Buckle in, this is a long one. 

If you’re thinking you missed a week…you did not. That was me. I missed a week. I barely left the house for like five days in a row…no need to torture everyone with that. But THIS week…

Monday, Nov 24

I went to Kyoto! It’s almost two hours by public transport…several trains, transfers, even a walk between stations…and I didn’t get lost. Go me. It did take me closer to three hours with my slow navigation skills, but still. Victory.

Okay, almost victory. I did the whole trip just fine…but ended up at the wrong hotel. I’d booked two Kyoto stays for two separate weeks with the same hotel chain…different locations, slightly different names…and I showed up at the one I’m staying at in December. The front desk guy kindly told me the right one was “close, you can walk.” Six minutes, he said.

TWENTY minutes. With my suitcase. I know 20 minutes doesn’t sound like much, but I’d already been on my feet for hours…standing on crowded trains, walking through huge stations, and hauling my heavy rolly suitcase the whole way. When I finally got to the correct hotel at 2:50, the front desk person goes, “Check-in’s at 3:00.” Double ugh.

Finally, got into my room at precisely 3:04. Small (standard issue in Japan) but very nice: big window, comfy bed, desk, good bathroom, AC, lots of outlets, etc. Unpacked, set up, and collapsed for a bit.

Later, I walked to a nearby steakhouse…tiny, cozy, and the usual cheerful chorus of “WELCOME!” (in Japanese) as customers enter. Japan is great for solo diners (unlike Korea, where they sometimes turn you away if you’re alone). The waitress seated me at the bar facing the chef.

The steak? Magnificent. My first time trying wagyu…it wasn’t even the top-tier cut, and it was still incredible. After I paid the check and stood up to leave, the chef asked in English, “Did you like it?” and I managed to answer in Japanese, “It was delicious!” They clapped for my brilliant use of the Japanese language. Ha.

Stopped in Lawson’s (one of the big three konbinis/convenience stores) on the way back for some breakfast-y stuff and snacks. My hotel room has a fridge, microwave, and kettle, which is perfect.

Planned out the next day’s itinerary, and crashed in the good bed.

Tuesday, Nov 25

I was all set with a list of temples to visit, but…rain! The forecast was calling for thunderstorms and I just thought…I don’t want to be wandering around the mountainside looking for temples in a thunderstorm…so I just stayed in the comfy bed all day. Nice.

Ordered a bucket of KFC to get me through the next few days. Always with the KFC.

Wednesday, Nov 26

After losing the previous day to rain…and realizing I still had way more than a day’s worth of things I wanted to do, I threw financial caution to the wind and booked the room for one more night. I’d originally planned to leave on Thanksgiving, which felt… bleh. Now I could stay until Friday. Much better.

I headed out early for my first stop: Tofuku-ji Temple. The plan was to get there right at 9 a.m. to beat the crowds… but thanks to my usual navigation delays, I didn’t arrive until almost 10:30. And by then? MASSIVE crowds.

The temple grounds are multi-level, with stairs everywhere and two famous walkway bridges that overlook a small valley filled with red maple trees. Gorgeous. But you can only view it from designated paths, packed with thousands of other foliage-lovers and photographers; plus staff directing us with glowing orange light sabers, shouting instructions in Japanese. I could only guess that they were saying, “Keep it moving! No stopping! No photos on the path!” Which is hilarious because literally everyone was there on the paths trying to take pictures.

Photography was…a challenge. There was no way to get a shot without people in it.

And the stairs. Oh, the stairs. Old, uneven stone mixed with damp gravel from yesterday’s rain, and no hand-railings. Going up is tiring, but going down was terrifying. My balance (or the lack thereof), knee pain, and bad depth perception all ganged up on me. I was this close to asking a stranger if I could hold their arm. Somehow, I managed. But it was stressful and exhausting.

I finally made it to the bridge walkway and the view over the red maple valley was stunning. Truly. But it was almost… too beautiful. Overwhelmingly perfect. And paired with the overwhelming number of people, the whole thing was both breathtaking and draining at the same time.

