Places

April 21st
The bad part about sleeping in the living room of a youth hostel is the wake up call. Lights come on at 7:30, but people wake up at 6:00 to get their morning cup. I caught up with Dan and Eileen before they left and accompanied them in the blisteringly hot sun to an open air market in Kyoto. The small cluttered stalls sold everything from octupus balls to samurai swords. It smelled like old clothes left in a dusty bin made from soy sauce. The ramen I ate for breakfast was fantastic and just spicy enough to leave me sweating.

After saying goodbye to Ben and Eileen I hung out in the train station waiting for Yifei while enjoying the local cuisine. When she arrived we exited the station heading east and climbed tiny brick laid streets discovering two giesha shuffling to an appointment along the way. From there we climbed a good number of steps to arrive at the top of a shrine overlooking the city. As we climbed down and had lunch at a small cafe serving bread-like things, I discovered that Yifei had her heart set on staying in a well known love hotel, so you dont get the wrong idea this particular love hotel was famous in Japan for being the cleanest and most well respected love hotel in the Kansai region. Unfortunetly it was booked solid. (That does not mean I will leave Japan without staying in one mind you. That day will come, and it will be relished, hot dog style.) Wondering around some more we discovered a near deserted temple, very rare in Kyoto, and had a look around. The monks were practicing their music, so we sat down and had our own private concert of music that made a dying cat sound like Bach. No, It really wasnt that bad, and the steady breeze more than made up for the incessent moose noise.

That night I stayed at an actual hotel, so as not to fall victim to snoring roomates, bad smells, and 6am wake up calls. A boy does need his beauty rest.