Imperial city of Kyoto

If you want you can spend the rest of your life in Tokyo and still find new things to see and do everyday but I’m have limited time here so I aimed for the former capital, Kyoto. The metro system may be confusing in Tokyo but Shinshansen (the highspeed railway) was really awesome. Really easy to buy ticket however it would be even more cheaper if I bought the tickets from outside of Japan. Plenty of room and comfortable seats, Its not recommended to have much luggage but that’s not a problem for me and my little backpack easily fitted on the compartment over my seat. According to the net you can see Mt Fuji from the train but I fell asleep and missed it even that the lady in the seat next to me had a small baby. Ten thumbs up for the control they have on their babies and the train, well its like the opposite of going by train in Sweden.

In kyoto I decided to try out Nishiki market. Nishiki market is a huge food market and besides selling raw food they have plenty of cooked and let you buy samples if you want to try something. On my way to the market I found some temples and Shosei-en Garden, Japanese are famous for the gardens so why not check it out? It was really an marvelous park and even if I was more or less in the middle of the city it was so quite, calm and relaxing. Really beautiful and I didn’t even mind that it drizzled. Unfortunately my photo skills are not good enough to give it a fair show but t least I tried to.

I made it to the Nishiki market before they closed down and here you could find anything that you can possible eat and some more stuff. Everything mixed from 5-star restaurants to a hole in the wall. It is kind of a tourist trap for sure but it was really fun to try to eat everything, don’t ask me what I ate though cause I have no idea.

 

Kyoto – part two

A remarkable number of people ask how I live here in Japan. Do you stay in one of hose small cubes where you have to crawl in and back out. No, I don’t and I don’t have any plans for doing it either. Tonight I however stayed in a Ryokan which is a traditional inn originated from the 16-century. Tatami floor, sliding doors, communal bath and a bed…which is not like my ordinary bed. It felt kind a weird to more or less sleep on the floor but I slept really good and quite nice to take a bath, small talk to the owners and drink  cup of tea. It may be more expensive than an ordinary hotel but for a night or two I really recommend it!

The day was spent in Kyoto, the city is located really nice in a valley surrounded by green mountains and towards the afternoon when I felt that I explored the city I climbed Kyoto Tower and yikes, the city never ends?!? Anyway it feels like I seen the “must do” regarding my limited time here so I jumped on the shinksansen for my next stop, Hiroshima.

A bit surprised and very confused I realized that in Hiroshima you travel by tram, not metro. That’ s not a problem except that its kind a hard to hear or read which is the next stop then you don’t speak or read Japanese. I confess my pulse raised for a moment but then I noticed that I’m still above ground and can use google maps, success!  I got of the tram just outside my hotel and it couldn’t be better but come Hiroshima, please use Latin letters on the signs too!