Well they say be careful what you wish for. And they say it with reason. Just a few posts back I may have mentioned that the weather wasn't at it`s best. There was a few days were we got caught in the middle of torrential downpour, which isn't fun when you are sporting flip flops. However, we hoped for some sunshine and it seemed someone granted our wish. To a literal degree. The last couple of days have been so hot I have considered stripping to nothing just to avoid sweating gallons a second. Although, I realised that unless I wanted to emotionally scar everyone in the near vicinity it would be best to keep my clothes on. Melting temperature aside we still carried on with pretty incredible events.
Since my last post we have left Nara and came to Kyoto. The last couple of days of Nara proved to be just as enjoyable as the first couple. Nara's laid back atmosphere definitely had an effect on us and so we had a few lazy days, lounging around in Japanese gardens and chilling with the deer. We saw a few more shrines and played a bit more Mario Kart. Nara provided the down time that we needed to re-energise for the rest of the trip.
We have now been in Kyoto for two nights and have five more to go. The first day was pretty amazing, after waving goodbye to our stupidly heavy bags at the hostel we walked down to Gion, the main Geisha district. Although we did not see any Geisha we still had an amazing time. The Nishiki market was our first destination as we walked past hundreds of stalls selling things from mint tea ice-cream to baby octopus kebabs. This was the first fresh food market we had visited in Japan, and it was amazing just how many stalls they pack into such a small space.
Today we headed to The International Manga Museum. It was incredible. They literally have lined the walls with thousands of different kinds of Manga. What I thought I knew about Manga was put to the test, and the museum simply highlighted how arrogant and stupid I was to believe I knew a lot about Manga. Turns out I know nothing.. A fun attraction to the museum was the 'make your own manga` corner. It's simply a computer with a page layout similar to that of a blank manga page, and you drag characters and background's onto the page and add your own text and emotions. Well I have discovered that Hayley is a Manga artist in the making. Her manga waｓ not only hilarious, but also full of heart. It made my cheap "females smell" manga look like dirt. I applauded her efforts and then cried in the men's toilets where she couldn't hear me.
After we headed to the Imperial Palace. This palace was used when Kyoto was the capital but, when Tokyo became the new capital the Imperial family moved over there, leaving the Kyoto Imperial Palace abandoned. If it is abandoned then why the hell can't anyone go in! We walked all that way to see a frickin' 8 foot high wall and that was it. Great, Brilliant. If you are going to make the palace one of the main attractions at least allow people to see it, Just saying.
Here's hoping the next place we head to in Kyoto is open.
The Adventure Continues.
Arigatou, Sayounara
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