Nara

Tuesday, it was Nara.  I can't do the place any bit of justice by a rush post. I may come back to this post after I return. It is packed with world heritage sites, national treasure temples, a large park with free roaming deer. It took us the entire day walk around some of it and see some major sites. I could write at least a paragraph over the Buddha statue (Daibutsu). It would take me days to write up about all the temples. At least it's recorded now, so please enjoy the taster.

Sali,Nara'ya gittik. Ben simdi alelacele bir post yazarsam hic hakkini veremeyecegim. Beli donunce bu posta yeniden birseyler eklerim. Burasi dunya mirasi, milli servet bir cok tapinak ve sit alani iceren, kocaman pariknda geyiklerin gezindigi bir yer. Bir kismini dolasip da onemli alanlarini gezmek tum gunumuzu aldi.14 metrelik Buda heykelini (Daibutsu) bile bir paragraf yazmam gerek. Tum tapinaklari yazabilmem icin de gunler gerek. Simdilik kaydedilmis oladursun, biraz tadimlik olsun.

Kyoto CS / Kyoto Istasyonu

Kyoto Central Station is a world on its own. It may be the largest building I've ever been in. It goes on and on and on, with busy train platforms, subway entrances, hotel, shops, department stores. It's massive. These pictures show the central entrance side, only.

I can walk there from my room in 3-4 minutes (because of traffic lights, which take forever to turn green). It takes you longer to walk inside, across the building, or take escalators to higher floors. The escalators are stairway to heaven. The top left photo was taken after halfway.

Although I went there almost every single day for one thing or another, I put off taking pics until now. In guess it became too local too soon. 

Kyoto Istasyonu baslibasina bir dunya. Benim girip ciktigim en buyuk yapi bu olabilir. Islek platformlari, metro cikislari, oteli, dukkanlari, alisveris merkezleri derken uzayip gidiyor. Cok buyuk. Bu fotograflarda gorunen sadece ana giris tarafi.

Kaldigim yerden oraya yurumem 3-4 dakika (o da yesile donmek bilmeyen trafik isiklari yuzunden). Binanin bir ucundan diger ucuna yurumek ya da yuruyen merdivenle ust katlara tirmanmak daha uzun suruyor. Yuruyen merdiven semaya ulasacak saniyorsunuz. Sol ust fotograf yolu yarilayinca cekilmis bir fotograf.

Her gun bir sebeple ugramis olmama ragmen fotograflarin cekme isini hep erteledim. Galiba hemencecik "bizim buralar" oluverdi.

School is Over / Okul Bitti

Today was my last day at school. I'm glad it's over; It was hard work. I've received my certificate of attendance, which came as an absolute surprise. Just in time, I took my camera out and placed it haphazardly on my desk to capture the moment on film (below).

Bugun okulun son gunuydu. Uzerimden yuk kalkti, hakikaten zor gecti. Devam ettigim icin bana sertifika bile verdiler. Hic beklemiyordum, sasakaldim. Apar topar fotograf makinami cikarip siramin uzerine bu ani kaydetmek icin koyuverdim.

A Day in Town / Sehirde Bir Gun

Monday I left with Caline and saw the Nishiki market.

Pazartesi evden Caline'le ciktim ve Nishiki Pazarini gezdim.

 

We ran into Claire after the exit. We're already running into people we know :-) Claire agreed to accompany me on the hunt for the Ghibli shop. The tip was given to me by Arina and I had to go and see it.

Cikista Claire ile karsilastik. Artik tanidiga filan da rastlar olduk. Claire benimle gelip Ghibli dukkanini bulmaya ikna oldu. Buradan bana Arina sozetmisti ve de illa bulup gormem lazimdi.

The way to the shop crossed Gion and I finally saw a Maiko. Actually two :-)

Dukkana giden yol Gion'dan geciyordu ve de sonunda bir Maiko gordum. Hatta iki tane :-)

 

I roamed a little and photographed some more pretty things before returning.

Sonra biraz daha gezinip, guzel seyleri fotograflayip dondum.

Long Day / Uzun Gun

Sunday, I went out with Arina and Mauru. They wanted to check out the biggest vegan market in Japan (which turned out to be somewhat disappointing, they say), I wanted to sleep. So we met in front of Keihan Line Marutamachi station around 12.30.

