Tokyo Home

At this point in our trip, within a month we'd slept in thirteen different beds and our first night in Tokyo took us to bed number fourteen. We were staying for our first two nights in an apartment we'd found on airbnb,com. It was a small one bedroom, a living room with a fold out futon, a small kitchen, bathroom and teeny balcony. It was small, but it was just us there, unlike the Kyoto guesthouse, so it was quiet. It was also on the 5th floor, with no elevator, so you got a good bit of exercise before getting home...and if you forgot something when you left the house and remembered when you got downstairs, you just leave it for the day. But, on the flip side, being on the top floor meant that you didn't hear people as they came home for the day, and you could leave your umbrellas outside the door, because if someone is going to steal an umbrella, they'll steal it from the first floor and not walk up 5 flights of stairs to find one. It was a nice place to stay overall. 

Beccah's room.

The bedroom was a small room that doubled as the dining room or living room. There was a low table that we moved to the corner when it was time to sleep. The chairs were legless and sat on the ground with a pillow. I was a huge fan of this set up with a small one because he can't fall off the chair, and if he falls off the table, he doesn't fall that far. Also, it saves a ton of space. When it is time for bed, there were bed rolls we just pulled out of the cupboards and slept on them. It was a little uncomfortable, but not terrible.

Bedroom/dining/living room. 

The room had a couple of Japanese decorations including these opera mask people. There were also a few small toys, which Peter played with.

Some of the decorations in the house.

It was a nice place to stay while in Tokyo. We learned the next day that we were super close to a temple and a huge tourist market. The metro wasn't too far away and there were lots of restaurants all around us. This place had awesome location and it fit us great. 

Beccah mid-turn with Peter looking at the city.

Quick side story on getting to this place, since almost all of our getting places in Japan have stories with them. We got off the train in Tokyo and followed signs to the metro....only we could never find the metro line we needed to get to our guesthouse nor could we find the ticket machines to even buy the metro tickets if we did find the correct line. We walked around and around, down hallways only to come back up. Every "exit" led to a metro line that wasn't ours and not a ticket machine in sight. Finally, we sent Jonathan to ask a man working at the Information booth. He showed the man his train ticket and the man took it from him and gave him a metro ticket. Just like that. He didn't have to explain anything or answer any questions. It almost seemed like this was a normal thing to do, only there was not a single other soul going to this place and trading their tickets, so I have no idea how anyone else got past the metro entrance gates. Jonathan came to get my and Beccah's train tickets so he could trade them as well. I gave him mine, but Beccah could not find her ticket anywhere. She checked her bags and pockets to no avail. Jonathan made her go explain to the man that she had lost her ticket and he was kind and gave her a metro ticket anyway.

So, we got the tickets and got through the gate...I don't remember how we found our line eventually, it was either luck or we asked someone again. But we walked around a bit more and finally got to the correct line. We boarded the metro and got off on our stop. Then, we started following directions that the guesthouse owner had given us. We walked from the metro, passed the temple he told us about, went the right amount of streets, turned walked...and then were "lost." We knew we had to be close, but we could not find the building numbers for the life of us. So we walked and would find a number that was too high, so we'd turn around, scouring the buildings for numbers. Also, it was raining.

We found a 7-11, a police station, a fancy hotel, but not our home. Then, Jonathan and Beccah went to buy food, and I told them I would try once more down the road. I started walking and noticed some new numbers we'd missed the previous zillion times we'd walked past them. Then suddenly, it was like the clouds had parted and there it was, our home. I ran back to find Jonathan, and Beccah was gone. But a minute later she came around the corner and we all walked with our umbrellas and packs to our house....and lugged everything up 5 flights of stairs. We were tired kids that day but we found it!

Trains in Japan, Kyoto to Tokyo

I have mentioned that we had some difficulty with the transportation systems in Japan, mainly their trains and subways. Their buses, those were normal, but the trains were a beast of their own. Take for example when we went to buy tickets to get from Kyoto to Tokyo. This was a lovely adventure. 

