Sunday, 7th December

Chrissy: Today we went from Emi's house to Nagoya with her and her dad. It took about an hour in the car. Half an hour to get to Nagoya, and half an hour to negotiate the horrible traffic. I couldn't believe it. I had to just zone out or I would have become really anxious. Emi's dad decided that we could park in the Mariot Hotel carpark - something that would never have occurred to most people. It turns out we could. At the Mariot, a guy stands by the ticket machine and hands it to you, so you don't have to stretch out your arm. Japan is nice like that.

It turns out that the Mariot is in the same building as the station, so we went ahead and bought Shinkansen tickets. It was only 200yen extra to ride on the Nozomi (that's the fastest one) so we bought that kind. We went to the basement of the building where there was a large food market, like one we visited in Tokyo except slightly less gargantuan. Emi, her dad, and Chucky got curry at a place that only seats about 8 people. You had to line up outside until someone finishes their meal and then rush in. I didn't want to be rushed, so I looked around the food for a while. I bought a stick of Dango, which was already wrapped in a little piece of plastic. The lady put it in a tiny box, and then wrapped it in paper, and then put it in a bag. I just wanted to eat it! Tonight I am learning how to say "No bag, please".

Then we went to Tokyu Hands (also in the same building - it was 52 floors tall), which is a department store that Chucky really wanted to go to. For me it was not that interesting, mostly zakka stuff and things like wallets. There was a craft section that was vaguely interesting, but I didn't buy anything.

Chucky had fun though - he bought a kit to make a little mechanical organ that plays punched paper. He's putting it together now!

Then we rushed to the station and said goodbye to Emi and her dad at the gate. I was scared to be going to the next part of our trip without Emi, and I was sad to be leaving their house. I bought a bento box from a stall at the station. It was a two-coloured one (I forget what it is in Japanese) with two toppings on the rice, half eggy and half chicken-y. It's really nice crumbed topping. There was a plethora of other nice things in it too.

The shinkansen from Nagoya to Kyoto was only 35 minutes long. We went zoom.

We managed to find our way from the Shinkansen station to the normal station in Kyoto. The main Kyoto station is a work of art. It has a really high arched ceiling made of criss-cross metal beams and glass. We must have been on one of the middle floors, and there was a balcony where I could see everything below and above. There was a big bell on the top floor, and I could see a newly married couple ringing it. It was so loud!

According to the map, it would be a 12 minute walk to the hotel. It took us around 40 minutes because we got lost. We assumed that the only roads on the map would be big ones, so we ended up going way past the correct street. We had to double back and then find a landmark that was on the map and then get to it.

The hotel is a small youth hostel run by a family, and the rooms are Japanese style. Our room is a square box with deep cupboards going into the wall. There is JUST enough room for two unfolded futons.

We went for a walk towards downtown Kyoto and ate at a super-yummy super-cheap restaurant. I love it how they give you free tea everywhere. In Australia it costs another $3 for drinks. I had katsu-don and Chucky had ton-katsu. Each came with some tofu, pickles, rice, and miso-soup. When we left, the main waitress said "Arigato" and we heard all the chefs in the back room say in chorus "Arigato!"

We walked to the river and then along it, finding the main downtown district. I saw about 4 gothic-lolita girls. They were beautiful! There were a bunch of long streets lined with small interesting shops, all under a roof. We bought a couple of things at a hyaku-en shop. I blught some gloves because it was really cold!

We went to a big department store called Takashimaya. It was really posh. We went downstairs to the food place and I bought what looked like Tiramisu with cream on top. For later. It was put in a box in a box in a bag.

We walked home (about half an hour) and passed a shop called Snob Excelsor.

We ate the dessert I bought. It was not cream on top, it was marshmallow. Weird.

Our next adventure was going to the public bath. It is literally around the corner. I was really nervous about it, because I know that they take off their clothes and I'm shy. It's not so bad though. I went in, I was really nervous, and I was hit with a heat wave so strong that I wanted to take my clothes off. And there were all these other ladies there too, and they looked at me a bit because I was foreign but it was fine.

I dropped the tiniest of social brickettes. All around the walls in the actual bath room there are little stations for washing yourself before you get in. You're supposed to get a bowl, fill it up, soap yourself and rinse (I guess). I sat down at one and started doing so, and a big Japanese lady came up to me and pointed to the bowl I was using, and then to herself. It was hers. I was incredibly embarrassed. I went to another where there was no stool and no bowl and finished washing myself. The bowls are there because there are two separate hot and cold taps. The hot is very hot, the cold very cold. You use the bowl to mix the water. So I used some cold. I was a bit flustered so I only tried one bath out of many. It had bubbles and was very hot. I only stayed about 5 minutes because I was lonely and freaked out.

It was so hot!

Chucky came out of the mens one about 5 minutes later and told me his adventures.

Now we're back at the hotel making a calliope!

Charles bath experience:
My bath experience wasn't as embarrassing as Chrissy's. The old men only shot looks and not glares and I don't think I did anything wrong. In the foyer there were shoe lockers and I put the key in my pocket. In the change room there were clothes lockers. I felt bad because I didn't have a basket to go in mine and everybody else seemed to produce one. When I got undressed I closed the locker and took out the key, then I had the key but no pockets so I had to put it back. Later I saw that the keys had elastic loops and people put them on their ankle or something.

There were about 5 different kinds of baths. Different colours, different bubbles and one which was cold. I didn't try the cold one but one guy jumped right in and went underwater. I didn't see him come out so maybe he died.

BTW: We find this all incredibly funny.