Today we left Kyoto and headed up into the mountains for Mount Koya (also known as Koya-San). We were staying at a Buddhist monastery called Shojoshin-in.
That morning when we came down for the Kyoto breakfast, there was a line out the door and past the elevators for the buffet. We went up to the main desk and asked if we could get money in return for our uneaten breakfast. Having a time table to be up and out by, we didn't really have time to wait on this breakfast. The Daiwa staff was wonderful and gave us back our 2,000 yen (around $20) and we headed down the street to the cafe we had the first day in Kyoto. Delicious pastries with maple syrup were had, and more coffee. Then we headed on back to the hotel to finish packing and getting ready. We didn't have a particular train ticket time, but it was a long journey and we wanted to arrive there with some daylight. Using the Kansai "thru" pass, we headed off to the station!
Unfortunately we bumped off the time tables provided very quickly, but we still managed to get out to Koya-san without too much waiting around. The Namba station is HUGE! I commented as we were wandering around it "This will be our hub next time". The amount of tickets we had made things a little confusing, I misplaced my Limited Express ticket and apparently needed that to get through to another line. Anyway, everything was found, and the staff around the station was very helpful in finding our way around. To give you an idea, this is what our transfers looked like.
Hankyu kyoto line ltd Express to Umeda
At Umeda, transfer to the Osaka City Subway Midosuji line (main street!)
Take the Midosuji line to Namba
From namba, find the Nankai Koya Line Express and take that one to Hashimoto
Change trains at Hashimoto to the Nankai Koya line
take the Nankai Koya line to Gokurakubashi
From gokurakubashi take the Nankai koya-San Cable car to the top (Koya-San).
THEN!
From The top of that, take the bus bound for Okunoin-mae and get off at Okunoin-guchi. The Inn was just up the street from that bus stop. But what a list of transfers! Multiple times the transports were crammed full with barely any breathing room. The bus up into Koya had lots of twisty turny roads. It was beautiful, but I didn't get any pictures of the journey.
Checking in wasn't difficult, and it's basically like you'd imagine. Take your shoes off outside, walk through this huge wooden building and up some really really steep stairs in slippers that don't work well with socks... oh, but we didn't have to haul our luggage up, there was a luggage elevator! Toilets were at the end of every hall, most of them western styled. There was a public bath, and a gender separated bath (where you wash yourself outside of the tub, and then climb into the tub to relax).
Our room had a lovely view of a garden, a cute tea set, and more beds on the floor. Anyway, we dropped off our things and headed out. I wanted to see the Okunoin Cemetery.
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| Bus stop and to the cemetery! |
Check out some information about it here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4901.html
Beyond the cut is more photos and Osaka day 1
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| Me saying "EMMA POSE WITH THE LEAAAVES" |
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| on our way back/inside the grounds. |
After that stroll we went on back to catch the "be home by 5:30" for dinner. Though, I'm pretty sure at some point we took a nap, so maybe it was before dinner and after the walk. Eh. Anyway, we went downstairs to dinner shortly and were sat down to an all vegetarian meal. Unfortunately neither Emma nor I are huge fans of straight up Tofu and everything pickeled. But we did try what was in front of us. Heading back to our rooms with... a new appreciation for food in other parts of Japan. We hit the baths about then, I don't know how it can fit up to three people, it's pretty comfy with two and we bumped each other a lot. Following that we went back upstairs to our rooms and turned on... Princess Mononoke and went to bed ungodly early.
- Monday, October 12th 2015 -
Morning came and we got up too early, so went back to sleep, then actually got our butts up and attended the Buddhist ceremony that morning. It was darn cold outside, having rained all last night, and being in the mountains. But we stayed for the 45 minutes we'd arrived for. Following that was breakfast, where Emma and I went straight for the hot soups. Not really feeling up to eating more pickled things for breakfast... we finished that, and got our luggage together and left for Osaka!
The trip was another semi long one. Our instructions said "Head North". Most of the station exits do have compasses or signs to tell you which way you're exiting. Unfortunately, not this one. It was just 7. our directions said C-7, and head north. Not much help. We got very very lost, and walked off the map multiple times while dragging luggage. The area we were in, Shinsaibashi, was really neat looking. I'm totally going back to Osaka next time I visit Japan and giving it WAY more time. While lost we spotted a lot of little things we wanted to check out.
Anyway, our hotel was the Hearton Hotel Shinsaibashi. This hotel is split in two, and has no English signs. We went into the classy side first, and then were sent across the street to the shady weird one... they didn't speak good English and I honestly feel the customer service was majorly lacking. We left our bags behind and went for a wander. Stumbling across some Playstation 4 event, and an Anime themed lounge. Emma and I stopped in there for a drink and some people watching. Lots of cosplay magazines around and the workers in costume. It was really cute! After that we went and checked in. Getting up to our tiny room with our teeny tiny bathroom (where the toilet faced the wall and my knees almost touched said wall). Ah well, it was only a couple of nights, right?
Totally regret not having enough time to go find and explore Den Den Town and Otaku Road (aka Nipponbashi ~). Probably good though, as we were all running out of money by now. Boooo.
I remember street-wandering and finding Shinsaibashisuji Shopping Arcade (after getting lost some more). Dude these shopping streets/malls/entire areas are EPIC. They to on forever! We had pancakes for dinner that night, stood in line too long for basic pancakes but we were tired of walking and wanted food. On the way back we were hunting out 'that delicious smell we smelled earlier'. Turns out it's a place called Pabulo, and they make DIVINE cheescake. Emma wasn't in the mood for sweets, and I didn't want to seem like a pig, so we walked past it before she said "We can get it now and enjoy some later". So, we got some. While waiting in line you get to watch them make it, yummmmm. We got the more expensive crustless version, and it was seriously amazing.
Fortunately the Hearton is next door to a Family mart, so I stopped in there and got forks and knives so we could enjoy it without making a TOTAL mess. Though cutting it was an adventure.
The rest of the night we stayed in, it was later, and the next day was our only full day in Osaka. We were planning on packing it full of adventure.
At some point in the holiday Emma had started getting sick, feverish and headachy. It was fun convincing her to take medicine, and we found out Japanese medicine works very well! Glad I got her to take it, she looked better very quickly, and it worked well on me the time I took some as well.
Unfortunately, Day 1 in Osaka didn't get any photos. By time we got to our hotel, I had no desire to carry my camera anymore and it doesn't seem like Emma got any photos as well.
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