Sarah = Black, Alan = Red
After a nightmare free night, we got up reasonably early this morning and left the hotel before 11am. I probably had one but Sarah just didn’t bother to wake me up this time. One subway stop to Kyoto Station and then we were out on the train to Saga-Arashiyama Station.
After obtaining an English map, we left the station only to discover we’ve left the wrong side. Don’t blame me, the map was clearly wrong. Back up to the station and down the other side and we were on our way to Sagano Bamboo Grove. On the way we passed someone’s yard which had piles of stones balanced on top of each other. We had seen them at other places but not so many. Alan thought they must be stuck down so he picked one up. Nope, not stuck down so what did he do, tried another one. When he went to put them down again, they fell over. He tried to rebuild but it wasn’t happening so we quickly made our escape. Chances are he has angered some sort of god. I’m sure most of them were stuck together but I just happened to get unlucky and knock over the ones that weren’t.
Before reaching the Bamboo Grove, we stopped for a bit of morning tea, fresh mini donuts and freshly squeezed lemonade. Very refreshing. Not sure if Sarah mentioned, but they were fresh.
I had been looking forward to the Bamboo Grove as photos I had seen were very impressive but as we started walking through I thought that this looked no better than the forest my Dad’s neighbours are growing. Then we turned another bend and it was spectacular. The bamboo is so thick and tall. We couldn’t get our hands around them. Alan was hoping to see a panda but as there appeared to be none around, he decided to take a bite of the bamboo himself. Now there was a cheap lunch. Well what am I supposed to think when I see a brochure with pandas on it at the train station.
We then returned to the train and went back a few stations in the hope of getting a bus to Rokuon-Ji Temple, or as better known, The Golden Pavilion. We are getting pretty good at navigating the Kyoto bus system and after only a few minutes, we were on our way. Thanks to my skill and perfect sense of direction.
Most of the guide books advise to get there either early morning or late afternoon to avoid the crowds. We arrived at 1pm and it wasn’t that bad. Although it is Good Friday at home, it isn’t a holiday day here.
The place is beautiful and the grounds are so lovely and so Japanese. Handy hey! Sarah commented that the whole place is made of gold but I think she may have been joking because it’s quite obviously made of gold painted wood or gold foil or something of that nature. Easy to say that now after I told you it wasn’t paint but gold leafing.
After we walked around the grounds for a while we returned to the bus. It is a flat fee of ¥220 whenever you get off the bus so we thought we would ride it all the way to Kyoto Station. Bad idea. It took forever. We did get to see a lot of Kyoto but it was hot and packed and very very slow. Some of us had to stand the entire way and it was a very long ride.
It was after 3pm so no Italian lunch for us today. Instead we ended up with a Japanese burger. They were huge, with a meat patty, mustard, bacon, cheese, egg, lettuce, tomato, tomato sauce and mayonnaise. Check out the photos of Alan trying to get one in his mouth.
We returned to the hotel just after 4pm. Alan had himself a little nap (well it is Friday after all).
Tomorrow we check out of the hotel by 11am and are heading to Nara, about 45 minutes out of Kyoto. I was hoping to visit Nara Dreamland which was an alternate universe Disneyland and by all accounts the strangest, most lame amusement park ever built, but unfortunately it closed back in 2006 due to lack of patronage. We will then return to the hotel to pick up our bags and have reserved tickets on the train to the airport at 6.45pm which will get us in at a little after 8pm. Then at 10.55pm we will be homeward bound.
There will be a blog for tomorrow, just unsure whether we will have internet access to upload it. If not, it will be on, with photos, by lunchtime Sunday.
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