Audio Blogging

Here:s our first attempt at an audio blog. It:s us leaving the Imperial Palace in Tokyo several days ago. Click HERE to listen.

We arrived in Kyoto this afternoon and are staying at a very nice western-style hotel near downtown. This evening, we had a huge vegetarian buffet dinner and then went down to Gion near Pontocho-Dori (dori means street in Japanese) to see the Gishas. They were out in full force, getting into all manner of taxis and fancy sedans with smartly-dressed businessmen and the girls looked absolutely stunning. They are living legends and the whole scene was very surreal. The neighborhood is a historical preservation area and the buildings are all these old, wooden houses painted black. Justine was thrilled to see the old areas from that book Memoirs of a Geisha. It was as she had imagined and we saw at least a dozen or more Geisha, because we found a house that has them and just watched them come in and out. We also follwed a pack of them down the road for a while, so I have one or two pics I can post soon.

-Mike.