Arashiyama bamboo forest

After the tea ceremony, we headed back to Kyoto and onwards to the Arashiyama bamboo forest. Our first task was to find lunch in the area, which was a challenge once again because of the peak season. Most places we went to were either fully booked or had a waiting period of at least an hour. When we finally managed to get inside a restaurant, we realised that the supposedly vegetarian dish was not actually vegetarian, which meant that some of the group couldn’t eat much. We proceeded towards the actual forest, which initially felt a bit underwhelming but as we went deeper, the views of the tall bamboo trees all around were pretty good. As it was mid-afternoon, the crowds were at peak. We walked for 15 mins, clicked a few photos, and then decided to head back to Kyoto station and then onwards to Tokyo. Nishu and Purva took a mini detour to find Vegan Ramen but were again hit by long waiting times. We eventually took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, reached our hotel and had some ready-to-eat meals (heated up expertly by Purva in paper cups) for dinner.Read more