Monday, Dec 8

When we last saw our hero, she was sleeping in Kyoto in a room with no windows.

I got up pretty early to head over to Kyoto’s Gion district. It’s the city’s most famous geisha area; originally a cluster of teahouses serving visitors to Yasaka Shrine, but over time it evolved into a full-blown cultural hub. Today, it’s home to traditional ochaya (teahouses) where geishas perform music and dance at private parties. Gion attracts tons of tourists for both the geishas as well as its old Japanese traditions and vibe.

I had a nice breakfast of fluffy pancakes…did a little shopping (yes, me)…and just wandered around the area a bit. There are rivers (streams? canals?) running through the area. I forget how many waterways Japan has, being an island itself, and having many island areas off the coast.

I ended my morning with some pistachio and single malt vanilla gelato – the woman behind the counter kept saying to me, “alcohol. alcohol!” I was like yes,  yes, alcohol – good!. I’d just settled into my seat outside along the water to enjoy y treat whenn it started to rain – ugh – so I quickly requested a taxi to go home…and that was a fiasco, but…whatever. Ha. Fiascos are the new normal.

Tuesday, Dec 9

Today I went to Uji, which is like the birthplace of matcha…or something. I’m not really a matcha person yself, but my daughter is and I hoped to get her some high quality tea and baking powder for Christmas.

I left early, my trip was good, no mistakes…and I purposely took a particular route so I could end up at Keihan Uji Station, which is an award-winning train station built in 1995. In 1996 it won the Good Design Award for it’s modern brutalist style. Plus, it’s really cool, ha ha. Architect Hiroyuki Wakabayashi designed other significant buildings, but I get a kick out of the fact that his first “notable” work was a pickle shop in his hometown, Kyoto, in 1990.

I visited Ujikami-jinja shrine and Eshin-in Temple and walked along the Ujigawa River. I found a nice bench in the shade at the riverside that I enjoyed for awhile – you know I love a good bench sit.

After my peaceful morning I headed into town to four recommended matcha stores. The first was really a cafe, that did have a shop, but did not sell matcha. I had my own personal matcha tasting with a matcha frappe (so-so, a little grassy), a matcha jelly which was interesting and not unpleasant. It would be nice as a layer in a dark chocolate cake…and a matcha tiramasu, which was lovely. You can never go wrong with tiramasu.

The second shop was closed on Tuesday (I’ve run into a lot of random day closures while in Japan)…the third closed at noon (which I discovered when I arrived at 1:30)…and the fourth was open, but was sold out of matcha. I went into another random shop but it looked a little rinky-dink and was so busy I couldn’t ask the sales staff any questions…and what do *I* know about matcha?? Nuthin.

After my unsuccessful town visit, I happened across yet another riverside bench, so…I hadda sit for a bit before heading back to the train station.

When I got back to Uji Station, I discovered my Google Maps departure instructions were a little vague. Instead of saying “X Train” at Platform 2…it just sold “Local Train.” That’s never helpful to someone not from the area. Is there only ONE local train? Which track/direction do I go? Help. A train pulled in and I asked a Train Man if this was the right train, pointing to my phone. NO, BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH. Uhm, what?

I determined he was saying I was not at the right station. And yet, this very distinctive station was the one I’d arrived to in the morning, so…wouldn’t this also be the way home. We had total language barrier, but I could tell he was saying NOT THIS TRAIN…and it really seemed like I needed to be at a different station. But Google Maps…

So I got off the train, figuring once it (and Train Main) pulled away, I’d ask someone else for help. But I had that sick feeling at the pit of my stomach…YOU’RE LOST YOU’LL NEVER FIND YOUR WAY HOME YOU’RE GOING TO DIE HERE. I’ve gotten used to this feeling and usually I can soldier on but…I was far from home at this point and it didn’t feel good.

A man from on the train, just a passenger, had apparently been following my little midadventure and stepped into the open doorway and asked where I was trying to go. I told him, he basically said the same thing the train man had said YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE, which I just could not accept as this was how I’d gotten there in the morning! Anyway, he pulled out his PHONE MAP and tried to SHOW ME my route (ruhroh braininoverload), like I could comprehend and reember all his instructions and the wavy colored lines he was pointing out.

Maps, man. They’ve become the bane of my existence.

Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures of him pointing to things on his phone and was just like okay okay thank you now please go away so my brain and i can sit quietly and try to piece this all together.

Seriously. I cannot remember “go from Point A to Point B and then to Point C.”

Anyway…he was sitting right opposite me on the train, I sorta had to try and follow his instructions…and fortunately as the train pulled away I was able to Google Maps my way to a reasonable route home using his first directed transfer.

Oh the relief.

In hindsight, I realize he was trying to say you can’t go DIRECTLY there from here…you need to transfer multiple times. Which *I* understood, but I think he thought I thought there was a direct train from A to B. And as for the Train Man, I now realize there are TWO Uji Stations…he was saying Google Maps was telling me I needed to leave from the OTHER Uji Station. Got it. NOW.

I eventually made it home.

The ramen place I’d planned to go for dinner was Closed on Tuesday, and that news was all it took to push me over the edge for the day and I just had Convenience Store Dinner in my room under the light of a thousand suns.

Wednesday, Dec 10

Got myself together, checked out of the hotel, and headed to Cafe Mochi Mochi for a cat-shaped souffle pancake breakfast.

Closed on Wednesday.

OMG.

Headed home, hungry and uneventfully.

Stopped at 7-11 in my station to restock my kitchen after being away for a few days and had some cup noodles for dinner.

Thursday, Dec 11

Day One of post-trip crash.

Friday, Dec 12

Day Two of post-trip crash.

Saturday, Dec 13

Day Three…

Sunday, Dec 14

Left the house for the first time in days…for JUST a few minutes to make a convenience store run. Came home to slips on my door saying I’d missed a package delivery.

SERIOUSLY??

I spent a LONG TIME trying to figure out how to say please redeliver…but there was postage due…and what with all the JAPANESE…I couldn’t make the QR code OR the url OR the phone number offer me any assistance whatsoever. So I decided to just get up and go first thing in the morning to the nearest Yamato (Japanese UPS) office and throw myself on their mercy.

Please Help This Dumb Foreigner.

Sigh.

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I’m writing this post after-the-fact so can’t remember if I told you guys about the fire evacuation at the hotel in Kyoto…or finally booking my flight out of Osaka – which was pretty much a cluster you-know-what, but it’s done.

18 days til I leave Japan.

More pictures…

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