Train tickets are much more expensive than we were used to. In China, we could take a train from Nanjing to Shanghai- about 1.5 hour trip for about $16. I looked at the prices of tickets for trains in Japan and nearly died. For our trip from Kyoto to Tokyo, about 3 hours, it would be about $120 per person, or more if you paid for a faster train. Or, the budget option, is to take a bus and it would cost a mere $32, what a great deal!...and take 7-8 hours, overnight. Yeah, We played that game once before in Cambodia. And while I do not doubt that it is possible that the Japanese bus would be more comfortable, there is a just as likely chance that it would be just as terrible, and that was not a risk we were willing to take as long as we had a small toddler along for the ride. The other budget option was a $20 train that took 9 hours and included 4 transfers. Again, for single/married with no kids backpacking travelers, that would be a grand adventure. But it was towards the end of our trip and we spending that long on a train, however cheap, was not an option with Peter. We'd read a lot about the trains and learned that we could buy tickets at a certain travel agency for a lot cheaper than the normal tickets. So, we set aside some time one day to go and buy tickets. 

The travel agency was located in a mall so we got the bus number and the bus stop we needed from the guesthouse workers and headed out. We left much later than we (I) were (was) planning to, and of course it was raining. Anytime it rains while traveling with a stroller, life becomes much trickier. If I could redo that day, I would have just kept him in his pack and left the stroller at home. Anyway. We found the stop with ease and the bus came after about 10 minutes of waiting. The bus was packed. We squeezed ourselves on and for the next 15 minutes of the ride struggled to get the stroller out of the way of the constant flow of people on and off the bus. Gah. Not awesome. By the time we got off I was frustrated and wished that I'd just sent Beccah and Jonathan to get the tickets and stayed home with the little guy. But we were there, so we went to get the tickets together. 

Jonathan had to wait in line a bit, so Peter and I walked around the department store, which sold mostly, as far as I could tell, tailored kimonos. After a couple of laps around the store, we went back to the travel agency where Jonathan was talking to one of the travel agents. I passed Peter duty to Beccah and sat next to Jonathan to speak with the woman, it was then I heard the bad new she was passing on to him. The cheapest tickets were sold out. Our options were to go the next day- impossible because we didn't have a room to stay for that night and it was a festival week, so everything except the most expensive places were totally booked, or option 2 was to buy the next class higher tickets, more expensive, but leaving on the day we needed. Gah, neither option was ideal, but we opted for option 2, nicer seats and leaving when we needed. 

Fast forward to the day of departure. We gathered our things, by now we are experts at repacking and getting out of the guesthouse in a timely manner. We put backpacks on, baby in the stroller, stuff the last few things in bags and head for the bus stop. The bus takes a little longer to arrive than I would have liked. It arrives and we board. An older woman sees me with Peter in the stroller and motions for me to come and take the empty seat next to her that has just opened up. Kind gesture, but there are about 8 people standing in the aisle and no way that I will be able to maneuver the stroller around them. I just smile and shake my head. She turns out to be the most persistent woman in the world and will not take no for an answer. Eventually we make our way to the front of the bus and awkwardly sit down, and are only semi-successful at preventing the stroller from blocking the entire aisle.  

Last stop is the train station, and we have plenty of time. Relief. We find our train platform without too much difficulty and set our bags down while Jonathan goes to get some drinks. Turns out the with the seats come free drinks, we just needed to track down the place to get them. After a few minutes, Jonathan returns with a Coke, orange juice and water. Good options. A minute or two later, the train arrives. Good timing.

Happy Beccah and Sleeping Peter waiting for the train that will take us to Tokyo! 

Share a Coke with Satoshi....don't mind the strange face, he's harmless.

