26 October 2016
Slow train to big city
Taking the slow train from Kanazawa to Kyoto
Now I am in Kyoto, I will be here for 2 nights, I have been here twice before, it is the main tourist centre of Japan.
Whilst it is not a big city in terms of resident population, it is a massive city in terms of shops, restaurants, shrines, temples, castles, monkey parks, ice cream stands, kimono dress ups, overpriced hotels, leaf hysteria, blossom fever, halloween hyperventilation and christmas light Armageddon.
To get from Kanazawa to here, there is no bullet train. So you have to take a regular kind of train for over 2 hours which is called the THUNDERBIRD. It is quite slow.
The highlight of that journey is a 720 degree rotation around inside and through a mountain to gain altitude to go through a tunnel through a mountain to come out the other side of some mountains near a huge lake thats surrounded by mountains. I enjoyed looking at the mountains for much of the mountainous journey today.
Unfortunately, I could not see much of the lake, because Japan has again copied China by installing pollution levels that I would describe as stay indoors and assume that because you cant see it, its not in the air inside your doors.
I also noticed that the entire surrounds of the lake, are densely populated. There is no one city, just a linear conglomeration (is that a word?) of cities around the lake. Much of it heavy manufacturing of steel and hello kitty collectibles emptying their toxic blend into the lake.
My hotel in Kyoto is the smallest so far of this trip, but its fine. It has no view. Its right by the station. It is right on top of a much much larger shopping area connected to the station than I remember from previous visits. I am also certain that the enormous AEON mall behind the station was not here last time I visited, it was all a construction site then.
Finally the weather. Its hot. 27 degrees celsius according to a big sign on a clock I saw, but feels hotter. Dont worry though, the inside of shops are even hotter still! Soon I will go to Sapporo where its below freezing at night.
Now to work out what to do with my full day in Kyoto tomorrow, weather might determine it, the Japanese meteorological institute of advanced notice of atmospheric patterns impacting the citizens of the great land of Japan and associated warnings of typhoons and related astronomical phenomena has been forecasting rain for days now, and it is yet to eventuate.
I missed visiting the curry champ in Kanazawa. I was up for a dawn stroll around the wet market to look dead fish in their dead eyes, but theres also lots of restaurants. The curry champ is in the basement.
Wet market. I got chased by a crab.
There are highly anatomically correct statues of western women all over Kanazawa. This one is now lit up inside a christmas tree.
The outside of the Kanazawa station. Move on.
The inside of the Kanazawa station. Keep moving.
A warning sign to advise you not to punch railway staff into the path of an oncoming train. I can translate cause most of the Japanese characters are shared with China.
Attention traveller. Please do not punch staff if train is approaching. Once train is clear of platform, kindly resume punching.
My slow train.
My train is almost abandoned, just one other person on my carriage.
An actual view!
Part of my spiralling journey to gain height to go in a tunnel.
Heres the lake, a tiny bit of it. The lake is enormous, looks like the ocean, except for the vast majority of the journey you cant see it due to smog!
The lake. The view of the islands in the lake is one of the top views of Japan. Instead we get to see a haze of sulfur bi fluro triphoxillate.
The urban area surrounding the lake was surprising. Looks like theres a lot of tourist spots set up along the shore. Mainly pachinko parlours.
Now I have arrived in Kyoto. No need to go outside and admire the grand station. They have provided a very convenient lego model.
The shopping area is 10x what it was last time.
I decided on a healthy late lunch, and was happy with my choice. 2 kinds of vegetarian soup.
Been here before, photographed this before, photographing it again, did not bother to go to the roof top to take photos because smog.
Not a great photo, but I thought it was amusing that 10 women fully dressed up in kimonos are standing around taking photos of two people dressed normally.
The above mentioned new Aeon mall out the back of the main station. It is actually multiple buildings.
This kitten is over $400 and is advertised as a halloween special due to its color and scary face.
I had to muscle my way through the throngs of photo takers to get to the glass to take this photo.
Final photo as always, my little hotel room, the APA Kyoto Ekimae.