I am now in Kyoto, and feel much better since I arrived. I'd certainly had some spells of loneliness and ponderings about what the hell I am doing here, and feel so relieved to finally be settling into a groove. My last days in Tokyo were not so fun, save the Dakini Nights party. spot's visuals were mindboggling, and the rest of the music and performances were great. I met some very nice people and even got to dance for a little. I rode the first morning subway home with all the other Tokyo hardcores (and little old ladies on their way to get an early start on shopping) and slept most of Sunday. Sunday night I drank WAY too much at the bar where I'd met Aurelio a week earlier, and had to be put on a subway home by a nice Australian couple. I had the worst hangover I've had in months on the bus to Osaka the next morning, but sitting still for 8 hours did just the trick to make me better. No more bottomless Asahis for me.

The bus ride went through miles of quaint villages, rice paddies, cities, towns, and mountains. I still haven't seen Mt. Fuji and am beginning to wonder if it exists. I spent one night in Osaka, but felt it was just a scaled-down version of Tokyo and so got on the first train out to Kyoto the next morning. My Lonely Planet pointed me to an adorably run-down, loud, smoky hostel in central Kyoto called Uno House ($13 a night), where I've finally met some wonderful people and gotten a taste of what traveling feels like it should be. I'm sleeping on a thin futon on the floor in a room with two other girls, one American and one Canadian. I spent yesterday with three Kiwis, Lauren and Olivia who are English teachers in a small town south of here, and their friend Aaron who came to visit them on his first trip abroad. We explored two of the temples and shrines in the east part of town, Shinnyo-do and Ginkaku-ji. The latter was what most people think of when they think of Japan... raked pebble gardens, immaculately manicured gardens and beautiful pagodas.

Today the temple tour continued with Myoshin-ji, Ninna-ji and Kinkaku-ji in the Northwest part of town with three very goofy and fun Canadian guys, Cameron, Tim and Hartt, whom I met last night at the hostel. The first temple was wonderfully serene and quiet with a garden that we could have sat in for hours. Tim kept trying to feed his fingers to the giant koi and the rest of us looked on in amusement. Kinkaku-ji is the famed Golden Temple, which is unfortunately a 53-year replica of the original that was burned down by a young psychotic monk. It is gorgeous and one of the most popular sights in Kyoto, so it was swarming with adorable uniformed schoolchildren who giggled, pointed, and attempted to speak English whenever they spotted us. This made taking a photo of the Canadians' bare butts in front of the temple some trick, but we pulled it off.

I will spend one more day in this great city before heading to Kobe and Nara for my last days in Japan. I leave for Bangkok from Tokyo on Tuesday, October 7. I will post my photos from Kyoto when I get back to Tokyo. Time to head back for cards and beer in the hostel lounge. :D