We then boarded the nicest train we'd ridden in...thanks to fancy seat tickets. We had tons of room, big windows and a nice wide aisle. Also, since they were the more expensive tickets, there were much fewer passengers in our car. We could have each had our own row with no problem. It was also nice because then Peter could climb and explore more without mom getting nervous that he would make someone upset.

Fancy drinking in our fancy car.

We started going and I appreciated the landscape and buildings we passed. One of the reasons I love trains when traveling is that you get to see so much as you go along. When you are in a plane you can see clouds, rivers and crop circles in fields, but in a train you can see the fields and flowers, houses and people outside. It's great and I love it. Japan had cool mountains with lots of fields in the less populated areas and different looking buildings in the city areas.

View from the train

I loved all the peaked roofs and the lush mountains!

Field green is one of my favorite shades of green.

More mountains.

City view at one of the train stops

As the train went along, we went from blue skies with small white clouds to grey skies with imminent rain. Also, we were pretty sure that we would pass Mount Fuji and I really wanted to see it. I really love volcanoes and Jonathan really wanted to hike Mt Fuji while we were in Japan, but there just wasn't the time. Also, the more he looked into it, the more he learned that since it is a volcanic mountain it is not a really pretty one to climb and you climb up loose gravel and very little foliage. But, we still wanted to see it. Jonathan took some pictures of it...or what we assume to be Mt Fuji as I held a sleeping Peter.

Getting grey in Japan.

This may or may not be Mount Fuji.

Nothing is better when traveling than the baby deciding to take a nap.

Peter did awesome on the train. He spent the majority of the 3.5 hour ride running up and down the aisles and touching everything in his reach. Then, he took a good nap, and woke up happy. We took turns going up and down the car with him.

Jonathan and Peter exploring.

Then, we were there. We arrived in Tokyo to a rainy afternoon, grateful that we still had umbrellas with us and glad to be off the train. Trains are fantastic, but it's still nice to be done and know you get to go "home" again. Also, it was exciting to know we were in Tokyo, we were looking forward to what it had to offer.

Peter 'touching' the water as it drips down the outside of the window.

Date Night in Kyoto

After 3 weeks of travel with siblings and Peter, it was time for a date night. And like most date nights since we've been married, that typically includes doing some sort of errand that needs to get done. On this date night, that errand was grocery shopping. Everything in Japan is more expensive, especially our housing and train tickets. So, to try to lessen the blow, we decided we would try to cook a couple of meals a day instead of eating out for every meal. 

Jonathan asked the people who ran the guesthouse where the nearest grocery store was, we left Peter in the hands of Beccah and headed out to buy some groceries and find a place to eat. We were given fairly simple directions to the store and found it without a problem. It was a nice night, the air wasn't too hot and it was a lovely walk. On the way to the store, we passed a few places to eat and looked the the menus. We found one place that seemed good, but I wasn't super excited to eat there. I was tired of noodles and rice, and wanted something different. But, maybe tonight wasn't the night. 

We got to the grocery store and got some bread, jam, curry, rice, bananas. and yogurt. We knew Peter would eat all of these things and they weren't too expensive. That's how we shopped when traveling. First question, will Peter eat this? Yes...ok, Does it cost way more than it should? No...ok, let's buy it. Along the way we also saw a few things we weren't used to running across in a grocery store...

Octopus in the grocery store

Fishy staring at you.

We brought our groceries and started walking back to the one restaurant that looked the most promising, when we passed a sign for a Middle Eastern restaurant named Arash's Kitchen. We looked at the menu and it looked great, and it was pretty cheap, so even better. But then I saw the time, closed at 4pm. It was around 7pm by now. I was bummed. It had looked so promising. Jonathan on the other hand was not saddened by the sign. He said, "Pretty sure they are still open, look!" The restaurant was on the second story and I looked up, the lights were on, but it looked empty. Jonathan offered to run up to see if they were still open, and to my delight they were! The owner was a delightful man who seemed happy to have customers. He asked if we wanted to eat inside or outside...since it was such a beautiful night and the streets weren't too loud, we opted for outside. We had a look at the menu and I was super glad we chose this place, but also a little out of my comfort zone. I wasn't sure what would be good or what I would like. There were lots of curry options as well as some chicken dishes, pita sandwiches, and a couple of vegetarian options. We finally settled on a curry and a pita sandwich. Also, the owner said if we got naan bread instead of rice we could have unlimited naan. So, we went with naan bread with our curry.

