Memoirs from Kyoto

If you have ever watched Memoirs
of a Geisha, this is where
part of it was filmed

Jesse and I are back in the good ol’ USA, but before leaving Asia we found the perfect way to end our Asian vacation.  We went to the old capital city of Japan, Kyoto. 

In front of our Ryoken

There have more than once been moments in our travels where things just seem too good to be true (like your just waiting for something bad to happen, but it doesn’t…because God is just that good).  Like when we stayed at a mountain resort in the middle of China for the price of a super 8 …our pizza picnic sitting under the Eiffel Tower…the moment we flew into Cambodia and looked below us to see a floating village… when we got to feed and bath Thai elephants in the middle of the jungle!   Well, our Ryoken (traditional Japanese lodging) was one of those moments. 

Our Japanese garden

We found a good Ryoken off of trip advisor with good reviews and a VERY fair price for the area.  We booked a traditional Japanese room with a shared kitchen and bath area (the way a typical hostel is set up). When we arrived and checked in the kind staff showed us to not only our private room, but private kitchen, dining, and bamboo bath!  The mini house was decorated both on the inside and outside with an authentic Japanese feel…including the garden.  After she left us the key, our mouths dropped open and asked each other “Is this for real?  There must be a mistake?”  We looked around our wonderful Japanese home and discovered another room in our quarters that could have lodged 6 more people.  “Well, that explains it!  We will just have to wait for the others to check in.”  BUT, they never did.  The touristy city of Kyoto, where you need to book months in advance to get a room, happened to have an empty room two nights in a row right next to us.  Thanks God!  We appreciated it!

So this blog is suppose to be about Kyoto, but our highlight was the Ryoken.  We dressed up in our yukatas (robes), brought dinner home each night from 7 eleven instead of eating out, and took lots of hot baths. 

The day before our flights left, we loaded the baskets on our rented bikes full of food, and rode around the city and river visiting temples and shrines.  We even saw a Geisha and Sumo wrestler on Gion Street!  Kyoto was wonderful and relaxing… a perfect way to end our stay.   We couldn’t have had a better time.

We have been so blessed by the amount of traveling we have been

able to do both as singles and now married.  The more places we travel, the desire to see more continues to grow.  We will be excited for our next adventure overseas, but for now it seems like we have more adventures awaiting us in the States.  Jesse is now a seasonal park ranger in New Mexico for the spring and it looks like we will be heading to Yellowstone this summer!  Maybe someday soon God can continue our adventure in a more permanent setting so we can have a place to call home, but for know I can choose to be thankful for all we have gotten to see and do and continue to see and do!