A couple of charms

Yello everybody,

Last night I stayed at bAKpAK youth hostel in Kyoto, where I met an interesting american named Ray(he works for the big computer company accenture in management despite being only 20) and we went out in search of Kyoto night life. We didn`t find much night life but we did find a really cool bar(with the interesting name `Sex on the moon`) where they did cocktails, mixers, sake, shochu(another japanese alcohol) as well as beer and wine, with all drinks for an amazingly cheap 300 yen(around $3). We also met a young Japanese university student by the name of Takuya who could speak good english, he was also the captain of his universities aikido club(old traditional form of martial arts). Anyway after a good night we went to the hostel.

Today I signed out of the hostel went and checked my large bag into baggage storage at Kyoto station(where my highway bus is starting from tonight) and went down to Inari and the Inari Fushimi shrine. Inari Fushimi is dedicated to the god of rice(very important in Japan) and is the biggest, most famous and the head temple of its kind. The most distinguishing feature of the temple is the fact that it`s on a large hill with 4 kilometers of Torii gate covered tracks(a Torii gate is the traditional gate you see at most shrines in japan, it`s orange/red with 2 round poles and a trapezoidal beam connecting them at the top). The other thing that you notice is the amount of foxes(kitsune) statues, Kitsune were considered sacred messengers/friends/servants of the rice god. Anyway I wandered around a lot(getting partially lost at least once) but I managed to cover the entire structure and got to the very top of the shrine(283 meters up apparently), where there was not much of a view(blocked by trees and buildings) and a lot of small shrines/statues. It was a great temple to see the thousands and thousands of orange wooden gates/arches are very impressive and if you like walking this is definitely a good place to visit(if you`re very unfit or have an injury of some kind I wouldn`t recommend it though, you`re almost constantly climbing up and down stairs). On my way out I bought a small fox shaped silver charm from a miko(priestess) of the temple.

Afterwards I caught a train back to Kyoto station, where I had a lunch of Okonomiyaki(japanese pancake/pizza thing, which was quite nice). Then I went to see Kiyomizudera(which is my favorite kyoto temple and which i`ve now visited all 3 times i`ve come to Kyoto), I originally planned to go and see it at night because I saw a 6:30 to 9:00 Kiyomizudera at night with full lighting event poster, however due to the fact the baggage room closes at 8pm and the fact today has been overcast and spitting(making rain a high probability) I decided just to go earlier. As always it`s a beautiful place and a fantastic view. On my way out I bought a temple charm shaped like the traditional Japanese schoolbag, which was supposed to be for luck with studies(I thought it was appropriate since i`m trying to go back to university next year).

Anyway i`m now back around the station area and i`m going to go and pick up my bag in a short while afterwhich i`ll have to wait till about 9:30pm when my bus leaves for Tokyo(it arrives at about 6:15 in the morning). Tommorrow i`m in Tokyo staying at the Sakura Youth Hostel in Asakusa(a great place that I stayed in during my first trip to Tokyo last year at christmas time).

I`m using a pc in a small internet cafe so i`m unable to upload any photos tonight, I will upload some tommorrow night though. Also i`ve uploaded all of my Hiroshima photo`s to my Facebook page, so anyone who`s on facebook or wants to join can see them, any friends, family, friends or family of friends and family and any casual aquaintance of mine from any stage of my life is welcome to become my friend on facebook. I`ll upload the kyoto photo`s to facebook as well when I get the chance.

EDIT: added a couple of pictures, see the rest on facebook.