The food didn't take too long to get to us. When it got there, it was really simple and I wondered if we chose wisely. The curry was in a small metal bowl and the naan in a basket beside it. We tore off some bread, dipped it in the curry and took a bite. It was the best thing I'd eaten in who knows how long, and coming from our two weeks in Taiwan where everyone was feeding us delicious things left and right, that's saying something. We'd had lots of curry over the past couple of months, but we'd had mostly Japanese curry, and this curry was totally different. Both are amazing, but just different flavors. I loved that it was such a simple meal, but could taste so amazing. I'm not big on bread, but I could have eaten this for the rest of the week. 

Jonathan eating some curry and naan.

The pita sandwich came out a little bit later, and it was just as wonderful. It was filled with chicken, and lettuce had a very light flavor. There was a white sauce on the table that we put on the sandwich and that made it the best thing ever. It added so much flavor without being overwhelming. It was such a delicious meal and a wonderful way to end a fantastic day. If I ever go back to Kyoto, I'll check to see if Arash's Kitchen is still open, and if it is, I'll be sure to pay them a visit!

The aftermath

Finding a Geisha in Gion

Another place we went to in Kyoto was the neighborhood of Gion. From everything I'd read, this was a place you could go to try to see a geisha. It was just a metro stop or two away from the Fushimi Inari Shrine, so we thought we'd stop by to check it out before going home. We didn't get lost, thank goodness, although the amount of tourists at the shrine seemed to have tripled in the amount of tourists at Gion. It was so packed with people, it was almost a bit overwhelming feeling. Nothing like a good crowded place to remind me that I'm not really a city girl. We walked up the street and looked at a few shops...note to self, return here when you are rich, so many cool things, and then headed to the Geisha village. 

Peter always gets the best view when we travel.

There were tons of people when we turned down the first street, so we just went along with the masses, catching bits of conversations, in either English or Chinese, and critiquing the way people dressed. Then, all of a sudden there was a little commotion and I spotted a geisha! She was hurrying across the road, trying to avoid the people, which was impossible because we were all hoping to see someone just like her. I caught a picture, which was blurry, but it's the only proof I have. 

Our only geisha sighting

I feel like the geishas in Japan, or the women in traditional kimono dress, are treated like we were in China. Everyone wants to take their picture or have them pose with them for a picture. They are just trying to go about their normal routine and do not want the attention, but they get it simply because they look different. It was interesting to watch it happen to someone else for a change.

Quiet Gion street

Once we got a few blocks in to the area, the amount of tourists lessened and it was a lot quieter and calm. There were still people walking around, taking pictures, and talking about the buildings, but it wasn't as frantic feeling as the entrance. And, like everywhere else we'd been, everything was so clean and kept looking nice. It was such a change from anywhere else we'd been. I didn't worry about Peter touching anything or sitting down on the ground, because it was so clean. There were lanterns hung outside of doors, and cloth curtains hanging in front of doorways. There were lots of little details that made the little village area feel unique and separate from the city.

Little tadpole looking critters on the door curtain.

Building in Gion

Women in their kimonos. 

It was fun to stop in at Gion. We probably were only there for about 30 minutes, maybe less. There is just one main street to walk down and there aren't any shows, either that or they were closed already, so it's just a quick walk up the street and back. Then, we went out, found a little shop for some food on the way home, accidentally bought coffee instead of chocolate milk- disappointed- and tried, with no avail, to give it to a homeless man. Then, we got back on the metro and successfully made our way back home.

