Welcome to "HELL"; Beppu hot spring hell's!

Today it was time to kiss sweet Nagasaki goodbye as I will next venture on to Beppu.
We ate breakfast together with my host and then got a ride to the station by her mom. I bought my ticket and said my goodbyes and thus I was of towards Beppu.

making some rearrangements 

Soon after arriving in Beppu station I left my luggage to the coin lockers, got myself a map of the city, bought a 2 day bus ticket and I was of to see the famous Hot spring Hell's of Beppu.

The weather was very humid and spoke of the sea nearby. The bus was cool and refreshing and I really enjoyed the ride to the hot springs.

I got of and walked to the first one that was called Mizujigoku.

There are altogether 8 hot spring hell's in Beppu and you can by a ticket that is valid to all 8, this is what I did. 

The pictures will do more justice than my words so I'll put them here below in the order as I visited them 

Umi-jigoku 

From a different angle

Iniishibozu-Jigoku

They had multiple springs in this one 

Yama-jigoku

Yama-jigoku had also a few animals like hippos, monkeys, llamas etc.

At Kamado-jigoku

Kamado -jigoku 

The famous crocodiles of Oniyama-Jigoku

Shiraike-jigoku

Chinoike-Jigoku

It took me a couple of hours to clear them but since they close at 17:00 I didn't have time to see the last one.

I returned with the bus to the Beppu station where I ate and since my meeting time with my host for today was around 12p.m. I still had a lot of time to use.  So I went for a walk around the small downtown area and lastly went to spend 3 hours at the Internet cafe. Love those, really love those!

After that I still had some time so I sat and read at the station my book of collected novels by H.P.Lovecraft. He is one of my favorite authors. 

I met up with my host and we went to his apartment. Tomorrow I will go to a hostel in Beppu since I had already booked it for tomorrow prior to my arrangements with my host. 

Cheers! 

Touring Nagasaki with my host and eating delicious Champon

Today was yet again a successful day I think. I am a bit thrown out of loop by the absence of internet at the house since
I can't post these blogs and specially my daily videos when I want to.

I woke up at around 10 today and felt a bit tired as usual since I usually don't go to bed early.
We skipped breakfast since we were going to eat at Hiromis University where we were going to go from the house since she had
to make a test at around 1 p.m. and it would only take an hour and we had made a plan to go and tour the city a bit together today.
We took a couple of buses and trams and arrived at her university around 11.45 or so and went to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

It reminded me a lot of last months visit to Nagoya University and remembered the cafeteria there. There I ate some curry
and this time I ate some curry soba. Just a funny coincidence I think.

After finishing eating Hiromi took me to the library where I could use the computer for the hour she would be gone.
I wished her good luck as she left and I started searching for new places to stay for next months travels.
I still have a lot of places I am going to visit but I don't have any accommodation there yet.

I didn't find much but as Hiromi came back she helped me to book one hostel in Yakushima island where I was planning on going on the
3rd of August. It is a very famous island and is included as a UNESCO heritage site.

Meganebashi 

We then went to take the bus and tram towards Meganebashi or Spectacles bridge which I wanted to go and see it.
It is basically just a normal bridge built in a European-ish style. We walked along the canal and I found it very relaxing and
peaceful. It is a great place for a walk and I bet it is beautiful in the mornings and evenings.

From there we continued on to a shopping arcade just to look around since we didn't have much planed. But I had fun since I was not alone.
We went to the Don Quijote store there and browsed around.

Sofukuji

After finishing our little tour there we walked to the Sofukuji temple. It is known for it's picturesque red entrance.

The surrounding area is called Teramachi which literately means temple town. We didn't tour around it but
went straight towards the china town area where I visited yesterday.
It was already getting late and we were hungry and I wanted to taste the famous "champon" thatI had heard so much about. It is basically a ramen like dish but made with different type of noodles and it has cabbage and various other things added to the broth that you would not find in traditional or Japanese style ramen. It is said that a student in Nagasaki came up with the dish in order to serve it to a Chinese student who was studying abroad in Nagasaki at that time.
He wanted to make it look like a Chinese dish but used the ingredients that he had at hand at that moment. It became very popular afterwards in Nagasaki as a "Chinese" dish.

