Kyoto and Nara

We waited and waited to get this picture of the geisha in Kyoto's Gion area. The street was lined with tourists, all waiting to catch a glimpse of the her. It was like a Hollywood star sighting in Timbuktu. Everybody jostling to get a picture of her walking to her clients. Including us.

During the Obon Holidays, we decided to take a short trip up to Kyoto and Nara, two ancient and historic cities. Since we have a ton of Trisha gear, we thought driving would be more convenient, regardless of the kind advice given to us by the locals about the really bad traffic (almost the whole country goes on holiday during this week.....so all modes of transportation are jammed-packed with people). The traffic was worse than we could imagine. Driving to Nara (about 120 km) took us all of 4 hours. Insane. Anyhow, once we got to Nara, we stayed in a ryoukan, a traditional Japanese inn. It wasn't the most ritzy place but definitely worth the experience. We arrived at the best time because that night itself, the whole town was to be lighted up with candles to help the spirits return home. It was a beautiful sight. Another really unique thing about Nara is that it has about 1000 deers roaming around the town, especially around the parks and popular temple areas. They are considered sacred and not to be harmed, like the cows in India. Interesting but smelly.

We moved on to Kyoto the next day and were pleasantly surprised to discover the hotel that we had booked is rather posh. We didn't expect much from the price but it turned out great! Kyoto is an incredible place to visit but unfortunately, it was so hot during that period of time. Mid-August is probably the peak of Japan summer and Kyoto really gets the worse of it because it's surrounded by hills and mountains. I can't describe how hot it was. The pictures don't quite show the effects of the heat. Poor Trisha really sweated it out in her stroller. We will definitely return to Kyoto because there wasn't enough time to cover everything.

One last thing about travelling for us. Now that we have Trisha, it's an entirely different way of travelling. In the past, we would walk till we dropped to cover as much as possible. Now, it's stop and go. And a return trip to the hotel after lunch to let her nap. Aaaahhhhh...the sacrifices we make. :) We also take a lot more taxi rides than we use to. Well worth the money compared to being squished up in a train or bus holding onto Trisha and the stroller.

Anyway, we'll let the pictures do the talking.