Monday, Dec 1

A stay at home day. I finally sorted through my piles of plastic into the appropriate recycling categories: burnable, non-burnable, regular plastic, PET plastic…removed all the labels, crushed the cans and bottles. Trash disposal is even more complicated/labor-intensive here than it was in Korea.

Tuesday, Dec 2

Fat Spread.

Just sort of rested up, prepared for my outing tomorrow, straightened up the room.

Tomorrow I’m going on an all-day Klook tour to Arashiyama, Kyoto for the Sagano Romantic Train and the River Boat Ride down the Hozugawa River. The boat is why I wanted the waterproof cell phone case. Doing them as an all-day tour with a tour group removed a lot of the anxiety of how do I get from Point A to Point B, how do I get back to civilization at the end of the boat ride??

But of course I’m having anxiety and “I don’t REALLY have to go-itis.”

Even things I WANT to do, I don’t want to do.

Wednesday, Dec 3

Today I got up crackadawn and headed to downtown Osaka to meet up with a tour group bound for the Sagana Romantic Train ride and the Hozugawa River Boat Ride, both in Arashiyama, in Kyoto. I could have done them on my own when I was in Kyoto, but I was anxious about getting from Point A to Point B to Point C, so the bus tour seemed a good idea…and meant for once I could just passenger and look out the window without worrying about stops and stations and platforms.

Sadly, as soon as the guide met up with us he told us he’d heard from the river boat people that due to the high winds (high winds?) the boat was canceled for the day. So now I’d gotten up at 5:30 am to get to Osaka by 7:30 JUST to go on the train ride? THAT I could have done by myself. Ugh. Whatever. I was still going to enjoy the bus ride.

Bus Bus Bus…hurry to the train station…wait wait waii….stand in line stand in line…finally at NOON, it was our turn to board the train. It was really quite charming. It’s actually an old steam engine that used to be a cargo train back in the day. Now it’s just used for this pretty ride between the mountain and the river. In the spring the route is lined with cherry trees, and in the fall, deciduous trees with fiery fall foliage.

At least LAST week it would have been fiery. By this week it was all a little lackluster and leaning towards brown.

Timing of leaf peeping is SO challenging. Back in NY me and some friends used to go upstate every year “around Columbus Day” to 7-Mile Drive (17-mile? I forget), which was a nice gently winding road that made its way around a number of lakes surrounded by beautiful trees. We were always a week too early or a week too late.

On this day we were clearly a week too late 🙁 Still, it was a nice ride, just about 25mins long.

Then back to the bus to head into town, leave the bus in the parking lot, and go off on our own adventures. Normally this would be a 2hr activity, but because of the boat cancellation, it became 3.5 hours of free time.

Now I don’t really do ANYTHING for 3.5 hours. Let alone unplanned…outside, with no way to just go home when I got tired. So I was a little…guh.

I headed to a near-ish-by temple that was known for it’s beautiful garden. On foot. Found said temple. And could easily see that last week it was a beautiful garden. Now it was pretty much past peak and I was not feeling all that inspired.

Fortunately there were a lot of benches…and I sat on every unoccupied bench I came to for at least ten minutes – killing time and resting my hips and back. But eventually I’d gone all the way around….and now I had to walk back into town…and hopefully find a coffee shop or place for lunch.

I was IN PAIN walking back to town. I was as past peak as the fall leaves were. We were both waiting to just tumble to the ground. I so desperately wanted to tumble to the ground.

I walked around for about an hour…sllloowwlllyyy. Poking my head inside every restaurant and cafe…no room at the inn. At ANY inn. Eventually I just got a cup of ice cream at a walk-in take-out place and then went and found a bus stop to sit at while I ate it.

It was one of the best ice cream flavors I’ve ever had. Maybe it was actually gelato, I forget. But it was green tea and mango. I love the flavor of green tea (in everything except tea), it’s such a clean, fresh flavor/scent…and then the mango brightened it up a bit with some sweetness. Ah, they made a good pair.

After that I was just cold (high winds, remember?) and done walking. Done. So I went back to the bus and knocked on the door. Fortunately the driver was in there resting and let me in. Which was no easy matter. Pulling myself up those high bus steps.

It was only 2:30. I had another hour before were all meant to be back at the bus and head home. I was really fine with that, I was just happy to be SITTING.

We headed out of Arashiyama at 3:30…dropped off about a quarter of our people at Kyoto Station around 4:15, then headed back to Osaka. We got back to our starting point a little after 5:30 and I, exhausted, splurged on a taxi for myself rather than doing all the walking involved with taking the train(s) home during rush hour. $70 for a 12 mile ride. SEVENTY DOLLARS.

The End.

Thursday, Dec 4

Crashed. Was exhausted from yesterday.

Friday, Dec 5

Went to meet a new friend for lunch. She follows me on TikTok and lives not far from where I’m staying. She’s from the UK and lives here in Japan with her husband and baby. So we decided to meet for lunch. We ate on the food floor of a big fancy mall in downtown Osaka. Had a really good burger and we shared some life stories. She brought her 18-month-old son who was a doll. She told me about a Christmas market in a town not too far from me so we have tentative plans to meet there in a couple weeks.

Was nice to have conversation, ha ha. I really don’t notice missing it, but really, when you think about it, I haven’t had a CONVERSATION with someone directly (besides chat/online) since I’ve been here.

Saturday Dec 6

Crash Day. Really, one day out in the world wipes me out. If I had a car to get me  to and from places I wouldn’t be so exhausted all the time, but the train travel really wears me out. So I just did some work, straightened up my room, finished a behind-schedule blog post…then lay down to listen to my current audiobook, and dozed on and off most of the afternoon. Just got up around 6 cuz I was hungry.

Whatta life.

Sunday, Dec 7

I planned to get up early and head back to Kyoto, drop off my luggage around 11am and go to the Contemporary Museum of Modern Art, which looks small, but lovely. Which means I dawdled around home all day and didn’t get to Kyoto til around 4, after the museum was closed.

Typical.

I did, however, make it all the way there with no mistakes. I even went to the correct hotel this time.

Sadly, while the room was larger, and had not just a bed w poofy comforter, but also a desk, a SOFA, and a KITCHEN…the WINDOW faced right up againts another building, so Zero View, Zero Light. I kinda feel like they should tell you that. You had to have the Ceiling Lights from the Sun on 24/7, which was pretty unbearable. It made the whole room feel basementy and unpleasant to me.

Anyway. I stocked up on 7-11 goodies from the corner, and went for a little walk around the neighborhood after dark. I’m always careful of the footing in Japan, as I was in Korea…cuz it is BAD. Old and uneven broken and missing tiles, dips, curbs that jump out at you from nowhere. But now, after last week’s sidewalk splat, I’m being extra cautious, so my walk in the dark was pretty short.

I went to sleep early cuz I had an early morning agenda for the next day.

I’m just realizing today, Friday, Dec 12, that I never finished or published this blog post last Sunday! I guess I was distracted by the travel to Kyoto. Oops.

Japan Week Five ~ OUT.

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