Shinkansen: Carly and I rode this train to Kyoto. It is really really nice inside. They even have bathrooms and vending machines on this train. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Kyoto from Tokyo.
Bakpak hostel: This hostel was super cool. The website said it was the "hippie hostel" and that pretty much summed it up. The upstairs lounge was cool because it had a nice rooftop lounge. I met a lot of people from a lot of different countries including: America, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, and England.
Karaoke-The first night Carly and I were at our hostel we met these three guys that were pretty cool. Two of them were from Florida and one from Chicago. None of them had tried Japanese karaoke yet, so we walked around and found a place. (Karaoke is very popular and they are everywhere!)
Nintendo-The three guys-Liam, Jason, Brent-and I decided to go see the Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto. Someone had told us that you could go inside and take a tour there, so we thought that would be really fun. We made it to the building, but unfortunately we got wrong information and they actually didn't allow visitors in the building. So that was really sad, but at least I can say I saw the building in Japan. After that we all went out to lunch at a really good curry place.
Sanjusangen-do: This temple has a display of 1001 wooden statues of the Goddess of Mercy. They wouldn't let you take pictures inside the temple though, so I only have some pictures from the outside.
Monkey Mountain: This was one of my most favorite places in Kyoto. You literally hike up this mountain and then at the very top are all these monkeys running around. You can go inside and buy some apples and feed them to the monkeys for only 100 yen (about a dollar). Outside the monkeys run around freely, so you get to be really close to them. There was this really cute mama and baby monkey that I got a lot of pictures of. They were just so adorable!
Kinkakujui Temple (Golden Pavillion): Everyone told me to visit this temple because it was so beautiful, and they were right. You can't go inside this temple, like others, but I got some good pictures of it.
Nijo Castle: This castle was one of the most beautiful places I visited in Kyoto. I got to walk through the castle and then walk outside where there were some really really nice gardens and a little pond.
Budget Inn Kyoto Hostel: For my last night I stayed a more traditional Japanese hostel so I could get that experience as well. I got to try on a kimono and took a few pictures of that. The staff was super friendly and when I checked out on the last day they gave me some chopsticks as a little gift.
You can view all of my Kyoto pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2159791&l=695c6&id=17219988
3 comments:
Jenna, these photos and descriptions are juct great. Its hard to pick which is more moving. It must have been filling to introduce those guys to Japanese karaoke.
I like your kimona get-up. You look like you belong.
I look forward to seeing your other photos at the facebook. Thanks!
Uncle
That pond with the rocks and flower bush nearby was beautiful. You looked equally lovely in the kimono. I'll bet that was fun to try on. The land and trees are so pretty to look at. Great photos.
love, mom
PS Were the monkeys nice?
Mmm, I wouldn't say they were necessarily nice! I wouldn't advise touching them. One of them grabbed some guys pants and like made scary noises when I was there!
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