today was a crazy day. one of the Japanese teachers whom the Brit and I met at an enkai really likes speaking english, and invited both of us, the ALT working in his school and the JTE in my school to his house.
we met at 9am at kyoto station on a sunday morning :S
(i had to wake up before 7am!)
his plan was to take us on the Hozu River cruise which starts up north down to Arashiyama. it's famous for its beautiful view, but i think it's currently not a good time as all the trees are still bare. so i ended up spending a crazy 1110yen from JR Osaka Station to Kameoka Station!
the river cruise is a bit expensive at 3900yen. what's interesting is that there are 3 people steering the boat - 2 in front, and 1 behind. one of those in front provides the forward movement, while the other determines the direction and gives a bit more push. the latter would be the younger guy in the pictures below - note how he moves from the bow (?) of the boat towards the passengers in the pictures. he basically continues doing this throughout his time as steerer.
i think the young guy's job is the hardest, so it was interesting to see the 3 rowers rotate positions every time they completed another third of the route. that's because they apparently split the money equally among them, and can make a trip down the river from 1 to 3 times a day. the boat can sit up to 27 paying passengers, and the old man facing the camera in the above pictures told us that they get 60000yen if they make 2 trips, and 100000yen if they make 3 trips. i'm not sure if he meant that HE alone gets that much, or that they as a group get that amount. if it's the former, it seems like rather good money, even though it's tough work!
the trip takes from 1 to 2 hours, depending on how rapidly the river is flowing. it was a rather peaceful and uneventful ride, with the best parts perhaps being the chance to see ducks fly and birds perch calmly on the rocks on the water's edge. we came across a solo canoeist along the way:
along the way were several rapids and drops, which meant water splashing into the boat. there were also rocks that were 'attractions' of sorts, due to them resembling some kind of animal - like a frog or lion - or an object like a mirror, or something else i didnt quite get.
saw a few bridges along the way too, some with trains passing through them.
i like the above bridge as i thought that the thing that it is attached to on the bank looked rather nice. it didnt come out too well in the picture though.
here are the 5 of us in the boat. the lady is my teacher, while the guy is the teacher who invited us to his house. the brit is the one next to me, while the other is one of the american ALTs on JET here too.
alighting from the boat:
where we landed:
saw some pretty plum blossoms:
strolled through the bamboo grove again - this is my 3rd time in arashiyama!
visited nonomiya shrine, which is famous for being in Tales of the Genji:
the teacher said that it's a good place for people to pray for romance and love, so of course i did too. i also drew a lot, and got another one which says that i'll have good luck! :) i havent drawn one which says i have bad luck since coming to japan :)
we also went into Jojakko Temple, which seemed rather unimpressive despite apparently being a rather famous temple in this area. perhaps it looks a lot better in spring or autumn.. all we saw were some plum bonsai:
and a flight of rather steep looking steps (in the background beyond the gate):
i dont know what this is all about, but i love it:
the highlight of the day had to be the meal at the teacher's house though. his wife loves to cook and is an EXCELLENT cook! she also baked bread and made some sandwiches that he brought along in the morning to tide us over till lunch. her presentation is exquisite too; here's the starter:
it was a fish fillet rolled up with some herbs, baby squid - called firefly squid in japanese - with spring onion, and a kind of fish that's delicious in winter with a pretty stalk of flowers.
the next was great too: sushi! didnt take a picture of the individual portions, but she made extra sushi and placed it on a large platter. there was tuna, scallop - my favourite - and what i think is sea bream with shredded egg yolk on the top:
besides that, she also cooked mushrooms with tau kee (picture above) - the latter is not that easy to find in japan and it was a real treat to be eating it after such a long time - bamboo shoots with bonito flakes, vinegared cucumber and radish, and fried tau gua skin (so delicious!), grilled shiitake mushrooms (these were amazing). she also fried up the remainder of a fish (sea bream i think) and served us grilled mochi with seaweed.
all these were also topped off with our drink of choice and some fruits with yummy yoghurt. was such a great meal!! :)
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