I arrived into Japan tired and completely unprepared with absolutely no plans. The night before we arrived into Kobe, I preached a sermon at church which totally consumed my attention leading up to the port. And so when we finally got clearance to get off the ship (1pm) I just picked a city, grabed my camera and toothbrush, and set off completely alone to visit for two days.

The city that I ended up choosing was Kyoto (about 1 hr from Kobe by train). It was my first time traveling into a different city overnight and completely alone. I guess I felt the need to explore despite my being pretty drained from all the travel. I was told by some students that everything was booked and that all of the hostels were full (becuse of cherry blossom season) which I thought that was ridiculous considering that Kyoto is a relatively large city.

Turns out the students were right! Long story short, I walked all over that city looking for a place to stay and trying to find Tani House, where I eventually ended up resting my head (I got rejected from about 6 hostels). By 10:30 at night, after circling one area for an hour, with the 'help' of an old semi-drunk man, and after a few late night pay phone calls, I found "Tani House" and ended up not sleeping on the streets!

Kyoto is one of the more beautiful cities in Asia with some classic Japanese architecture, famous temples, and luckily for us gorgeous blooming cherry blossoms. The city is surrounded by mountains on both sides and has classic buddhist temples scattered throughout the city.

During my time I visited two temples (kiyomizu dera & kinkaku-ji), checked out the imperial palace park, and like I said walked up and down and all the way across that city. I got the chance to eat some good ramen, udon, rice, and one of the best mochi that I've ever had in life (maybe i was really hungry). All of this exploration was done by foot, subway, or train (no taxis). One of my highlights was meeting a Ukiyoe artist on my way through the city and sitting down with him in his home for a few minutes before purchasing a small woodblock painting. Both he and the semi drunk old man that helped me welcomed me right into their homes and despite speaking relatively no english were very kind and caring people.

I feel so lucky that our ship docked in Japan right smack in the middle of their cherry blossom season (in spite of the demand for hostels). It was beautiful with cherry blossoms blooming across the country and within each city. I got really lucky because, it turns out the imperial park wasn't in bloom yet, but I happened to stumble into a beautiful cherry blossom park/ temple on my way. I also found out that the two temples that I somewhat randomly visited turned out to be two of the most well known temples in the city.

After essentially walking all the way across the city back to the train station, I made my way back to Kobe for a quick 4 hour tour of the port city. I walked around Chinatown, the famous shopping streets, and my lonely planet lead me to an amazing dining experience with a bunch of japanese business men where I enjoyed some sashimi and beer.

I can't really describe it, but I returned to the ship with pulsating feet and completely exhausted, yet I had a big smile on my face and felt quite accomplished. Traveling alone, navigating a new city, and soaking in the culture alone was very rewarding. After only one night the Kansai region, I reboarded the ship to sail one day to Yokohama.