07-10-2010, 11:39 AM
April 4, 2010
Kyoto Imperial Palace Take 1, and ONSEN!!!
Alright, our fourth day in Kyoto. I will skip the formalities and the prep times aside since they're a given already. Our agenda for this day was to visit the Kyoto Imperial Palace located near our guest house, then head towards mt. Kurama for some onsen. So we prepped, had breakfast and started off. Surprisingly my foot on that day felt a little better, but still hurt a little as it got a little aggravated againg after a few YARDS of walking. We made our way past kamogawa river, which seemed to get prettier and prettier each day we passed by. The weather today was arguably the best so far as the sky was exceedingly clear and it was sunny, yet only a bit chilly. Just right in my opinion.
First of all, we only had an idea on how to get to KIP, but not really sure. So we just went to its said location in accordance with the map, but yeah, we STILL weren't sure. We walked quite a bit, and when we started to be REALLY unsure, we managed to ask directions from the townsfolk thanks to Cabs, and we finally managed to get in the area around the palace.
The place is HUGE. It's like many times bigger than luneta imho, and we had to WALK all the way to the actual palace. It wasn't that bad though, as we managed to take pictures of a lot of sakura and plum(?) trees around while going to the palace. I actually had a lot of fun observing the people who were walking around and stuff. A lot of them are jogging, chilling out, or biking. Typical fare for people in a park, but the atmosphere was much much more calm and relaxing.
So, we went along our way to the Palace, but upon seeing it from afar, we could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Upon arrival, something WAS amiss, as the PALACE itself was closed for the day! After the customary facepalm from the three of us, we decided to go back to the pad to prep up for the trip to the onsen, as we did spend enough time bumming around the place(and LOLing at the police car that was going around to look for people who would dare to cross the early warning systems situated around the palace walls) to finish the time allotted till we can start getting ready. Once back in the pad, we decided to rest a bit (which was good for my aching foot) and just get some snacks while getting ready. Again, after a bit of procrastinating from all three of us, we managed to move our lazy asses and start off for the train station.
We did opt to have our lunch while on the train, so we went to Lotteria to get some grub, and went on our way. Hyejin also told us that the trip was 30-40 mins long, so we better leave early(hyejin told us before hand. She wasnt with us on this day till later that evening). On the way to Mt. Kurama, I got a glimpse of what Rural Japan looked like, and the addition of the landscape made it all the more beautiful for me. I also had mixed feelings about it, as I felt awed, yet, sad at the same time. I just don't know why. Cabs and Jake spent their time napping on the way though, but as for myself, this being my first time abroad, I simply couldn't waste a single minute of it.
Upon Arrival, we finally got ourselves well, sorted out, and we kinda followed Cabs' lead into what the hell we're supposed to do, and yeah, for my first time in an onsen, it was kinda weird and awkward, as YES, no clothes of any shape or form were allowed in the onsen or even in the bathing area. So yeah, we literally had to undress and shit. Actually after a few mins, you will indeed get used to it, as long as you don't try to stare at the other people who were there-too bad it wasn't mixed bathing though >
.
As i learned first hand, the usual sequence is take a seat in the showers/ wood buckets area, get yourself cleaned up, then head over the the onsen, dip your feet first, then slowly get in, put towel on top of head, enjoy. I would also stress again that staring is almost a non-spoken rule there, as most of the men(and us) would rather stare at some random location. Good thing the onsen was an outdoor one, with an magnificent view of the mountain ranges that were there. To be honest, the water was kinda hot, and it was really hard to stay still while you're being slowly boiled to a good color. I would have to say though, that it was extremely relaxing and that it also gave me a massive de-stress and almost completely got rid of all of the pain in my foot. So, after a record time of 15 minutes, i stepped out of the pool feeling totally dizzy at this point, and made my way to the seats, showers and buckets again, followed shortly by jake and cabs. We helped ourselves to some mildly cold water, then we proceeded to go out and eat at the onsen restaurant.
Okay once in, the three of us noticed something at the same time. Tha waitress in the resto was SOOOOOOOOO cute, we just had to tell ourselves that again and again. She also catered to one of the RR members' tastes(megane)lol. We then had our meal, and it was exquisite as usua, with me randomly bantering something like “hey lets take a picture of her with us!!! pleassseee” in which jake blatantly refused everytime. After our meal, we then left (with me in tears) and proceeded to wait for the van to take us to the nearby kurama shrine. On a side note, I was able to take a picture of the legendary Hachi-roku from initial d!
As we went to Kurama Shrine, the lady at the front reception told us that the shrine is closing in an hour or so i believe, so we kinda had second thoughts of going through with it, but cabs said that we might as well since we were there already.I have to say that the way to the top of the shrine(yes top) was one of the steepest and longest climbs ive ever had the horror of climbing(more of trekking). The rest and relaxation we had in the onsen totally went out of the window as we started sweating a bit on we went up. I went with cabs with jake kinda lagging behind as he was taking his time. Cabs told me might as well do it and who knows we might be enlightened or so he says.
