This comes from Greg Anderson - sorry it's late, but I was on vacation.
Konnichiwa!
I'm sitting at home, and am finally getting around to writing up a guest post for the last few days of our Japanese experience. Our travel days after leaving Arao City were so full, I never had a chance to compose this before returning to wet, cool Colorado.
Sumimasen for two things:
Taking so long to pen this guest post.
For this guest post being so long.
My memory of the end of the exchange is that when we boarded the train bound for Kyoto, It felt kind of bittersweet. Boarding that train marked the end of the exchange, and the end of Shanlie's last event as a member of Trebol White (for at least a year). I'm so happy that Shanlie's last outing with this team was for this exchange. What a great experience.
So here are my recollections of our post-Arao travel odyssey.
As the rest of the team and parents were boarding the bus for Fukuoka, The Andersons, Ciaglos, and Formans went to Arao Station and got on the express train for Hakata. At Hakata, we boarded the Shinkansen (bullet train) Hikari for Shin-Osaka. The bullet trains are fast, smooth, and comfortable. We could not even tell how fast we were going. At the Shin-Osaka station, we changed trains to get on a Shinkansen Kodoma for Kyoto. The Kodoma is a larger (and I believe faster) train than the Hikari. It seats 3 on one side of the aisle and 2 on the other (the Hikari seats 2 and 2). This was our first train riding "challenge" of the trip. We had a 6 minute layover. We had asked in Arao, and the attendant there said we should be able to get to our new platform in 5 minutes, so we should be good. But we had lots of luggage, and our train arrived 2 minutes late, so we only had 4 until the next train left! So here we were running through the station, and running up the stairs (Reed was great, carrying his bag up those stairs). We made it right as the train pulled in, and got on in time. Yeah! our first success. Our success was short-lived, however, as Greg mis-read his schedule and thought we had 45 minutes until Kyoto (we really had 15 minutes). Fortunately, the conductor came by and told us we were at the Kyoto station while we were just sitting in our seats. You've never see 8 people gather luggage and get off of a train so quickly!
In Kyoto, we left our luggage in lockers, and boarded a train for Nara. Upon arriving in Nara, we got some ice cream at 7-11 (the strawberry twist was excellent), then we took a bus to Nara park where we were almost immediately accosted by crazed deer. They ate Carol's map and surrounded Natalie. Once we escaped the deer, we went to the Todaiji Temple (the largest wooden building in the world). It houses the Daibutsu, a 16.2 m (53.1 ft.)-high bronze statue of Buddha. In the Temple there is a column with a hole in it the size of the Buddha's nostril. Apparently it is good luck if you can crawl through it. Carol and I didn't even try, but everyone else made it through (although Michael had to pull Shanlie a little bit). From there, we walked to the Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do Halls on a hill overlooking Nara. Then we walked to the Kasuga Taisa Shrine. This is where we first figured out that shrines and temples close at around 5:30. We couldn't enter the Shrine, so it was a little disappointing. From here, we took the 2 KM hike back to the train station. We were all getting tired at this point, so the walk seemed like about 5 KM instead of 2. On the way back we went by the Kofukuhi Temple, which has a 3 story pagoda and a 5 story pagoda.
We realized we needed to hurry back to the train station or we would have a 1 hour wait for the next train. It was a bit of a forced "double-time" march, but we made our train and collapsed for the ride back to Kyoto. Once we got back to Kyoto, we gathered our luggage and took our "short 8 minute walk" to the Ryokan Sukura. The Sukura is a great little Ryokan, and is comes highly recommended by all three families on this trip! But that 8 minute walk was about 20 minutes, and since we were already tired, our luggage felt like about 100 pounds each! After checking in, we asked where we could get dinner at 9:00 PM. They pointed us to a little noodle place a couple of blocks away. WOW! If you ever find yourself in Kyoto, do yourself a favor and find this little place (see one of us for the name and address). Order #1 -- cold noodles and spicy sauce. We all agreed it was the best restaurant we went to, and it was less than $10 per person (not including beer for the adults).
On Friday, we got up, purchased the 500 Yen (about $5.00) all-day bus pass, and headed out to the Golden temple. This is one of the must-see places in Kyoto. It is beautiful. 2/3 of the outside being coated in gold-leaf. The gardens and pond were beautiful as well. Since we got there early, we were able to see it before the crowds arrived. From there, we caught the bus to the Heian Shrine. I loved this place. With the orange/red trim on the buildings, it is an amazing site. We paid the small fee to head into the gardens (even though it wasn't the best time of year for blooming plants), and walked through. They are peaceful and well worth the money. We stopped at an area where there are stepping blocks across a pond. Michael put his photography skills to good use getting multiple exposure shots of the girls and Reed on multiple blocks. Then he set up a timer and got a photo of all 8 of us on different blocks. They are great, look for them on the Ciaglo's smugmug pages. Hopefully, we can get at least the photo of us all posted on this blog as well. From here, we walked through the Higashiyama area down to the Kiyomizu Temple. There was a lot of shopping on these narrow cobblestone streets, and it took us pretty much the rest of the day to make the walk (our guide book said it was a 1 hour walk, but we took closer to 4). We saw the Marcias on this walk, and chatted for a bit. Oscar said that they also took about 4 hours to clear all of the shops in this area. The Hiyomizu Temple sports what we later referred to as "holy water" or "smart water". The name of the temple means pure water, and it (the water) is supposed to have power to heal, give wisdom, and give success. We brought some home for Brock, since he has SATs and ACTs coming up! This temple is constructed without the use of a single nail! From here, we caught the (very crowded) bus to Sanjusangen-do Hall, which houses 1001 Buddhas. At this point, we were reminded that historical places close down early, as we arrived after it was closed. So we made our way back to the Ryokan, and prepared for an evening in the Gion district of Kyoto. This is a fun area at night. We walked up Pontocho alley, with lots of lights and lanterns. We saw girls in Geisha outfits, and we went to a great restaurant for dinner in our own private room. After dinner went went to the bridge over the river Kamo and saw all of the couples sitting on the banks of the river.
