maiko spotting

a stream near Pontocho
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After checking into our well recommended hostel we started walking the streets in search of a taxi. It didn't take long, and then we were on our way to Pontocho, a famous narrow street, near Gion district. Before we 'walked the street' we thought it better to find some dinner first as by now it was approaching 10pm, and as well as our stomachs begging us to be fed, we were also conscious that many places would be closing.

We had been warned that Kyoto can be quite a hard city to find reasonably priced food and this certainly proved the case. Matters were obviously not helped by the fact I was to be dining with three vegetarians, and being a vegetarian in Japan is never the easiest thing. Still, after about half an hour of wandering down arcades and alleyways, checking menu after menu, we finally found a suitable restaurant, 'Condoms & Cabbages'. Condoms & Cabbages is a Thai restaurant with decent food, which made everyone happy and full of energy, and ready to head back out to the streets for some "night time viewing".

a Maiko in Gion
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Pontocho was a great first stop. Even though it was late at night and things were probably not as "happening" as say about 8pm, we instantly got a cool vibe from the place. Pontocho is a narrow, pedestrian only, street full of small bars and restaurants, many of which prefer that foreigners not enter. Although Geisha often make trips here from the nearby Gion district, to entertain wealthy clients, we didn't spot any. And, with all of us packing rather light wallets, we didn't make any 'diesel' pit stops along the way, instead we merely did some 'window shopping'.

a Maiko and her sensei walk on
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Next stop was Gion. Gion turned out to be so cool that we visited every night, always hoping we'd be lucky and spot a Maiko (apprentice geisha) who would see us, realise how cool we were and want to stop so we could take their photo. Unfortunately this only happened once, and I'm not sure it was because they realised how cool we were, more that they probably took pity on us! Our official "photo moment" actually took place on the first night of visiting Gion, and in the first minute of stepping foot down the main street! We were all rather shocked at how easy it had been to find a Maiko, and when she let some other people take her picture, I plucked up the courage to ask her myself. She first consulted with her sensei who said it was ok. Luckily, I had already set my camera to decent settings so the photo came out quite well. What a great first impression of Gion!

Gion, Kyoto
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However, we didn't have such luck again, with most Maiko simply walking past and not even responding when I would say "konbanwa" (good evening). Still, after a while we stopped trying to take photos in the dark, from a distance, with a moving subject, and on small digital cameras, and instead we just watched in wonderment at these women who live such different lives to us.