Kyoto Days 1 & 2

We returned from Japan just fine, albeit with a teensy bit of travel drama...but what's a trip without some panic and mayhem?

 Nearly as soon as we got back, I started working both jobs. My new daily routine is to wake up at 5am, do a few hours of report writing, then head off to my fun second job (I work with two of my closest friends, it's awesome) once I have Ryan taken care of. I often don't get home until the evening because of karate, so it doesn't leave much time for blogging and storytelling. :-(

But back to the trip...

Our inter-island flight was uneventful, which is always a good thing when you arrive on time for your costly international segment. Although we used a budget airline, we had a great outbound international flight. We surprised my mom with an upgrade to business class, which she claimed to enjoy even though we found it was far was a 'luxe' experience. Other than a few added inches of seat pitch/recline and no screaming children, I think that was the extent of her upgrade. Ryan and I, back in coach with the rest of the other minions and livestock, were thrilled with our seats. Not only were we moved to within a few seats of my mother (where she was shielded behind a dark curtain from the riff raff like us), but the seat between us was blocked, so we had three seats to ourselves. We call that...ghetto first class, btw. And it was...glorious.

Once we landed, we quickly bought our tickets for the speedier Haruka line to Kyoto Station. However unlike our dozens of other trips, I did not buy our tickets from the vending machine and pay full price ($28pp each way). This time, I went to a Visitor Desk in search of a few maps, and saw a tiny sign advertising discounted seat tickets for visitors. Score! I got us each a pass for $23.50 instead, which always makes a Chinese-blooded person very happy indeed.

Our final segment of the journey was also blessedly uneventful, I was able to get on the Haruka's free wifi and let the family back home know we were alive. Once we got to Kyoto Eki (station), I was delighted to find our platform on the Sagano line was only one platform over! So it was a quick walk with our bags over to the next platform, where we easily caught a train to our station only one stop away at Tanbaguchi. And thanks to some amazingly clear instructions from our Airbnb host, Yoshi, we easily found our apartment.

And boy oh boy...did we love it. It was modern, cozy, clean, quiet and only 7-10 min. away from the station. We all three loved the place on sight, which was a good thing, as it was to be our home for the next 15 days. My mom and I quickly set off in search of some dinner, while Mr. YouTube lounged in the nice, cool air-conditioned room (since our apartment came with free wifi and pocket wifi, we were able to separate from Ryan on this trip).

The next morning, we set off bright and early for Ryan's first day of school in the wind/rain. We caught the train one more stop north to Nijo, and then got lost for 10-15 minutes trying to locate street signs/asking for help. Unfortunately, I was struggling to carry my purse and hold open 2 different maps under a tiny, wimpy umbrella in the wind and rain. By the time we reached the school, slightly behind schedule, the maps were soggy, blurred and almost falling apart in my hands. I managed to get us within a hundred yards of the campus, but had NO idea which building the school was in, because my map was no useless! As we walked down the street looking for the school, I remembered I had Google Maps on my phone and frantically consulted it for the first time- and what a lifesaver it was! It told me we'd bypassed the school by about 300 yards, so we quickly back tracked and only got to school about 1-2 minutes late!

Checking in for his first day of school...nervous, but excited. And not yet hot. A typhoon was headed there that day, and the skies were dark, rain was just starting to come down...and it was a solid 20 degrees cooler than the rest of our trip there.

We were warned that no other children had enrolled in the summer session, but that does not deter us! :-D Ryan was a rock star hanging out with all these kind instructors and students!

It IS kinda cute to see him among all these other 'big kids' studying!

While we were sitting in the opening ceremony, I tried to record it, but my phone kept arbitrarily exiting applications. I did a few hard resets, but as the minutes ticked by, things went from bad to worse. I started to lose more functionality by the hour- no camera, no wifi, etc. I was...panicked, and pissed. It was, after all, day one of our trip. Not only would I no longer have access to my newly discovered, life-saving Google Maps, but I'd also loaded Google Translate on my phone, as well as a few other apps I rely on heavily when we travel (Airbnb, LINE, FB Messenger). I knew I had Ryan's phone as my backup, but the plan was to leave him with his phone each day (on school wifi), while I roamed around during school hours with my phone/the pocket wifi. In this way, we could still be in contact at all times. Sharing a phone would mean I had no way to reach him in an emergency, or while out and about.

That night, Rich offered to buy me a phone and have it couriered over to me, but I figured I should either try to find a repair shop first (and see if the battery was the issue), or look into buying a cheap burner phone before he went through the trouble.

But since there was nothing I could do about it (other than rage) while at school, we were able to enjoy the first day of school. The school staff generously invited us to partake in the first day's festivities- the opening ceremony, a banquet luncheon and a tea ceremony put on by the advanced students.

Because it was still raining when school finished, I figured we'd head to town, where it is largely covered. We hopped a nearby Hankyu train, and we soon ran into a Shiba Inu Cafe (a breed of dog popular in Japan). Like the cat cafe, Ryan just HAD to go there, and was willing to spend his hard earned money from summer jobs to get in. It wasn't as costly as the cat cafe in Harajuku we went to back in Feb, but I think it was still about $14 for the two of us for 30 min.

At the Shiba Inu Cafe's retail area, waiting for our turn to get in. Despite the cost of $7 pp for a single cup of soda and some time with the pups...there was a wait time of about 45-60 min. to get in.

Two shy guys.

I forced him to at least dispense his $7 beverage, as he forgot to drink a sip of his $8-9 beverage at the cat cafe. (And mama can't have that happen twice.) The dispenser was super fun to operate...even though us country folk are easy to impress!

 

The whole downtown Karasuma/Kawaramachi is block after block of Gion Matsuri (festival) Central the first few weeks of July in Kyoto-shi. One department store displayed miniature, detailed replicas of each the floats that get pulled/rolled through the city on the main parade day. They're quite ornate and beautiful, with colorful tapestries. I've seen the parade three times, and Ryan once. (He expressed zero interest in seeing it again, as it is admittedly quite lengthy and slow and not exactly meant for children). 

After a few hours of shopping at the department stores, paper stores, souvenir stores, yatsuhashi (a type of dessert mochi) stores- we finally headed back later that evening. I spent most of the night downloading all of the apps I needed onto Ryan's phone and tidying things up to make room for all the apps and pictures I knew I'd be taking over the next two weeks. My phone continued to shut on and off arbitrarily, with very limited functionality. Sometimes it would work for 2-3 whole minutes, and other times, not at all. To say I was stressed out and fixated on it was an understatement. Without my Chief Technology Officer with me to link my email to Ryan's phone...I was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.

Little did I know the next day's adventure would be just as frustrating and disheartening...