Kyoto Off the Beaten Path Tips by vic&michael

I went to Biwa Ko with my students for a barbeque lunch. It's a lovely place to relax if you need to get out of the city. Lake Biwa is surrounded by hills. It was amusing to watch my city students try to light coals on the bbq without anything like twigs or pinecones or newspaper to start the fire! They cooked some yummy meals though! Like fried noodles & vegetables, Not just meat and sausages!

Apparently in summer it is very crowded. And it can get a bit windy too. But in springtime, and on a weekday, it was peaceful.

It takes about 1 and a half hours to get there from Kyoto by bus. The bus ride was cool though! The boys sang some karaoke for us!

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Aoi Matsuri is one of Kyoto's largest festivals. It is held on May 15th. I recomend you watch the festival if you are in Kyoto during this time.

The festival is very stately and solomn, with no music. It is the parade of the very high-born who celebrate the leaf of the hollylock, which is thought of to have many magical/healing properties. The participants parade down the main streets from the Imperial Palace to Kamigamo shrine.The parade lasts from 10:30am to 3:30pm. However, we didn't follow the parade, we just stationed ourselves on the sidewalk and watched them go past.

Participants are dressed in old traditional clothing and kimono, and ride stately horses as well as walk. The young lady being carried in a 'palaquin' is the highlight, she wears 12 layers of silk kimono. There are many other young women wearing elaborate kimono and riding horses.

It is worth a look if you are going to be in the city for the day. You get the feel of Kyoto's old nature, while being in the midst of a modern city.

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Dress up in Traditional Japanese Kimono or Men's Hakama!
It's fun, and it really put me in a good athmosphere to eat Kaiseki Ryori (10 course traditional meal!) : )
If you can afford to, you should also eat Kaiseki Ryori, found at Japanese Hotels, and Ryokan. Meal may cost between $150-300 USD per person though. There are many courses of small, beautifully presented traditionally cooked Japanse food, using the freshest ingredients. At first, you may think, "I'm gonna need to pop round to Mc Ds after this!" but by the last dish, you will feel SO full, and surprised that you had a good time chatting in-between the many courses, and that so many small dishes made you so full!

It's me in the photo with my tea ceremony teacher, I'm already Asian, so I guess I look Japanese in the Kimono : )

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