Champon (left)

So I had some of that and it tasted GREAT! It was very delicious and filling.
After finishing eating we went to the Starbucks nearby to just sit and relax for a while before Hiromi had to go to work.
I in my turn went to the internet cafe to spend my time there waiting on her to finish her shift. I checked out some accommodation options and places to stay but found only a couple that and booked them. Still have a lot "empty" spaces in my calender before I leave Japan.

I sat there for 3.5 hours and the time flew by. I like the internet cafes since they are generally very cozy and they have a soft drink bar from where you can drink as much as you like. There is usually sodas, energy drinks, coffee, tea etc.

When my time was up I went outside to wait for Hiromi and she came pretty soon and we then left together to take the tram and taxi back home.
Tomorrow it is time for Beppu which is known for it's hot-springs.

Cheers
Robert

Backlog; Nagasaki cooking finish food!

So today I woke up at around 10 and ate my breakfast in peace with my host before we left the house towards the bus station.
There we took the bus to Nagasaki station and there we changed to the streetcar. I got of before her to go to the Nagasaki
atom bomb museum. She continued with the streetcar to her school.

I walked up the steep hill and entered the museum. It was such a great feeling to get out from the hot and humid weather
to the air conditioned museum.

The museum building was very modern and it was very interesting. The one in Hiroshima was great but I think that since
it was my first time visiting Nagasakis museum it seemed a bit more "fresh" and new. But which one is better I can't really say
but I'd probably go with the museum in Hiroshima. But the one here was really modern and great in my opinion.

So I walked around and read a lot while at the museum until I left to walk and see the hypo-center of the bomb and after that
the peace park.

I first arrived at the Hypo-center and found the remaining arch of the Catholic church that was left there as a reminder.
The church had only been in use for a few years until it turned into rubble in the horrible bombing. What was left now was only
the arch.

The statue of peace

I continued on to the peace park to see the famous statue of peace there. It was a bit funny to find escalators leading up
to the park. It was not that high up but well, you know Japan, they make everything so convenient.

I walked around a bit and snooped through the smaller statues before going to the big one. And a big one it was, I mean it was
a huge statue of what I assume was copper since it was had a greenish blue color.
It started to drizzle a bit outside, it had rained bucketfuls this morning and I had not brought my umbrella with me so I was a bit worried.
luckily it did not start to rain hard, the drizzle stopped after a while.

I returned to the Nagasaki station to get something to eat before I continued my days touring of this magnificent city.

At the china town

After fueling up I took the streetcar to the stop near Nagasakis China town. I wanted to see what kind of place it was.
Nagasaki was a famous trade city back in the times. It was not as big as I thought but it didn't really intrest me that much since
the real reason why I had come was so that I could walk to the "Duch slope" that they had there. It was a quarter where the
Duch traders had made their little "settlement" and had build their houses in the traditional dutch style.
It is also told that since there were these many of these kinds of quarters the local police had no business there but that they
were completely left to the residents to "rule"

I walked and awed at the beauty of these houses and the strangeness that there were something like that here. I know that they

Ouran catholic church

are rebuilt but still the detail is magnificent.

I walked around a lot and started to head towards the Ouran catholic church which was a little walk away from the slope.
On my way there I passed the Confucian shrine/museum but I had decided that I had no time to enter it today so I just continued to walk towards the church.
The church was quite small in size but it was pretty and very typical old church.
I went inside and sat down for a while to listen to the audio tape that was playing telling the history of the place.
It was a real church open for public if I understood it correctly but it is still kind of a tourist attraction.
It was really beautiful so I am glad that I visited and it felt refreshing after all the temples and shrines.

I left after a while since I was afraid that I would get late for my agreed meeting with my host at 4 p.m. at Nagasaki station.
I came in time and we met up at the cafe there from we then walked to the supermarket to by some groceries for tonight's dinner.
I had promised to make some Finish food. We were going to be 7 people so I was a bit nervous at how the food would turn out.

We took the bus to the house of my hosts grandparents that I had met yesterday and we started preparing the food.
They helped me out with peeling the potatoes and rolling the meatballs but the rest was done by me.
So I made us some Meatballs and mashed potatoes, Finnish style. I also prepared a dessert for us with the help of Hiromi and her little sister.
We made some chocolate-oatmeal balls.

Hiromis dad had brought some dumplings as well so we also had those, salad, octopus, rice etc that we could taste.
In short it had turned out to be a feast! And delicious it was and everybody enjoyed the food and company and these are truly the moments
I seek for and cherish with all of my heart!

