A Pilgrimage past pillars at Fushimi-Inari
There’s no more “The Plan / The Reality” sections since now we’re in uncharted territory. I have made absolutely ZERO plans for Kyoto and so far it’s been awesome. Well, it’s probably awesome if I didn’t weigh so much. I walked all the way up to the top and it was really tough. The only reason I did it is because there is this stone at the shrine where you make a wish, and then lift the stone, if the stone weighs more than you think, your wish will be hard to realize, if it weighs less, it will be easy to realize. So thusly I decided that my wish would not come true without hard work. Yes, the steel of tomorrow is forged in the fires of today and all that, but oh man my legs wanted to fall off by the end of the night. My fingers were swelling like sausages, I was suffering from dehydration, I had some shaved ice but it didn’t help enough. I struggled towards the end. There is a section with a 55 degree incline and stairs leading up and they’re narrow and it’s a bit of a cliff. It was really tough. I made it though!
Oh I will say… There’s a lot more people at the BOTTOM of the mountain than the TOP 😉
Here’s a bunch of beautiful pictures of the shrine and the monuments there. I followed all the purification rituals before approaching them as well. I caught someone who works at the shrine watching me while I was and they gave me a nod afterwards and I nodded back. There’s something to be said for that, but I don’t know what it is.
Mustering the Gusto at Kiyomizu-dera
After Fushimi-Inari, I was miserable as hell and my friend Steve was like, “let’s hit this other temple it’s just an hour of walking away.” And I wanted to die. So we walked to the train, walked from the train to the temple and it’s ANOTHER HILL. This one was like 25-30 degree incline for maybe half a mile. Then you get to the top and it’s a ton of stairs again. God help me.
I didn’t end up making it in. I sat at the top of the hill chugging 2 liters of water before those daunting stairs debating if they were worth climbing. Eventually, I mustered the gusto to climb them, but we only had half an hour before the temple closed and it had an entrance fee so we decided it wasn’t worth it. I took some pictures from the outside and I’m okay with not seeing it. I can simply Google it and 10 million instagrams will probably pop up showing me all the cool stuff I missed. I did do some Google translate on the signs outside and sat down and appreciated a shrine that was made to a college professor. It was nice, all in all.
Noodle House Kanae
For dinner I decided we should try going to a place called Noodle House Kanae. What a great choice. We got there 25 minutes before closing and ordered some ramen. Little did I know this guy was like, basing his entire business around a world renowned Wagyu restaurant and doing his own take on it with ramen. So we walk in, say “futari desu” (2 people) and the restaurant is absolutely dead, no one in there except a girl at the counter and the chef. So we use the machine, get the chili oil bowl (they have only 2 options for food, which at that point I realized it was gonna be a whole thing), then after my friend confuses the hell out of him by asking things in English, we eventually communicate that we like the spicy food and we’re seated. So they give us the hand napkin and an apron and I’m thinking “oh God, what is this” and eventually the food comes and there’s a whole set of instructions (I took a pic, I’ll link below). So, we follow the instructions to an extent and my friend spills the red vinegar a bit. This is just the first thing to go wrong in a symphony of errors.
Next, I grab the black garlic oil and try to pour it but the cap is on it so it just pours all inside the cap and I feel like an idiot. It’s like, sealed up in there. So I eventually finagle my way to getting it into the bowl, but then “mix mix mix” as he put it and it turns out you’re supposed to like, put it in this little bowl and dip the ramen into it lol. So now we’re onto like 3 mistakes.
Eventually, he brings over soy milk so we can pour it into the bowl and savor the full flavor of the sauces. To be honest, it was actually very good. Like, the beef tongue and the ramen was awesome. The music they were playing must have been the young girl’s because it was a bunch of bangers. Great stuff. I told them the food was meccha umai
Shooting Bar M4
My friend and I found this place where you could shoot airsoft guns in the bar and it was a ton of fun. Had a few drinks, shot some airsoft, had a great time. The aesthetics were like, kinda terrorwave paramilitary tacticool. It was kinda nice not gonna lie.
Round 1
Round 1 is an arcade, and it was great. I got to play that piano game again and level up my account, then Steve and I played some Mario Kart. Also a good time, I’m not gonna focus too much on it. They kicked us out at midnight though so we decided to find somewhere else.
8-bit Bar
This place was amazing. There was a live DJ who was dropping some absolute banger mixes, the drinks were all video game themed. They had a giant Game Boy and you could play SNES and stuff or Game Boy. It was awesome. So everyone was dancing and by the end of the night we were bouncing and whooping and just having a blast. At 2am my friend was like, “Alright, I’m done I think this place is closing” and so we left, but it turns out it WASN’T closing and I could have stayed there and danced all night until first train. Oh well. I got to take a 30 minute walk back to my hostel and witness some Shibuya Meltdown stuff. Drunk people wailing, throwing tantrums, passing out on the street. Wild times.
If I get to make it back there I would love to if they have a live DJ again. I told him “ii ongaku o tsukatta, tanoshikatta ne. honto ni arigatou” and he was so pleased. I mean I really did have a blast and he did make some good music. I probably butchered the Japanese but I know he absolutely got the gist because he said “ohhhh arigatou gozaimasu!” And it was such a good time. I loved it man.
Walking back at 2am…
God, I think I’ve walked back at 2am probably 3 or 4 times already this trip haha. It’s just been a lot of fun staying out, but last night I got to see some Shibuya Meltdown stuff in Kyoto. Some people stumbling, throwing tantrums and passing out in the street. No puking, but man… Lol partying hard for real.
Anyway, it’s getting late the next day and I gotta check out Nijo castle. So I’ll see you all tomorrow! Oh and total steps was like 28k yesterday, my feet hurt lmao.
Here’s some nice pics I took of random stuff in Kyoto.