Fushimi Inari-taisha: Kyoto, Japan

Peter and Robin in front of a torii gate at the shrine.

After our long round about trip to get to Fushimi Inari-taisha, I was really excited to be there and have a chance to look around. One of the first things you notice about the shrine is the color. Everything is a bright redish orange color. It's on the buildings, the torii gates, the lanterns. Everywhere, so bright and red. 

Peter and Robin in front of the shrine entrance.

Jonathan and a gigantic lantern.

This shrine is a really important one dedicated to the Shinto god of rice. There a are a number of buildings in the main area, including a fountain area (fountain isn't the best word, more like a pool of water) for cleansing. I really like these areas, because when we are going into the shrine, we are entering a religious area. It's not my religion, but whenever I'd wash my hands at one of these pools, I felt like it made you slow down for a minute and just give you time to clear your head before going in. Maybe it would help get people in a better mindset before entering. I thought it was a neat symbolic thing to do.

Cleaning hands.

So much orange.

Entering the tunnel of torii gates.

The main reason people come to visit this shrine are the torii gates. Torii gates are the way to identify the entrance to a Shinto shrine, or sacred space. Also, I just learned there are 2 i's in torii, so from this post forward I'll try to spell that correctly. This shrine has hundreds of torii gates, and each one was donated (bought) by a company or individual to show their gratitude to the god of prosperity. They range in price depending on the size of the torii, smaller being less money and larger costing more money. The shrine itself is free for public to enter, which is another reason I wanted to go visit it. Because of all of the torii donations, the result is pathways of torri tunnels that you can walk through. It is quite a remarkable sight.

Right or left? Torii tunnels.

Walking through the torris.

I was amazed at how many gates there were. They just kept going. We walked though the left hand side tunnel and it opened to a courtyard area where there were a couple of small buildings, and then the torii tunnel continued with larger torri gates. There was so much greenery surrounding the gates. It felt very calm to me even with lots of tourists taking pictures. Also, there were lots of spiders building homes between the posts...I did my best to ignore them.

This is my favorite picture of the day. I love the trees and green with the bright orange behind.

Names of the companies who bought the torri gates.

At one point, as we walked along, I turned around and was caught by surprise at all of the writing on the opposite sides of the gates. Each gate has the name of the person or company who paid for it. It was really cool to see the black contrast with the orange and Jonathan and I picked out any Chinese characters we could find- obviously he found more, but I can still get a couple.

We continued the path, debating how much longer we wanted to go along. After a while, although it is amazing, the novelty wears off, and you realize that you are a bit tired and that however far forward you go, you must also return the same amount of walking. We had almost decided to turn around when we came across an open space with tons of small little huts and little shrine areas. It was so different from anything I've encountered. Much of the stone was covered in moss and some of the small torii gates almost felt haphazardly placed. There was water dripping in some places so the ground was slick. There were some stones that had broken and you had to step carefully to get around some things. It felt like this place had been abandoned yet still taken care of. There were little fox statues standing guard. Foxes are thought to be Inari's (the rice/prosperity god) messengers, so they were all through out the shrine. There were lots of stairs that made walking a little treacherous with Peter in his pack on my back, but he was sound asleep, which made for a much more enjoyable time for us.

Little places to worship

It was really neat walking though the mossy covered areas. It felt different than the torii gate tunnels. It felt more personal to me, almost like, these were places a family had paid for to go to, whereas the tunnels just felt more like a tourist photo opportunity. After we'd seen all the little shrine areas we wanted to see, we headed back to the main area of the shrine. We walked back a little different way. Instead of going through the torii tunnels, we walked along a side path that just went through the woods. No one else went that way, so it was nice and quiet. I was surprised at how few tourists there were. Some sections felt very busy and crowded, but once we started walking, the people thinned out and it didn't feel too overrun. Also, we'd been warned of gangs of mosquitoes, but we only saw a couple the whole time there, so I guess we got lucky.

Cat guard at the shrine.

