Kyoto Protocols

100_7087
Originally uploaded by Kawakatoose.

I met a geisha the other day. It's true, check it out to your right. Charity and I went to Kyoto on Monday for some sight seeing and souvenir shopping. It was a good time. We went to Imperial Palace, hoping to take the tour we missed out on five years ago. Unfortunately, to our surprise, there were no tours on Monday. The reason was that they were holding th Aoi Festival on the palace grounds. I hadn't heard of this festival, so I had no idea what it was about. As it turns out, its been held in Kyoto for about 1400 years. It has something to do with making crops grow and satisfying the gods. At any rate, its one of the three biggest festivals in the year and definitely one of the most colourful. You can see from the pictures that the costumes are pretty elaborate and colourful. It's like being transported back a thousand years. Many parts of Kyoto seem to exist in a time warp, with old style streets next to shiny new buildings.

After visiting the festival, Charity and I went to Mos Burger for lunch. I'm really gonna miss the Teriyaki burgers. Later in the afternoon, I actually ran into a geisha. At least, I think she was a geisha. I even have the pictures to prove it. I was all by myself for a while at this one place we went when all of a sudden, there she was. I indicated to her that I'd like to have my picture taken with her and she consented. Charity, being the geisha fan she is, was pretty jealous. After that experience, we went to Kiyomizudera, one of the most famous sights in Kyoto. The view of the city is amazing and the garden paths are very nice. Charity and I experiemented with our camera, as you can see from some of our pictures.

Charity and I will be returning to Canada in about eleven days. It's amazing to think that we've been here almost a year. We like it here. We really do, but the time has come for us to move on. We look forward to seeing many of you again when we return home. Take care, everyone. Later.
-Joe.