A Japanese Summer: Chapter Six (ii)

"...In Kyoto, when you walk on the street,
every corner... every street, you will find Japan."

With a scenery as such, you kind of expect a samurai to walk right pass you, and yet it will still feel so right. Lost in time. Back to the Edo era. Well, we did get the next closest thing, Geisha! *grins*

But remember it was still lunch from where we left off over here. And our Gion Tour was scheduled in the evening, so we were pretty much still on our own throughout the afternoon. Like the young travellers that we are, we hopped on the bus and headed towards Kyoto's most iconic architecture, Kiyomizu-Dera. *note: the slope*

It was a long walk up from where we got off the bus but a walk was always never just a walk when there's so much to see.

The first sighting of what's going to be breath-taking views one after another. *note: the stairs*

People-picture time!
It's always an exchange gesture between other tourists. Hahaha...

"Can you please take a picture of us?"

"No problem!"

*clicks*

"Can you do the same for us?"

*clicks*

"Thanks!"

*smiles*

Lookie at the houses behind, we're definitely at higher grounds.

*Note: more stairs!* It's all serious exercise wei!

If you read Kanji or Chinese, you'll know the big red word that reads (缘: yuán) which means "fate" or "predestined affinity". Heh.

So it's no surprise to find all types of charms for relationaship. ^^;;

Somewhere along our climb upwards, we met Usagi-sama. At least that's what I thought when I was there. Now that I'm blogging about it, I finally saw the word (えんむすび: enmusubi) on the mallet I'm holding. Went googled and turned out the word means "marriage". AHAHAHAHA... Such ignorance! That's the thing about knowing how to read the words but totally clueless about the meaning.

Finally. The famous scene you'll see on postcards, movies, etc.



Of course, it's necessary to stamp our faces there. LOL.

*stamped stamped*

Ah... listen to the crickets... listen to nature. Admire the view.
*hearts*



Break time! It's mid-summer wei, so dem hot! And we were running low on water supply. *dies*


Nothing like a refreshing bowl of... of... jelly stuff. HAHAHA. No, it's not memory that failed me. It's our ignorance. Had no idea what exactly we were eating, it's just that everyone there was enjoying it as well. So we figure we can't really go wrong with that. XD

On our way down, we met them. Them being Taiwan tourists. Haha. They had payed for a total Geisha make-over and was strolling the streets of Kyoto. Ah... oh well, we're budget travellers with no money to lavish on such get-up. *sigh*

After that we went on a crazy quest in search of the designated meet-up place for the Gion Tour. And the funniest thing was we knew we were in the right area and was asking a lady for direction. Poor lady was as clueless as us about the place. DOT. And all this while, we were standing next to building while asking her. HAHAHAHA. And and... guess who found the place in the end? ME! Me and my survival Japanese knowledge saw that big kanji word on top of the building and actually recognised it. I was pointing upwards "There! There!" and the lady was like "Ahh.... " and learnt something new together with us. Hahaha... it was a moment of "achievement" on our end. *grins*

Meet Tet. Sounds so Ang Mor right?
It's short for Tetsuya. Hahaha... works both ways. I like.

Me and Cubbie were the only two Asian looking gals in the group with another guy seemingly having a tinge of Asian blood in him but speaks very Ang Mor. Turned out he hailed from US. That explains the American slang. He was also the only one that actually talked to us... or to everyone else for that matter. Probably caused he was on a solo trip whereas everyone else seemed to be in pairs or groups. Everyone else just stuck with those close to them. Us included. Shy lah, shy lah. Both of us are just not so out-there enough. *sigh* (Out of topic: Cubbie... I don't remember the guy's name.)

Ah... wait! On to Tet-san. Tet asked us where we were from and we told him we're from Malaysia! And guess what... he started speaking Malay to us! Woot?!? *10 points to Tet for being such an awesome individual*

Us: Wow! You know how to speak Malay!

Tet: Ya... I used to work in Malaysia.

*Us in another "Woot?" moment*

Tet: Quite famous... big company. PERODUA!

*blinks*

Us: Perodua! That's a real big company! HAHAHA...

That's when we decided "Must take picture with Tet-san". MUST! Hahaha.. thick face also must ask someone help us take a picture. XD

See see! That's our group following Tet. Haha.


Hah! The river. The river!

*cough cough*

This is where they shot the movie "Memoirs of Geisha".

I WAS HERE.
No. I did not watch the movie.

*fails*


This shot is for the guys. Japanese girls in yukata set in old town Kyoto, giggling away. Now say thank you. XD



Welcome to Gion. A district of Kyoto, Japan.
It's also one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in Japan.

"The geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term geiko means essentially "a child of the arts" or "a woman of art."" - explanation pinjam-ed from wikipedia XD


Geiko School. Yes. There is a school exclusively for this. In fact, nowadays it's like going to college. Students are required to finish their conventional studies in school (up to high school)before signing up for a Geisha School.


"Support your favourite geisha." ^^;;

Each fan has a specific geisha's name written. And it is an unwritten rule that once you pick your geisha, she will be the one to serve you from then on. And you are not to find another other than her. It's somewhat a means of respect to the geisha.

Geisha's accessories. Expensive stuff. And the only maker in town.

I can go on and on about Geisha but I'm worried about the credibility of what I know. So why don't you head over to Google and discover them on your own. *smiles* You'll find some really really interesting stuff.

Mr Moon finally making an appearance.
And the tour was coming to an end.




Tet-san's "closing speech". Hehehe... and if you listen closely enough to catch what he is saying you'll hear that quote I wrote up there in the beginning of the post. I am thankful I managed to record that part. Touching memories.

Took this mesmerising shot on the bridge while we were on our way back to our hotel. YES! It's another loooooong walk again. See that bridge over the other side, that's the one we walked pass in the afternoon and now we're walking on this one to head back. No wonder I looked thin and tanned after my two-week-trip. Hahaha... god knows how many kilometres we walked each day. ^^;;;

I think somewhere along the way, we gave up and took the train. Hahaha...

And come on lah, after all that exercise... it's no wonder we're hungry! So we headed over to McDs located just at the corner of the street from our hotel and experienced Japanese McDs!

Ebi-Filet! HAHAHA... it's Prawn Burger wei!

Excuse the messy and exhausted me.

Anyway, Japanese McDs passed with flying colours! We loved it so much, we went back there again for breakfast. HAHAHA... but that's another post to come. *yawns*

Next: *god knows when* Ferry rides, gigantic Tori gate, juicy Oysters!