Day 4 - Arashiyama

 . . . . .  Another hill - you've got to be kidding me!!!


Second day and I think we are out of the jet lag mess now.  We both had good nights, though I am waking up at about 3am on a morning needing to go to the loo . . .  my body is only doing this 'cos it know's the bathroom is down those nightmare stairs!!!!!


Oh - now before we go on . . .  remember I told you Scott was having a mare with the kitchen door frame - he's banged his head a million times in the past two days . . .  well he's come up with a solution . . .

He said he needed hazard tape for the top of the door  . . .  so he's made one and stuck bits of coloured paper to the door frame!  seems to be working so far.  Just as well really - he's starting to forget things and has a permanent lump on his forehead :-) !!



Moving on . . . . 


Today we are going to Arashiyama.  Arashiyama is just on the outskirts of Kyoto and is very popular during the Cherry Blossom season - at this point, you can tell I planned a lot of our Kyoto trip around the Cherry Blossoms . . . . . Hmmmm - pity they haven't made an appearance yet!  Anyway - there's still lots to see and do in the area . .  so off we go!


So, one quick journey on the train and we were there . . . . and it's a complete contrast to yesterday.  We were cold yesterday, but today the sun has made a dramatic appearance and it's really nice and warm . . . . great just what we need seeing as though there are a lot of hill walking involved with today!


Scott's cracking plan was to avoid all the crowds and start the doing the tourist back to front.  I was sceptical at first, but I should know better and always trust him 'cos it always works out OK in the end!


So off we trudged up the side of a bloody mountain . . .  well OK so it was just a steep hill, but it was very warm!!  At the top of the hill we started our tour with the Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street.  This is a lovely old windy street (well it's is lovely now, 'cos we are going downhill!) with a lot of Machiya's dating back to the Meiji period.  A lot of the buildings are still residences and people do live in them, but quite a few of them have been turned into shops and resturants

It's lovely . . . except that there are hoards of taxis coming back and forth.  Due to the extend of the 'hill' a lot of people hire taxis at the station to take them on the route.  As you can see there's not much room and we almost got bumped a couple of times!!!

There are a number of Temples and Shrines on the way (of course!), so we stopped in a couple.  The first one was Ghi-ohji.  This is just a small Temple and was home to four nuns  in the early 13th Century.  One of the nuns was originally a singer and dancer and became the fancy bit of the ruling lord Taira-no-Kiyomori, but then he got bored of her and moved on to someone else.  As a result, she became a nun and took 2 sisters and their Mother with her (bit extreme . . .  especially taking the family with you - but hey misery loves company!!)

 Lovely Garden . . . 

Not too sure what these are . . . but very pretty and were all over the garden

The Temple had been unoccupied until recently when Chishoni came to live there and look after the gardens.  She's well known because she was a Geisha before she became a nun!  She died here in 1994 and people still come to visit her grave.


There were a couple of other temples and shrines on the way - but to be honest, we didn't go in them . . .  just looked at them from the outside!


It was now time for a break.  There is a large 'meeting area' by the local train station and there are food stalls, the obligatory tat shop and and ice cream shop.  Well . .  it was warm - I had walked miles by this time, so it was time for an ice cream.  I went for the green tea ice cream (Scott went for vanilla!).

Green Tea Ice Cream (with a cinnamon stick - not a 99 Flake!!!)

The green tea ice cream is just lush . .  . but it made my tongue go green for an awful long time!!!  I ended up with two cinnamon sticks . . .  Scott was sorely disappointed it wasn't a 99 Flake!!!


Next on the list was the Bamboo Grove . . . bet you can't guess what was there!!!


Actually - it was really nice and would have been really peaceful if it hadn't of been all those tourists kicking around!!!  We noticed there were a lot of professional photographers around and half way down the grove there was a model dressed as a bride . . .  must have been doing their adverts.


A selection of bamboo shoots . . . . 

 Aww - this is a bit blurry . . . but you can just see the bride - she looked lovely

At this point I had to admit Scott was right making me start at the opposite end of the tourist path, because now we were going downhill all the way and against all the other tourists.  To be honest, if we had started at the bottom and worked our way up, I wouldn't have gone up as far as we did . . . .  I would have given up at the first temple and missed loads of stuff . . . I HATE it when he's always right!!


At the bottom of the Bamboo Grove is the Tenryu-Ji Temple.  We stood outside for a while debating whether to pay another 500Y each to go into yet another temple . . . . but we decided to give it a go - and boy were we pleased we did.  Tenryu-Ji is amazing.  

The grounds are huge and the landscaped gardens are one of the oldest in Japan.  There are 5 Zen gardens and Scott took a real fancy to one and spent ages tying to get his Zen in order!!!

 Cherry Blossom (Yeaah!!)

 Zen Garden . . . 

 Scott trying to find his Zen . . . . 

 Seen the size of that Carp???  He was boss of the pond!!!

 Find your Zen . . . . 

We ended up spending quite a bit of time in here as there was loads to see (well worth the 500Y I can tell you).


So now we were on the main street and it's absolutely crammed with people . . . .   Not too sure who these guys are but they are cute . . . 

We were now making our way to Togetsukyo Bridge (Moon Crossing Bridge).  It was built during the Heian period (794 ~ 1185), but was reconstructed in the 30's, as it was a wooden bridge and considering how many people, buses and taxis were crossing that bridge . . . it needed to be held up with metal rather than wood!!!!

We crossed the bridge to the island and had a wander round the park area, but it was getting on - it was about 5pm at this point and a lot of shops and stalls were closing for the day.


So - back over the bridge again and a bit of a wander round the shops on the main street (they weren't closing at 5 much to Scott's disgust!!!) . . .  then back to the train station.


We walked A LOT today, it was VERY hilly and we are now both sporting rather fetching T-Shirt Tans and shiny foreheads!!!!   (On a slightly related note:  Mam - my new shoes are doing a fantastic job . . . my feet are feeling great . . . I still haven't told Scott how much they were, but they have been worth every penny!!)


I'm going to have an early (ish) night, 'cos I have an exciting day tomorrow . . .  can't wait!!!!


Love n hugs xxx