Beautiful woods and creek we found on our way back.

Fox messenger

I really hope to return here someday with Jonathan and Peter, and any other kids we have, when the kids are older. It was easy to walk though and full of little surprises. I think it would be a neat place to go to teach kids about cultures. It was a beautiful shrine and I'm glad we made it there!

Getting to Fushimi Inari-taisha- AKA- Not Lost, Just Misplaced

We started to see a pattern in our traveling in Japan. Anywhere we went, we got "lost".  Lost in quotation marks, because, like my pop likes to say, we were never really lost, we just weren't where we were trying to get to. So this story is not about the amazing Fushimi Inari-taisha (try to say it, it's not as hard as it looks), but simply the journey to get us there. 

This was our first real day in Kyoto since we'd gotten in so late the night before. It was rather nice to see the city in the day time. It still felt very calm and pleasant. It didn't feel busy or hectic like many of the places we'd been to in our trip. There were lots of shops that I could have spent an entire day just looking around. But, we had a cool shrine to see and only a couple of days in Kyoto, so the shops would just have to wait until we return to Japan another day when we are rich! 

Jonathan and Peter in Kyoto with a GIANT Tori gate behind them by our guesthouse.

We walked to the metro, with a quick stop at 7-11 for some sandwiches and an ATM stop. One thing we noticed quickly in Japan was that no one pointed us out. We could walk in and out of stores and no one would try to touch Peter or say anything about us. Sometimes we would hear hushed whispers of "Oh, Kawaii!" (Oh, Cute!) or a kind smile, but not much beyond that. We only had a couple of pictures taken of us our entire trip in Japan, verses the almost daily pictures in China. It was nice to fly under the radar, but at the same time, it felt almost empty. I had gotten so used to the constant stares and attention it seemed strange for people to ignore me. Anyway, we got our snacks and enjoyed our walk to the metro station.

Pleasant little stream

We got to the metro station, looked at the map above the ticket machines and tried to find the station we needed so we would know how much our journey would cost. According to Google, there was a direct line from our metro stop to the Fushimi Inari-taisha stop and it was only about 4 stops away, but for some reason, I could not find it anywhere on the map in the metro station. I was starting to get frustrated, questioning myself and the directions I'd written. I am a world traveler. I should be able to do this. Why can't I find the gosh darn stop?! Then, another kind Japanese approached us, "Hi, do you need some help?" Yay!

I showed her the name of the shrine and she looked at the map and informed us that it would be a long trip. We would have to take one train almost to the end of the line we were at (about 10 stops) and then switch lines and take another train a couple of stops. She estimated it would take about 45 minutes. We thanked her and she went on her way. I was extremely hesitant to buy tickets though, as her directions matched absolutely nothing I'd written down and was going to take us much longer than anticipated. But, what else could we do. I was set on seeing this place, and Peter was in a decent mood...and we didn't know how else to get there. So, we used the ticket machine, put our money in and bought our tickets. Then, suddenly, the lady reappeared, saying, "Wait, wait. I'm so sorry. I was wrong. There is a much faster way." We showed her that we'd already bought tickets. She told us to follow her, and took us to a ticket window with 2 men working inside and explained something in Japanese. They took our tickets and refunded our money. She then explained that there were two different metro lines within this stop and we needed to buy our tickets from the other line. She walked us to the other line which was up the hallway and a couple of turns away from where we started. We looked at the map of the metro lines and sure enough, just like my directions said, there was the stop we needed, just 4 stops away. We thanked the woman again, bought new, cheaper, tickets and went down the escalator to catch the train.