After leaving the temple grounds, I found a spot on a low stone wall to sit and rest for a bit, before hobbling my way to the main road and requesting a taxi. Thankfully, in tourist-heavy Kyoto, taxis are everywhere and seem cheaper than in Osaka.

Lunch was perfect: a window seat for people-watching (one of my favorite things), with french toast topped with baked apples and vanilla ice cream. Now I want baked apples every day. Can you microwave “bake” apples?

After lunch, I wandered a bit and found some cute shops, including a charming stationery store where I finally found postcards to send to friends and family. Then another taxi back to the hotel.

Planned the next day’s itinerary and fell asleep early.

Thursday, Nov 27 – Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone’s spending the day exactly how they want. 🙂

After yesterday’s chaotic leaf-peeping, today I focused on smaller, lesser-known spots. First up: Enrian Temple, a tiny place only open during fall foliage season. (I’ll go more in-depth on the temples in another post.)

Getting there was a journey. Google Maps claimed it was a six-minute walk from the bus stop (my first time taking a bus in Japan!). But that road? Steep. Mountain looming behind it. I said nope and grabbed a taxi.

It took the taxi over ten minutes to get up there. Then he stopped in front of what was clearly someone’s house. “HERE YOU GO THANK YOU GOODBYE.” Uhm…here where??

He drove to two more wrong places before finally pointing me down a random footpath and driving off. I wandered through narrow backstreets, alone, sweating, lost. wondering if I’d ever find this place.

At last, another human! I asked, “Sumimasen…Enrian?” She lit up: “ENRIAN! HAI!” She was also looking for it. We were baffled together…until a third woman passed by and pointed us to a tiny, hidden path we were literally standing next to. It looked like someone’s backyard, squeezed between a drainage ditch and a fence full of pokey shrub branches.

But then, at the end, a mossy path lined with bamboo poles. Promising. We’d made it.

Entry was 500 yen (~$3.20). As soon as I stepped inside, I sighed in relief. It looked like something out of a garden tour in Sag Harbor…tiny, tranquil, with winding paths and little scenes: fiery maples, mossy pots, leaf-shaped stones. This is what I’d been looking for.

Despite its charmingly small size, I stayed nearly an hour…wandering, taking photos, even chatting with a fellow photographer. When a large senior tour group arrived, I took that as my cue to go.

Exiting on a different path, I ended up on a street with cars, people, and a big sign saying “THIS IS THE PLACE YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR.” Of course. Why isn’t THIS where the taxi (or Google Maps) brought me??

Next stop was Saga Toriimoto: a preserved Meiji-era (1860s to 1910s) street lined with old traditional Japanese homes turned into shops and restaurants. Girls in rented geisha outfits shuffled from photo opp to phot opp; rickshaws were pulled past by sweaty but cheerful shafu (rickshaw puller).

I had a delicious Japanese pear juice and matcha tiramisu.

Kyoto is famous for matcha. I’ve never loved it (tastes low-key like grass to me), but I figured it was worth a try here. It’s an interesting flavor and I can see how it can become an acquired taste.

After a little people-watching, I wandered to the end of the street, then grabbed a taxi to my next temple.

Again, the driver left me in the middle of nowhere, saying “THERE.” I crossed to what looked like someone’s driveway… motorbike, house, no signage…then, finally: a sign. I translated it. This is it.

Up I went. Ancient stone steps, 10 inches high, no railing, mossy, wet, uneven. I had to do that thing where you press down on your thigh to lift yourself. The whole way, I kept thinking: I’ll make it up, but how will I get down?

But…wow. At the top, a small, ancient temple surrounded by trees in full color. Orange next to red next to yellow next to crimson. It’s rare to catch them all at once like that. Usually they peak at different times. But this was a fiery tapestry.

And no crowds. Just one other guy, a fellow photographer who passed me going up the stairs (rude) and kindly kept his distance so we stayed out of each other’s shots.

That’s when it hit me. Standing in front of that mossy old temple, with a single concrete Foo dog standing watch and the leaves glowing above, I felt it. The “I wish my mother and sister were here” moment. I stood there with tears running down my face, just…feeling them both there with me.

