Everyone's Invited

Continuing from where I left off before, after going back to our hostel to chill for a few hours (and so Cinnamon could watch the soccer match she found on TV), we headed back out to see what this matsuri thing would be like at night.

Very, very crowded. That's what it was like. There were probably about 10 side streets lined with food and game vendors, and each and every one of them were jam packed with people - most of them so congested you could barely shuffle along. And I mean barely.

The wonderful flute players were back on the hoko, only this time they were all lit up and everyone (as you can see) was stopping to take pictures or video.

Everybody was calling out, trying to get you to buy some beer, because let's face it - it's not a party without beer! Cinnamon told me that if I bought one, she'd have one too, but since I don't like beer, we didn't have any. (I know, we're just no fun at all!) Instead, we checked out all the vendors and had some yakisoba, which Cinnamon decided she doesn't really like. I think it's all right (except the pepper - blech!), but they put this pickled red ginger on the top and it totally ruins the taste for me. Without it, I'd like it better.

Now let's explore some of the vendors we came across~

This one was selling okonomiyaki. Wikipedia can tell you what it is, if you want to know. Cinnamon was considering getting some, but most all of them had shrimp in it or were topped with fish flakes, and that just kind of turned her off the idea.

Here we have three girls playing a goldfish catching game. If I understand it right, you get a little paper "net" and with it, you try to scoop as many fish as you can get into a little bowl before the paper breaks. I was very mad that this person here on the right got in the way of my picture, because it would've looked a lot better without them there. Hmph.

You could buy candied fruit on a stick here - apples, oranges, pineapple, strawberry, grapes - all kinds of sweet goodies!

A delicious-looking treat here - grilled squid on a stick! No matter how appetizing you think they look, we did not eat them. You could not have paid us to eat them. No thank you.

This vendor was selling fresh pineapple on a stick... on ice. Cinnamon bought some and she said it was delicious. I'll take her word for it.

And speak of the devil, here she is, staring me down as she enjoys a frozen chocolate covered banana. Now normally, I like bananas, but I wasn't impressed with this one. It wasn't very sweet.

By the time we finished up our little desserts-on-a-stick, it was getting close to 11pm and the festivities were beginning to wind down (considering it was a Wednesday night and all), so we headed back to the hostel. All in all, a very fun night!

The next day, we hit up a temple, a castle and a shrine, which are going to have to be broken into two posts, I think. We took a lot of pictures. Also, we just about melted under Kyoto's hot, July sun. But that's a story for next time. Stick around!