Kyoto, and Sports Day!

My appologies for the absurdly long time since my last post. I've been amazingly busy here, and any free moments I've had have going to cleaning my room and washing clothes. The first task is immensely important, as I have concluded that Japan is weird bug capital of the world. last Sunday we had Sports Day, which was awesome. Monday was a holiday, and I got tuesday and wednesday off as compensation for working the weekend. I took thursday off, and friday was a holiday. So, my friends Mac and Taubee and I went to Kyoto for three days.

Kyoto adventures!
So, Tuesday we caught the train to Kyoto, which is about 2 hours from here on the "Shinkaisoku"- also known as "the fastest train that you don't have to pay extra for". I slept most of the way. This is primarily what trains in Japan are for- sleeping. I don't think you're supposed to talk at all, and definately are not supposed to use phones. Everyone just gets on the train and sleeps. So we got to the train station, found the tourist info center, and had them book us a room at a "ryokan"- or Japanese style hotel. Ours was pretty cheap- not the cleanest or newest of places, but centrally located (right next to Gion) and only 2200 yen a night (~$20). "Japanese style" means basically, tatami floors and futons. We also opted for the public bath, which, is the best invention known to man, right behind escalators and the bicycle. Anyway, so our first night in town we tried to walk down to this temple, "Sanjusangendo", which is supposed to have some mighty impressive 33 (san ju san) buddhist statues. We walked through this really awesome little alley/market area, where I found giant fish heads for sale, and a dog with its fluffy tail dyed pink and yellow- one of the strangest things I have seen thus far in Japan.
Well, we got a little lost and ended up at this other temple/shrine complex, Chion-ji. You can't really get very far in Kyoto without finding some sort of hundred year old historical buddhist or shinto structure of some sort. It had a lot of cool enormous old buildings. But the best part was what happened in regard to the cemetary. The cemetary grounds go all the way up the side of a big hill behind some shrines. Well, Mac decided he wanted to explore the area, and Taubee and I waited at the bottom for him.

<-- Mac next to Choin-in temple bell- the biggest bell in Japan. Lonely Planet reports it takes 17 monks to ring it on New Year's.

Not long after Mac departed, some Buddhist monks came running across the balconey of one of the temples and urge us to leave, as the temple closed to tourists already. So some guards escorted Taubee and I out, and we left Mac behind to finish exploring and make it out. mac made it out a little while later- but he had apparently been locked inside the cemetary. To get out, he had to scale the cemetary wall, sneak ninja style over the tile roofs of one of the buildings, and jump back down. I guess the guards saw him and laughed- which is probably a good thing since he could've gotten in a bit of trouble.

Taubee and me in front of Choin-ji temple entrance gate.

More later! I must pause to hang up my laundry (not in my shower-dryer) outside while still light out.