Kyoto 1/3/08

Since I didn't bring my computer I am going to do 3 posts for each day

We took the bullet train today to Kyoto from Tokyo station. The train is really nice- smooth ride very comfortable seats. We saw Mount Fuji on the way. Everywhere you go it seems you get get great food- including the train station- we bought some rice balls and my favorite pork belly (braised in soy sauce) and it came with an egg- which they use extensively in the food here. Unlike train station food in the US- it is really good food here. Rice balls are basically the Japanese version of a sandwich- they are a ball of rice with something inside of it (fish, dried plum, sea urchin guts, tuna, etc) wrapped with a piece of seaweed. It took about 2.5 hours to get to Kyoto and the scenery on the way there was really beautiful- outside of the cities it is pretty mountainous. In Kyoto we stayed in a ryokan which is a traditional Japanese inn. The room is small and has no bed. The floor is composed of tatami mats which is what used to be in the floors in japanese houses (still have them if they have a Japanese room in their modern house). You eat dinner in your room- while wearing a yukata- japanese robe thingy (see below). So basically you sit in your small room on the floor (at a table) and are brought around 7-8 different courses of food. Each time the server gives you food and bows. It was quite the experience. The food was good and quite elaborate. Its a good thing I am more adventurous with food cause there was some pretty wild stuff- I am growing fond of these little dried fish- not sure what they are but its weird looking at their little eyeballs as you eat them. Also you are eating the whole thing- tail, skin, head, guts...I just don't think about it. After you eat they move the table and set up a futon on the floor to sleep on. The website for the ryokan is good- http://www.ikumatsu.com/
Before we ate we went to the Heian Shrine (Shinto). Outside of the temple there were all kinds of food stalls run by the Yakuza (Japanese mafia). The funniest thing is you can spot them easily- they wear the cheesiest outfits- kind of like they watched a rap video and loosely based their outfits on that. Anyway we ate a pancake sort of thing that had cabbage, noodles, bacon and other stuff in it. Then we had these little fish shaped cookie sort of things made with a small waffle iron thing that's in the shape of a fish and they are filled with sweet bean paste- they were really good. The shrine was quite interesting- see picture below

After this we went to the famous Kinkakuji temple- the Golden Pavillion. We timed it just right and the sun was setting and was shining on the temple- very impressive- see below