06/03/2013

Woke up about 5:30am, so packed up quietly as I move to Arishiyama later today.    Went down to take a nice soak in the communal bath at 6:00am when it opened.

At 6:30 AM I walked over to the morning prayer/chant and watched it.   Here are both some photos as well as a short video:

Here's a video of part of the session:

After the morning chant I headed over to the "fire ceremony building" -- here are some more pictures as well as a video or two:

Here's another video I took :

Video of Fire Ceremony

After the fire ceremony I went back to my room where breakfast was all laid out and waiting.   Similar to yesterday -- nice and healthy!

Finished packing and came down to computer area to update the above blog info before I checkout.   Train leaves koyasan around 10:40am and its only 8:45am right now... 

Actually ended up going early and catching a 9:45am tram/train back to Nanba.   Here's a picture of the "tram" thing before our descent to the train station at the base of the Koyasan station (about a 5 minute slow ride down -- very steep)

Train ride back to Osaka/Namba took about an hour and a half plus one transfer.   No big deal, just the reverse of what I did before plus one extra station stop at the end.    Once I got off I was quite hungry -- was about noon.    The first place I stopped at had something calling my name -- Tiramisu! -- but not a normal one (this one was cherry as well).    But I am not complaining:

But wait there's more.   I decided to be a barbarian and stop by the Takashima store (if I spelled that right).   Big department store whose basement is all food.    The problem is that in Japan you're supposed to get the food and take it home, not really eat it there (or on the street).   If you do they look funny at you (I don't care!)   But then they don't have garbage cans anywhere!   Grr... So I bought some food and ate it then walked into the Swisshotel and the nice concierge took the trash from me and helped explain (when I asked) that yes, I was being a barbarian!

Anyway, I bought some MORE dessert (see upper middle - the strawberry shortbread cake below) and some tempura for lunch today:

After lunch and the nice Swisshotel handoff of the trash I navigated the subway and train system for about another hour and twenty minutes and got myself to Arashiyama, the town of my next two night stay.  

Arashiyama is much more "suburb" or "rural" than big city osaka but more city like than Koyasan.   Its a nice "in the middle" location!    The rykoan I'm staying at is a modern one (literally built a few years ago if I recall correctly).    Its right across a small street from the train station, a 30 second walk.    I checked in -- the guy at the desk had broken english - and locked my shoes in a locker after removing them in the greeting area of the lobby.   I was also instructed to pick out a yukata in the size/style that I liked in a small alcove next to the shoe storage alcove.   

That accomplished I headed upstairs to the 4th (top) floor and found my room.   Here's a peek:

Like all japanese toilets this was had some hightech features (that I stayed well away from!).  The little control panel you see above on the right has something to do with bidet functions -- best avoided by the untrained!

However, this one had an extra "feature" which was odd, funny, and useful.    The top of the toilet tank was also a little mini sink for washing your hands after using the toilet.    Er, at least I hope that's what it was for.  Here's a closeup - when you "flush" (lever on side to right) the top water flows for a while.

I got unpacked and went down to the public bathing portion of the property.    It was quite nice -- had yukata/cloth storage lockers, what I've now come to accept as the standard 'cleaning stations' to shower off, soap up, and shower off, and then a series of steam (wet and dry) rooms, cold baths, and a huge hot  bath to soak in.    Of course, no pictures allowed, but still very nice.   There was also an outdoor section, but it had a sign which I am guessing meant they were cleaning it or something -- so I stayed inside for this round.

After a nice soak I went back to my room and changed to outdoor clothes to take a walk before dinner.

Up the hill from my ryokan is a temple of some sort.    There were LOTS of stairs leading up to it... I followed a group of three tourists up the stairs, but it gives some size/length perspective:

I decided to walk down and across a waterway bridge to the other (more touristy) side of town before dinner from here.   Here's some photos:

Here are some photos as I crossed over the bridge, both of the view up and downstream and of some of the interesting locals I saw.

I took a long walk along a commerical road filled with stores and restaurants but go back tomorrow and take more pictures as my battery was running a bit low.    I did manage to stop and get some frozen tofu (probably a mistaken before the big dinner I'm going to have, but i was very hot -- its hot and humid again since I left the mountains!)

Anyway headed back to the ryokan -- took some pictures along the way.  Apparently there is a "universal" set of known characters that cross all international boundaries!

Got back to take a quick shower in my room and than headed off to dinner.    This dinner was part of this ryokan experience, though they really have very few english speakers.   They also assumed I could not handle sitting (traditional japanese table) so I was placed way in a back area where there were some US style chairs with much "so sorry"ing on their part.    Frankly, it was fine with me and I was not in any way offended.    This was by far the largest (most courses) dinner I've had anywhere and I never actually got around to the rice side.    They have an interesting policy on beverages as well -- infinite refills but only one glass at a time BUT you can swap out what you want to drink.   I had two ginger ales but also for my last round had some sake.   I was hoping for a small shot, but got a 6-shot pouring container of which I managed to down 5 shots.   Don't ask!

Since the entire menu was in Japanese and the waitress did not speak english I will have to ask one of my sushi chef friends to translate at some point.   In the mean time here's my guess at a blow-by-blow

There was also an "ingredient" plate in the background which was clearly to be used later in conjunction with a heating (boiling) element and broth:

The waitress came by with what looked like a milky substance to drink -- turned out it was some type of fish chowder (reminded me of clam chowder taste);

I was then instructed to boil the raw ingredients into the broth for later.   Turns out the protein both sliced and in the bambo "spoon" is duck!   So its a duck soup that you make yourself.   Never done that before!

A plate of sashimi then appeared...

Meanwhile the duck soup was ready...

The waitress kept bringing things too!   A seafood custard or something to that effect:

And some smoked fishes...

Sometime around this time I also had a small palette cleanser of a single bite of sorbet appear:

And then tempura!   They asked what kinds I wanted to I just asked for eggplant, shirmp and squid.   But I was allowed to ask for much more (and more if I wanted it)... just too full!

Miso and two side dishes of potatos-in-dark-miso and small beans with flakes of bonita showed up too, along with the typical plum and daikon for the miso:

Let's not forget the sake!  I really thought I was just getting a single shot -- not a 6 shot (small):

And dessert - some milky something or other plus watermelon and some other fruit (maybe mango?  not sure)

Sadly, not enough room left for any of the rice... I might try again tomorrow night now that I know what is in store for me!

I waddled up to my room and passed out for a few hours before typing this into the blogsite.   I did get up and get a fruit juice from one of those vending machines to try and fend off the possible "post-sake" hangover that I might get... so far so good...

Its now 10:20pm so I'm going to pass out again until breakfast tomorrow (I ordered japanese style, but I sure hope its less volume than the above dinner or I will explode!)