Day 14: Kyoto: Tea Ceremonies and Netflix

Today was our last day in Kyoto, and instead of going on a day trip like we planned, we spent the rainy morning catching up on TV shows in bed. Sean didn't even wake up until around 11, so I just chilled on the top bunk with my laptop. It was great.

After stopping in for a quick lunch at "Pooh's..?" (yes, that's the real name of a cafe) we walked over to Chion-in, the biggest buddhist temple in Japan. The front gate alone was about 6 stories high!!

Inside was a little underwhelming though as the whole main temple is being renovated, and is currently under a gigantic shed until 2019. 

There were some beautiful things inside though, and we had a good time dodging the rain under century old roofs.

After the temple, we went to a traditional tea ceremony where they taught us how to properly drink and prepare Japanese powdered green tea (Matcha).

The man who first introduced some history about the ceremony was 16th generation tea ceremony host - over 300 years of family heritage, all in tea!

The young girl who ran the ceremony was amazingly graceful and well-presented, and it was clear that she had years of experience under her belt already, with precise movements, all with particular meaning behind them.

After she made tea, I was lucky enough to be the guest of honor, and was asked to drink the tea she had made, and was deemed the head of the group. We were then asked to prepare our own tea - a skill I will definitely take home with me!

Tomorrow - Hiroshima xx

Day 13: Kyoto: Gold Temples, Zen Gardens, and Lots of Toriis

Today we got up nice and early to try and beat the Kyoto tourist rush we've noticed. 

Despite getting there before it even opened, we still had a couple of tour groups pull up as we went into the first stop for the day. Luckily they were monks and fairly quiet though! (Even if they did all appear to be taking their new profile pictures in the gardens on their iPhone 6s)

The Ryoan-ji zen gardens were beautiful. At first the rock garden seemed to be smaller than I pictured, but as we sat there, cross legged next to dozens of monks, it became a really peaceful, lovely place.

I could have sat there for hours if not for the hoards of American and Chinese tourists who slowly flowed in, gossiping and chatting.

On the way out though, there was a small basin (a tsukubai) which is common near temples for washing your hands and mouth before entering a holy place, with an inscription further telling of the buddhist metality, "I learn only to be satisfied" which felt completely at place there.

After the zen garden, we hurried over to another famous temple, Kinkaku-ji temple - the completely gold one.

It was already teeming with other tourists, and it's odd how so many people have such a herd mentality. Some of the buildings people were crowding were of no real significance, while other buildings which were centuries old had no one looking at them.

We've found that a lot of Kyoto has a very "in-and-out" feel to it, and people aren't really appreciating the amazing things before them.

Despite the annoying people, the building itself was incredible. It used to house some of Buddha's artifacts, which is amazing to think about, and the whole thing is completely covered in real gold and lacquer. The reflection in the pond in front of it was stunning.

Seeing all of this took much less time than we anticipated, so we decided to head south to 

I didn't tell Sean what it was, because he would never have agreed to do it. It's a a 2 hour walk up a 250m mountain, but it was pretty incredible.

There were about 16 big shinto shrines along the climb, and over 1000 bright orange archways called Toriis.

The view from the top was pretty amazing of Kyoto, but the real standout was the seqa of bright orange we saw the whole way.

As a reward for our long climb, Sean got a Pocari Sweat (a poorly named Gatoraide) and I got a pile of lollies!! (Ignore that elderly lady who was also at the top, I swear, it was a tough climb)

Tomorrow, a day trip! xx

Day 12: Kyoto: Nijo Castle and the Old Empire

Today was yet another cold and rainy day, but we got out and about anyway. Thank goodness for waterproof jackets!!! Unfortunately my faithful canvas top shoes have a giant hole in the bottom of one, so I was walking on a wet sock all day, but I've had worse problems.

We decided to go to the Nijo-jo mae (Nijo Castle) which had some ridiculously old things in it. It was built in 1603, and was huge - around 8000 square meters! It was all beautifully decorated and painted, with a lot of the original details and trims even left unchanged.

There was also a museum which had a lot of the original painted doors on display which are usually stored and maintained, as the whole site is heritage listed. 

The gardens around the castle were arguably even more beautiful, with Japanese Pines (the same as the typical bonsai trees) covering tiny man-made islands, with stone bridges connecting them all.

After the castle, we headed to the site of the original Imperial Palace. We didn't get in early enough to go inside, but Sean tried anyway, setting off an alarm in the process.

