Day 2 was another great day! We woke up and had the international buffet for breakfast again. Immediately after breakfast, I met the rest of the accompanying persons group in the lobby to head off for another day of seeing the sights. First, we headed to the Golden Pavillion (called Kinkaku-ji in Japanese). It is basically this beautiful Buddhist temple that is all gold and set in a very pretty garden (actually, all of Japan seems like a really pretty garden). We walked around there and took a lot of pictures. It was so crowded. Since it is one of the temples on UNESCO's World Heritage List, it is very popular for tourists to go see. Also, spring is the time for schools to take field trips to all the historical sights, so everywhere we went, there were like thousands of Japanese students of all ages running around looking at the stuff and taking pictures. One thing I find interesting is that any time a young Japanese person (like under 30 or so) takes a picture, they flash the peace sign. Can't figure out the significance of it yet but they all do it for every picture.
After that temple, we headed to another temple (that also is on the list) called the Kiyomizudera Temple. It is humongous! There are three springs right next to each other there that you drink out of. One is for health, the other for wealth and the last for wisdom. You choose one so you can receive that in your own life. So we all stood in line and did it. I drank out of the wisdom one. Why you might ask? Well, as we were walking up to the temple, our guide, Daisy, mentioned that there was a matchmaking shrine up the hill that we could visit if we wanted. Well remember how all the other people in my lovely group are chemical company executive's wives? Yeah. They all wanted me to go and were laughing about and chatting about it in their various languages. The Spanish lady was laughing and pointing at me to her friend saying, "Senorita. Senorita!" But we didn't go and I was okay with that. Well, when we got to the springs, they again asked me what I would pick so I could get a good husband since we didn't go to the shrine. So I told them I chose the wisdom one so I could pick a good husband. They liked that and then told me that when I get married, I need to bring my husband back and have him drink out of the wealth spring. Haha. These ladies crack me up!
Anyways, after that, we walked down this street with all these shops that were selling various Japanese cultural things. The Korean lady in the group treated the American lady, the Canadian lady and me to some green tea ice cream. So good! It isn't super sweet like American flavors of ice cream but rather has a gently sweet and very refreshing flavor. I think if I could find it in the States, I would probably eat it. After our ice cream stop, we loaded on the bus again and made our way back to the hotel. My dad had waited for lunch for me, so we tried the Japanese restaurant in our hotel. Pretty good. They were like set lunches so you got a mix of things. I think there was a noodle bowl, some vegetables, some sashimi (still liking the raw fish...weird!), some really good rice and some tofu with stuff on it (I didn't really like the tofu stuff...it had an odd flavor). After lunch, we walked to the Kyoto Handicraft Center, which is about five floors of different Japanese handicrafts. It is neat. I still have yet to buy anything because I wanted to see what was available, but I think my dad and I decided today (Wednesday) was our buying day. Like I said, I don't want to buy much, so what I do buy, I want it to be good.
After the Handicraft center, we walked around Kyoto in the rain for a while. We were looking for this other craft center type thing, but found it but it was all boarded up. So walking around the streets and seeing how Japanese people really live in their city was neat. We actually entered the Gion district of Kyoto, which is where you can see modern day mikos (geishas) walking around in the traditional kimonos and obis. Kyoto is kind of like this weird clash of old world Japan meeting modern city life. It is neat. You walk through the streets and see shrines and temples right next to motorcycle shops and restaurants. Very interesting juxtaposition.
We finally made it back to the hotel and cleaned up for our Gala Dinner that night. Little did we know what a treat we were in for for this dinner. AMAZING! It was a traditional Japanese dinner (very expensive...but the conference/company pays for it for its guests) with like seriously 9 courses. It started with a little plate of vegetables and tofu, some of which I liked and some of which I didn't. Then there was some kind of soup (kinda like miso, but it wasn't). Then some sashimi. There were several other dishes that I can't remember but there was the traditional shabu shabu (Japenese hot pot) course. That was cool. Basically it's a boiling pot and they put really good meat and vegetables in and you take what you want. Very good. Definitely a real treat this dinner was! After dinner, we dressed up in kimonos and stuff and took pictures. The night was so so fun! One fun thing was that we ate with no shoes on and sat in these little tiny half chairs. Kinda weird being at a fancy dinner all dressed up but in your stockings! After that, we headed back to the hotel and once again crashed from a busy day!
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