肩 が いたい です ね

ahh what a day. i left nara nice and early thismorning, after another lovely breakfast. thismorning i met a guy who works for a small company here in japan that makes guitars, about 180 a year, so he says. he was very excited to hear my father made guitars aswell, especially with only one other person.

so, after that i jumped the train and came to kyoto, and got to my beautiful newhostel very easily. im constantly amazed at the efficiency of this country. therail pass i bought is working out really well too, its not a JR which i thoughtwould be a problem but its great!!
since i couldnt check in until after 3 i left my bag at the hostel and went for a stroll to the closest temple: kiyomizu-dera. this place was CROWDED!! and i finally saw a larger number of gaijin - foreigners - like myself, not necessarily a good thing, just a strange thing after days of fighting the local tourist hoards.

i get the feeling i was spoilt by hasedera since this temple was very similar. thecrowds made it a little less impressive, but again it was a beautiful complex with little pagodas tucked away under bare sakura forests - it would be amazing in spring when they bloom - and a large wooden temple with a huge balcony jutting out over the hills.












































































































again, crowds of souvenier sellers as well. i would buy you all a charm for yourrespective talents but, your all skilled enough, and we all know how i dont give into that kind of tosh.

















so after that i pocketed my map and decided to just stroll, my stomach would guideme, i was ravenously hungry. it wasnt satisfied for a while though, since i ran accrossthe kyoto museum and then another temple - sanjusangen-do. the second temple was getting a bit old, i mean theyre all beautiful and im sure if i had come here first i wouldbe writing something different. however, the magic is gone from them, not to get allmystic on you. theyre just tourist traps now...not very interesting

there was a few things. a few rocks that supposidly if you walked between with your eyesclosed you would be assured love...but there were so many people there today that all willbe spinsters i fear! haha






























i met a girl in the hostel when i returned, and drank tea with her while she nervouslyawaited the return of her boyfriend - why doesnt anyone travel alone here - anyway, she came here a year ago for a few months and studied buddhism and got taken around to a heapof temples, the one i was most interested in is koya-san. she highly recommends it and toldme some more of its history, but told me she was a little skeptical about going upthere right now since its SNOWING!! that wont stop me i tell you! if its possible itmakes me want to go up there more, i saw a picture of hasedera in the snow today, its amazing!!

so, she met back with her boyfriend and i went out for soba then a nighttime stroll aroundfushimi-inari, which was a great choice. sorry my photos didnt turn out well, my camera didnt want to focus and i didnt want to use the flash. but it was magic! there was hardlyanyone there, and the sun was just setting as i got there, so a little light slipped throughthe dark forest surrounding me and the gates. i will read more, but it seems this shrine is devoted to kitsune, my favourite of the japanese anamistic spirits, the spirit of the fox.
its especially associated with women, and there are many stories of kitsune tranforming intowomen and marrying human men, or being mischievious amongst the mortals in their femaleforms....lol

anyway, so i wandered around there for an hour or so enjoying the time alone in one of the most famous sights in kyoto. then, i took the subway back to the area my hostel is in, but took a detour for a stroll along the streets of ancient gion - the pleasure district of old kyoto and the place where all the geisha live. it has some amazing restaurants, and i peeredinto windows with japanese families eating dinner, their daughters dressed in kimono, theirhair all drawn back and adorned with glinting ornaments. i poked my head into cool little japanese bars, with jazz music playing, or sinatra, or pictures of the sex pistols on thewalls.

i then ended up in the big shopping precinct here in kyoto...WOW! now i know why all the japanese girls are so fashionable! they know how to shop!!! too much asahi in my now to document all the details of this, ill be back down there tommorrow to absorb it some more!!
this hostel is great though! so friendly. im sitting now in the lounge area, and theres a spanish guy here with his japanese girlfriend getting quized on his japanese and kanji bythe staff and an older couple..very cute. its just so cosy, and close to everything, and the beers cheap. though come on, i need everyone who i drink with here now to gawk at beervending machines that have asahi super cans for 300yen...like three dollars kids! i dont know why im not drunk in the gutter every day!! but it is very warm here, and theyre playing tom waits...and theres about three different languages being spoken, none of which are english! yay..but back to the title of this blog, kata ga itai desu ne! thats right, my shoulders are sore! and theres a shower here so i shall go now and do that...