Now is when things start to get tricky. Yeah, turns out the first bit was just the beginning of this day. Once downstairs, we see that there are 2 platforms on which people were waiting for the trains. We looked for something that showed which way they were going so we knew which side to board. But, the signs seemed to indicate that they were both going the same direction. What? Hmmmm. Ok, so the train on the right got there first. About two thirds of the people waiting boarded that on. There was a sign on the side of the train that showed the last stop, which was the direction we needed. So, we got on. Then, I second guessed myself and we got off as the train on the left hand side arrived. We looked at it, same sign indicating the end station. Maybe that was the one we needed? We got on that one, and it looked like a much older train than the one on the right side of the platform. Not as many people got on. I looked at Jonathan and said, "What?! I , I don't know if this is the right one either!" He asked, "Well, what do you want to do?" I exclaimed, "Get on the other one!" So, we jumped off again and got on the train we had started on. The doors closed a moment later. It wasn't too full, and we found some seats easily. Then, we noticed above the doors there was a screen that showed the names of the stop we were at, and the next one we would stop at. The name was one we recognized, so we took a breath of relief that we did indeed get on the correct train and we relaxed for our trip to the shrine.

We knew we had 4 stops. We had seen that on the map. So, we kept Peter entertained, with the help of a couple and their 4 year old daughter sitting a couple seats away. But, as the train went on, we noticed that we went a long way between each stop. We would drive about 5-7 minutes, instead of the 1-2 minutes we were accustomed to. How curious. Then, after the first 3 stops, we realized that the next stop listed was not the stop that we were supposed to get off at. Jonathan walked down the train car and found a map of all the stops on that line and came back with the news. We were a couple of stops from the last stop on the line! We had for some reason not stopped at the stop we needed. Gah!

So, we got off the train at the next stop. We were surrounded by more countryside than city. There was a big hill in the distance and everything was green and beautiful. But, there was no shrine and we had some trains to figure out. We looked at the sign with the metro maps on it and that was when everything clicked. There were 3 different trains that ran on these lines. They all went to the same ending place, but they stopped at different stops throughout. There was the slow train that stopped at every stop. Then a commuter that stopped at the main stops, but not the smallest stops. Last there was the fastest train, that we had boarded, that only stopped at a couple of stops alone the way. This is why we were about 10 stops past the shrine stop. We made a quick plan of action. We were going to get back on the fastest train, but heading back into the city. We would stay on it for 2 stops, then get off and take the slow train for another 2 stops and then we would be there. Good thing we'd bought those sandwiches at the 7-11. Also, Peter was doing great, and neither Jonathan or I were frustrated. This day, we both were just happy even though we were no where close to our destination.

View of the false train stop. It was beautiful, just not what we were shooting for.

So, back on the train. Peter found some business men with fans and was entertained/entertaining while we backtracked. We got off on the right stop, then had 5 minutes to wait for the slow train. We bought some juice boxes and Hi-Chews while we waited. Our train arrived and we got on. None of the trains were very full, so Peter had some room to play and a stop or two later, we were there! We got off and started walking towards the exit. I instantly didn't feel right about the stop. No one else got off with us. This was supposed to be the stop for a big shrine, aka, lots of tourists should have gotten off with us. Also, there was not a single sign pointing the direction of the Fushimi Inari-taisha. There are always signs at the train/metro stops showing you which way to go. Then, I saw the name of the stop we were at...dang it. We were at the Fushimi Momoyama stop instead of Fushimi Inari stop. Jonathan has this problem with foreign languages in that he doesn't read all the way through words sometimes. So, we were still 5 stops away from our needed stop. Exciting day. We found some seats, sat down, people watched, and waited another ten minutes until the next slow train stopped. Then we boarded and five stops later....we were finally there! Hahahaha. It was such a ridiculous trip. I was super grateful that Peter didn't have any meltdowns, we had his binky with us, and was really glad we had some food and juice to keep everyone in a decent mood through all the mishaps. Lots of foreigners got off with us, and we saw signs for the shrine, We actually made it.

Robin and Peter on the way to the shrine in Kyoto.

