Today I woke about eight ish and with Steven still snoozing away I went upstairs for a cup of tea, it wasn't long before he joined me and so we had a little breakfast before starting our day. Today we decided to have a nice relaxed day and wander around the surrounding area... We eventually left the hostel at about eleven ish and headed out. We headed in the direction of Gion as we wanted to experience it in the day time... We wandered in the direction of this beautiful old part of town looking in all the shops on route. There seemed to be school children everywhere, including one who was wearing a horses head, very random.

We headed onto the Main Street and it was definitely different from yesterday evening as there were people everywhere. Gion is a very old area of Kyoto that was built in front of the Yasaka shrine. It was originally built in the Middle Ages to accommodate travellers and pilgrims to the shrine, then later flourished into the well known geisha district it is today. Gion gesiha are known as geiko which means a woman of the arts and their apprentices are Maiko.

As we wandered around we were invited to sample so many little delicacies and delights including rice paste sweets and green tea sweets. The ladies were so friendly and happy to chat with us about the origins of the sweets as we sipped samples of warm and fragrant green tea. We also got the opportunity to try some seaweed tea which I liked but Steven wasn't so keen... We walked around and bought some postcards and trinkets before we found ourselves back on the main road. I was having a lovely afternoon wandering the area but was a little sad that we were yet to see a maiko. I knew they were a rarity these days with only 800 or so left in Japan but I kind of had my heart set on it and couldn't hide my disappointment.

Steven started wandering the main street but I suggested we head back in to Gion area and walk back through the old streets so we did... As we turned the corner and headed up the road Steven whispered ....isn't that one? I hadn't noticed as was depressingly looking at the floor as we walked but sure enough coming towards us on a rickshaw was a Maiko! I couldn't believe it... She looked so pretty, they came by and following was another rickshaw with two Maikos sitting under a warm blanket and giggling away. They saw me and smiled while the guy pulling them laughed and slowed a little for me to take a picture, I was so happy I could burst.

As I practically floated down towards Steven I couldn't hide my excitement or massive grin. Steven was happy I had seen them and I gave him a big kiss and hug for spotting them... We half walked half skipped up the road and back in to the old streets where we bought a green tea ice cream. It was very nice and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the chill. We were now by the big shrine so ate the ice cream while admiring its beauty before heading down the street in the direction of the hostel... As we turned I couldn't help saying out loud "oh my god" as two Maiko were walking towards us lol... They were heading up to the shrine. They looked slightly uncomfortable so I resisted taking a load if pictures and left them to walk on... I didn't want to make them uncomfortable especially as many tourists aren't very nice to them so they are very wary of us. I was just amazing to see them so closely. We walked on and met some young Japanese girls wearing beautiful kimonos and they happily shared a picture with me by the shrine.

We walked back to the hostel via our pervious hostel ( I had left the infamous shampoo and conditioner) ...we were tired but happy and looked forward to a nice evening reading and blogging. Again this wasn't to happen as the students again arrived for conversation. We chatted with them and after they had left we had some dinner and went to bed. We were so tired and were up early tomorrow for sightseeing.