I didn't know where the station was, so I went to the information desk at the central station to ask (conversation was entirely in Japanese). The good clerk at the desk spread out the map and circled a station. The streets in Kyoto run for kilometres, both horizontally and vertically. Marutamachi is one that runs vertically through the entire city. Where he was sending me was at the centre, I needed to be at the very East. I'm so pleased I've learnt a thing or to about navigation here. Because I repeated that I needed the train station and not the underground station. Then he circled the train station on the map with his big red marker and said "Ga arimasen", which means "does not exist". Of all the things, I should keep that map as a souvenir. Actually I should have had him write "ga arimasen" just next to the station he circled.

Pazar gunu, Arina ve Mauru ile ciktik. Onlar Japonya'nin en buyuk Vegan pazarini gezmek istediler (ki o da hayalkirikligi  olmus), ben de uyumak istedim. Bu nedenle Keihan hattinin Marutamachi istasyonunda bulusalim dedik, 12 bucuk gibi.

Ben bu istasyonu bilmem, o yuzden bir bilene sorayim diye merkez istasyonun bilgi edinme noktasina gittim. Konusma tamamen Japonca idi. Muhterem gorevli  bir harita serdi onumuze ve bir istasyon isaretleyiverdi. Kyoto caddeleri enine ve boyuna kilometrelerce uzar gider. Marutamachi Kyoto'nun bir ucundan bir ucuna enine gidenlerden. Amca beni merkezine yollamaya kalkti; ben biliyorum Dogu'ya gitmem gerek. Sukur ki az bucuk ogrendim sagimi solumu. Tekrarladim amcaya, benim tren istasyonuna gitmem lazim, metroya degil diye. Bu defa tren istasyonunu buldu; koca, kirmizi kalemiyle cemberledi ve "Ga arimasen' , yani "Yok (boyle bir sey)" dedi. Benim burdan andac olarak bu haritayi saklamam lazim aslinda. Keske bir de "Ga arimasen" yazdirsaydim isaretledigi istasyonun yanina. 

We met and took the train to Fushimi. This is a small town outside Kyoto (actually a ward of Kyoto), famous with its sake breweries. The place was generally ugly with industrial compounds bang in the centre, among houses. We had lunch with Kazu-san (Arina's boyfriend), who had to work in Fushimi on Sunday. Then we strolled around, looked into shops, visited the sake museum, did some sake tasting, had a sake ice-cream, which was not particularly delicious. However, the water in the town was delicious. People come with bottles or large jugs to fill up for the week. It's considered to be one of the top 10 springs in entire Japan. Sake brewing industry is not there for nothing.
I sat inside a barrel to pose.

Bulusup bindik trene ve Fushimi'ye gittik. Fushimi, Kyoto yakininda (daha cok Kyoto'nun banliyosu gibi), sakesiylemeshur bir kasaba. Cok icacici bir yer degildi maalesef. Endustri binalari evlerin arasinda, tam merkezde. Arina'nin sevgilisi Kazu-san ile bir ogle yemegi yedik. Ondansonra da gezindik, dukkanlara baktik, sake muzesini gezdik, sake tattik, sakeli dondurma yedik. Sake dondurmasi pekleziz degildi ama kasabanin suyu cok lezizdi. Millet siseleri, damacanalari kapip gelmis; haftalik ihtiyaclarinidolduruyorlardi. Burasi Japonya'nin en iyi 10 su kaynagindanbiri sayilirmis. Sake endustrisi bosuna burda gelismemis yani. Ben de girdim varile poz verdim.

 
We popped on another train to Uji. This is a lovely town cut by a large river. The Japanese 10 cent coin features the buddhist temple (Byōdō-in ) of Uji. We didn't get to see the inside, but again the gardens and the museum was worth it.

Arina had two matcha (green tea) ice-creams and Mauru bought medicine (was feeling ill). After an entire day of walking on gravel I took a rest at the riverbed and soaked my feet in the cold river.

Ordan yine atladik bir trene, Uji'ye gittik. Burasi da bir nehrinikiye boldugu guzel bir kasaba. Japon 10 kurusununarkasinda da bu sehirdeki budist tapinagi (Byōdō-in) var. Tapinagin icini goremedik ama yine bahceleri, muzesi yetti.

Arina iki tane matcha (yesil cay) dondurmasi yedi, Mauru da gitti ilac aldi (biraz usutmus). Ben de butun gun cakillarda yurudukten sonra nehir yatagina indim ve ayaklarimi buz gibi nehre soktum.

Mauru left us later on and returned to Kyoto. Kazu-san came and picked us up from Uji and took us to a Sentō (bath house) near Fushimi, called Nenenoyu. For the first time in 5 weeks I found myself seriously considering living here. It was just so good.

