Arashiyama

Our second day in Kyoto and I have already fallen in love with the city. It doesn’t feel like a typical city, it has a very subtle and gentle feel to it. Kyoto is very much a city that has retained its history, which is very different from a lot of places we have visited and it exudes culture and tradition. My favourite thing to do here is to simply walk along the streets, experiencing the sights, smells, and sounds. There are many narrow hidden streets full of quirky little shops and eateries. The blossom is starting to arrive, there are small streams everywhere, there are many many beautiful geishas. It also helps that the sun has appeared again.

Check out the cool sock gloves!

Tunuki- Japanese school children have a very rude song about him! 

We decided to visit Arashiyama, a town at the base of Kyoto’s western mountains.  Catching the bus there was a breeze, not like the confusing tube maps of Tokyo. In Arashiyama we wandered around the many shops and parks. The highlight of the day was the amazing bamboo grove. The narrow walkway through the bamboo forest appeared out of nowhere and was like entering wonderland, as the bamboo  swayed in the wind it made the most incredible sound, it is hard to believe that it is just grass.

Big bamboo or really small lady?

Matt ❤ bamboo 

 

Kyoto is famous for its delicious food and it has not disappointed. Every meal we have had has been sublime. Matt’s Japanese has come in handy on several occasions, most notably when he decided that out of all the restaurants available to us we should go to the Tonkatsu (pork) restaurant! The waiter and other diners were highly amused as the crazy white people proceeded to order dishes, in dubious Japanese, without the pork, in a famous pork restaurant. However, the food arrived and it was delicious, filling, and best of all minus the pork- well done Matt. An added bonus was that we only had to pay for one meal as no pork means it wasn’t a real meal! Hurrah, maybe this was Matt's plan all along?  

View from the top of the mountain.

Japanese poem on a rock. As you do. 

Vending machines are EVERYWHERE!