Kyoto cont`d
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2008
1
49
93
Trip End
Jan 31, 2009
Kyoto,
Kinki,
Japan
Thursday, December 11, 2008
went into the random walk bookstore close to the end of the market. couldn`t find the south Korea guide book that i was looking for. although they had a wide range of lonely planets, they were mostly outdated editions.
walked all the way to the nijo castle. from random walk, it took about 45 minutes. i had never seen a shogun castle before. it`s plan was similar to that of the imperial palace in Tokyo: tall walls surrounding beautiful gardens and residential/governmental buildings. nijo-jo was built in the 17th century to house the first Tokugawa shogun (military ruler). the more impressive one of the 2 palaces inside the castle, ninomura palace looked like a Buddhist temple from the outside
My Ryokan
. a well-balanced mix of wood, metal and rice paper. the inside was full of large rooms that had exquisite wall paintings of holy birds, straw carpets and sliding panels. most of the rooms felt like a much bigger version of my room at the ryokan. one of the many ways in which the interior differed from the ryokan`s was the nightingale floors. even though the planks were completely stable, they made a squeaky noise and they were sensitive to the faintest footstep. the nightingale floor functioned as an alarm system that caught approaching assassins. having gotten used to the ottoman palaces where each room has a specific function, i was surprised to learn that the shogun slept, lounged and worked in the same room.took a cab to kinkaku-ji, a 14th century Buddhist temple that initially was the peaceful home of a retired shogun. each floor of the 3-storied temple has been built in a different style and the 2 upper floors have been covered by gold. this glittering building was situated right by the pond.
moved on to ryoan-ji. a zen Buddhist temple right next door. this temple was significantly different from the ones that i had seen. its roof and arches were more circular. in addition, there were rows of dark wood forming stripes on the white facade. however, the biggest difference did not occur to me until i went inside
Shinkansen Superexpress
. the ornamentations and statues were very limited. instead, there was a garden of 15 stones surrounded by white pebbles. the wall behind these stones were quite low. so, you could see the gorgeous garden behind. it was very difficult to not drift into thought. perhaps a zen Buddhist is analogues to a protestant Christian. i am saying this only because both groups base their theologies on relative simplicity. of course, more research is necessary to claim that my statement is more than a hypothesis.decided to try my luck with the intricate bus system. i tried to speak English with a lad waiting at the bus stop. failed miserably. so i took out my map and pointed at where i wanted to go. she told me to follow her into a bus, with her hands of course. the lady told me the name of the stop that i had to get off at. after sitting on the bus for a couple minutes, she left. when the name of my stop was announced with a heavy accent, i jumped off too. that`s it. you really don`t need to speak a foreign language to get by in this world.
i was surprised to see that people paid as they exited the bus. in turkey or elsewhere in the middle east, they collect the money beforehand, fearing that many people may use the service and not pay. that is far from the mentality prevalent here.
i broke my promise of not eating anymore American fastfood and found myself munching on a double cheeseburger at McDonald's. what can i do? it`s difficult to feel satisfied on light Japanese food. plus, it`s too fish-heavy for my taste.
by the way, ever since i came to japan, i have been writing most of my entries from starbucks.
i have never felt so safe, even in Istanbul. it seems like crime is almost non-existent here. i can walk anywhere, any time. i would feel the need to be more cautious about those 2 parameters in Istanbul. think about the side streets of beyoglu...
japan seems to have a significant homeless population. i have seen many people sleeping in boxes on pavements and inside Kyoto station. the police doesn't bother them and they don`t bother the public. i haven`t come across a single beggar.
