September 07. 2004 01:43

Sightseeing

Aah! Waah! I found a horrible jumping spider in my room! Gyaah, die!

Ah, so... What did I do yesterday? Oh yeah, I went sightseeing. As Ken-san advised, I started at the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts (Fureaikan, downstairs from Kyoto Messe), then went to Heian Jingu Shrine, continued south towards the Maruyama park, passing Shoren-in and Chion-in temples along the way. Then I was supposed to contiunue to Gion and then to the downtown shopping streets, but I actually never had the time to do that.

Fureaikan was wonderful, definately worth a visit. It is a museum for the traditional handicraft that has it's origins in Kyoto. There are examples of kimono dying and embroidery, Kyoto dolls, paper fans, wood and bambooware, Buddhist altars and more. As the traditions of Japan are the ones that interest me the most, this was definately a must place. All the items were so pretty! It's a shame photographs aren't allowed in museums. There was a very nice "souvenir shop" at the end of the exhibition (well, I actually started at that end, but that didn't matter), and I was thinking about all the souvenirs I could buy, but then I thought it's way too early for that. I still have this feeling that this is just a two-week dream holiday and I have to fly back soon...

Well, anyway, after spending about 2 hours at the exhibitions at Fureaikan and around it, I thought it might be nice to eat something. That's an interesting thing to do when you're alone in a strange culture, by the way. (Off-topic sidenote: Oh, Pocky! Yummy ^_^) My order included a plate with the "main sauce", meaning tofu and some mushrooms and stuff, and then a bowl of rice, a cup of some liquid with a couple of mushrooms in it and two cups of what seemed to be fruits on the main plate. I had no idea if I was supposed to pour the rice onto the main plate or how that strange soup-like liquid was supposed to be taken, or why on earth is the dessert on the main plate if even the rice is on a different bowl? Nobody around was eating the same dish, so I couldn't copy anyone else, so I decided to keep the rice separate and drink the soup from the bowl, because that seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. Well, I didn't see anyone giving any weird looks, so I guess it was okay. I had some trouble paying as well, but then I could copy this another guy who ate next to me. (I had to pay at the counter, they didn't come to the table.)

Next I took off to the Heian Jingu. I didn't really know where it was but I wandered (again, to the wrong direction) to this nice little shrine around the corner. For a while I actually thought it might be Heian Jingu (I didn't remember any phoographs), but I wondered why it wasn't bigger and more crowded. Then I took a lot of photos, because it really was a nice place, and went back to where I came from. I briefly visited a Tourist Info so I could pick up Kyoto Visitor's Guide for this month and then found my way to the real Heian Jingu. Secretly I was very embarassed I could ever have even thought that little shrine could be Heian Jingu. Because Heian Jingu is HUGE. It's a magnificent place, but I never thought it could be so big. The photos (that I now remembered seeing) of the place can in no way do justice to the real thing. Again, a must place to visit. I bought a Pig charm (because I was born in the year of pig ^_^) and said a little prayer at the altar-thingie. There were also bracelets, but they weren't so pretty, so I didn't take any and hoped I would find prettier.

After visiting the Heian Jingu I had already spent about 4 hours going around, and I had 2-3 hours left, so it was kinda obvious I wouldn't be able to go shopping that day. My feet were also hurting a lot because even though my sandals are quite comfortable, sweating produces sores in my feet. It started raining, so I went inside the next 7-eleven for cover. Then I found out why the Japanese always have those cool transparent umbrellas in pictures: it's because you can buy them at any corner store and they're cheap. That took a little glamour off of having one myself, but I bought one anyway because they still are cool, I needed one and that was a very Japanese thing to do ^_^ They also sold weekly manga magazines there (those that are the size of a telephone catalogue), and when I saw a picture of Tohru in the cover of Hana to yume, I just had to have that. The newest issue of Fruits Basket! ^_____^ Oh, I had to pay a full 2 euros for it! Now I'm going bankrubt! Ha. There were even Furuba stickers inside. After that I continued window-shopping along the road with my umbrella and the rain had mainly stopped.

When I came to around where the two temples were supposed to be, I never found a way in. There were just a few gates that were closed and a sign that (in my opinion) led nowhere. So I abandoned the idea of visiting them. (Sidenote (Sept 5 at 23.59, haha): Oh my goodness! My first earthquake! O_O Oh dear, this is kinda scary ^_^;; Well, now it seems to have stopped. Wow. That was an experience. The whole building was moving around me... (D'oh.) And with these sliding windows it gives a nice noise as they rattle... Later I heard that there were in fact two eathquakes, the first one at 19 being the bigger, but I totally missed it because I was probably riding my bike then. Damn... Well, back to the story.) I did find an extremely nice little temple on the way, but it didn't seem to belong to either one of the big ones. There was a man sitting at the stairs waiting for the rain (which started again) to stop and I, too, went to sit at the stairs. It was heaven, because at this point my feet were really hurting. The temple felt really comfy and it had a nice little garden, so it was the perfect place to sit down for a while. Oh, Japan is so wonderful because of these little things. After a moment I continued towards the Maruyama park.

