Journal lingqi's Journal: Janurary 08, 2003 5
Janurary 8th, 2002 (5:32pm)
--- continuing the adventure ---
A significant landmark immediately in view outside of Kyoto station is the Kyoto Tower. The tower itself is not particularly amusing, being quite a lot shorter than, say, the Seattle version (they look strikingly similar). However, hotels are named after the said tower; Right underneath it there is "Kyoto Tower Hotel," but if you walk right instead, and pass a small alley, you will come up to the "#2 Kyoto Tower Hotel," which is a whole lot cheaper (though, the price is doubled for double occupancy from the standard six thousand).
Another notable fact about Kyoto is that many streets actually have names! This is a welcomed change, though it is still difficult to become familiarized with it - since there are no numbers. People resort to using road intersections for landmarking directions.
By majority, I must say that we did not do as much as we could have in Kyoto. Here are the three major things accomplished while there:
1) visited the daimonji mountain (åæ-å--å±±) as a hiking trip
2) visited the emperial palace court thingy
3) visited some shops and restaurants.
I currently have no maps on me so I cannot talk about anything specific - so I will hold that off until tomorrow when I bring my references. Right now for the "random stupid stuff."
* In Kyoto there are visitors day-passes for the City Bus system and their subway system. Since JR pass only works on JR trains and the city bus seem to be a very good way of getting around (I tried the subway too), it might be a good idea. (I found out about this too late, unfortunately, so do not have any other information about it)
* Kyoto is surrounded my mountains. Mountains are full of shrines and temples. During new years shrines / temples have many people going around praying (and forigners siteseeing) - however they are not nearly as crowded as shopping centers in downtown Tokyo - so they would make an excellent candidate for a vacation spot.
* Osaka(åé) is very close to Kyoto, and I have found out (again too late) that it is called the "town of over-eating," due to the presence of many fine restaurants (I will definitely stop by next time!). Other near-by cities which I did not have a chance of visiting was Nagoya(ååå±) and Nara(å¥è) - both famous for their share of temples and other "cultural stuff."
I am running slightly late today so I won't be able to write more due to time constraints. Stopping here.
Misc. (Score:2)
This reminded me of Costa Rica, where there are no numeric addresses. Postal addresses are given as 100 m north of X intersection and they are even given as references to landmarks and landmarks that no longer exist!
On another note, National Geographic seems to have had a lot of Japan stuff lately. The most interesting one I've seen so far was about climbing Mt. Fuji. Since you're into hiking, is that on your to-do list?
definitely on the to-do list. (Score:2)
sadly I can't talk about "born in china and climbing *its* highest mountain," hehe...
Unfortunately, climbing season (for Mt. Fuji, anyway) is fairly short, for the summer monthes only. I arrived late so I will be making the trip sometimes next year. Even though the mountain is snow-covered year round, during the winter it would be near impossible to trek through it due to the extra snow.
As for Costa-rica, I seem to remember that there was another country (maybe it's costa rica after all?) that had no addresses after a natural disaster (earthquake?) stuck - people just started rebuilding because the government did not intervene in the rebuild process. All addressed were giving in terms of landmarks, and there are occurences like:
Hotel A writing "we are located 400m directly north of Restaurant B," while Restaurant B would say "We are 400m south of Hotel A."
The Post Office, after many undelivered mail and employees going postal (i am making the second part up) stepped in and everybody got addresses.
Few additional addons (Score:1)
there are quiet a few forigners in kyoto, but it really does get quiet a bit worse during holidays.
Your right about the station
and
Kyoto tower is ugly
Re:Few additional addons (Score:1)
Re:Few additional addons (Score:1)