Yesterday I found out our guide was taking us to Harajuku before we left Tokyo, which was an area I had already been too. So had several others... apparently lots of us flew in a day or 2 early. So the four Canadians on the tour banded together and headed for Asakusa to see Sensoji Temple. If you are coming here, that's gotta go on your must see list. The temple exterior was covered up for reconstruction, but the 5 story pagoda and the market streets were the highligh of Tokyo for me. There were several groups of Japanese in short Kimonos (and I do mean short) carrying shrines down the narrow streets, about 20 people to a shrine, hopping up and down and chanting 'Asakusa, Asakusa'. I got some good footage that I'd love to post but haven't been able to get my phone online yet, but I'll get it up when I can. At any rate, that was the moment I really felt like I was in Japan!
We hopped on board the bullet train in the afternoon and heading for Hakone (pronounced with 3 syllables, and yes, it's a place, not a substance :) From what I can tell, it's like a Banff for Tokyo. This may have been the single best night in all my travels thus far!
- we stayed in a Royukan, a traditional Japanese guest house. Everything is screen doors, floors are mats and you aren't allowed to wear shoes on, tables are nay high off the floor so you sit cross-legged on a little pillow. My bunk-mate Lee and I were blown away at the size of our rooms: a sleeping area, a large central room complete with table and cushions for tea, a sun room, bathroom, etc. Might have even been romantic if we hadn't just met... and we both weren't dudes. :)
- after exploring the area a bit we found out there was a monkey on the roof so we went up to take pictures, then realized there were 2 more up there. I guess that's the Japanese equivalent to spotting elk in Banff townsite, except these guys make eye contact and come right up to the window. One of them was less than 10 feet away and staring at us, I thought he might even try to jump in before he jumped in the trees right beside us instead. VERY cool!
- the experience just got better at dinner. We were provided with Kimonos in our room so we kimono'd up and grabbed a spot on the floor for dinner. Each person in our group got their own setting which was something like 10 plates, including one that had a candle under it cooking some pork and vegetables. My personal favorite was the sushi... a few slabs of some kind of white fish on top of an entire whole fish that had its belly meat sliced up and deboned, ready to be plucked and eaten raw, skin and all, with head still attached looking at you. It was hands down the best sushi I have ever had in my life. More and more plates of unidentified food kept coming out until I was beyond stuffed. I've lost count of how many things I've eaten without knowing what it was, but there were several times last night I leaned back, closed my eyes and moaned as I savored it. Absolutely delicious! I was quite surprised to find out I was the most adventerous eater at our table... strange considering how picky an eater I was just a few years ago... I may not be able to stick to my plan of not gaining any weight on this trip.
- the ryukan also had it's own onsen... basically a Japanese natural hotspring. Separate ones for the guys and gals, because apparently here you nude-up, scrub down, and get in. Well... when in Rome... interesting way to get to know your new travelmates!
In short, it was an incredible night!
This morning we headed for a train and boat trip around Hakone to get views on Mt. Fuji. It's renowned for being covered in cloud a lot, and our guide said on 7 trips she's done this far, she's only seen it once. Well, we must have gotten lucky because we got some tremendous views of it. I wasn't expecting much because (a) every description said not to get your hopes up and (b) it's just a mountain right? The first spotting had me eating my words... I was quite taken back by the sight. Even when I get pictures up it won't do it justice, nor did any other pictures I've ever seen of it. Massive and Majestic is probably the best description I can manage. A definite highlight, and one sight that I'm sure will remain with me for years.
After a comical bus trip back to the train station... check that, some people rode the bus, myself and some of the other guys walked it because we couldn't all fit on... we caught the bullet train to Kyoto. Not much to report here yet but we did go out to a Japanese pub for dinner and ate more delicious and strange foods. I never would have thought of grilling avacado but that was... I gotta stop saying delicious, but that's what it was. Not the popcorn chicken tendons, or whatever that was. I'll leave that and the gizzards alone from now on, although I was one of the few who got it down. This has been easily the best Japanese food I've eaten... even the miso soup at breakfast was the best I'd ever had... although maybe the experience is just biasing my tastebuds.
More from Kyoto later... this is the old Imperial City so I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Sianara!
No comments:
Post a Comment