Again I found something I must show everyone else if they visit Kyoto. Maruyama park is yet another extremely beautiful place. There are ponds and little paths and garden-like scenery and waterfalls. And there's a restaurant and at least on that day there were different entertainers. A couple of girls were joggling at one opening and at another there was a guy performing. It seems a perfect place to spend an afternoon.

Latino night at Metro and flea market at a shrine

Well, now I must jump ahead so that this entry won't be way too long. I already had to make a subtitle because I still have two days' worth to tell... So. After coming back from the sighseeing tour, my feet all sore and tired, I had a couple of hours to rest before it was time to go to the bar where Heidi had agreed to meet her friend. I tested the dorm showers (absolutely nothing wrong with them, apart from the irritating habit of giving out cold or hot water randomly regardless of what gnob you turn) and found out that the yukata Jani gave me for farewells is an excellent robe to wear on the way to the shower. Then we started our journey to the bar, Metro, with our bikes. On the way Shiori, Heidi's friend, sent her a message that she'll be late, so we stopped at a cafe to have a bite and a drink. when we were sitting there we found out that her "late" was in fact 5 minutes, and our little drink took 35 minutes... So in the end we were the ones to apologize. Heidi told me that the Japanese are very exact about not being late and that some of her friends have been really embarrassed to be 3 minutes late... Kinda strange that what I've heard about the Japanese exchange students in Finland is that they're always at least 15 minutes late. But maybe that's some kind of a local fizz or something...

At Metro there were actually two people waiting, this Mexican-Japanese Shiori and her Mexican friend Rene, who was in Japan for a business trip and leaving the next day or so. The entrance fee was horribly high because there was this very famous band called L'Orchestra de la Lus performing, but regardless of our pockets emptying we had a great time. Salsa isn't really my strong point, and neither is it Heidi's, but dancing is always fun even though you don't know the steps. Rene was a good salsa dancer and we had a couple of spins with him, but we were kinda crappy ^_^ There were a surprisingly many foreigners at the bar, probably attracted by the latino rhythms. We stayed until about 4, but then I started to feel so sleepy that we decided to call it a night.

After we rode back to the dorm we spent a long while sitting and talking on the stones of the dorm entrance. When I and Heidi start to talk, it seems that we never run out of things to talk about. Being an exchange student is an endless source of small talk. We were still talking when we noticed that the sun was getting up and that the market-thingie we were supposed to be going to the next day would actually start in two hours. At that point going to bed was a doomed idea, because one-hour nights are always doomed. So, instead we decided to take a shower and visit the market before we went to bed. And there we went again with our bikes.

The subway was (surprisingly?) very quiet at 7 on a Sunday morning. (By the way, since Japan is not a Christian country, there is no God's friggin' rest day and the stores are open until nine on Sundays too. Yaay! ^_^) The market started at around 6 or 7 but there weren't so many people that early, so we had lots of time and space to shop. On the way to the shrine where the market was held we passed a pile of paper trash that was waiting to be collected, and we spotted a perfectly fine set of 6 manga magazines packet conveniently for carrying. Well, who are we to waste good manga? It was a bit heavy, but I took it along and carried it the whole day until we got back home. And that really was something for a thing I paid nothing for, because our little morning visit became a full day of shopping...

When I first heard about the market from Heidi, I thought it would be just some people from the shrine selling things for the shrine. When we arrived I found out that it was in fact quite a large thing, this market, and looked just like any flea market in Finland. The only thing different were the surroundings and an occasional "glong" from the shrine bell. And there were just wonderful things at this market... Right at the first seller we were encaptivated by the piles of kimonos and obi (kimono belt) they had. Most for only 500 or 300 yen. (That's under 4 euros.) I found a very pretty yellowy-white kimono that I bought. It was a little small, but it was so pretty that I wanted it anyway. It's a little worn out, too, there even a small hole on one of the shoulders. But it's 4 euros, I think I can afford it anyway :P Then we continued on and found a lot of other sellers with just as many piles of kimono and obi, and a lot of other things as well. I was so busy searching an obi for my new kimono that in the end I didn't buy any other kimonos, even though I spent quite a while holding this set of kimono and haori (kimono coat) of the perfect blue hue. It was even of perfect length, but the sleeves were too short and it was a bit expensive (because it was in really good shape), so I decided to be picky and not buy it. (I wish I'll find another one even more perfect later on...) I didn't find a perfect obi for the white kimono either, but I bought a very beautiful silver obi with a blue flower pattern that I fell in love with at first sight. I also bought a red obi set even though I'm not sure if I'll ever wear it just because it was a complete set with that puffy thing you put inside the knot. The market was great for my Japanese skills as well because no-one talked English and there was a good chance to get half off the price if you bargained a little. I got so into it that I got a 1600 yen set of sake cups for 1300 yen and a 5000 yen go stone set for 2500 yen. There was this 50 000 yen set of go stones and a board made out of the real stuff, the expensive stuff, but that was a bit too much for me. I'm not really that much into go, but I was thinking about all my friends in Finland who migh've been that much into it. But the board was in a bad shape, so they can at least get comfort in that :P

