It's a win-win-win situation

I've got a lot of posts about Japan. If you want to read the adventure in order, start here: 1. Konnichi wa 2. Tokyo 3. Kyoto 4. More Kyoto I'll hopefully have more posts up soon.

Tuesday we hit a few more sites in Tokyo and then left for Kyoto. We took the JR train and arrived there about 1.5 hours later. We found our hostel and started sightseeing. It was too late to see and do much but we were able to visit a paper lantern park and strolled around Gion - the Geisha district. We searched everywhere but we didn't see one Geisha. Apparently they were all at some evening, nightly show. Since that was a bust, we decided we'd eat dinner and just enjoy the night. You can't go to Japan and not try their Ramen. They have a museum dedicated to this food. We visited a department store where they have "Ramen Street". Tons of different styles of ramen - who knew there were so many ways to change this basic noodle dish? Our friend Yoshi, from the hostel, told us to try a specific restaurant. Ordering ramen is tricky in Japan. We saw a line, so we just stood in it and figured we'd be seated soon enough. Well we kept seeing people put money in a ven

Today would be our whirwind adventure in Kyoto. We got up early and starting our journey we were assaulted with warm temperatures and awful humidity the minute we left our hostel. Sanjunsangendo - the temple with 1001 golden Kannon statues - was our first stop (maybe a 20 minute walk) and we were already wet from the humidity. The inside of the temples were okay, but it was the temple grounds that I found beautiful. So many trees, ponds, mini shrines - it was just gorgeous. Our next stop was Ginkakuji - a Silver Pavilion with a neat Zen garden. Again - gorgeous grounds. I'm pretty sure I'll have a mini Zen garden when I own a house. We then headed further up to Kiyomizu Temple (pure water temple). The walk to Kiyomizu isn't a bad walk, but when it's hot and humid it seems like the longest walk of your life. The tempuratures were probably in the low 80's but with 80% + humidity, that's a lot for a desert dwelling person to handle. These grounds were again gorgeou

Since I was delayed a day, I missed out on visiting and staying at the Tokyo temple, but I still got to see it and even use the restrooms inside (heated toilets and bidet!). We visited Asakusa that afternoon/night and were able to see a giant paper latern that leads to Senso-ji - Japan's oldest buddhist temple. We enjoyed a nice night of walking around and then headed to our hostel. Tonight we were staying in a capsule hostel. Capsule hostels are basically small little tube like bed chambers. They are cheap and popular in Japan. For one night it wasn't too bad, but one night is more than plenty. The bathrooms were Japanese bath-house style (no privacy) and they offer traditional Japanese toilets (floor) or western style for us foreigners. The next day we went to an English speaking ward in Japan and then headed off to see the Imperial Palace grounds. You can't actually go onto the grounds of the Imperial Palace, but you can walk around the outer lying park. From there we he

Since I can't be brief about anything, I'm warning you now that there will be several posts for my Japan trip. You can read all of them, none of them, or just scan them. This first story isn't about Japan exactly, but the adventure of just getting there. My arrival to Japan was delayed by a day. The initial plan was that we'd meet up at the airport since I was scheduled to arrive about two hours after my friends landed (coming in from Ohio), and then we'd all head out together to our hotel. Well, after sitting for four hours on my plane, taxiing 4 times, deboarding for a "brieft period of time so the situation could be addressed" I was finally informed that my flight was cancelled and I wouldn't be leaving till the next day. I was mad and slightly anxious as I thought about how I'd meet my friends. I was also beyond tired due to two dramamine (I get motion sickness pretty easily) and also two doses of codeine laced cough syrup (I got pretty sick 3