Upon reaching the top, I had mixed feelings of the climb being justified, but I was then blown away by the view of the mountains around it. If i had to come back, I'd definitely take the cable car(yes we didnt know that there was one). So, after spamming shots with our cameras and finally whisperin a short prayer to the main shrine, we made our way back, only to be told by a couple of obaa-san's that the last cable car is 3 mins from departure. So yeah, on top of the climb, we literally RAN for quite a distance towards the cable car station, with me sprinting ahead of them for some moments. Fortunately, we managed to reach the station with the last batch of passengers, and yes, we were able to get down from the mountain pretty comfortably. Whew. Period.
After that fiasco, we managed to drag our exhausted bodies to the train station back to Kyoto, with jake and cabs falling asleep again along the way. As for me, however, I managed to stay awake to get a glimpse of the beautiful scenery, but this time with a very pretty sunset to paint the landscape. It was, again, one of those “omg i'm actually in japan” moments again. It was really beautiful.
Once we got off, we immediately walked back to the pad to drop off our stuff since we had to go to hyejin's house which was nearby for some korean dinner. We also kinda chilled for a bit, but Cabs and myself went ahead to the lotteria food joint in Demachiyanagi Station to get some snacks for ourselves before actually going to hyejin's we kinda talked about a lot of random stuff, but more on the career really. Cabs also was wondering on how can i always forget the term that he taught me if i were to say take out in any restaurant(mochikairi). Jake arrived shortly after, and we the nproceeded to walk our way to hyejin's place, much to my foot's chagrin. I was also starting to get really cold, so we had to hurry a bit. We also elected to buy some chocolate pastry with cream inside for hyejin on a side note. Once in her pad, we just chatted with her and her friend, whom she invited over for the dinner. To sum it all up, the food she prepared for us was extremely good, at least for me-but even cabs, who explicitly told me he didnt like korean food, and spicy food, managed to eat a whole lot as well. We had pocky and the cream puffs for dessert, while chatting with hyejin and her friend alice fora couple of hours. It was unfortunate though, that cabs had to leave early for the reason that he had tocatch the train before 12am. Bidding hyejin and alice goodbye, we then finally walked cabs to the train station, and went back to our room for the last time today.
Random quotes:
(running to cable car)
*mark suddenly sprinting*
Cabs: HOOLLLYY SHIIIIITTTTTT
jake*looking at the map for the kyoto palace*: this looks like an rpg map......*take picture*
mark: RPG MAAAAPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kyoto Imperial Palace Take 1, and ONSEN!!!
Alright, our fourth day in Kyoto. I will skip the formalities and the prep times aside since they're a given already. Our agenda for this day was to visit the Kyoto Imperial Palace located near our guest house, then head towards mt. Kurama for some onsen. So we prepped, had breakfast and started off. Surprisingly my foot on that day felt a little better, but still hurt a little as it got a little aggravated againg after a few YARDS of walking. We made our way past kamogawa river, which seemed to get prettier and prettier each day we passed by. The weather today was arguably the best so far as the sky was exceedingly clear and it was sunny, yet only a bit chilly. Just right in my opinion.
First of all, we only had an idea on how to get to KIP, but not really sure. So we just went to its said location in accordance with the map, but yeah, we STILL weren't sure. We walked quite a bit, and when we started to be REALLY unsure, we managed to ask directions from the townsfolk thanks to Cabs, and we finally managed to get in the area around the palace.
The place is HUGE. It's like many times bigger than luneta imho, and we had to WALK all the way to the actual palace. It wasn't that bad though, as we managed to take pictures of a lot of sakura and plum(?) trees around while going to the palace. I actually had a lot of fun observing the people who were walking around and stuff. A lot of them are jogging, chilling out, or biking. Typical fare for people in a park, but the atmosphere was much much more calm and relaxing.
So, we went along our way to the Palace, but upon seeing it from afar, we could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Upon arrival, something WAS amiss, as the PALACE itself was closed for the day! After the customary facepalm from the three of us, we decided to go back to the pad to prep up for the trip to the onsen, as we did spend enough time bumming around the place(and LOLing at the police car that was going around to look for people who would dare to cross the early warning systems situated around the palace walls) to finish the time allotted till we can start getting ready. Once back in the pad, we decided to rest a bit (which was good for my aching foot) and just get some snacks while getting ready. Again, after a bit of procrastinating from all three of us, we managed to move our lazy asses and start off for the train station.
We did opt to have our lunch while on the train, so we went to Lotteria to get some grub, and went on our way. Hyejin also told us that the trip was 30-40 mins long, so we better leave early(hyejin told us before hand. She wasnt with us on this day till later that evening). On the way to Mt. Kurama, I got a glimpse of what Rural Japan looked like, and the addition of the landscape made it all the more beautiful for me. I also had mixed feelings about it, as I felt awed, yet, sad at the same time. I just don't know why. Cabs and Jake spent their time napping on the way though, but as for myself, this being my first time abroad, I simply couldn't waste a single minute of it.
