The I woke up on the 19th of September with a bit of a
deserved sleep in! I made it to Kyoto by about 1ish and started my exploring!
On my list of things to
visit was the beautiful Bamboo forest in and the lovely Togetsukyo
Bridge in Arashiyama. So I walked from the station to Arashiyama and
eventually found the beautiful Bamboo forest. When I did my research on
Kyoto I saw photos of this, but the photos don’t even compare to what its like
in real life! Its absolutely stunning!
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| Bamboo! |
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| More beautiful bamboo! |
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| So beautiful! |
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| Amazing! |
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| The arching trees! |
I walked around the
forest for about 30 minutes until I got to the end of the walk, I sat down and
started munching on some food in my bag, afterwards I got up and started
looking for the next place to go, I must have looked lost or something, but a
random Japanese old guy came up to me, and started speaking to me in broken
English. He then showed me some beautiful photos of an observatory that is no
more than 10 minutes walk from where I was. He pointed me in the direction and
off I go. This is what makes travelling worth it! Random local guys just
wanting to help out, how cool is that!!!
So I found the
observatory and took some stunning photos, check them out!
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| Amazing!!! |
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| Epic! |
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| Zoomed in! |
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| One of the many photos of me! |
I chilled out at the
observatory for a while, and then made my way through the forest back down. I
jumped on a train that took me to the very famous golden temple.
It was 1.5 km walk from
the train station to the Golden Temple, I got there by about 4.40pm. I was a
little worried that the temple might have been closed, but I made it! I bought
my ticket and charged on in.
In the previous journal
entry I spoke about the Japanese gardens creating a viewing point where
everything works, the Golden Temple got it perfectly.
My problem was, that when
I entered, I entered with about 20 Japanese tourists, so I was swarmed with
people. I took some photos but never really got to relax and take it all in, so
after I walked around the garden, I snuck back through the entrance to really
look at it! And it is absolutely amazing! I was just there, looking at this
beautiful temple for about 20 minutes, the sun was setting on my face and
everything was perfect!
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| Golden Temple! |
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| Incredible! |
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| Amazing! |
Eventually they had to
close the gardens so I was forced to leave, but it was such a beautiful place.
From the Golden Temple, I
jumped on a bus back to the main station and was back at Kyoto main station by
about 6.30pm. When the sun sets in Japan, whatever city you’re in completely
changes, and Kyoto is no exception! The neon lights were out in force.
I knew where I wanted to
go, so I found a way to get there. I was off to find the Geisha district, down
in Gion. It was about a 2.0km walk from the station so off I went.
When I made it to Gion I
then had to find where the Geisha district was, but before I did I needed some
food. So I walked down the main street looking for some street food, till I
started chatting to this Aussie guy called Nick that was on the internet using
his phone. I asked him what he was up to tonight, I told him my plans and he
was interested in coming, he was also on the lookout for food.
I dragged him off the
main street to find some cheaper more local food! We ended up down a little
side ally and inside this restaurant where nobody spoke English, so we just
looked at the Japanese menu and randomly selected some things on the menu and
just waited to see what they brought out.
I ended up ordering
something with rice, whilst the other Nick ordered a plate of Squid! It wasn’t
the best food I’d ever had, but it was fun just ordering something completely
random!
We quickly finished our
food and then set off trying to find the Geisha district! Our first goal was to
find the internet, as once we had the internet we could get a map on our phone
and find the place.
We eventually got the
internet and started our walk, it wasn’t too far on the map, and it ended up
being only 15 – 20 minutes walk from down town!
We knew when we had
stumbled upon it, as there were beautiful red paper lanterns scatted all up and
down the street, it was so beautiful, I tried taking some photos but they
didn’t turn out that well. Take it from me, it was a very pretty street.
We walked around for a
while, and even managed to see a Geisha running to or from her appointment! It
was really cool
Anyway, we both started
to get tired so we said our goodbyes and I headed back to Osaka.
1.5 hours later I was
fast asleep back in Osaka! I was so tired, it was an epic day of hiking! Kyoto
is such a beautiful city!
Tomorrow (the 20th
of September) I was heading to Hiroshima to visit the A-Bomb dome and get a
completely mind blown as I visit the Hiroshima Museum! I cant wait! So till
next time!
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| Geisha District! |
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| More Geisha District! |
Thanks again!
Steve
