Final day in Kyoto.
Today was a nice day, but nothing exciting. Laurence and I separated today, as he wanted to take it easy and also just have some time to himself, so after a little breakfast, around 10 am, we went our own ways. When I arrived back at the hotel around 5:30, I was surprised that Laurence had been out for maybe five hours, and walked around five miles in the local area, although felt very tired and worn throughout, sitting at every opportunity and taking long breaks, and walking very slowly. As he said, he feels his body is wracked with fatigue and extreme discomfort, and every step today was a chore, although the pain has mostly subsided. At this point, he’s decided to return home. We’re flying to Okinawa tomorrow, and on Saturday we’re flying to Hanoi, Vietnam, and he’s planning to fly home from there. But… after we reconnected back at the hotel he started to feel better, and we walked to a local store and he was feeling fine. On the one hand, this fatigue is ruining things for him and making him feel miserable, but then he starts to feel better and, of course, doesn’t want to cut this incredible trip short. He knows he’ll feel full of regret if he does.
I think we’ll have to see how things go in Okinawa, where we’ll be for several days and will also have a rented car (it’s too difficult to otherwise get around there). Fingers crossed. It may also be that an alternative plan is one day out and about and one day of rest at whatever hotel we’re staying.
In any case, as the problem is now mostly fatigue and nothing life threatening or involving extreme pain, I’ve decided I’ll continue the trip and not return with Laurence if he does fly back early.
But, enough of that. I headed back to the Imperial Palace, and enjoyed the walk through the streets and the walk through the national gardens that surround the palace, this time knowing exactly where I was going… only to find that it was closed today!!
Unfazed, I turned around and walked to Nijō Castle, a couple of miles or less in the other direction, and bought a ticket to visit the grounds. The gardens are not so much gardens as they are a decent sized park covering 20-25 acres within the castle walls, with an inner moat as well as the outer moat on the other side of the castle walls. The gardens are incredible. What a beautiful place, on a beautiful day.
Then I headed to Kyoto station, which was a little too far to walk, as I had booked tickets for the train to the airport tomorrow and wanted to figure out how to pick them up (why they don’t just email them, I don’t know). It is a busy place, indeed, but I managed to find out exactly where to go, and thought I could actually get them while there, but damn… because I got a discounted price for visitors, I needed to present both our passports (I had mine with me, but it never occurred to me to bring Laurence’s as well). Oh well, but at least I know where to go and how to pick them up for our 11:30 train tomorrow. Our flight leaves at 3:25, but we need to get there a couple of hours early.
Finally, I decided to see if I could find the bamboo bridge I thought I heard our walking tour guide mention the other day, and yet again headed back to the Gion and Higashiyama district, but finally learned that he was actually talking about the bamboo grove and adjacent wild monkey park in the Arashiyama area in western Kyoto, about 35-45 minutes away, and by then I’d pretty much run out of time. I’d love to have seen that… but another time.
I headed back to the hotel, re-connected with Laurence and learned how shitty he was feeling and his decision (which may have since changed) to fly home from Hanoi. I hope not, but it’s his choice completely, and I understand why he yet may decide to do that. Beyond this trip though, his even bigger worry is this may mark an overall decline in his health as he moves forward.
We walked to a nearby large supermarket, and by now Laurence was feeling somewhat better, bought some prepared foods, and ate them there in a small cafeteria section of the store. I’m getting pretty good at using chopsticks, I must say (but not that good).
A couple of observations about Japan so far. (1) Hardly anywhere that serves food provides paper napkins, or napkins of any kind, although they all seem to provide after-meal wet wipes. (2) There are very few trash cans anywhere, on the streets or areas like the station or shopping arcades. (3) Very few public benches, even in walking and tourist areas. (4) Very few, if any, accommodations for the elderly or disabled. We haven’t seen any ramps, for instance. And (5) For a country that revolutionized and is a center of the worldwide motorcycle industry, I’ve seen very few motorcycles. I’ve seen more here in Kyoto, but not many, and hardly any in Tokyo. Not even small displacement engine motorcycles, although I have seen quite a few small motor scooters. That’s unexpected and odd given Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki.
Tomorrow, we pack, catch a taxi to Kyoto station, hopefully easily get our tickets, and fly to Okinawa, where we’ll be until Saturday, when we fly to Vietnam.
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