Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Playing Dress Up Again
Yes, that's me and my sister as "maiko." The white make-up brings out so many facial features that I've never noticed before-even on my own sister! I couldn't stop looking at Joelle's nose and the shape of her face... My face seems so round and yet I always thought Joelle had the round face...
We traveled all the way back to Kyoto after hiking Fuji. We were hoping to hang out with Hashimoto-san (one of the drivers who picked us up and asked us to call when we were back in town) but we couldn’t get a hold of him so we decided to become maiko for the afternoon. I did this three years ago in Kyoto, but it was fun to do it again with my sister. The experiences were very different as well because this time we went to a very commercial place and had professional photography. Professional shots will arrive in another two weeks, but here are some of the ones I got.
Our faces are shocking, aren't they? It's really weird to look at yourself in the mirror like that! I loved our kiminos, they really suited our personalities well, I think.
In this picture, the せんす (folding fan) Joelle is holding is her omiyage from Mt. Fuji.
One of the “rules” of the Kyoto ryokkan we stayed in. Yikes—that place was scary! They had obviously had many foreigners before us who came and were disrespectful of the rules and curfew. An old woman kept shouting, “11 PM” at us as we left in the evening! The next morning however, a different woman was very kind and helpful to us.
After Kyoto we were so tired (and out of money) that we decided to skip the last part of our trip to Wakayama and head home. We took the Kobe ferry back to Kyushu and met some really interesting truck drivers.
Our friends were 22 also, but both had already been married! One was divorced and never went to high school. The one that was still married had two children and said he felt so tied down! Well… yeah! A wife and two children can do that to ya!
The divorced one was in love with my sister (they both were, but especially him) and they asked to join our dinner table. I had to translate everything, but it was good practice. We played card games together—Steve and I taught them Bullshit—and then we asked if we could hitch a ride on their trucks to Saga-ken. In the end we just took the bus ‘cause it was more reliable and we had a ferry to catch, but they were interesting characters!!
Here’s the ferry full of semi-trucks.
Loading the trucks onto the ferry.
Can you spot the drunk business man? We saw this guy in a suit and tie passed out on a bench in Kitakyushu early the next morning! His shoes were placed neatly on the bench beside him and he was fast asleep. Musta been a wild night!
That’s the end of our trip, but not the end of our fun! We went to the beaches on Goto for the next four days! Pictures of that next!
Love, Sierra
