yay for golden week excitement.

first of all i wanna say that after youve been to vegas during new years, no other crowd really compares - though ive never been to New Delhi before.

anyway our journey was basically kyoto for 2 nights and then a day in nara. we stayed at a hostel called "kyoto cheapest inn - kyotokko" which was a charming, we're-in-the-army-now type of youth shack. one bunker had like 20 beds in it. there was a full kitchen and shower facility equipped with shampoo and body wash! it was clean and the other travelers who stayed there seemed to be polite, and generally nice people. we played DS into the wee hours of the night.

first place we hit up after arriving and checking in was nijo castle around the afternoon and then in the evening we wandered the streets of kyoto. lots of things to see and paw at along the way. dinner was okonomiyaki at one place then some stylish italian/ japanese bar-ish place called Zuzu (i think that was what it was called) afterwards. we took a nice twilight stroll home and that was day 1.

day 2 was pretty epic. we went to kinkakuji first where we tasted nearly formidable golden week masses for the first time. it was blazing hot when we set out, and pretty much the rest of the day was like that too. after kinkakuji was kiyomizu temple which had the best scenery out of all the places we went to. there were a lot of people so i didnt get to drink the water, but i got pictures of other people choosing their destiny instead hoho. after kiyomizu we shopped a bit then wandered some more, then had dinner at this nice sushi place. we finished off the night with karaoke and that was that. all around great day!

day 3 was cool too - literally. we set out for nara early and arrived right before lunch. when we got to nara it was cooler and the sky was gray. we had the most awesome kitsune udon ever. they put the udon inside the tofu thing and tie it shut with a green onion like a pouch and you have to bust it open when you eat it. it was great. we made out way through the park area where we got to interact with the famous shika (deer). boy, are those deer fat haha. those poor things are domesticated beyond the point of no return. they also looked kinda sick, but i guess that's what happens with all those people and stuff... we saw horuji and . . . todaiji!

also seeing the daibutsu in real life up in todaiji was great. i mean seeing all those other things was great too but man, after spending so many years studying about these things and seeing their glossy photos in textbooks it's just cool seeing everything in real life finally. they let you touch a lot of things so i pawed up carvings and whatnot there.

when we got out of the main temple where the daibutsu was, we found it was pouring outside. lucky i had brought trusty UCLA umbrella with me! we shopped some more, had a macha mcflurry from mcdonalds shopped even some more, then decided it was go-home time. roads were super clear. fantastic first golden week in japan =D

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golden week pictures!

Kyoto + Nara 2008

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oh, and i totally forgot to put up march's hanami pictures. i'll include them here.

Hanami 2008