On Saturday, we decided to utilize the taxi and train forms of transportation rather than the bus since we were leaving for Odawara that day. We got up in the morning, and took a taxi back to Sanjusangen-do Hall where we were able to see the 1001 Buddhas (each with 42 arms). We then took taxis to Kyoto station, had some breakfast and took the train to the bamboo forest. It was raining like crazy, so we all purchased umbrellas and set off for our short walk in the bamboo forest. From here, drenched as we were, we took the train back to Kyoto, and took the Nara train for two stops to the Fushi Inari shrine, which has thousands of Toriis (those big orange/red gate structures). It was great to see both the Bamboo forest and the Fushi Inari shrine in the rain, as we were able to see the sight in relative isolation. From here, we sloshed our way back to Kyoto Station, and boarded the Shinkansen Kodomo for Odawara, a seaside community famous for its hot-springs. In Odawara we stayed at a Hilton Spa that had its own hot spring pool and Japanese baths. Once we checked in, we went to the pool for an hour of fun in the warm hot springs water. The pool was more like an aquatic playground than a pool. After swimming, the kids stayed at the hotel and went bowling, while the adults went to the Odawara Castle to check out the Cochin festival (festival of lanterns). We wondered amongst the food tents, and some men had Carol come over and try their "treat". They gave her some Sake, and we all tried her treat. Our "hosts" were laughing with us at our faces as we tried it. It turns out it was pigs foot. For the umpteenth time on this trip, we felt a little bit like we were on "The Amazing Race" (between running for trains, getting in cabs and saying "follow that cab", trying "interesting" foods, and seeing amazing sites, we could have been on that show). We then got a picture with the men, and they showed us their badges; they were Odawara Police officers! When we returned to the Hilton, we decided to try the Japanese Baths. These are traditional baths (one for men, one for women), where even swimsuits are not allowed.
On Sunday, we got up and headed to Hakone in our quest to see Mt. Fuji. Hakone is an awesome area in the mountains (about 3500 ft) that contains Lake Ashi. To get there, we took a train from Odawara, changed to a smaller train, then got on a cable car (that was like a cog-rail in that it was used for a very steep ascent), and finally two tramways. The second tram ended at Lake Ashi, which we crossed on a boat cruise. The scenery was amazing, but Mt. Fuji never made an appearance. We are not sure that Mt. Fuji actually exists, we think it might just be a tourism marketing gimmick . We took a bus all the way back to Odawara. Once there, I went back to the hotel to get all our luggage (in a cab) while everyone else had some time at the Cochin or shopping near the train station. Once we hooked up again, we got on a train for Tokyo. We arrived at our station (Shinjuku station), and after a few mis-steps, found the free shuttle to our hotel. After checking into our hotel, we went out to dinner at a small restaurant nearby (we got tempura and noodles, yum). We then went to Shibuya Station where we were able to go to the busiest intersection in the world. So what happens there? You guessed it, we ran into The Veros and Matinos. I mean a city of 13 million people, the busiest intersection in the world, and we run into our friends! Amazing! After a short chat, we did some shopping in the area; at about 10:15 the store starts playing "Auld Lang Syne". It seems all stores play this as they are closing (we also heard it at the end of the Cochin festival the night before). So we move on to the next store, and they are playing it too. Pretty much every store in the area of the world's busiest intersection closes at 10:30 PM. Can you imagine all of NY Times Square closing at 10:30? So we went back to the hotel for a well-earned night of sleep.
On Monday, our last day in Japan, the Ciaglos got up at 5:00am and went to the fish market where they saw the fish being sold, and they were able to get fresh sashimi from fish that were just about still flopping! The rest of us got up around 7:30, and we all went back to Shibuya and did our last-minute shopping. After shopping we returned to Shinjuku, got lunch, went back to the hotel to pack, and left for the airport. We took the Narita Express train to the airport. It's a good thing we decided to get reserved seats, because as we were standing on the platform we heard that there was no free-seating on the train, only reserved seats. whew! At the airport we re-met up with the Matinos and Veros and we all flew home together.
It was a long, tiring, enlightening, wonderful trip! Here is a big arigato to everyone involved. Especially the Sanvino parents and players who were perfect, gracious hosts; to Joe for this blog and his coaching and leadership of the girls throughout the trip; to Terri and Bill for helping us to communicate and for the educational insights into the area and culture; to coach Yamada for his tireless efforts when we were there (and for knowing all of the girls' names); to Paul for his "sister" blog; and to Carol and Michael for videotaping the soccer and the excellent pictures.
A special arigato gozaimasu goes to Tara and Hiro for coordinating everything.
And a very special domo arigato gozaimasu to Oscar for allowing us all to take part in his dream; it was truly a gift.
Finally, To the ladies of Trebol White and all of the siblings: You behaved with dignity, class and grace, and were perfect ambasadors for Trebol, Colorado, and the USA. I for one was proud to be associated with you.