After the mains we ate the desserts and chatted and played guitar and so on and so on.
Today had been great. We then returned to the other house where I was staying and there I took a shower before going to sleep.
Tomorrow I will go around town first alone and then meet up with my host and then we will go together around town.

Cheers!
Robert

PS. Sorry for the late postings of videos and blogs. There is no internet at the house where I am staying at.

From Tokyo to Nagasaki, the train riders blog.

Today was kind of a short and uninteresting day.
Got up easily at 8-9 to get some breakfast and then I continued to sleep still for one hour.
So I found out today that my phone is dead apparently and wont load but it is not necessarily broken but I can't use it at all!
But I am not really so stressed over it, yet. I will take it to the repair shop in Finland once I get back.

I said my goodbyes to Ako and her family and was of to the Tokyo station to where I arrived late for my train that I had intended to board.
It was not a big deal since I had not bought the tickets yet and I had the JR pass.
So they gave me a new route and I booked seats on two trains.
From there I went to buy myself some bento for the train ride and something to drink.
The first train was from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. From Shin-Osaka I took another train to Hakata where I was to make my last change.
I missed it of course and asked them when the next would depart and it was departing at 7 p.m. so I had to wait for an hour at the station.
So I bought myself something to eat and after eating decided to go and find out if they had a WiFi spot anywhere so that I could
email my host in Nagasaki that I was going to be late.
It turned out to be hard but I got a lot of help from the attendants of the station. I was so relieved since I had not received my hosts
number and my phone was broken so she could not call me either.

I thanked the station attendants and left to the platform to wait for my train.
It soon came and I was of towards Nagasaki.

So a lot of trouble and bad luck had befallen me already and just as to mock me and mess around with me some more,
life threw yet another obstacle in my way.

Now that I was at the Nagasaki station I did not see my host anywhere and I got nervous. I tried to ask for a WiFi spot but
there was no WiFi spot nearby. So I tried to go to the other side of the street to go and ask from there if they knew any place.
By this time I was already so nervous that I was thinking of options from which I could choose what to do. A hotel, Internet cafe... Etc.

Yet I decided to return to the station and it was such a relief when I saw Hiromi, my host there. She had came a bit late and of course since we have
no way to communicate to each other without the Internet, she couldn't really that message to me.

So it all ended happily, luckily for me.

I met her parents and grandparents and we talked a lot and I felt very much at home!
Tomorrow it is time for Sightseeing and I promised to make some food for them all so we'll see how that goes.
For today there is no video since nothing really happened.

cheers!
Robert

Backlog, Tokyo and the Sumida river firework display

Today I woke up early in order to get to Tokyo in time.
I said my goodbyes to my host at the Momoyama minamiguchi station from where I took the train towards Kyoto station.

There I quickly bought my ticket to the Hikari Shinkansen super express train and I was soon of towards Tokyo.
I was to meet Ako at the Nippori station at 1 p.m. and from there we were going to go and eat something together and after
that to see around the town again.

She waited for me at the stations north gate and I left my stuff to the coin locker there since I was going to take them
with me once we would return in the evening from the fireworks.
I had been invited to see the fireworks from her cousins house's rooftop in the evening.

So after locking the locker we took the JR Yamanote line to shinjiku (if my memory serves me right) and went to get something to eat there.
There seemed to be something going on outside the station. Later on we found out that it was a Belgian beer "festival" going on.
The smell that came from the food stalls was amazingly tempting. So we hurried to get something to eat.

At the tokyo dome city

We decided to go to Katsuya, a restaurant that specializes on cutlets. I ordered a set meal with rice, miso, roast cutlet and cabbage salad.
It was so good and filled me right up! I love these types of food that are so convenient, cheep and so, so delicious!

From there on we took the train to Tokyo dome, I had read that there was a moomin cafe/bakery there and had seen pictures
of it on the internet. I wanted to go there only to by "finish" bread, namely Rye bread. I miss it so much now that I am here
in Japan, cause here they don't have any other type of bread than white bread made of wheat. Boring!

So I bought myself a half a loaf of rye bread and combed through the shop before leaving towards Asakusa. The Sumida River flows near Asakusa and
it is this river where the famous firework display is held each year.

