So much to say about today! There are such cool things to see in kyoto, especially around this time of year. I'm so glad I organised a bike tour for the first of the day, because not only was the guide the cutest woman ever and made me smile on the inside, but I wouldn't have found half the things she zipped through in those few hours or known anything about what I was looking at. She took us through some of the gion (geisha) areas, as kyoto is the birthplace of gion, and I learnt about the gion culture. The little alley ways their houses are in are super cute and well maintained, exuding such style and grace without even seeing the geishas themselves. I kept thinking I was seeing geishas walking around, alas it was just people who had rented kimonos, a common thing to do for everyone from western tourists to wedding couples and young girls having a day out. These ones were probably only about $100 to rent a day, I learnt, but the proper wedding ones (you wear 2 for wedding and reception) are about USD5000 to rent for the day!
It was simply beautiful riding along the canals under gently falling cherry blossom leaves, Japan's springtime snow! My guide "Kitty" hummed Japanese tunes as she rode along, taking us also to some of the major shrines, temples and parks to take in the culture of Japan's onetime capital city. But one thing's for sure, kyoto does not like rubbish. In fact, if you have rubbish you take that shit away with you. Not one bin in sight! But if you do happen upon a bin, you then have to navigate the 7 different types of recycling they sort it into. If you happen to put this rubbish out on the wrong day for pickup, you get an angry note stuck on the outside. Tuesday is bottles and cans, fool!
The couples I mentioned before flock to this city at this time of year to create their wedding albums, and as a tourist it's almost as good a spectacle to see all the different cultures get jazzed up for the occasion. There are also ravens everywhere. Which kinda weirds me out, but then I have to remind myself I'm no longer in the Suicide Forest and they are ravens, not vultures. I ate green tea icecream. It was yummy.
When the tour finished, Kitty asked for my autograph, convinced when I said I was a singer that I was famous. Said she was "honoured" to meet me. Bless. I then had half a day to myself in Kyoto and headed to the monkey forest, because I had so much fun in the one in Ubud, Bali. I jumped on the JR line to Arishayama and walked through beautiful World Heritage gardens and temples, then trekked high into the hills to see these monkeys. They were the snow monkey kind but not the touchy feely kind. They didn't jump on you like the ones in Bali, in fact if they went towards you it'd probably be a good idea to move along. But I got some good pictures and clucked over the babies sufficiently to have my fill for the year of the monkey.
But my day was not over yet. I still had dinner to attend to! I walked the streets near the main station, unsure of where to eat and hoping to happen upon some special place. When I'd finally decided on one, I was told the table would be ready in 1.5 hours but my stomach waits for no restaurant (except kagaya), so I kept wandering. I saw a place with an open door shielded with hanging Japanese banners and a bunch of flowers outside. At first I thought it was a florist, but it turned out to be a tiny restaurant that seated half a dozen people. I walked in, it was empty and the chef spoke little English. All I could understand on the menu was the price, which seemed a little high. Turns out it was kaiseki, the Japanese version of a degustation menu, and the flowers were congratulating the owner on opening just 12 days earlier. I thought YOLO and sat down. It was amazing. Here is what I was served (excuse the massacre of language)...
Yomogi - mint, boiled squid, tomato, miso
Oan? - bamboo shoot soup
Sashimi - eel tail, sea bream, prawn, duck, kimpira?, trout, egg, pumpkin, spinach, cream miso
Miso soup, mackerel, rice, Saba sushi
Hotoki - Japanese tea
Then I tucked into some Japanese wine (first time I tried it, amazing!) and sake. By this stage 3 more people had showed up, but they were the owner/chef's mother, brother and sister in law. It was his mum's birthday so I shouted her some sake, she shouted me some, we had a language barrier laugh and took some happy snaps. It was honestly the most genuine, lovely moment to be a part of. Eventually I stumbled out to the train, got some takeaways for my hosts back in the countryside, drank one on the train and luckily scored a lift back from the hosts who had just been at the station collecting some Singaporean guests. We had a laugh together back at the guest house, they got me to sing for them, we swapped stories... Etc etc. A lovely bunch of people!
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