Arashiyama

We set off to see the Bamboo forest this morning, the plan was to get up early and go but that didn’t happen, our room is so dark you have no idea what time it is. it’s about a half an hour trip on the bus up to the foot of the mountain. It is supposed to rain today , but there no sign of it yet and it was hot when we got off the bus. Coincidently there was a rickshaw driver waiting right there and after a bit of barter we hopped on. Goodness these guys must be fit, we felt a bit bad, this poor young thing having to haul us over the bridge and up a few streets, but he seemed so delighted we wanted to come for a ride with him so I guess it must be worthwhile for him. Those drivers are amazingly strong.

That rickshaw ride turned out to be the only time we weren’t surrounded by people, so many people, cameras, posing everywhere. The bamboo was planted originally to protect the temples on the mountain from evil spirits. It is a beautiful grove and they are massively tall bamboo, I don’t feel we saw it in the best light really, it’s hard to enjoy the serenity when it’s so crowded.

After taking our obligatory 5 thousand photos we went into the Tenryuji temple grounds, there’s an entrance fee, so it’s much quieter in there. It was a lovely area with of course a gorgeous garden. Lots of cherry trees, would have been incredible a month or so ago when the blossoms were out.

Found a lovely little Resturant and had a feast of a set menu for lunch, I’m even getting to like the Miso soup.Read more