Of we went and when we had arrived to Asakusa I wanted to change my clothes so bad! It was so hot and my clothes did not really
breathe at all so they were getting very wet. I went to the Uniqlo store and bought myself a pair of shorts/pants and a polo
shirt.
I put them on in the store and put the my other pants to my bag and threw away the shirt I had had on before.
It wasn't an important shirt so it didn't really mean enough for me to keep it.

We then met up with Akos friend before starting to walk to the apartment building where we were going to watch the fireworks.
People were totally in to the mood outside. People in kimonos were walking down the street, food stalls were here and there, roads were being closed of.
It was a amazing sight to witness. We bought some beers at the liquor store and continued all the way to the house.

After the introductions and the usual polite greetings we climbed up to the roof and sat down. They had brought food with them up there
so it was a true feast!
The fireworks started at 19.30. It was totally breath taking and these kind of opportunities don't come often.

But then the weather took a turn for the worst, it started to rain after an hour had passed. The fireworks were supposed to last longer but they were cancelled
on the count of the rain.
So we went inside and drank at the apartment.

Later we left there to go to Nippori station and from there to Akos apartment. Now the rain had already ended so we were very lucky!
It had been a fun day even if it had rained and we still got to see some fireworks so in the end, it was not a failure.

Tomorrow I am of to Nagasaki by train. Looking forward to that.

Cheers!
Robert

Last day Kyoto: Uji-city + Kyoto shopping.

At Uji

So today's plans were all predetermined since yesterday, I was to go to Uji-city in Kyoto prefecture and also "near" my hosts house.
I woke at 10 a.m. to take a shower and search a couple of things on the internet. I ate my bento that I had bought from the supermarket yesterday and then I was of to the train station.

It took only 10 minutes or less from Momoyama minamiguchi station, my station, to Uji and I was soon walking towards the main sights there. Uji has two UNESCO sights and is also known for its green tea.
Uji has some of the biggest tea plantations in Japan and it is Kyoto's pride when it comes to tea.

Uji is also one of the most oldest cities in Japan and is the sight for the happenings in the famous Tale of Genji, which is a very famous novel written a long time a go.


First up I wanted to see the Byōdō-in temple which is also depicted on the 10 yen coin as well.

It was again a hot and humid day but it did not stop me. I walked 10 minutes from the station to the temple. 

One of the buildings at Byodoin

When I arrived to the temple I noticed a sign informing of the repairs being done to the main temple, also known as the Phoenix hall.
I had read about it online before but of course I had not remembered that it was this particular temple of all the temples in Kyoto region, since there are a LOT of those.

Anyhow I went inside to see the garden around the main temple and the smaller temples at the temple grounds. It was beautiful but it didn't change the fact that the main piece was missing, the phoenix hall.
It is the thing that really crowns the temple ground and is said to be very beautiful.
The restorations will be done in 2014 so if anyone wants to visit it, then that's the year to go.

The ticket price included the museum visit so I went inside the underground facility which was in it self a splendid architectural masterpiece.
The inside was so cool and refreshing, it felt great after the hot walk outside.

There were some articles on display that had once been in the temple or in the vicinity of it, for example the big bronze cast bell that was apparently one of the most famous ones in Japan. It was decorated with the utmost care and is praised for that reason mainly.

The second building in Ujigami

So after the visit I left the temple grounds towards the little shopping street nearby and there I bought myself some, surprise surprise, green tea. I bought some real high quality stuff! And expensive as hell as well. Poor wallet of mine.

From there I proceeded to walk towards the next temple in the vicinity called Ujigami shrine. It is also an UNESCO sight.
Just as my luck has it, one of the main buildings was also being repaired and it was a small shrine as well so kind of a bummer to speak the truth.

I walked after the short round of Ujigami shrine to the "tale of Genji" museum, located only a stones throw away from the shrine.

It was fascinating to hear the story and I got even to see a movie about the few last chapters of the tale, it was pretty sad.

Tale of Genji museum

After a while I decided it was time for me to move on and get myself to Kyoto city and go do some shopping there as well.
Last year I had found a local ceramics shop there, near the Kiyomizudera temple. I had bought a teapot from there which my brother later on had broke by accident.
So I bought myself some teacups and a teapot. They were all hand made or hand painted so I was very pleased with my purchases when I returned to the JR Kyoto station.

From there I went to Starbucks again to get some coffee and to sit down and relax at the store.
I scribbled and scrabbled on some papers and wrote some lyrics to my band and before I knew it an hour had passed.