When the clock was closing in on 2 we started feeling like we had shopped enough. Heidi was originally planning on going to school at nine, but, well, she didn't. At three she felt like she really had to because the school closes at five in summer, so we started the long way home with our heavy bags. Heidi also bought 3 obis and a haori. When I got to my room I felt really worn out, having not slept the whole night + spent the whole day shopping in the heat + not eating at all since last night. I tried to read some of the papers I got when I arrived but I couldn't focus my eyes so I had to sleep for a while. I also had to go shop for some household items before the store closed, so I set the alarm for a few hours and slept on the floor next to the tatami.

As expected, sleeping for a couple of hours is a doomed idea when you're really tired. Waking up was an experience I hope I won't have to go through again. It was more horrible than I had ever imagined. Maybe I'm getting old or maybe it's the weather, but I've never been so tired in my life. But I fought my way up and took off to the store, because that was just something I really had to do. I went to that 100 yen store I told about earlier and bought some household items again, and then I spent a whole hour or so at the shopping mall checking out clothes, music and other stuff. I fell in love with this 6000 yen hat, but that's a bit expensive for a hat, at least for me. I've tried to find a similar one ever since, but haven't. Then I spent a little more time at the Book-Off store, now that I wasn't in a hurry, and checked out the CD shelf and the anime/manga book corner. (Meaning the books about anime/manga, not the anime/manga itself. That would've been the whole store.) I found that collection of Inu-Yasha openings and endings I will buy, but at that moment I didn't feel like spending 1500 more on a CD after a day of buying things. I'll buy that one later. Then I bought a Fruits Basket Character Book for a little over 500 yen so that I wouldn't have to go our bare-handed. There was a Kenshin book, too, but since it wasn't an art book (even though it had a few really nice pics), I didn't buy it. In the end, there were no real art books, so I had to settle with the character book.

The next day (today)

That trip to the mall took so long that in the end I got to bed after midnight. I would've rather slept longer, since I had to meet Ken-san today at 11 so that we could go get my I-got-in-the-country-and-gonna-be-here-a-while card. I planned to go get and adapter (or actually a plug) on the way so that I could charge my laptop. But when I arrived at the International Office, a bit tired, the plans had already changed. Two more exchange students arrived today, so Ken-san thought it would be easier to take us together and moved the appointment to tomorrow. I just wish he would've said that earlier, I could've planned my day better... So I just went to the Internet to send some e-mail while I was there, and then decided to go get and adapter on my own. My laptop died yesterday in the middle of writing shortly after that earthquake, so it was essential to get that adapter as soon as possible. How else am I going to keep this journal? So I collected my last cash and got to the subway.

When I read the pre-arrival material at home, they said that it's best to get an adapter from here. That's a big fat lie. Yes, it might be cheaper, but it's certainly not easy to find. I spent a total of 6 hours downtown trying to find an adapter. Okay, some of it was shopping for an alarm clock and some for watching the kimono shops, but anyway. I went through 2 malls, then changed to Den Den Town, which is the electric store center of Kyoto (and paid 200 yen extra just to get there by bus -_-). There I went through one more mall and then went to the little stores. The third one finally had the plug that I wanted. *sigh* I can't believe how hard it is to get an adapter here, the promised land of all electrical devices. I guess it's too much "the promised land", because there were only plugs for European to Japanese. Then there were plugs for England and a couple of other places, but never Japanese to European. The only ones I could find belonged to an "everything you migh ever need" set that could've been handy, but cost too much for me. And you know what? That plug I spen hours and killed my feet looking for, that plug has too small holes for my laptop. I can charge my camera with it, but the laptop's plug won't fit into it. -_- In the end I borrowed Heidi's adapter so that I could finish writing this and put this in the Internet tomorrow. I'll just have to spend some more time to find the right kind of a plug later on... Ugh. And now it's really late again, and tomorrow I have to get up to meet Ken again. Tomorrow I'm going to take a day off after that...

There're already two little holes in the screen on my laptop. I don't like it. I wonder how they got there? They were there already when I left Finland.