After my long walk I arrived back to the hostel and rested in the room while I chatted with teru, a guy who’s traveling from Hokkaido. He’s in university for architecture so came to Kyoto to learn about the styles. We went around the area to find a place when we came across a tiny noodle shop. We went in and the menu had 3 options. The one that I liked was a bowl of noodles, fried chiken, and salad. Teru liked that one as well. When we started our order to call out the name of the set, it turned out to be a “ladies set” so we said yup, two ladies sets please. :)
After dinner we came back an I tried to plan what I was going to do a I ouknt stay at the hostel more than what I had booked. Cherry blossom season is obviously a peak time to be going to japan so places are quite full.
After talking with the other travelers and looking at the guidebooks, I planned the next day of my trip.
I will head for hikone to visit one of the national treasures of japan–a castle that has the original structure still In contact. After visiting that I’ll head for kinosaki onsen, a village famiuse for it’s outdoor spring baths. I was able to book a night in a traditional ryokan so stay tuned for how that unfolds. After staying there, I’ll head for Nagoya to visit shoko, a friend from San francisco, and then after Nagoya, I’ll visit takayama, another sleepy village with unique houses and crafts. I’m excited to see parts of japan I haven’t before, and definitely am excited to get away from the tourists!