Upon Arrival, we finally got ourselves well, sorted out, and we kinda followed Cabs' lead into what the hell we're supposed to do, and yeah, for my first time in an onsen, it was kinda weird and awkward, as YES, no clothes of any shape or form were allowed in the onsen or even in the bathing area. So yeah, we literally had to undress and shit. Actually after a few mins, you will indeed get used to it, as long as you don't try to stare at the other people who were there-too bad it wasn't mixed bathing though >
. As i learned first hand, the usual sequence is take a seat in the showers/ wood buckets area, get yourself cleaned up, then head over the the onsen, dip your feet first, then slowly get in, put towel on top of head, enjoy. I would also stress again that staring is almost a non-spoken rule there, as most of the men(and us) would rather stare at some random location. Good thing the onsen was an outdoor one, with an magnificent view of the mountain ranges that were there. To be honest, the water was kinda hot, and it was really hard to stay still while you're being slowly boiled to a good color. I would have to say though, that it was extremely relaxing and that it also gave me a massive de-stress and almost completely got rid of all of the pain in my foot. So, after a record time of 15 minutes, i stepped out of the pool feeling totally dizzy at this point, and made my way to the seats, showers and buckets again, followed shortly by jake and cabs. We helped ourselves to some mildly cold water, then we proceeded to go out and eat at the onsen restaurant.
Okay once in, the three of us noticed something at the same time. Tha waitress in the resto was SOOOOOOOOO cute, we just had to tell ourselves that again and again. She also catered to one of the RR members' tastes(megane)lol. We then had our meal, and it was exquisite as usua, with me randomly bantering something like “hey lets take a picture of her with us!!! pleassseee” in which jake blatantly refused everytime. After our meal, we then left (with me in tears) and proceeded to wait for the van to take us to the nearby kurama shrine. On a side note, I was able to take a picture of the legendary Hachi-roku from initial d!
As we went to Kurama Shrine, the lady at the front reception told us that the shrine is closing in an hour or so i believe, so we kinda had second thoughts of going through with it, but cabs said that we might as well since we were there already.I have to say that the way to the top of the shrine(yes top) was one of the steepest and longest climbs ive ever had the horror of climbing(more of trekking). The rest and relaxation we had in the onsen totally went out of the window as we started sweating a bit on we went up. I went with cabs with jake kinda lagging behind as he was taking his time. Cabs told me might as well do it and who knows we might be enlightened or so he says.
Upon reaching the top, I had mixed feelings of the climb being justified, but I was then blown away by the view of the mountains around it. If i had to come back, I'd definitely take the cable car(yes we didnt know that there was one). So, after spamming shots with our cameras and finally whisperin a short prayer to the main shrine, we made our way back, only to be told by a couple of obaa-san's that the last cable car is 3 mins from departure. So yeah, on top of the climb, we literally RAN for quite a distance towards the cable car station, with me sprinting ahead of them for some moments. Fortunately, we managed to reach the station with the last batch of passengers, and yes, we were able to get down from the mountain pretty comfortably. Whew. Period.
After that fiasco, we managed to drag our exhausted bodies to the train station back to Kyoto, with jake and cabs falling asleep again along the way. As for me, however, I managed to stay awake to get a glimpse of the beautiful scenery, but this time with a very pretty sunset to paint the landscape. It was, again, one of those “omg i'm actually in japan” moments again. It was really beautiful.
Once we got off, we immediately walked back to the pad to drop off our stuff since we had to go to hyejin's house which was nearby for some korean dinner. We also kinda chilled for a bit, but Cabs and myself went ahead to the lotteria food joint in Demachiyanagi Station to get some snacks for ourselves before actually going to hyejin's we kinda talked about a lot of random stuff, but more on the career really. Cabs also was wondering on how can i always forget the term that he taught me if i were to say take out in any restaurant(mochikairi). Jake arrived shortly after, and we the nproceeded to walk our way to hyejin's place, much to my foot's chagrin. I was also starting to get really cold, so we had to hurry a bit. We also elected to buy some chocolate pastry with cream inside for hyejin on a side note. Once in her pad, we just chatted with her and her friend, whom she invited over for the dinner. To sum it all up, the food she prepared for us was extremely good, at least for me-but even cabs, who explicitly told me he didnt like korean food, and spicy food, managed to eat a whole lot as well. We had pocky and the cream puffs for dessert, while chatting with hyejin and her friend alice fora couple of hours. It was unfortunate though, that cabs had to leave early for the reason that he had tocatch the train before 12am. Bidding hyejin and alice goodbye, we then finally walked cabs to the train station, and went back to our room for the last time today.
Random quotes:
(running to cable car)
*mark suddenly sprinting*
Cabs: HOOLLLYY SHIIIIITTTTTT
jake*looking at the map for the kyoto palace*: this looks like an rpg map......*take picture*
mark: RPG MAAAAPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!
