From Kyoto with Rain

Arrived in Kyoto (京都) at around 2pm today...but just like what the weather report said, it is raining.


Waiting for my train at Ueno Station...

But thank goodness, only lightly. The hotel I am staying at is called Tour Club, only a few blocks from the Kyoto JR Station. Most of the visitors here are foreigners.


The Crowd at Kyoto Station...taken from Mr. Donut

After a brief visit to my favorite bank, Citibank, I wandered to the Gion District. Gion is Kyoto's well known geisha (芸者) quarter and contains some of the oldest looking feudal Japan houses. Geisha are female professional entertainers...and I saw qute a few of them, rushing from one place to another, like schoolgirls rushing from class to class.


Street Mall at Shijo near Gion District in Kyoto

At around 10pm, I returned to the Hotel and went to the social room, where there are folks from Australia, USA, Taiwan, Scotland, Germany, and even Ukraine. People are kind of networking and exchanging business cards. Part of the social room is traditional Japanese with tatami...the other part is western (refrigerators, sinks, microwave, etc...). It is very neat...and is definitely a social room. Everyone here has a laptop and are either downloading pictures from their digicam or getting onto the internet (wireless connection, of course). We are all exchanging information on where to go and how to get from where to where...

There is a possibility that I may join with some of these folks to go on a local Kyoto tour...we shall see....