Gabe and I get sugared/coffeed up at Excelsior Kaffe and head out by bus to Southern Higashiyama (the mountainous area in the southeast of Kyoto). We start off at Kiyomizu-dera, a temple first built in AD 798 and rebuilt in 1633. Perhaps the coolest thing here is the underground path at Tainai-meguri (“the womb of the Buddha”), where you lead yourself through a pitch-black maze with a beaded rope for a guide. At the end of the walk you reach a single illuminated round stone inscribed with a Sanskrit character (sorry, can’t identify which one). Spin the stone and make a wish.
This is a test of strength with three different cast-iron weights. Gabe and I watch various macho types struggle with the heaviest central pole, then fail miserably ourselves.
The Golden Week holiday draws a huge crowd of Japanese tourists to Kyoto.
Hopefully this will make up for some of my misdeeds on the trip.
Kiyomizu-dera gardens.
Maruyama-koen park.
Soba for lunch. Automated ordering machine.
Our afternoon plan is to visit an out-of-the-way onsen (spa) in Northwest Kyoto.
Waiting for the bus.
On the bus.
Having disembarked in the general vicinity of the onsen, Gabe and I meander through the backstreets looking for it. There’s no sign, but apparently some rocks out front should indicate we are in the right place. Finally some friendly local kids guide us there.
We enter the onsen and somehow communicate our intentions to the old lady at the counter. She gives us two towels and two bars of soap, and we cough up 800 yen ($8) for both of us. Time to “rock out with our cocks out,” Kyoto style.
The Japanese clientele is slightly bemused but quite friendly. We still have various crazy kanji/manga symbols scribbled on our bodies from the night before; men with genuine tattoos are often forbidden from visiting onsen, apparently to dissuade yakuza from enjoying the nice thermal treatments.
We frolic nakedly about in the scorching hot baths, frigid cold baths, and relaxing herbal baths. A twenty-something computer programmer strikes up a conversation with us, and informs us that his favorite band is “Green Day” and his favorite actor is “Brad Pitt.” Apart from that, he’s a very good guy.
Exfoliated and cleaner than usual, we make our way back to the hotel.
Before dinner we meet Jud (of “mother” tattoo fame) for a drink at the punk snack-shop, then proceed to Ishimaru’s bar. Ishimaru had offered yesterday to take us to his friend’s yakitori shop for dinner, and we are here to make good on his promise.
Chicken stomach, breast, liver, bone, and knuckles. Some weird crunchy bits in there!
Ishimaru’s friend who runs the yakitori joint is a De La Soul lover.
Next Ishimaru suggests we go to his friend’s bar overlooking the Kamo-gawa (main river in Kyoto). Gabe and Ishimaru strike a pose outside a sake store on the way.
Several enormous glasses of plum sake round off the night and we bid farewell to Ishimaru.
1 comment:
I am absolutely loving this blog. Don't ever come home.
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