I then got up and packed my stuff away and left towards my hosts house. She was making today'd dinner so I was waiting forward to it.

After I arrived we ate and I took a shower and went to pack my stuff. I had to take out everything and pack it back to my suitcase in a new order so that I could get everything to fit.

Tomorrow I am of to Tokyo to see the amazing Sumida fireworks display and I will be hosted by my friend Ako who showed me around previously Tokyo and went with me to the amazing music festival where I met the Yakuza.

Thanks for reading!
Cheers
Robert

Fushimi Inari shrine and climbing Mt. Inari!

Fushimi Inari shrine

Today was a lot of fun even though I didn't do much.
I woke up at 9 a.m. but snoozed and before I knew it, it was already 11 a.m. and I jumped up and headed down. I ate a quick yogurt and told my host where I was of to today. I had promised to make some "Finish" food today, macaroni casserole.
I was out soon after and of towards the station to take the train to Fushimi Inari shrine, a very famous shrine in Kyoto!

As I arrived to the station the first thing I had decided to do, was to get something to eat and the decision came easily since there was a ramen shop just beside the station. So I went there and orderd myself some curry ramen because I had never heard of curry ramen and bet it tasted good. I have heard of curry soba but it is very different from this. The flavors were amazing and the noodles had soaked up much of the flavor!

I then walked satisfied to the main shrine and looked around the magnificent yard. The main reason though why I was here, was to climb the mountain through the multiple torii gate "tunnels" depicted in many brochures and travel pamphlets.
I found the entrance very easily and was on my way. The air was heavy of all the humidity but still a bit cool from the shadow and the wind. It didn't help much since I was sweating a LOT thanks to the humidity, that's why I'm so glad that I have understood to buy a face towel for these hot days, and I also took some water with me.

It took me 1 hour to reach the top since the rout is not straight but it goes through many smaller shrine areas and makes finally a stop at the peak and then loops back another way, so 40-50 minutes back.

It felt amazing though since you get the feeling of completion once you have finished.

The shrine on the top

The view and scenery was not bad either. So my advice to those who want to climb this small mountain, is to have some water with you, since the prices of water go up the higher you get. Have light clothes and comfortable shoes and if you want, bring a face towel or something similar since you are prone to sweat a lot. Personally I recommend visiting this lovely place!

The route

I then returned to the station and ate a tofu ice-cream on my way which I bought from a street vendor.
I took the train to Tokyo station where I went to a Starbucks to relax and to think about what to do next.
The time I had left was limited so I sat and enjoyed the outside for a while at Starbucks and then went to the nearby Yodobashi Camera department store to check out their cool tax free stuff. I spent only a while there until I already returned to the station and went back to my hosts station. From there I walked to the supermarket and bought some groceries and returned to my hosts house.

I started soon the preparations of the food and meanwhile her brother came back and was glad to find out that I was treating them the food for today.I cooked some macaroni casserole in the Finish style and they liked it. It made me happy.

Tomorrow I will go to Uji to se some UNESCO temples and from there, if I have the time I will go to the Gekkeikan sake distillery to have a little looksie there.

Cheers!
Robert

Kyoto: the city with a lot to offer

Kyoto: the city with a lot to offer, but I am running out of ideas on what to do since I am "alone"... traveling alone that is!

I am man enough to admit I made one mistake with my JR-tickets, it was not buying a third one. I would have loved to visit Mt. Koya and stay there for one night as an side trip from Kyoto, but since My next JR-pass activates only on the 27, when I leave Kyoto, it does not seem possible.

So Today instead of waking up for regular breakfast, I woke a bit later to do my check out, take a shower and to make a brunch.

I met a German traveler in the kitchen and we had a long chat about our school systems and other idle matters. We noticed that we were actually going to go to the same place today. That would be the amazing San-Ju-Sangendo temple located near the JR-Kyoto station. About a 15-20 minute walk.

So we set of together to the temple, but man oh man was it hot! It had rained in the morning and the air was super humid and as if that was not enough, a while in to our walk, the sun started shining really bright and hot on the sky.
I'm getting tired of your shit sun! No but just kidding, it was hot tho.

