As planned, we woke up on Thursday and went straight to my appointment with the ladies who would pamper me and transform me into a Geisha. I went in and had to put on this pink robe which is a Geisha's undergarments, and these funny little socks with a separate bit for you big toe and another bit for the rest of your toes. I'm not really sure what the big toe has done to offend the other toes in Japanese culture but they obviously don't like each other and need to be kept apart! I went upstairs (making sure to go to the toilet first – once the outfit is on, there is no toilet activity for a while!) and chose my robe. Then it was straight into make-up where they literally paint your face. It feels so weird and at first the paint and masses of powder they cover you with feels horrible, but after a while I got used to the strange Japanese woman signing in the background and got used to the feeling of being pampered and I actually started to relax – imagine that – me relaxing!! I loved the red eyebrows they paint on and secretly wanted to adopt that look for my everyday life!! Then it's into the hair department to put on the wig – which weighs and absolute ton – you can't move your head because if you do, the wig will pull you down and you'd fall over!
Then into the dressing room to put on my robes. There's about a million layers and each one is placed on and then pulled so tightly you can barely breath. Between each layer of clothing there is a heap of weird padding – again, pulled so tightly you can't breath. Finally, by the time it's all on you can only take shallow breaths and walk in tiny little steps, keeping perfect posture! Then it was time for my photo shoot in which they place you in the most uncomfortable positions which make it even harder to breath! I had been so excited at the prospect of being a beautiful Geisha that I was ever so slightly disappointed to realised that I looked a little more like a man in drag than a beautiful Geisha, but it was fun all the same! I was glad when the photos were done and I went upstairs to take the outfit off. With every layer she took off I was able to breath a little bit more and with every knot she untied I felt relief! When she undid that final knot I felt my lungs fill with oxygen and it was beautiful!! I don't know how real Geisha's wear that all day every day, but fair play to them. While I was getting ready they showed a video of what a Geisha does – there was about 3 of them sat round a table with these 2 business men. They play like a pass the parcel game and they all giggle like children – it's odd and when you're wearing the outfit it makes you feel very childlike and they behave like children in a way so I think it's all very odd that rich businessmen pay so much money to do this, but hey ho, each to their own!
Once I'd taken my outfit off I had to go down to the wash room where a lady washes your back for you (I wasn't really comfortable with this bit of pampering to be honest!!) and then they wait for you to wash your face. They need to check you take it all off so that you don't go outside with the make-up on, they don't want it to ruin the image of the real Geisha's with tourists wandering round with the make-up on apparently.
So, back in normal clothes, we went for a Starbucks before hitting the first temple of the day. Kev had been wandering around, checking out where everything was while I was being a Geisha. So the first temple was nice and we saw this weird crane thing in a lake and massive, massive fish. The temples are nice here, but I prefer the grounds that they're set in to be honest. It's just like you would imagine Japan to be, beautiful trees and Zen like ornaments in the gardens.
We wandered up to another temple and I went inside, while Kev waited outside. Everywhere you go in Japan you need to take your shoes off, which is lovely, but gets very tiring after not long! Kev couldn't be bothered to keep taking his shoes off so I would go in to see if it was worth the effort first! Maybe we're just uncultured, but if I'm honest, the temples were beautiful inside, but once you've seen one, they start to get a bit samey- is that a terrible thing to say?! Outside we met a woman from England who was travelling for 6 months with her husband and two very young sons – I don't know how people can even consider travelling with children, it's hard enough just looking after ourselves, let alone anyone else!
Wandered on to yet another temple and didn't bother going inside, you had to pay and I really wasn't fussed with any more gold ornaments and smell of incense! And then on to more interesting things – we stopped for lunch!! We found this great little restaurant ,traditional Japanese style where you sit on the floor at this tiny little table. I loved it and was really comfy, but Kev and his big long Daddy-Long-Leg legs didn't enjoy it so much. It did make me laugh a lot to watch him constantly trying to get comfy, fighting around with a look of pain on his face – is it bad that I found that funny? He enjoyed the food however much more and he had a big tray of tempura while I had the best sushi I've had yet in Japan. When we left, we were half way down the street when the little old lady from the restaurant came literally running after us, all hunched over and waving my half drunk bottle of water at us! They're so lovely here, can you imagine anyone in the UK chasing you because you'd left your water behind.
We headed down to the manga museum, which turned out to be absolutely nothing like we had imagined. We'd thought it would be loads of huge manga pictures everywhere, but it turned out to be more like a library of manga books. There were some interesting things though like the first manga drawings back in like the 15th century or something crazy like that. And I did learn that Japanese books are backwards, as in they start at the back and read forward – never knew that before.
