Kyoto!

So, this won't be a long post, because I'm in a hostel in Kyoto borrowing a friend's computer. But, hey I'm in Kyoto! I picked up the overnight bus from Disney Land (how cool is that? 2nd star on the right, and straight on till morning!) and arrived in Kyoto at about 7am the next day. I checked into my hostel, slept on the hostel couch for a couple hours, and then started walking around. There are temples and shrines everywhere in Kyoto, but more importantly - they are big!

And beautiful, and they look so old and majestic. The other neat thing about them is that they are actually really real temples, with monks (priests? probably, I'm a bad tourist) and chanting and everything. At the last temple we were at, some monks (priests) came in and started chanting and ringing the gong and everything. It was way cool, but it definitely felt like it was time to leave. 

I didn't really have a lot of particular plans in coming to Kyoto, other than to meet up with my friends who also came down for the winter break (I did, it was fun to see them) and enjoy some 'Japanese Culture.' Like I said, there are temples everywhere, and Kyoto seems like a lively and busy city, so I'm looking forward to hanging around for a few days. 

We came with only tonight booked at a hostel because everywhere we looked was full. We figured we'd figure something out when we got here (haha, don't you love it Mom?) and it was sink or swim. We did, of course, our friend Joe is staying at a different hostel and has informed us that his place has room for us tomorrow night, so haha. 

I always get more nervous about traveling in the planning stages, but when I actually get to my destination, I am content to just let things happen and know that I can make things / things will, work out somehow. They do; I love vacation!