Again, the gardens were the real standout, with a small area with a shrine and a man with a cat being a personal highlight.

We got super lost trying to get back to our accommodation, because there are temples everywhere in Gion, the district near our hostel, and they are hard to tell apart on a map.

On the plus side, we saw about 10 really pretty temples, and found a delicious fried pork place.

Walking along the river, we also saw some people feeding hawks! They were huge, and completely dwarfed all the other birds by comparison. It was such an odd sight!

Tomorrow, zen gardens and gold temples xx

Day 11: Kyoto: Arashiyama, Bamboo and Monkeys

Kyoto is growing on me. Today we wen to Arashiyama which is known for its amazing Bamboo Grove. During the day, it was amazing to see such a vast forest of it, and I was more amazed by the number of houses dotted though it, off tiny side streets.

There were a lot of temples along the way and in that area too, but they were all expensive to get in to, so we just looked from outside (Can't be throwing dollars at temples when there are amazing free ones everywhere!)

Inside the grove there was also Tenyru-ji which is a huge zen garden. It was expensive to go into, but the entrance was free and beautiful, with smaller gardens dotted along the path.

After the bamboo, we headed across a small bridge and went up a huge climb to a monkey mountain. 

There are over 100 macaque monkeys who call the small area home, and I think we saw almost all of them - there were monkeys everywhere!!

I particularly liked the baby monkeys, of course, but the aggressive female who almost charged at Sean comes in a close second.

The view from the top of the hill was spectacular, looking across all of Kyoto too.

After the monkeys, we had some time to kill, so we had a look around the Arashiyama area. Most of it was very touristy, which is alright, but we at least got to try some traditional Takoyaki - octopus balls (cut up octopus inside batter which gets fried up.

We also discovered that 7/11s sell 4 LITRES OF SAKE for about $20AUD. We didn't buy it, because cheap sake is nasty, but it's a handy fact to know.

People here love pets too. There was a woman doing an instagram photoshoot of her dog at the train station, and about half a dozen people all milled around taking photos too!

After our lovely wander around the town, night finally fell, and we went back to the bamboo grove. If we thought it was pretty during the day, it didn't even compare to the night.

The small streets were lit up by hundred and hundreds of lanterns, and the bamboo itself in places lit by different coloured lights. 

At first the crowds of people seemed kind of annoying, but once we got to a crest in the path, looking down at the sea of people was really quite beautiful.

Even the small lake we had seen earlier was illuminated, and it was so still that the reflection was perfect!

For dinner, we met up with a girl we met in Tokyo and some of the people from her hostelwe went to a small specialty restaurant. Each district is known for it's own take on dishes, and where Tokyo was all about its seafood, Kyoto is known for its burnt soy and miso ramen. It was genuinely amazing!

After dinner, we headed to a small bar in Gion, the traditional district, but drinks were pricey, so we just had one and headed to Karaoke. Once again, the classic 2000s hits were pumping!

Tomorrow, the first Imperial Palace, and Nijo Castle xx

Day 10: Kyoto: Shinkansen and Geishas

Today we said goodbye to Tokyo, and jumped aboard a Shinkansen. Man, those things are FAST! It took us around 3 hours to travel almost 500km, including 4 stops. It was impossible to focus on anything closer than a couple hundred meters, because it just flew past so quickly!

They're also really long. There were 16 carriages on the one we were on, each sitting around 30 rows of seats. It was incredible just how big, and fast they were! And they left every few minutes!!

We finally got to see Mt Fuji though, covered in a little bit of cloud, but no less majestic! It was pretty cool seeing the city speed away and be left with huge, rolling hills.

The video below was shot at 400fps (so it's showing about 16x slower than it was) and you can see the electricity poles just wizzing past still.

When we arrived in Kyoto, we had a bit of a wander around, and it turns out our accommodation in right in the Geisha district! Day 1 here, and we have already seen about a dozen girls all dressed up. This group even let us have a photo with them.

Kyoto seems to be somewhat odd so far though, as in our wanders, we came across a whole shopping centre that went on for blocks, and within it, were heaps of temples. They looked as though they had just been slowly encroached on, just built around by discount shoe shops and burger places.

I'm sure the rest of the city is different though, as already the hills surrounding the city, and the traditional buildings are winning me over. The tiny alleyways seem like they would take years to properly explore!

Tomorrow, Bamboo Grove and hopefully monkeys! xx