I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

Recording this entry on the Shinkansen out of Kyoto where we spent four glorious days. I thought I took a bunch of glorious photos, but 1) I was mistaken 2) My hands are way shakey 3) I stupidly set the pics on AV mode at a lower resolution. Blah!

Quick Kyoto highlights:
Nintendo buildings:
KF’s fabled Shangri-la. We walked for a couple of hours trying to find it, but his persistence paid off and we managed to get a few snaps of it. Haven’t seen KF that excited and insistent on something since, well, since we were in Osaka and he just *had* to go into every game shop to find his GBA games. Still, glad we managed to track both buildings.

Walking around the city: we got around a fair bit on foot. After walking around with Jeffrey the first night and comparing the distance we covered on the map back at the hotel, I figured (perhaps somewhat foolishly) the city was walkable so I made KF walk pretty much everywhere. It’s good to be out walking, I figure it’s making up for all those years sitting around on my desk pretty much not doing anything (but still eating 5 times a day). The weather was nothing like it is in SG, so it was really pleasant.

Fushimi-inari Taisha:

KF says there’s a scene in Memoirs of a Geisha (the one starring Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, not to be confused with The Last Geisha, where Tom Cruise plays a young Geisha who longs to be with Ken Watanabe) filmed there (or at least set there). It’s the one where there are dozens of red torii (red gates to shrines) lined up in a row. The pathway goes on for about 4km up the mountain, it’s particularly surreal walking through it. To get to the shine you can take the JR Nara line to Inari Station (it’s 2 stations from Kyoto Station).

Kyoto is amazing, it’s a really nice break between the bustle that was Osaka and that will be Tokyo. I love the way the city keeps it’s character in her buildings and streets, yet it’s a bustling city with all the trappings of a large metropolis. Still, the Kyoto I will remember fondly is the one of pavillions, quaint streets, torii, tree-lined streams and sipping matcha in a garden.

Many thanks to Anthony and Jeffrey for making our trip particularly memorable. Please visit us in SF or SG (where attendance will be spotty after July 07) so we can play host for a change. Domo arigato gozaimasu.

Now, onto Tok-eee-yoh!