Walking for miles and miles was never on the agenda for today. We're all still not feeling the best, so the plan was to take a small walk east from our apartment, then head south through the temple district on the eastern side of Kyoto, then find public transport, either a bus or subway, to get back to the hotel.

The plan went well, up to the point where we tried to find the public transport, and the crowds and inconvenience of it all made it easier just to walk the entire distance. Plotting it out on a map we estimate we've done in excess of 10km's today and that doesn't even include zigzagging for photo locations, which isn't bad for a bunch of unfit Aussies suffering flu.

After grabbing some breakfast we headed east from the hotel to Jingu-Michi-Dori, which is a narrow half-street half-pathway which leads up a hill past some of the most picturesque little shrines and temples in all of Kyoto. Compared to the major tourist spots around Kyoto this path was practically deserted, and the mild temperatures made it a very pleasant start to the day.

Past a couple of anonymous little shrines, and then onto Shoren-in and Chion-in temples, which sit virtually side by side with each other. Chion-in is the more visually stunning of the two, with the huge Sanmon Gate dominating the view of the temple from the road. Just beyond the gate is an imposing staircase, which interestingly was featured in the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai, where Colonel Aldrin and and his delegation are seen climbing the stairs to meet the Emperor.

Leaving Chion-in, we headed further south into Maruyama park, a very pretty, but fairly bare park which is apparently the primary spot in all of Kyoto for cherry blossom viewing during cherry blossom season.

In the park there were a few Japanese girls walking around dressed in very traditional looking kimono's. Since these girls were usually with their boyfriend, or in a group of a few other girls all dressed similarly, at lunchtime on a crowded Saturday I can only imagine that they're doing this for the attention.
Charlotte started out very stealthily sneaking photos of these girls, since she adores the outfits, and I got photos casually wherever I could for her, while doing my best not to look like a stalker, but the more of these girls we came across, and the more obvious it was that they were loving the attention of getting their photo taken against the backdrops of the temples, the more blatant Charlotte got with the photo taking. Towards the end of the temple hopping she was simply walking up to them, standing in front of them and taking photos as they walked towards her.

After leaving that park, our pleasant walk, with the calmness, peace and serenity vanished. Almost immediately we found ourselves in the middle of thousands of people, all pushing their way through the tiny backstreets of Gion, heading to, and/or away from, Kiyomizu temple. This should have been the cue to turn back, but we didn't, and we forged ahead through the sea of Japanese and foreign tourists.

The path to Kiyomizu-dera would be exceptionally pretty, if you could see it. I guess arriving there at midday on a Saturday wasn't the best piece of planning I'd ever done, but it was just insane. The road to the temple is a narrow path, possibly a few meters wide, on a decent incline, lined with merchants on either side. These merchants were a massive hindrance to traffic flow, because it meant that the edges of the path contained people standing still, or walking at a dawdle, looking at the shops, which only left a meter or two in the middle for traffic going up and down the hill who were still actually moving.

Then you come across inevitable idiot walking with their head down looking at their mobile phone instead of where they're going, and they simply walk straight into you. In my first few days I was polite, but I'm so sick of this stupidity in areas of massive crowds that I've deliberately stopped jumping out of the path these people, as they get a satisfying shock when they run into you.

Eventually we made it up the hill to Kiyomizu temple, and we quickly made the decision that we were going to skip going in. We'd literally been walking for hours by this point, and the combination of the unrelenting crowd, and the fact that we'd seen Kiyomizu-dera on our first trip, meant that we stayed in the outer temple and park sections, and didn't pay to go into the balcony and inner temple areas.

So the same battle we faced on the way up, we battled on the way down. Wall to wall people, all moving at different speeds makes for a frustrating journey. At around 16 degrees, and after all of the walking we'd been doing, it was no longer jacket weather. We'd all stripped our *********** and were walking around comfortably in t-shirts, which is crazy for the middle of winter. Still, it was a beautiful day so I can't complain too much.

On the way back down, we passed 2 young girls dressed in kimonos. Veronica tried her luck and asked whether it would be ok if they would pose for a photo with the girls. They happily accepted, and as we were just across the road from a fairly pretty gated garden the girls all scampered across the road between the traffic for photos. I'm pretty sure this made Charlotte very very happy.

Having not had any lunch yet, and it being past lunchtime we were all starving, so considering the temperature, and the coincidental number of ice-cream vendors which lined the street to Kiyomizu temple, we picked the best looking ice-cream place and dropped in. The girls had chocolate soft serve (the choice was chocolate, soy bean or green tea...so chocolate it was), while Veronica and I had crepes from some place called Dipper Dan. Not sure that crepes with whipped cream, custard, ice-cream, chocolate and strawberries was the wisest thing to put into an empty stomach after a huge walk, but I survived, and it was pretty fantastic.

Arriving at the bottom of the street, we started heading in the direction of the shopping district, with intentions of getting on the first familiar bus we saw. All buses were packed from what we could see, so reluctantly we kept walking. By this stage we'd covered around 8km's, Angela was sick of walking, Veronica wasn't feeling well, since her flu had finally caught up with her, and Isabelle was just completely broken. Walking along the footpath she'd periodically just fall down, and declare that she can't go on any further, and that we should just leave her there.

Eventually, exhausted, we made it back to the Kawaramachi shopping district, and began looking for a place to eat. Along the way Veronica, