Checking out of our hostel at seven o’clock in the morning, an early start saw Rich and I fully loaded with our backpacks on the city trains heading to Kyoto, thirty five miles away.
We had a full day of sightseeing planned in Kyoto before heading on to Tokyo at the end of the day. Our first port of call was Kinkaku-ji, the Gold Pavillion Temple in north Kyoto.
“Feeling calm, peaceful and full of hope for the future we each received our fortune readings.”
With the top two floors covered completely in gold leaf and capped with a golden phoenix, Kinkaku-ji looks majestic with it’s bright reflection shimmering on the pond in front of it.
The Zen temple is set in beautiful and peaceful gardens and we enjoyed a stroll through them, taking the opportunity to throw coins at a statue along the way that is thought to bring good luck.
Once through the gardens we passed a traditional tea house and Fudo hall, a small temple hall. Sat beside the hall stood fortune telling machines, including one which gave fortunes written in English.
Feeling calm, peaceful and full of hope for the future we each received our fortune readings – only time will tell if they come true!
From Kinkaku-ji temple we headed to south Kyoto via bus and train to the Fushimi Inari Shrine.
We picked up what was becoming our usual lunch from Seven Eleven, a hot dog with mustard and ketchup for Rich and an onigiri for me, eating it outside the shrine where a child on a school trip was having a nap in a bush!
“I was finally very proud of myself.”
To make onigiri I had to follow the instructions on the plastic packaging. Unwrapping a triangular pack of rice with a filling inside and a sheet of nori, there was a distinct technique to making a tasty looking lunch.
Unfortunately I didn’t see the numbered points on the packaging to pull and rip following the instructions, so I ended up in quite a mess the first time I ripped the packaging apart.
By my third attempt I had however mastered the artful skill of making onigiri! I was finally very proud of myself.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is renowned for the thousands of vermilion torii gates that straddle walkways behind the main buildings.
Trails that weave through a woodland setting are decorated with tall orange and black torii gates. Some are packed so tightly they look like tunnels with only strips of sunlight breaking up the dark path before you.
It was enchanting walking through the torii gates and around the woodland. We even came across a bamboo forest, filled with tall and skinny bamboo trees spread out around us.
Next we headed to Gion, Kyoto’s most famous geisha district. Filled with shops, restaurants and teahouses, geisha’s can be seen heading to and from engagements.
With an abundance of traditional wooden machiya merchant houses, there are streets in Gion where you feel like you have stepped back in time.
We walked through small streets and alley ways with no real destination in mind, aimlessly walking around to take in the sights.
We saw geisha’s from time to time, crossing the road, walking down the street and enjoying a cup of tea with friends in a teahouse. Elaborately dressed in kimono’s and wooden geta on their feet they almost shuffle around, taking the smallest of steps as they walk.
As well as geisha’s we saw beautiful old Japanese buildings, temples and even jinrikisha, carriages for two people being pulled around by men and women running up and down the streets.
Our afternoon in Gion was filled with spectacular sights but with a train ride to Tokyo ahead of us we had to bus it back to the train station, pick up our backpacks and buy food to eat for dinner on the train.
We were becoming dab hands at finding our way around Japan by bus and train with all the travelling we had done over the past three days.
Before we knew it we were settled into our Shinkansen seats and hurtling our way towards Tokyo!
Lambs on the loose 