Sunday, July 24, 2016
How did I get this old?
The Tokyo Ritz Carlton had sent a birthday cake to the room the night before. I lit the candles, Sophon sang happy birthday and I blew them out. I had one piece of cake and jokingly told Sophon to finish the rest of it. I should have known better, he finished it without hesitation. That was very nice of the the hotel to send that to me. I am sure Malaka (the tour organizer) had something to do with it.
It was nice starting the day with breakfast and a leisurely morning. I continued to work on going through pictures and writing things for the blog while enjoying the view from my room. I loved the view from my room and never got tired at looking out at the Tokyo Tower. It was time to move on to Kyoto, I was going to miss this room and the view. After checking out, we met the rest of the group at 11:00 AM we met the rest of the group at 11:00. Off to Kyoto in a fast train! I love trains, what a way to spend my birthday.
Shinkansen – The bullet train
It doesn’t feel like you are going over 200 miles per hour. It is smooth and not a lot of sound. It was a 2 hour ride to Kyoto. I sat back and looked out the window. If it had been a clear day, we would have been able to see Mt. Fuji, unfortunately, the clouds hid it.
We arrived in Kyoto and. I was amazed at how different Kyoto looked and felt from Tokyo. Tokyo was a modern city, similar to any other big city. Kyoto did not have that feel. It felt old and rustic with a lot of charm. We checked into the Ritz Carlton Kyoto (More on the Ritz in another posting) and headed out to our Zen Experience.
Upon checking into the hotel, a plate of French Macaroons were delivered from the Pierre Herme Paris shop in the lobby along with a box of candies and a plate of fruit. I got to celebrate my birthday twice. How great was this?
It wasn’t long until we returned to the lobby to meet up with our group. It was time for:
The Zen Experience!
We arrived at a temple and were let in. It was a beautiful Japanese temple with Japanese gardens and ponds. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures once inside of the temple. I took one right before I entered.
After learning about the temple from a Monk who showed different pieces of Art and statues, we started the Zen experience. I was going to learn to meditate. We sat cross-legged on cushions in the main temple. We were told that we needed to clear our heads of everything and think of nothing. To help, we should focus in on our breathing. He kept saying try to focus on breathing and nothing else. The sound of the bell will start the session and the sound of the bell would stop the session. In addition, if we needed help, we should cross our arms and bow our head forward. He will come to you and hit you with a stick of encouragement.
The Bell rang and I tried focusing in on my breathing. A few minutes in, the mind was beginning to wonder, I had to bring it back to breathing, It was really hard not thinking about something, my mind kept wandering all over the place. The harder I tried to just focus on the breathing the further it wandered. Maybe I should try the stick of encouragement, maybe that will help! Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the woman next to me crossing her arms and bowing.
He approached and said “Bow!” and waited a moment and again said “Bow!”, The way he said it reminded me of the “Game of Thrones Walk of Shame episode with her saying “Shame!……. Shame!…….” The woman bowed and this long flat stick came out and the monk hit her back with it. “Thwap!” “Bow!” I could feel the sting, and then he hit her other side of the back. I changed my mind, my parent hit me enough. Stick of encouragement? That stick was meant to kip young kids from getting fidgety. Then I hear Roy getting hit on the other side of the room.
Now my mind was racing all over the place. How as this supposed to help me clear my mind. Not only that, sitting cross-legged on the floor isn’t something that I do very often. My feet were asleep and my back was beginning to hurt. This was getting uncomfortable. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a few people adjusting their position. At least I am not the only feeling uncomfortable. For the next however many minutes, all I could think of was when he was going to ring that bell. I had enough Zen, let’s move on to dinner.
The bell finally rang and I wasn’t the only one breathing a sigh of relief. It was interesting but for now, I am all Zenned out!
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