The temple is big and very long and the entrance is at one of the corners.
The ticket in costs 600 yen and let me tell you, IT IS WORTH IT! Definitely a place to see even though it is not a UNESCO sight or anything. There's a lot of places like that in Kyoto and you should still see them.
The Sanjusangendo is a temple known for its thousand and one (1001) Buddha statues sculpted by hand.
The first thousand is roughly human size and made of wood, painted with gold paint or gold leafs I'm not sure, truly a sight to see. The last one of the 1001 is a big "hundred armed" Buddha which sits in the middle of all the other Buddhas in the room.  
There is a smell of incense in the room since it is offered to the main Buddha at the middle of the hall. It smells good and makes a mystic atmosphere.

After looking the place through and the garden outside as well, we walked across the street to the Kyoto National museum.
It was still under renovation partially, so we could only see the special exhibition about ancient games and plays in Japan and their history. It was kind of interesting even though quite short.
It appears that the games and plays were originally intended for the enjoyment of the gods and later on passed to the public and became a mix of both in a sense. "From the gods to the people" or something like that.

When we late I was worrying about the time since today I am changing my location from my hostel to my host who lives a bit further from the center and we had made a promise to meet at a station near her apartment.

So me and my friend got back to our hostel where I took my luggage and we were of. She was also headed to the station conveniently so we went there together and said our goodbyes.

I came a little late but my host was cool with it. We took my luggage to her place and I soon left out to the supermarket to get something to eat. I was so hungry that I could not make any big plans on what to make so I just trashed the idea of making food myself and just bought some cup noodles and some bread etc.

After eating I took my well deserved shower since it had been seriously hot again today!
So not a very long day in that sense but still I enjoyed today!

Cheers
Robert

Submerging in subcultures in Kyoto.

After the usual getting up and eating making/eating the breakfast I headed out.
There were some dark clouds in the sky not to far from the station and it seemed like it could start raining at any moment. This is pretty normal in Kyoto during summer times since there are a lot of mountains surrounding Kyoto.

As a little tidbit or shall we call it a "fun fact" about Japan, is that it has 6 different climates. If you ask how that is possible, do let me explain in short.
Japan is a very long country in the vertical direction, thus it reaches trough a couple of climate zones in that fashion, but only a couple! The rest of the differences are explained by geographic phenomenon, for example. because of the mountains there are parts of Japan that have a inland climate. The most northern part enjoy of a tempered climate where as the most southern parts enjoy of a subtropical climate. And so on and so on. This is why you can have snow in one city and after going through a tunnel to another city, you will not have any snow at all. This I have personally experienced last winter when I came for the first time to Japan. It felt weird yet so amazing.

Sorry for the boring fact. So back to the story.
I took the subway from JR Kyoto station and headed towards the Kyoto Manga museum situated near Kyoto Park where I had planed on visiting afterwards on my way to the Shimogamo jinja shrine.

The museum in itself was not really a typical museum in my opinion, it was more like a huge manga library with a lot of facts and displays of how to make manga and what it was and where it all started. It was fun though and I found a lot of old people visiting there as well since in Japan manga is not only for young but also older people read it a lot! The difference is that older people don't really watch Anime (animated series) so they limit it only to manga. And I can't blame them since there are a lot of things and ancient stories that have been made to mangas or used as a base for some mangas and manga series.

The building was a old elementary school and had also some exhibitions on that as well. I walked around and finally sat down and read some manga. A word of warning tho to people who might be interested in visiting this place just for the manga, there are not many books that are written in English or other languages. Only in Japanese. But good news for those who have mastered the Hiragana and Katakana! The Kanjis are explained in hiragana or katakana at the side of the character so you can read them instead. That's how I was able to read them. Of course there were a few Kanji that I knew but still I have yet to really start learning them. I am self taught after all.

At a little shrine in the Kyoto park

I then went to grab a bite at the nearby Sukiya. They are one of the chain restaurants specializing in donburi food or rice bowls topped with meat.

I quickly walked from there to the park and toured it around a bit. It really is nothing special but it might be a fun place for a picnic or to jog or just a walk. The Imperial palace is located at the back of the park and you can't really enter so all you really see is the gates and the large walls. So I can't really recommend it as a sight but it is a good place for a stroll and it just so happened to be on my way to the Shimogamo shrine.

The sun was really starting to be bright but the rain clouds were still visible. It was really humid!
I walked all the way to the main shrine in Shimogamo which is dedicated as an UNESCO heritage sight.

