It Rains in Old Capital

This Saturday I made another journey to Kyoto, Japan's old capital. The more I think about it, the more I realize I am lucky to only be 2 hours away from Kyoto. Granted, I really do wish my small town had SOMETHING that could hold my interest, but I could be far from all civilization. Well, actually in Japan (because it is a few small islands) I guess you can never be too far away from civilization. But still I could be more than a 15 minute bike ride to the nearest train station, even if that train station boasts that it is super expensive to take a train anywhere, slow, and filled with spiders. Kyoto is by far one of Japan's most majestic cities. It has some of the oldest temples, and the most. It also has an amazing dynamism of modern and ancient. Honestly, McDonald's or a 40 story building next to a 400 year old shrine?! It's actually quite amazing really! Although I would have to say I enjoy the shrines more than the McDonalds'. So what I am trying to say is the 2 hour, 1 way trip costing $10 is worth it.


Modern: More than 3 minutes in this store...and you will become sad?

Anyway, this trip was made to finally pick up my overnight bus tickets to Kumamoto. This Friday I leave Kyoto at 10PM and head to Kumamoto. It is a 9.5 hour bus ride to...Fukuoka, which is then 2 more hours to Kumamoto by bus. Yes, I will be riding buses for 11.5 hours! Thats longer than my flight from Seattle to Tokyo! So why I am doing this instead of spending 2 hours to go by bullet train? Well, it is simple. It is $90 cheaper. $90? That isn't that much right? Well, it is, but I guess saving more than 9 hours makes it almost seem worth it. But I am doing this for the experience. I have flown domestically in Japan, taken normal local trains from Kumamoto to Tokyo, taken the Shinkansen (bullet train) and a boat from Fukuoka to S. Korea! One of the last few modes of transportation for me to tackle in Japan is the overnight bus! Because I am so tall though, I feel I might regret this afterwards. But, I have a motto in life, "Regret not what you have tried in life, regret what you haven't, as long as you cause no harm to others." Our time on this earth is so finite, and there is so much to experience. Who knows what crazy person I might have the opportunity to sit next to on the bus. Most likely it will be an extreamly drunk 50 year old salary man, but hey, how many people can say they experienced the company of a lunitic for 10 hours!!! Right!!! Think positive!

Anyway, I wanted to go to my favorite temple in Kyoto, Kiyomizudera (pure water temple). Honestly I don't know why I like this place so much, but there is just something about it. Unfortunately I had enough pure water during my day while accomplishing the business I had in Kyoto. It rained and rained. But I still managed to stop by a local temple and seek a little shelter from the downpour. Something is amazing when sitting on the steps of a zen temple listening to the rain hitting the earth.


Ancient: The glow of a temple lamp in the rain.

I also picked up a wireless router! YAY, I don't need to have a cord drawn across my apartment. If no one has heard of "La Fonera" before, I would highly recommend getting this. http://www.fon.com/en/ First of all, it is a relatively cheap wireless router, AND if you like sharing and recieving it is even better! The smart people at La Fonera thought of a way to make a safe and secure wireless network. Basically you have your normal secure internet connection, and your "public connection." If you chose to broadcast a public connection, which is actually only available to other La Fonera account (the account is free) users, you then in turn can log onto any La Fonera hotspot that someone else is broadcasting for free, IN THE WORLD! They also have a map that shows where these hotspots are, and I was really suprised at how many there really are. I think if I go to any major city I can basically find a handful of them around. So yay, free wireless anywhere in the world, by sharing a bit of mine, sounds like a good deal to me.

Other than my Kyoto adventure, teaching classes today was...well interesting. I taught the 8th graders, and one in particular tried to steal my wallet, and then grabbed another student and kept pushing his hand into my "package." I didn't know who to feel more sorry for, the student or me...haha. Of course there were some other slight antics, but I guess those are the memorable ones for today.

I will probably not be making another blog entry until I return from Kumamoto on September 23rd. Until then, I hope all is going well for everyone reading this...and even for those who are not!