The Final Bus Tour in the Trilogy ...

Kyoto & Osaka Bus Trip

Part Ichi

Another Saturday, another bus tour. Amanda and I were invited to go to Kyoto and Osaka with a large group of teachers from a couple of our schools. I'm beginning to think that the school staff does this kind of thing regularly. I think it's great. We knew this was going to be an overnight trip, so we packed accordingly and headed out (on our bikes) at 7:30am. (Notice I'm not even complaining about having to wake up at 6:30? I'm used to it after 3 of things).

So when we boarded the bus we got a couple bottles of water & a whole sack full of Japanese snacks. We're off to a good start.
On our first bus trip the seats were small & Amanda and I were all over each other. On our second bus the seats were slightly bigger and we were a tiny bit more comfortable. On this bus Amanda and I got the celebrity treatment & didn't have to share our seats. That's right - two seats to ourselves.

The whole crew ...
So the bus leaves right on time - 8:00am - & we notice that we have an adorable tour guide. She's wearing the uniform, carrying the flag & has a cute little hat on. There was only one bad thing about her ... She wouldn't shut up. She literally talked the entire time. The whole two hours to Osaka she talked and talked and talked ...

We couldn't exactly sleep with all of the tour guiding going on so we found ways to pass the time. We ate Japanese snacks, Amanda was foolish enough to eat the dried squid (compliments on Misaki), and we got out the video camera.

Eenie, meenie, miney, mo.
Amanda being foolish & eating the unknown. & She wonders why I would try it ...
We also decided to interview our friends Masami and Mayaka. Their English isn't the best, but they are so cute. (I'll post the video later)

We made a conbini stop (a Japanese convenience store) and got some food & coffee and continued on. We made it to our first stop - a temple in Kyoto - in a little over two hours.
In true Japanese form we had to back the bus in (everyone backs in everywhere here) & this little cute lady's job was to direct the buses, similar to that of a runway.
We begin the hike up the mountain where the temple & lunch are waiting. One of the first things we notice is the scenery. The gardens surrounding the temple are absolutely beautiful and since it is Autumn season the leaves are changing colors and the weather is good. Everything was gorgeous.
Of course I took way too many pictures.

Koi, right? Wrong! Japanese carp.

Ayaka drinking some gross looking tea on top of the mountain at the temple. "Tara, try?" No thank you.
Masaki taking a break from all the climbing. We definitely got our workout for the week.
The flowers were amazing & huge. The plants were over five feet tall & the flowers were the size of my head, not joking!
We bought fortunes at temple and Amanda bought me a love fortune. The fortune is suppose to bring your true love into your life, or something like that. I don't know if I'm a believer but it's cultural. :)
You can also buy your own fortune. If it is bad you must tie it on a rack and leave it at the temple. Some of our friends didn't have the best fortunes. Sorry about your luck ladies...

Ok, so we make it to lunch. Traditional Japanese lunch. Between the hiking, our Japanese snacks, the conbini food and lack of breakfast, Amanda and I are hungry. We had no idea what to expect.
The presentation of our lunch was amazing. It was served to us in this jewelry box type thing and we were suppose to eat from the bottom up. Some of the drawers I opened and quickly closed, not even touching what was inside.
Think any of this looks appealing?
How about now?
A little bit closer now ... Hungry yet? (& yes that's some sort of grass, tofu, a radish of some sort & that speckled thing was some sort of fish or other sea creature, despite what it looks like.)
A close up of all three of our surprises. All raw, all cold, all not ideal.
Amanda was playing with our shrimp who I swear was alive ten minutes before this lunch. He was found in drawer number two with his other raw friends.
But when in Rome ....All of our group eating lunch together ... sitting Indian style. I mean Japanese style. :)
My precious Ayaka ate all of her food. I'm the bad kid in the family because I didn't eat all of mine. But don't worry - I didn't want dessert anyway :)

stay tuned for part two
much love
-tara-
xoxo