Shimogamo shrine

It was a cool  shrine and had many smaller shrines inside dedicated to different deities or Kamis as they call them in Japan.

I toured around only for a while and decided to head back towards my hostel. I walked to the nearest subway station and got on the subway.

I am so happy that they have air-conditioning in the trains as well as at the stations! Lifesavers is what they are let me tell you!

I stopped by the supermarket to buy some supplies and then returned to my hostel to take a shower and start cooking.
It had started raining while I was in the shower so I had timed my day perfectly!

Tomorrow I will leave my hostel and go to meet my new host in Kyoto. I will be hosted for 3 nights and then I'll head back to Tokyo to see the very famous Sumida hanabi taikai, Sumida river firework festivals!
I bet it will be awesome.

Cheers
Robert

Dear readers!

To my Readers.

Thanks to all you wonderful readers and special thanks to the new readers from Russia! Спасибо за чтение моего блога. Спасибо!

Also thank you America and Australia for showing your interest in my blog, I am very humbled to get views from so many countries! Thank you.

日本の読者へ！私のブログを読んでくれてありがとう!

And of course my own home country Finland, KIITOS OIKEIN PALJON! TACK SÅ MYCKET!

Also a big thank you to each and every one of you who come from different countries than the above mentioned!


Cheers!
Robert

Biking in Kyoto

At the market 

Today I woke up early at 9 a.m. and went to make some breakfast to the kitchen.
I met some Taiwanese people yesterday and we had chatted a bit and today I met them in the kitchen.
So I asked them what they were up to and suggested them some sights to see and once I found out that two of them were going to the morning market I asked if I could join since I had not yet been there.

We rented bikes from the hostel and biked there.
It was really cool, there were so much food and product on display! Fish in various forms: Cooked, steamed, raw, dried etc. and of course there were a lot of pickled vegetables and a lot of other traditional food. There were eels being prepared as we walked and the aroma was really tempting.
I want to taste eel while I am here but it feels like I never have the possibility even though that is complete rubbish since the chance is around almost every corner.

So we walked around with our bikes through the long corridor filled with shops. The girls bought some snacks and drinks and other stuff from there but I decided on just a hand painted fan. It was really cheap as well to be a hand painted fan, only 1000 yen which should be around 10 dollars or 8 euros or so.

When our little tour was finished I suggested the girls a visit to the Sanjuusangendo temple near the station. I had been there two times before. It is known for its 1001 Buddha statues that had been carved by hand and then gilded with gold paint or gold leafs. They look really spectacular and if you are in Kyoto, I really suggest you give it some thought and VISIT IT, if only possible.

So I showed the girls the way and sent them off, I was not going myself since I wanted to go to the Kinkakuji or gold pavilion in the further part of Kyoto city.
But first I needed something to eat so I went to my favorite curry chain restaurant in Japan called CoCoIchibaya! I had my usual, which is the chicken cutlet curry with the spice level 3. Delish!
After finishing the plate and paying the bill I was on my way again.

It was a really long bike ride and the air was just SO hot and humid that by the time I arrived I was dripping with sweat, kind of annoying really to be all sweaty and sticky.
But since I could not help it I endured the unfresh feeling and walked to the pavilion entrance.
I had visited last summer as well so I knew that what waited for me was just pure awesomeness. And so it was.
I payed myself in, it costed 400 yen, and was soon standing in front of this artistic, breath taking beauty called the golden pavilion.
It is so beautiful with its gilded walls and the surroundings make it just look so surreal.

I took many pictures of this marvelous structure and walked around it along the path and really enjoyed it.
The path then continued along the garden and ended at a tea house and a small temple or shrine. I bought some postcards for later from the souvenir shop.

They had promised rain for today and as the sky looked already pretty dark, I decided that I'd already head back to my hostel. I changed my shirt in the toilet and started my trip back.
This time it was a bit easier since it wasn't a constant uphill.

The rain started falling a little before I had reached the JR Kyoto station from where it takes roughly 5 minutes to my hostel, so I got only a tiny bit wet from the rain. The rest was just sweat from the heat :) haha!

At my hostel I took a well deserved shower and started making preparations for my dinner.
I made some coleslaw and baked potatoes that I ate together with yesterdays leftover wok.
After that the two Taiwanese girls returned as well to have their dinner before they all left to Nara.

Today was not really a busy day but days like these are also OK once in a while.

Cheers
Robert