Wait, how much?

11,000yen each. That's 130$CAD. Per person. I had already researched this, but for some reason, hearing it in person, knowing we took out a total of only 50,000yen from the ATM with a 12$ service fee, this hurt my ears. Unfortunately there's no getting away from it if we want to get to Kyoto from Fuji Lakes. Thank you Visa, you made it feel ever so slightly better. It's like invisible money, you feel like you aren't spending a dime, it only hurts when you pay it at the end of the month. Every month, I feel like my computer screen and I get into a disagreement, I swear and it just stares back at me.

Granted, these bullet trains are incredibly useful. We crossed the country in 2 hours. Hearing and feeling those trains wiz by you is ridiculous. I had arranged for a later check in at the hostel, they usually close at 7pm but I said we'd get there between 8 and 9pm. 8.38pm, and no later. We arrived at the address my Google map pointed too. There's no English letter on the building. We see its some sort of public bath facility. Let's try. We walk, take our shoes off (no shoes allowed indoors anywhere), and ask for the hostel Tohgetsu. He nods his head, signals to follow him, takes us to an unmarked door in the back of the bath's common area where a new space opened up onto the hostel itself. Apparently there was a side door we missed.

In comes the strong smell of man body odour. Don't know why, assuming a combination of men staying here and the baths upstairs, but b.o. smell all around us. The location was on point, in an interesting area and around the corner from a subway station. The washroom were squeaky clean, shower is still better then mine at home... But the smell and the lack of linen on our beds was not so fun. We've gotten used to a certain level of luxury in our hostels so far, so this was off-putting. Two nights, easy peasy. The included breakfast was 2 toast with tea or coffee. Oh the luxury!

Kyoto is known as the cultural/spiritual capital of Japan, it has over 1600 temples and shrines. Our travel book, which we bought the day before leaving and read part of on the plane, has an entire chapter on Kyoto. To sum the city up, we felt like we were just going from one temple or shrine to the next. The city itself wasn't that interesting. At least not to us. Being the weekend here, and local tourism being so big, there are now hoards of tourists doing the same stops we are. We bought a day pass for the bus which came in such good handy. FYI - buses here, you get on in the back door, sit, and exit at the end of your trip from the front door, paying on your way out. And there's a change machine right next to the driver to provide you with the exact change necessary. They really do think of everything. Our little map was easy to follow, we would hop on for a couple stops and back off at the next temple. The bus actually called out the stop in English with the names of the closest attractions. Clearly tourists come here. So far in Japan, the English has been extremely limited, but here the bus tells me when to get off to see certain temples. And don't think like we did - these aren't 5 minute stops along the way where you just look at the pretty temple and leave, the temple grounds are huge, there's multiple buildings to look at, and sometimes so many tourists we would have to follow a slow moving line across the grounds. We took on average an hour at every stop. Our original draft to visit 15 temples on an easy route to follow was quickly revisited and turned to 6. 6 massive, intricate, beautiful and most importantly unique temples. They all had a little something different. Some older, some wooden, some newly painted in bright colors, some with high pagodas, some with huge prayer halls... Lots of walking, lots of bus maneuvering, lots of pictures that will look exactly the pictures everyone else takes and yet its so pretty you can't help but to follow suit and snap.

There's hired "people traffic cops" (at least that's what we call them) holding those airport control wands that light up red, telling everyone which way to walk and where it is safe so stop for a photo. The funniest thing I found is just how well everyone listened. It truly is a respectful, disciplined country. Jack had a little difficulty with it all. Her rebellious side was crying a little. I on the other hand was perfectly content following the line and doing as I was told. Easy peasy. At one temple, you had to pay to get in, and as soon as you hit the gate the line up started, and you followed it around the main temple, around the hall, to the pagoda, down this path in the forest that leads you to the second pagoda... All following this line of Asian tourists with selfie sticks. Good thing the temples are worth seeing. And the views were spectacular.

A little "templed out", we decided to take the bus out to the "Philosopher's walk", hoping to get some of it done before the sun set. By the end of our 20 minute bus ride, it was pitch black outside. The sun here sets incredibly fast. Cute lighting along the path allowed us to keep going down this scenic little stone way following a little canal in back residential streets. We were looking for a break from the crowds and noise which is exactly what we got. No temples, no one around, not even shops or restaurants, just walking along a path with nice trees and water flowing next to us following the stones in the ground.

We then went to the Gion district, famous for its nice restaurants and potential Geisha spotting, but what we thought would be busy interesting streets for people watching, was actually quite calm and empty so we moved on to Pontocho Alley. Now there's the liveliness we were prepared for! A lovely little area of busy alleyways filled with restaurants and bars mixing into a main boulevard of shops. Here we spotted a Geisha! Full kimono white face wooden flipflops classic Geisha, just in time for her to pop into a restaurant, assuming her guests were waiting for her. We did the entire alley of Pontocho, and then some, looking for a cool place for a drink. Considering my lack of cash, we were limited on where to go, keeping in mind "tableing fees" that we learnt about the night before (apparently our seat cost 500yen per person, no reason). I was looking for a certain atmosphere, something with a good vibe we could people watch from, and was having difficulty finding it. We finally stumbled upon a place I was really happy with, tried to enter and was told it was full. I could see an empty table but not many so ok, that's fine. We kept going and magically found another place we really liked, entered, and the lady asked if we spoke Japanese. We said no, confused, and she said "sorry, full". Oh... I get it... We're white. I read about this in our handy travel book, and apparently the cooler, more "elite" places, don't let foreigners in. Apparently we're dirty or something. All but giving up, I finally find a standing bar with no tableing fee (get it? 'cuz we're standing!) and pop in for a night cap. A stool at the bar freed up and we got Jack a seat since her ankle was dying (unhealed sprain from a YEAR ago), which left only me standing. Let's just say, after an entire day of walking around, enjoying a beer while still standing just isn't the same. At one point a seat I got to sit down too and the beer was Japanese so all in all, good.

After 2 nights in our luxurious sweat smelling hostel, today we planned to head to Kobe. Since all I really needed to experience there was Kobe beef, we only needed to arrive for dinner time, which left plenty of time for more temples in Kyoto! So on Kyoto day 2, too change it up, we actually took a street car our of town to Arashiyama. A really cute little town with old wooden houses, nothing above 2 stories, a quaint bridge and where we ignored this UNESCO temple and instead went down the Bamboo walking trail. About a 20 minute walk from one end to the other along this really great bamboo lined walkway. And of course, by the time we were done, hoards of tourists were starting it. It's still the weekend. So we head back into Kyoto for one final temple, this one because I saw my friend Lorraine's photo of Kunkaku-ji the Golden Pavilion and had to see it. Turns out, her photo, like mine, blocked out the line of tourists I was following. You have to wait behind a crowd of Japanese tourists for a spot to open up which allows you to move to the front to take your photo. Still - the temple was absolutely breath taking. My favorite for far. Gold covered pavillon, quite literally. Gorgeous, with beautiful gardens surrounding it. You just have to ignore the others around you, and follow the "people traffic cops".Read more