WE GET WET

NOTE: I just reviewed my last post and can't figure out how the formatting got so messed up, with pics down the left and text to the right (and not synced properly either).  That's not the way I composed it.  Hopefully, this one won't go the same way.

Tuesday, Sept 4, 2018    Off to Kyoto in the path of Typhoon Jebi, with ominous warnings of the worst storm to hit in a long time.  The trip by bus will take about five hours with a couple of stops.  We tanked up at the buffet breakfast in case we get stranded somewhere.  This was typical of our breakfast fare.  Excellent pastries, some fruit and juice, pretty good sausage, the weirdly undercooked but still tasty bacon, and the runny eggs that just might have been out of a package.  They tasted good, so maybe not.  Strange texture, though, reminding me of an ostrich egg we had scrambled once.



The first part of our trip was along the coast of the Sea of Japan, and the weather was quite sunny and pleasant.  But, we soon started encountering ominous clouds.  We stopped for pit breaks and to get some gedunk fare.  Actually, the stuff they sell at the road stops seems quite high quality, although I wasn't tempted due to the prices.  Most everything they sell is packaged like a fancy gift, even for mundane items like pound cake.  After a while, the rain and wind started in earnest.

In the expected path of Jebi, all schools were closed and trains were not running.  Some roads were shut down, but ours were fairly good.  That said, the wind gusts were moving the bus around too much for my comfort and our excellent driver finally pulled off the main highway to a smaller, slower secondary road and we finished our drive into Kyoto on the same.  Our itinerary had us doing outside touring today, but the resourceful Yoshiko spent a long time on her phone as we drove along, and arranged to change to today our indoor activity that was scheduled for tomorrow.  So, we pulled up outside Marumasu Nishumuraya, a fabric stenciling atelier, to try our hands.  Unfortunately, Jedi was howling overhead, and the rather lengthy dash from the bus to the entrance got us thoroughly soaked.  After shedding all our rain gear, we initially settled into a large, windowed room with workbenches.  Almost immediately, the lights flickered and went out several times and the walls and roof seemed to be creaking from the typhoon overhead.  They were concerned that the windows might blow in, so we all moved to an adjacent room with no windows.  We got to work on our stencils.  Loni and I both did fishes, but Chuck did a very nifty one with two penguins which even impressed the staff.  We were encouraged to wear aprons to protect our clothes, and by the time I got to the box for mine, well . . .

The finished products.  Very serious artist's penguins, my fish and coral, and Loni's koi.

We wrapped our masterpieces and donned our gear for the run back to the bus.  If anything, the rain and wind was even heavier that when we arrived.  Our pants and shoes got sopped.  And, once again, my galoshes are resting quietly in my suitcase.

We got to the Westin Miyako Hotel in one piece and rested up a while before venturing out with the whole group for dinner at what Yoshiko called a tapas restaurant, but billed in our itinerary as a yakitori (skewered chicken) joint.  We again got wet, although not as bad as earlier.  The restaurant was packed and noisy with what seemed to be the iconic salary-men's night out.  Lots of drinking, shouting, and singing.  We had to split up into small groups and into little rooms not bigger than the table.  Ours was on the third floor, so a long way from the kitchen.  Even longer waits for service, so we were getting a bit glum, but the beer helped and the food, when it finally dribbled in, was pretty good.

We had pork/shrimp balls, asparagus wrapped in bacon, salad with tofu, mystery meat on a skewer, shrimp on a skewer, and ice cream.  The rain lessened, so we got back to the hotel only slightly wet.  The hotel seems to be 3 or 4 buildings connected by long hallways that go uphill and downhill.  Took forever to get to our rooms.  Luckily, one of the group discovered a shortcut that was not intuitive, so we saved some steps the next day.

We checked out the damage from Jebi.  The worst of it passed right over Kyoto, which lies just to the right of the indent cove in the map below.  The bottom right pic shows a freighter that broke loose from its moorings and crashed into the only bridge connecting Osaka International (which lies on a very low, man-made island) with the mainland.  The bridge was shut down for over a day, the airport was under two feet of water, thousands of would-be fliers stranded at the airport, and utter chaos with canceled flights.  Many in our group were due to fly out of Osaka in a couple of days (not us) and it was a mess trying to rebook flights.  More on that later.  Tomorrow, Hiroshima Mon Amour.