok, but I know now that snails is not food for me. How desperate need to be the first human who ate snails. But he had no other chance to survive and later he was used to eat snails and then he told everybody that snails are a delicious speciality. The rest of the meal was much better :-) No snails and also raw fish was much better then I thought. I never ate raw fish before in my life. Usually I don't eat so much fish because of the fish bones.
Later, back at K's House I met some German and Austrian travellers. Andrea took part at an university exchange and after finnishing this she used the opportunity to travel some weeks around in Japan. Because she was also alone in Kyoto we decided to visit the next day the Golden Temple together.
This temple complex is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto and recommended by the most guides. And this Temple and garden is very nice. His silver brother is also very nice and dont need to conceal behind it. Both of them are nice temples and gardens.
At this kind of shrines people throw a small coin in to a wooden box, ring a
bell and think on a secret wish. The coin should be not to big and so there was
a machine, for changing money in to smaller coins. When will my wish become
true?? Did I something wrong?
Stone Garden, small model and real.
After visiting the temple Andrea and I was thinking, where to go next. And she heard about the Kifune Shrine a little bit outside of Kyoto. And it was hot and we decided to go more to the green nature then look around in the big city. After a 30 minutes train ride we arrived in Kifune. Japanese people seems to be very often tired. You can often see people sleeping in the public transport. When I did last time (what is long time ago), I didn't wake up and drove to far.
And here at Kifune happens what else will only happens in a movie. Andrea and I were a little unsure where to go after we leave the train station. Should we take a bus? Then we asked a Japanese men and he told us that he want also go to the shrine and we can escort him. His Name was Watanabe and he is working for an international company. We visited together the Kifune-jinja and he told us details about the shrine and Shinto religion.
After visiting the Shrine we become hungry and was looking around the restaurants there. But it seems to be an real expensive place. A meal cost more then 20 Euros. The restaurants where beautiful. Next to the street was a creek and the restaurants had places on bridges over the river. So you could watch the water floating down the river.
But we found the restaurant Hirobun and there we ate flowing noodles (Nagashi Somen). There is a half pipe with cold flowing water and the cook put sometimes noodles in the pipe and you need to catch them with chopsticks, what is easy for Asians but an interesting task for Europeans and children :-) After you catch the noodles with the chopsticks you put them in to a sauce and eat them.
And again, I met Asami a little bit to late at Kyoto station. Oh Asami, I hope that you can forgive me that I came twice to late. I met Asami at 6 because she work not far away from Kyoto and we decided to go to an big shopping mall for looking around and I also bought some souvenirs :-) Asami was phoning with Kumi and they arrange a meeting point.
We decided to go to an event restaurant in the style of an prison. And first I
got handcuffs and a beautiful smile of stuff No 1. Then we ate in a cubicle nice
food.
With nice guards like her I think prison is not so bad..?
And you will get food direct into the cubicle.
They had really fun there :-)
My guides decided later that we will go in a bar and I need to learn more about about Sake and Soju. Every city has it's own Sake and Soju and the degree of alcohol is very different. We tried some kinds but Asami and Kumi need to work next day and so we decided to be carefully ;-)
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