We started walking towards the shrine, and within seconds I was captivated by this place. Kyoto felt so different from anywhere I've been before. There were so many things that we saw that I didn't expect. Things that I felt were just the foreigner's idea of Japan, but not reality. We saw a number of women dressed in traditional Japanese dress, cool cookware and home trinkets, and everything felt quiet but still alive. It was a nice little walk to the shrine. Then, we got there! I had been waiting to see this place since we started planning this trip. Jonathan had been there 3 years earlier with a BYU study abroad trip, so it was his second time there. I think at this point though, we were just thrilled we'd made it.

Jonathan and the Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, Japan.

How We Live in Kyoto, Japan

I feel like our first guesthouse in Kyoto deserved its own post. It was one of those places that upon first entering, I wondered if I'd made a grave mistake in booking a room here, but by the time we left, I loved it. 

We got there late at night, and we went into the door of a house. A small house at that. There were 3 people in the front room, talking and eating food, as we tried to cram into the entryway. We had 4 people, 2 with hiking backpacks, and one with a smaller backpack and a toddler in a stroller. We couldn't move around in the entry way, but we squished around and managed to get our shoes off and Jonathan followed the girl in charge to our room while I wrangled Peter our of his shoes and out of the stroller. The rooms seemed dark and squished at first, but once we learned our way around and saw it during the day, it felt different.

Peter playing with the fan in the front room while another guest makes breakfast in the very small kitchen. The entryway is just to the right of this picture and is about as wide as the kitchen.

Beccah, Peter and I followed to find Jonathan and went down a skinny hallway with windows on the left side leading to a very small courtyard area to hang clothes to dry, and sliding doors leading to rooms on our right.

Skinny hallway

Past the skinny hallway, the house opened up into a common room. There was a hair dryer on a little table, and a bigger table where people could eat or write. There was a sink and a fridge, and stairs leading to an upstairs. Luckily, we were on the main floor. I was not looking forward to any stairs after a long day of traveling. Our room was right across from the common room and right by the bathrooms. This was convenient for us, until we realized that meant we got to hear people walk by all night long. But, traveling tires you out, so really I only heard them for about ten minutes, and then I was fast asleep.

Common/eating area, fridge and sink to the left, our room to the right.

Our room looked just like this, except imagine 4 backpacks and a bunch of finger puppets, a ball or two, and a stuffed panda. The beds weren't too bad, but I'd also been sleeping on hard Chinese mattresses for the past year, so, nothing really seemed too bad by then. It's nice though to not have a bed that takes up floor space as well. 

Jonathan snuggling with his blanket. 

Peter and his blanket and half dressed for bed.

I didn't take pictures of the bathroom, but the toilet was separate from the shower. It felt like Russia to me. It was in a very small room all by itself. The shower was interesting. The room was small, but not cramped. But the "tub" was lowered into the floor by about 2-3 feet and it was really deep tub, but really small circumference. There was no shower curtain, just a shower head that you could hold and wash with. It was an interesting little room. It served its purpose, but was not fancy.

The last part I need to share about this guesthouse was that it was built for people my height :). I walked down the hallways without a care in the world. I fit into all of the rooms just fine. I could tell they were small, but it didn't bother me. My husband on the other hand...

Jonathan in the hallway, thanks goodness the door frame was wrapped soft!

Jonathan and Peter showing how they walk through the hallway.

Hahahaha. So, I guess if we move to Japan we will have to do some construction work first to get it husband ready. Either that or invest in lots of ice packs and soft things to cover everything low.

Overall, I loved staying here. Except for it being hard to find, it was great. The location was grand, ten minute walk to the metro, near a zoo and museum, few minutes walk to the bus stop, grocery store and many restaurants. The feeling of the guesthouse was great too! The owners were really helpful and friendly. Everyone who stayed there either kept to themselves or were chatty about things that they had seen and could give advice on how to get different places. Everyone there seemed really easy going. There were Americans, Irish, Koreans, Japanese and Russians. It was a great atmosphere. Everyone was good with Peter and no one seemed upset that the little man loved to go exploring. It we ever go back to Kyoto, I'd totally stay here again.