We decided it was too late to hit Gion, we’ll do it another night as we need to book a decent restaurant for a kaiseki-ryori meal. Instead we went for a wander and ended up back at the food courts at the satation, at a tepanyaki bar where we had okonomiyaki. Was a little dissapointed that it was cooked at a counter then brought to the hot plate at our table, rather than our cooking it ourselves.

After we decided to go for a beer, and wound up at a recommended izayaki round the corner from the ryoken. We were just going to order drinks, but okonomiyaki is only small so a few small plates appeared in front of us. This joint was really friendly so I can see us ending up back there.

I do have one slight worry with these izayaki and their yakitori. While the food is cooked, the texture is always as if the chicken is raw, so I keep expecting the worst.

In our original plans it was going to be about half an hour to Himeji, 2 hours going round the castle, then half an hour back, giving us part of the afternoon to go round Kyoto. Slight under-estimation.

Alas it’s mainly the Nozomi trains that stop at Himeji – the very high speed ones the JR Railpass does not cover, net result ebing we had to wait about 40 minutes for a slow Kodama train (once an hour). Secondly it should take ~80 minutes. We encountered a rare occurence – our train was early at Himeji – almost un heard of.

We get to the station and can see the castle, Himeji-Jo, straight away. Even from a distance it’s impressive. Once we got a lot closer, Dave came out with the statement It does not look that steep. The place is grand, expansive, and full of fellow tourists, though mainly Japanese. You climb up through the steep layers until you get to a parade ground, and then the keep. The main donjon is 5 stories high and very impressive from the outside. Inside it was interesting, bhut there was not much. Some how I still managed to take over 50 photographs so will post most of them separately from the main picture archive.

Post the castle we went for lunch – our first soba noodles of the holiday. David had his in a broth with tempura cold, I had mine in the traditional style, cold with a dipping soy sauce.

We decided to hit the Himeji gardens. At first these were nice, but with being a modern recreation of 9 stroll gardens they began to become some what samey. We did stop for a tea ceremony, but it was a tourist offering and we’re certain much of it was done wrong (I have read up about it before I should point out). Was still relaxing. Only down side was my knee had given me warning signs a couple of times during the day, and when I went to kneel down to take the tea, it almsot gave out, so I ended up having to sit.

Eventually we spent around 6 hours in Himeji. There’s more to do there than you’d first think, with quite an extensive shopping arcade. now we’re back in Kyoto and the plans for tonight are probably Gion (the geiko and maiko (geisha and trainee geisha) quarters).

Oh – another quote from Dave. “Wish my camera had an optical zoom”. Another quote from later “Oh my camera has an optical zoom”.

I do like Japanese breakfasts (asa-gohan). Bowls of fresh rise, sprinkles on top (here it’s small shrimps, at the previous place, shredded sour plum), fish, and pickles. I’ve often contemplated doing one at home, but it’s a lot of work in the preparation.

Well just had my first night sleeping in a ryoken. The futon on top of the tatami mats was rather comfortable and supposedly good for the back. Not a wooden frame insite either. I was nervous about the bed/futon thing as I find slatted and soft beds keep me awake (I find slatted and camp beds very uncomfortable).

Now for breakfast (I’m hoping I ordered for two, not one), then probably a trip over to Himenji for Himeni-jo – probably the most famous castle in Japan.

Seems early to us, but there was no where we fancied drinking on the way back to the ryoken and it was starting to get cold, so an evening of planning is ahead.

Kyoto main JR railway station is a controversial building. All I can say is wow – especially from the inside. The amount of shopping there is over-rated, but with 2 floors of places to eat, it’s where we ended up for a rather nice tonkatsu meal and a beer.

One thing that did cross my mind during the start of the experience is that while we were able to ask for a table for two, and later to order, we didn’t know how to respond to the question over smoking/non-smoking. Must work it out.

We’ve arrived in Kyoto, and found that walking round the station to get to the other side is quite a hike. Still we got to see how you go past modern buildings and suddenly find a traditional thing sitting there.

The first royoken, Shimizu, is down a narrow side street. It’s a modern one that looks traditional on the outside and in, but is more geared for comfort. We’ve got a traditional Japanese style room (expect photos later tonight). One thing that shocled us though was the Internet. I totally failed to find a connection in Tokyo, having to resort to using a cyber cafe, where as I am now stading in the room typing away (I found it too uncomfortable using the low table).

Our first major rail ride. Damn wish they were like this in the UK. Airline type seats but with first class leg room. The journey went quickly, helped by bento box meals and watching 4 animke episodes on the laptop.

One thing that really stuck in my mind was when the guard came in to check our tickets. He walked to the front of the carriage, bowed, introduced himself, and then proceeded to perform the check. Afterwards, before moving on, he bowed once more. The other staff (selling bento boxes, drinks, and ice cream) also did the bowing.

O.K. I could do this at the end of the holiday as our final two nights are also there. We chose this place based on a recommendation, and aside from the fact you have to walk through the red light district to get to it (most touts ignore gaijin), and the rooms being small, it was actually quite good. It was quiet, out of the main drag (still only about 10 minutes walk from Shinjuku main station), near lots of local restaurants and did a neat Japanese breakfast, some thing I’ve always liked.

If you do not know your anime/manga, the next part will confuse and maybe worry.
Saw a couple of cute female police officers in a small patrol car yesterday, but Dave wouldn’t allow me to go up to them to ask how Chibi and her kittens were doing.

One this we’ve both noticed from yesterday is just how physically tired we’ve been. We’re certain that it’s down to too much walking. The joke is that while neither of us are particularly fit, we both are used to walking a certain amount – after all I know I walk about 3 miles a day just to and from work. The on ly thing I can think of is that we’ve walked a very long way for 3 days in a row and it’s jsut added up. On top of that my shoulders are now sore – probably from carrying too much weight around in the rucksack. The last part does surprise me though as I’ve quite happilly done the same in other countries – Hong Kong, New York, etc. O.k. yesterday I was carrying the laptop as well, but not on the previous day.

It should be noted that my knees – my major weak point, have both been absolutely fine. This is remembering the fact I’ve just had treatment on the left one for a slipped patella (I’m still doing the exercises – some of the time).