Kyoto

Sitting under one these while drinking maccha @ Ginkakuji

The other day me and Olivia had another day off so we watched a lot of YouTube videos. It reminded me of a lot of music I used to listen like Greenday, System of a Down, The Cure, Nirvana and even HIM. OMG such a long time ago since I listened to those bands and I still think they are/were good. Like recently I’ve become a fan of HIM again and I wonder why I actually stopped listening to them while they’re pretty good. Ville was sooo hot but changed a lot unfortunately :(

Oh right, I was going to post about my 2 day trip to Kyoto　from the 29th until the 31st of October :D
It was just soooo amazingly awesome!!! Wish I could live there :(

Well we didn’t start at Kyoto actually. On Friday October 29 we went to Takamatsu in Kagawa Prefecture which is about 1-2 hours by car from here. I’ve actually been to Kagawa-ken before, one time, when I visited Konpirasan. And I just realized I actually never blogged about it because I was too effing lazy, yay. But while I’ll prepare that blogpost about Konpirasan you can check out the photos in my gallery (finally uploaded them) :)

I’m going off-topic again. One of the reasons why I’m always too lazy to make a new blog post is because it takes ages for me to finish my story.

So, Takamatsu. Hostdad wanted to go to this AppBank (a Japanese Apple application review site) event there and brought the family along. ‘t Was interesting to see what kind of people came. Like really cute girls, salary men, otaku (nerds,maniacs) and really fashionable people who seem like the type to use Apple for designing and stuff.
Of course everyone took out their iPhone or iPad or both. It was located in a restaurant and it was actually kind of a meeting with a some talks and jankenpon (stone,, paper, scissors).
Stayed at a nearby hotel that night. Because there weren’t 4-person rooms or anything in that direction I had my own hotel room, all alone by myself. Which was actually pretty nice and interesting and I felt really independent and grown up you know ;P Oh and I watched Harry Potter on the tv that night. Seen that one (the first one) too many times.

And the next day we headed to KYOTO!! YES. Was about a 4 hour drive from Kagawa-ken.
When we arrived we ate a tofu restaurant which was really yummy yummy. Would love to eat that again. Also the sister of my hostmom lives in Osaka so she and her 2 sons also came by to ate lunch with us (even though Osaka is still an hour away from Kyoto). Had a nice lunch and then went to a place where you can dress up as a geisha, or actually I did! Hostparents told me about it but I thought they weren’t serious about it, so I was reaaally excited!! Always wanted to dress up as one :D
Make-dress-up took about 1 hour. It was really funny when the girl who did my make-up put on the white paint on my face, neck and back with this brush that makes funny (and interesting) sounds because the brush was really wet and cold. When I looked up in the mirror I couldn’t help laughing at my white face XD

With my hostmom's sister, her 2 kids and my little hostbrother.

Also put on a wig, which was maybe a heavy as my head or something, then the kimono (heavy too, lot of layers) and hair decoration. When everything was done I took pictures (like professional ones) and even more pictures with my hostfamily who came later to pick me up and that’s it.
I actually posted the photos on my FB ;)
And then they took my kimono and wig off but I had to clean the make-up by myself which was horrible work D: And my skin got all dry and stuff. I guess putting up strong make-up and then working your ass off to get it off does mess up your skin.  Nonetheless, I  absolutely enjoyed it :D Also realized how hard it must be only to wear these clothes and make-up for real maiko-san and geisha.

And after that hostmom and me dashed to Kiyomizudera temple which was kind of nearby. We hadn’t much time so we had to hurry there. Just the fact that I was walking in Kyoto’s very busy and steep streets (with A LOT of foreigners) made me really excited. Everything was so… Kyoto-ish :D

So we arrived at Kiyomizudera. Even only the main gate was huge and amazing. The temple itself was just EXACTLY as in the pictures. It was so cool that I could see such a famous place like Kiyomizudera. To me it was like the Eiffel Tower in France, the Pyramids of Gizeh or the Great Wall of China.

At the famous Kiyomizudera temple!!

Of course I also took my own picture of that famous spot. I just HAD to.
There was also a kind of waterfall called Otawa no Taki where a lot of people stood in line to drink some water of it because it is said that it’s good for your health, studies and a long life.

Otawa no Taki

A few hours later we took a night bus tour to several temples and old houses. It was really beautiful to see the temples and their gardens lightened up at night. Especially one temple (of which I unfortunately forgot the name) that had a huge pond. At first when I looked at it I thought it was hole in the ground with trees coming out of it because it was so dark. But when I looked closer I realized it was actually the trees surrounding the pond that were reflected upside-down on the water. It was sooooooo beautiful.

Trees reflected on the water

Other places we visited also had sand gardens and lightened up bamboo forests. The atmosphere at night was so different and felt even more serene and calm than normal.
The tour was short but saw a lot of amazing sceneries :D

Lightened up bamboo forest

After that we went to our hotel where I had my own room again which was really fancy. I watched Die Hard 4 that night.

The next day we visited the Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji (The Silver and Golden Pavillion, although the first one isn’t silver at all) and their gardens which were sooooo beautiful. Drank maccha (green tea) at Ginkakuji, so nice. I love maccha.

Ginkakuji (Silver Pavillion) and it's sand garden

Kinkakuji was really bright as in the pictures and it was crowded as hell. I also rang a bell and offered my prayers, received a free postcard (I had to pay for ringing though).

At Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) with hostmom and hostbrother.

And that was kind of the end of my Kyoto adventure. Ate Kyoto ramen and then headed home, 5 hour car drive.
Also went to Tottori with a friend and her family a week ago and saw a lot of Gegege no Kitaro :D
But I’ll write about that in another post ;)

And now I’m FINALLY going to sleep.
お休み☆