Day 5 – Kyoto Arrival

7.15AM, Tokyo Station – I’m just having a light breakfast while I wait for my bullet train to arrive. There are plenty of people milling about as today’s the start of golden week. So all in all, I had a nice time in Tokyo. I slept from 6PM – 6AM again so that’s hopefully me well and truly set to Japanese time. I’ve just boarded my N700 bullet train. It’s very spacious and I’ve got a window seat which is perfect. I’d be interested in seeing just how busy the non-reserved carriages get.

It’s around two hours and a half journey – it is like flying, but on the ground and with first class room – I can only imagine what the Green cars are like. Kyoto is the second last stop. I feel like I’ve already seen enough to go home and have justified the trip. To think I have another 5 cities to see is very exciting. Oh, and I didn’t get a big earthquake – Booo.

7.53AM, Shin-Yokohama – That’s cool, you can turn the seats 180 degrees to face each other in case you’re traveling as a group. The ride is extremely smooth and fast. The two seats next to me are still empty. I hope there are some Europeans or Americans at my hostel, I’m getting a bit bored of being in silence all the time!

How nice, we’re now traveling directly along the coast. There’s a fair few tunnels which is a shame as it’s a beautiful view. When the train tilts it feels like a roller-coaster. I’ve just been reading my guide to Kyoto – it’s spread into different districts which are all easily reached. I’ll do a few things in the station area today as my legs are very stiff.

I need to see what my tour is supposed to see, so I don’t overlap when I meet my sister’s friend’s friend Estuko on the 3rd. I also need to visit Bic Camera when at the station to buy some more memory cards. I’ve just checked my money – I’ve spent around 15,000 yen which is around £30 a day.

I’ve found food very reasonable and stuck with blue collar noodle restaurants at around 5 – 7 pound a dish, which were large and more than enough; tasty as well.

The rest has gone on drinks (a lot of soft drinks) and temple / shrine entry which are usually around 2/3 quid each. I’ve obviously paid for my travel already with JR trains – Kyoto will require a subway / bus pass each day, it’s around 2,000 for two days. I’ll do that the first two days to give my legs some rest. Or maybe I’ll walk, depends how I feel when I’m moving. It’s around an hour and a quarter till I arrive.

9.36AM, Gifu-Hashima – Two more stops, England really needs to get some bullet trains – I can only imagine what the cost of them would be in rip-off Britain.

10.20AM, Kyoto Station – I’ve arrived! I’m going to go get some early lunch at a place recommended in the guidebook in the station – it supposedly does some really good breaded pork. I need some fibre as well.

11.20AM, Waco – Wow, buying some memory cards and finding the restaurant took me 40mins. The memory cards are half the price over here, so I bought another 3, giving me 3,000 more photos.

The restaurant was on the department store’s 11th floor and specialises in Tonkatsu, fried pork. I went for 120 grams with rice, miso soup and pickles. It certainly looks tasty and costs around a tenner, which is surprisingly good value. It seems the general opening hours for resteraunts and shops is 11AM over here.

11.35PM, Kyoto – I went to see three local temples today to give my feet a bit of a rest. One had lovely gardens, one was impressive for its size and the third had an American-Japanese monk who stopped me and did a talk for an hour about the history, religion and architecture. He was very friendly – Ray – and it was nice having a conversation in English.

After that I went back to the hostel, which is very good – clean, safe, nice staff – and made friends with an English bloke called Tim. We grabbed some dinner, came back and then got talking to a couple girls, Winchester Uni students, before a Canadian girl joined in the fun.

I’ll probably hang out in the evenings with them the next couple days. The bar staff are all Japanese, but they speak incredibly good English and have a wicked sense of humour.

All in all, a good day.

EDIT: 11th June 2011 – Turns out Anna and Rachel did indeed become friends on Facebook. Hi Girls!

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Tagged: diary, Japan 2011, Kyoto, marco fiori, Shinkansen, travel guide, Trip