And typical of me….the big, flashy, popular temples? I’m like the Griswolds at the Grand Canyon, yep yep, let’s go. But give me a hidden, crumbling, hard-to-reach shrine with a handful of perfect leaves, and I’m in my glory.

Thankfully, there was an easier way down, a winding mossy slope. Still tricky, but manageable.

After that, I was wiped. Caught a taxi to the bus stop… fought with ChatGPT over whether I was on the correct side of the street… watched 45 minutes of buses come and go, none of them mine… and finally just took another taxi home.

Taxis are so much cheaper in Kyoto than Osaka (thank GOODNESS), probably because all the popular areas are relatively close together. Trains and buses take you in big, time-consuming loops, but taxis go straight from Point A to Point B. Their directness and lower cost is much appreciated.

Thanksgiving dinner: leftover KFC. Slept very well, thanks to complete physical exhaustion.

Friday, Nov 28: How Was Your Trip? Did You Have a Nice Fall?

Checkout out at 10am. Took a taxi to a breakfast place I’d seen online with Dutch Baby on the menu. I LOVE Dutch Baby. They’re sorta like if a Yorkshire Pudding and a pancake had a baby.

Taxi pulled over and tried to pull the “HERE IT IS” on me. But I was ready. I’d saved a picture of the outside of the cafe and showed her. That was clearly nowhere to be soon. She called the restaurant and they explained they were at the end of the narrow alleyway we were parked next to. Ahhh. Okay.

Excited to get there, I climbed out of the taxi, pulled my suitcase out behind me, promptly tripped on the curb, and fell flat out across the sidewalk.

Sigh.

Ouch.

Instantly there were about ten people around me, asking if I was alright, trying to help me up. I hurt. I did not want to get up, but I could feel that my pants had slipped way down from the fall (of course) and my ‘wares were hanging out. I had to get up, pain or no.

Mortifying. I’ve been waiting for a fall for forEVER.

I was bruised but not broken, and, after assuring everyone i was daijobuh (alright/okay/fine), I headed down the alley to the cafe…trying not to cry from shock and embarassment.

Traveling alone is not for the faint of heart.

I then survived the climb to the second story of the restaurant on steep stairs with no handrails (is the US the only country that considers safety?), enjoyed my Dutch Baby with nice, thick maple bacon, and left…after visiting the restroom to get all my clothes sorted out.

I got a taxi to take me to the bus for an uneventful 2-hour trip back home to Osaka. Took a nice hot bath that night, babied my sore body, put an ice-filled ziplock baggie on one knee for a bit (fortunately, the other knee) and discovered I’d done something Not Good to my right shoulder in the fall. It HURT.

Saturday, Nov 29

I crashed.

Sunday, Nov 30

I went to Don Quixote. It’s like Dollar Tree/Target on crack. In Japanese. I was looking for a waterproof cell-phone case for a river-boat ride I’m doing next week (wheee fun). And Equal. And one of those hand-held luggage scales. Getting there was a little gnarly but I made it.

I wish I’d taken more pictures. I keep doing video for tiktok and failing to also get still shots of things. I find that often a still picture of something can be boring…while a video, even of a boring thing, can be entertaining. Maybe that’s just me.

The area outside between the train station and Donki (nickname for Don Quixote) was the sketchiest part of Japan I’ve seen so far. Just like “normal city dirty” and guys hanging out, sitting on curbs, smoking.

Smoking is really big in Japan and Korea…but I think Korea has Japan beat. At least in the areas I’ve been.

Anyway. A couple things I found by myself (So Proud): Tylenol, snacks. I couple things I had to ask for help with. They only had plastic pouches for cell phones. Not really “waterproof cases,” but it was better than nothing. I wasn’t looking (at this time) to shoot underwater. I just wanted to protect my phone from splashing water or me falling overboard. Anyway, it will do the job.

Phew. This week was a LOT. I still think maybe I should have split this post into two part.

 

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