11/6/2005 土: almost din wake up in time early in the morning until Kajiwara-san came knocking on our doors! had slept v late cos was busy packing up. it was a rainy day. Kajiwara-san drove mi, tsepeng & sookwhai to the bus terminal at Sogo. Goodbye to Hiroshin Kenshuu Center... Goodbye Kajiwara-san... then met josephine at the terminal and we took the highway bus towards Kyoto. Souji-san was also there to send us off. Goodbye Souji-san... Goodbye Hiroshima...
reached Kyoto finally at abt 1pm. mi was feeling rather sick from the 5hr ride. it was still drizzling and we gotta find our way to the guesthouse where we'd be staying for 2 nights. in the end, we decided to split up. josephine & tsepeng took the cab, along with all our luggage, while mi and sookwhai took the bus. it was quite exciting for mi.. gotta find our own way with my filmsy map and broken japanese. still raining and we were drenched. but finally we found the guesthouse, juz as tsepeng and josephine reached. heard tt they hadn't had an easy time either with the super rude and unhelpful taxi-driver.
and erm... was quite shocked? disappointed? when we reached the guesthouse. i knew tt it wasn't going to be a luxurious place considering the price, and never had i expected it to be so... dilapitated & cram & smelly. machiam like those attap houses of the olden times. and our room... super small, yet gotta cram 4 ppl inside. no space to walk at all. our living condition really getting from bad to worse sia. from luxurious HIP to simple Hiroshin dorm and now this shitty guesthouse. haha.. but okie, quite an experience too.
josephine had arranged to meet up with her Japanese friend but i was still feeling sick. so i stayed alone in the room while the 3 of them went out. rested for abt an hr and then decide to go find they all. but i do not know my way! luckily, the guesthouse owner was a very helpful guy. he walked with mi for like 20mins to the destination! *touched!*
anyway, it was Teapot Lane tt we went. lotsa shops along the 2 sides of the street. had fun shopping and sampling the various food. =P the street gradually led up to 清水寺. we din wan to go in initially, wanting to save the admission fee. then josephine's fren paid for us! so nice of them! and inside got really nice scenary! the green green mountain with a hazy feel cos of the rain... how refreshing~
after tt we walked to 祇園. we also walked thru the street where geisha or maiko-san r supposed to frequent. there, saw many guys sitting by the road, waiting for the geisha to make her appearance. unfortunately, we did not get to see any. then we had green tea ice-cream. it was yummy~~
then we walked walked some more and also took neo-prints. was late already and then we walked back to the guesthouse again. (save on bus fare =P) night, we had to take turns to bath in the bathroom located in the opp building. then go common room watched tv and cooked instant ramen with the stove cooker for supper.
back to our squeezy room, we laid our tatamis and bed, ready to sleep. i was sleeping on the upper bunk of the bed. as the lights swicthed off, i tot something magical happened. i found myself sleeping under a sea of stars! the ceiling was actually sticked with lotsa glow-in-the-dark stickers of stars! and according to sookwhai, the arrangement was tt of the big dipper or something. wow~ tt was the only gd thing abt this room! =P i had a gd night's sleep tt nite...
12/6/2005 日: last day to enjoy in Japan. changed, made-up, ate biscuits and took the bus (with our 500yen day pass) to meet josephine's frens at Kyoto Station, where they kept their luggage in the locker. then we headed for another day of sight-seeing together!
first to 天满宫. along the rd inside, got lotsa cow stone statues. we always stopped by, touched the cow's head and then touched our own head. this is supposed to make us cleverer! hee... then we had a super delicious lunch of some tofu-don at the restaurant juz in front. really yummy!! it was a v renowned restaurant there. had to queue quite long b4 we got the seat.
then set off to the most famous temple in Kyoto... 金阁寺 aka the Golden Temple! it was really super beautiful!! the 2nd and 3rd level is made of real gold... sitting in the middle of the lake. wat a picturesque scene! then we also bought some mamori pouch and local foodstuffs there.
after tt, we visited this 2nd-hand bookstore. got lotsa comics, novels, CDs etc inside. it was crowded with many Japanese ppl busy reading away. now i really see how popular manga and anime is. was thinking of buying some books to help improve my Japanese but in the end din find anything i really like.
it was getting late already when we reached the last temple of the day. i forgot the name, but it has a super duper gigantic red tori gate outside! took lotsa pics there. but the temple itself nothing much. it is quite the same as all the rest. selling mamori pouch, well to wash hand, god to worship, board to hang up wishes and place to tie up all the bad lots.
it was time to go back already. we bade farewell to josephine's frens at Kyoto station. really thanks to them for bringing us ard Kyoto for these 2 days. then we had our last nite in the crammy guesthouse... our last nite in Japan...
and so, tt was the end of my Japan (Hiroshima/Kyoto) trip 2005. of cos, we had another exciting episode at Kansai airport the nx day (refer to earlier entries). wat an unforgettable 27 days spent~
how i love Japan~. i wan to go Japan again!
1 comment:
nv use the '27 days in Japan, wo liu xia xu duo qing' ah? hahaha...
but anyway, seen all these photos when i went to your house but due to time constrain u didn't really provide that much details/stories only talk abt where the pics were taken blablabla... now, i think we both seriously need to save up quick! so that we can go japan!!!
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