By the time we came out of the museum it was getting dark and the castle that Kev had wanted to see was closed. So we started walking back via the streets that we had heard a good rock club/ live music venue called Taku Taku was on. We found the club and found out that the bands started at 7, it was now 6.45!! I was absolutely desperate for the toilet by now but didn't want to go into the club at that point because it was super expensive and I wanted to go and chance out of my sensible attire. As Kev has commented frequently during this trip, I am just like a new born baby in that I'm incredibly grumpy when I a) am hungry, b) am tired and c) when I need the toilet! So we literally walked the 25 min walk to the hostel in less that 15mins. I jumped in the shower and changed in record time and we were back out the door by ten past 7! Got back to the club at about 7.30 and paid our entrance fee (about £20, clubs are expensive here!). The band that we on were absolutely awesome, they were dressed in these 70s style, but uber cool suits and their guitar solos were to die for, they were just amazing and I loved every minute of it. The best thing though, was to watch the crowd, the Japanese love their live music and they don't have any hang ups about getting up and dancing like crazy!! Some go absolutely mad and others just have this funny little swaying from side to side thing going on, a dance that you couldn't get away with at a rock gig back home!! Unfortunately, that band finished and another one came on who were no where near as cool, but it was still a good experience watching them. The bands finished about 9pm and I went up to the desk to buy a CD of the first band. There I got chatting to the bass player and the singer and they were so appreciative of us coming to see them – they were just the nicest guys, in fact everyone in that club was so so lovely. It kind of reminded me of Tjs in Newport, but with nicer people!!
I sat back down and soon realised that a lot of people come to gigs on their own here and then they all just chat to each other. They soon included us in their conversation and made us feel so welcome – so welcome indeed that they hurried off to by us drinks. We didn't realise that the custom here is to always top up everyone else's drinks and then you wait for someone to top up your own - what a nice custom – but it was a little dangerous because they drink out of these tiny little glasses which hold about 4 gulps for me/ about one gulp for Kev – so of course, our glasses were constantly being filled! I just can't express how lovely everyone was there and the band came over to join us all and we just had a great night. No-one's English was very good, but that made it all the more fun, having drunken conversations via the medium of drawing pictures on scrap bits of paper!! After an absolutely fantastic night we stumbled back to the hostel, knowing that we were more than likely going to feel rough the next day!!
We were originally planning on doing a walking tour that following day, but we'd decided before going to sleep that it probably wasn't a good idea as we were fully intending on having a hang over instead!! Sure enough, I did feel a wee bit rough the next day, but there was no time to waste moping around the hostel, there was too much to see in Kyoto!
We walked to Macy D's to get a nutritious hang over cure and from there we went to Starbucks for a caffeine hit. From there we walked though Nikishi Market (I've probably spelt that wrong!). This is a food market where you can buy all the weird and wonderful things the Japanese eat – probably wasn't super wise of us to walk through with a hangover, but interesting all the same. From there went NiJoJo Castle which is this big wooden castle with a moat surrounding it, right in the middle of Kyoto. The grounds were absolutely beautiful and (as Kev couldn't be botehred to take his shoes off again) I went inside to see if it was worth a walk around the interior. It wasn't really. The floor was odd because it had been designed to squeak when you stepped on it, it was a warning that intruders were in the building, but in my fragile state it freaked me out and that along with the crowds was too much to handle!
We hopped on the tube to Kyoto train station where we booked our train tickets for the next day to the Hakuba Alps. Then we went to yet another temple. This one was nice but it was surrounded by pigeons and they were sitting on people's shoulder's and stuff, it was gross. Brian, you would have hated it!
From there we walked to, yep, you guessed it, another temple. This one was massive and was up really high. We had to walk through this enormous cemetery to get there and when we did, I was a bit templed out and couldn't be bothered to go inside. Typically, when Kev came out he told me it was the best temple we'd been to all day!! From there you could see all over the city, but I wasn't bothered, I'd seen enough temples to last me!! I was more interested in the lovely little street of shops just down the way from the temple. There we picked up a beautiful set of chopsticks which was on our list of things to buy here. I had no idea chopsticks could be so expensive, but they are!!
We then wandered back through Gion, passed one of those love hotels called The Love Inn – Kev thought this was hysterical!! I just think they're weird!! We picked up a bento box and then headed back to the hostel to do some washing, which was fun!
This morning, we got up and checked out and got on three different trains to get to the Hakuba Alps which is in the north, just near Nagano. It's beautiful here and looks like Scotland, well the mountains do (the houses don't) or it looks like how I would imagine Canada to look. It's really quiet here as well because we're out of season and the best thing about it is that it's fricking freezing!! It's so cold, I got excited when we went out to get some dinner and the thought of coming back to the hostel, having a hot bath and putting the heating on was just too much for me, I couldn't wait. The hostel is a lovely little home from home and the couple that run it are lovely. We've booked a canyoning trip for the day after tomorrow, which I think will probably be the coldest thing we've ever done!! It's basically jumping in lakes, gorge walking and generally getting pretty cold in some water, so that should be fun! Tomorrow we plan on going to see the snow monkeys in their natural hot pools (I cannot wait!!) and then to the Sake brewery to see how they make Sake.
We're in Hakuba for 4 nights which is the longest time we've stayed anywhere in the whole time we've been away, so we're pleased that it's a lovely hostel and there seems to be plenty to do here. On our last day here we're going to a Wasabi farm hopefully and to see Matsumoto Castle, before heading back to Tokyo for our last day in Japan – we'll definitely be sad to leave here and Ian, we're counting on you moving here so we can come back and visit!! Hope you love the photos xxx
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