I love Kyoto. At least, I loved my memory of Kyoto: More temples here than Starbucks in Seattle, lots of cool cultural sites, lots of nooks and crannies of the old city to get lost in.

I planned to go to Kyomizudera and Sanjusangendo, which are kind of like old haunts for me, and then just wander around for the rest. We eneded up passing on Kyomizudera (because I realized that I’ve been there like 4 times, yet there were other places nearby that I hadn’t been, phenomenal places that didn’t make it into the popular guidebooks for some reason or another), and going to Chionji temple. Orie had fond memories of it from a school trip long ago. I’d never been there, but I loved it: It’s a large temple complex made up of a few central temples and lots of side-buildings, built right into the mountainside. On top of that, it’s extremely quiet and peaceful, compared to the hustle and bustle of more famous temples. Unfortunately, we got there kind of late in the day, so we weren’t able to see it all before it closed at 4:00.

We did make it to Sanjusangendo. I love this place a lot, but I realized that even too much of a good thing… It was like my fourth trip or so to see it, and more than being impressed with it, I was like, “Oh yeah, I remember this. Huh.” However, I did spend far more time reading the inscriptions in Japanese than I did on previous trips, which filled in a lot of the blanks about the history regarding the place.

It was hustling from there to Chionji, and then ascending to the top of the mountains near Chionji, that we realized: Kyoto is totally fucking polluted.

So unlike other cities, Kyoto only has like two subway rails (which aren’t that useful other than getting to and from the shopping districts), and no trains, so most public transport here is by bus (and taxi to a lesser degree), far more than the other big cities. What this means is that you realize after a while that you’re breathing exhaust everywhere you go. Climb up into the quiet mountains, and the smell is there, too. It kind of sucks, Kyoto is a gorgeous culturally-rich city, but to me now it’s become a lot “uglier” due to the constant air pollution contaminating pretty much everything. Hopefully, the government will look into doing something about that, but I’m not holding my breath (save for when I walk around in Kyoto).

In one of the old districts, we ran into some maiko-san, basically geisha-in-training. Here’s some other random guy (he apparently only spoke Portuguese) taking his picture with them:


I didn’t really want to get my picture taken with them, but I took the picture to remind myself of something that I recalled years ago and forgot: Geisha? Not hot, really, when you see them up close. The makeup is unique, the kimonos are exquisite and their skill at classic instruments and dance are probably unparalleled, but the concept of the “totally beautiful geisha that makes men swoon… Heh, a rarity.
Anyway, that night Orie and I wandered some old districts, walked over to the Gion, then wandered around the main streets looking for a good place to eat. We settled on an izakaya called KI CHI RI, a place that specializes in more “gourmet”-ish izakaya foods while at the same time keeping a more quiet, subdued atmosphere. We had a cream croquette, fried root salad, some sashimi and crabcakes. We took a long walk back to Kyoto station, and on the way we spotted this specialty okonomiyaki place:

We didn’t end up eating there, but that was just too much not to take a picture: On top of the okonomiyaki they have arranged 12 tako-yaki, in the middle are soba noodles (hiroshima-style) with seafood, and three eggs.  It’s like one okonomiyaki a family could eat, yikes.

About an hour later we made it back to Kyoto station: At the izakaya we ate light, just wanting to sit down and try some unique food. We were really planning on sitting down to a more economical (yet delicious) dinner back at the station.

Kyoto station is awesome. Period. It’s a bizarre blend of modern architecture and almost Escher-like “fucking around”. Namely, the station and the buildings inside of it are 11 stories tall: Outside there’s a huge staircase that takes you up (or down) the entire thing. I didn’t get a good picture of it, but this guy did:

Click here to see just 5 of the 11 stories of the stairs.

There’s not one person who goes down that thing without thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to trip and fall down all 11 stories’ worth of stairs?”

We grabbed dinner at a pork cutlet specialty place, and made our way back to Kobe.