Part 2.

so, there i was in kyoto, armed with an all-day bus pass (500 en) and a bus map of kyoto, and about half an hours' sleep. i grabbed some vendo-coffee, and set off. i wandered around the narrow streets of kyoto, looking at dozens of shrines and pagodas and shrines and geishas and shrines. i got a bit shrined out, so i headed for the department stores, to see what i could not afford to buy. i saw the most DARLING black patent leather leCoq Sportif tote, but it was over a man, and while i might pay that for shoes, i'm not buying a bag that costs that much. you can get designer knockoffs for less than 2500 here. and i buy too may bags to commit to one expensive one.

well, by lunchtime i was pretty damn tired and hungry. and had bought a geisha. well, a geisha doll in full kimono and wig. so gorgeous and only 1500 (on sale, a bargain. shut up i'm not a shopaholic. anyway i checked with tharien and she says the doll is neither cheesy nor kitsch, so there). of course, finding a restaurant was esier said than done, and i ended up accedentally going in completely the wrong direction, and even wandering around gion for a while, until i found a bus that would take me back to the station.

i have to say a few words about kyoto station while i'm at it. the place is huge, which is hardly surprising, considering that it services local and express trains, shinkansens, buses and subways (and probably donkey carts and roboats too). htere is also a shopping mall called the cube, as well as information centres, a restaurant walk, and a small supermarket... not to mention a foreign food stores where i found and bought a liter tetra-brik pack of... PureJoy Guava juice! (of all things.) this was also the place that i discovered that hagen-dazs is apparently prejudiced against hokkaido, as there are about 5 flavours available in honshu that you can't get here (like vanilla fudge brownie ohmigod!), and the pint tubs come in more than just vanilla. this is truly a travesty of epic proportions. but i digress.

again.

in any case, kyoto station is supposed to be a triumph of architecture, and in a way it is. it's a triumph of architecture over style. a hodgepodge of glass, mezzanines, terraces, a flyway that is only accessible by multiple escalators, giant metal fans and ovoid shapes, and massive flights of stairs. it is also hopelessly user-unfriendly and it took me the better part of 2 hours to figure out how to get from the north side to the south side. i took some photos with my disposables and i'll try to get those out, so you can revel in the truly magnificent wankery of it all.