It's no-clothes in sento and onsen in Japan. It is gender-split at least (unlike Finland).  Still, it took me a little while to get used to the environment, since Arina and I were the only foreigners in the place, so we were checked out more often. That was about 2 minutes, though. I've seen that Japanese ladies a) do not deform even after 3 children, b) majority has sizable breasts (not real large, but not as small as the stereotype dictates) c)keep a full bush. Naturally, I can't prove any of this, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Mauru bizden ayrilip Kyoto'ya dondu, Kazu-san da gelip ikimizi aldi ve Fushimi yakininda Nenenoyu adinda bir sentoya (hamam) goturdu. 5 haftadir ilk defa Japonya'ya yerlessem fena da olmaz dedim. Oyle guzel geldi.

Japon hamamlarina (sento ve onsen) anadan dogma giriliyor. En azindan kadin-erkek bir arada degil (Finlandiya gibi). Yinede cevreye alismam birazcik zaman aldi. Bunda Arina vebenim tek yabanci olmamiz ve dikkat cekmemiz de etkili oldu tabii. Iki dakika surdu topu topu. Japon hanimlar a) 3 cocuktan sonra bile deforme olmuyorlarmis, b) memeleri oyle sanildigi gibi kucuk filan degilmis (inek gibisi yoktu ama) c) Guney kisimlarinda doga ne verdiyse duruyor. Haliyle bunlari fotografla ispatlayamayacagim, dedigime inanin artik.

We had dinner and a lot of tea in the restaurant area after our bath. The smoking section had the most advanced filtration system I've ever seen.

 

All in all, that night's sleep was well deserved.

Yunduktan sonra restoran kismina gecip yemegimizi yedik, bol bol da cay ictik. Sigara icme bolumunde de simdiye kadar gordugum en japon harikasi havalandirma sistemi kuruluydu.

O gece yattigim yeri pek begendim dogrusu.

Holiday Begins / Tatil basliyor

Time is running out and with the holiday and all, I'm quite behind schedule for the blog. I would have liked to write more extensively, but it's not going to happen. I'm writing the beginning of the holiday when it's ended.

I sat for my last big test on Friday. I was so confused by then, I thought I'd better not sit for it at all. However, I took the test, I'm not here to slack.

On saturday I met with Claire and then with Caline to visit the Manga museum. It was large and impressive. Manga is a very important part of Japanese life. I can't imagine elsewhere people would visit a book museum (if it exists at all) and hangs out there for hours reading. The manga were classified into decades and sometimes genres. Pics were again not allowed , so I couldn't take many. It was ok to take pics of the manga artists, showcasing.

Zaman akip gidiyor, e araya tatil de gidince ben blog yazma isinde biraz geride kaldim. Herseyi cok daha detayli anlatmak isterdim ama mumkun gorunmuyor. Tatilin basini ancak tatil bitince yazabiliyorum.

Cuma gunu son buyuk sinavima girdim. Kafam oyle karisikti ki girmesem daha iyi diyordum ama yine de girdim, kacmaya gelmedik buraya.

Cumartesi Claire ve sonra da Caline ile bulusup Manga muzesine gittik. Cok buyuk ve etkileyiciydi. Manga (cizgi roman) burda hayatin cok onemli bir parcasi. Baska bir yerde boyle bir kitap muzesi olsun, insanlar da gidip saatlerce takilsin, okusun...hic sanmam. Manga yillara ve bazen de turlere gore duzenlenmisti. Fotograf yine serbest degildi, o yuzden cok cekemedim. Manga sanatcilarini isbasinda cekmek serbestti, ben de oyle yaptim.

After the museum we took the Sanjo shopping street to hunt down a 350 year old establishment, specialised in producing needles. Caline does patchwork, she was very delighted to find these super needles. It was a little, quaint shop, reached through an alley...you'd never expect that off a very busy shopping street. 

Muzeden sonra Sanjo caddesine gidip 350 yillik bir dukkan aradik. Bu aile sirketi igne yapiminda ustaymis. Caline patchwork (kirkyama) yapar, pek memnun oldu cok iyi igneler bulduguna. Boyle bir dukkani, bu kadar islek bir alisveris caddesinden cikan bir kucuk ara yolda hic beklemezsiniz.

 

We headed down to Gion, to see the Maiko and saw none. It was a disappointment, which I remedied by going again later on.

Gion'a, Maiko gormeye gittik ama bir tane goremeden donduk, Ben bu ise cok bozulup sonra yeniden ugradim ve bir tane gordum.

We ended the day in the soba restaurant again. This time I tried Tempura and wasn't too impressed.

Gunu bizim soba lokantasinda tamamladik. Bu defa Tempura ismarladim ama cok memnun kalmadim.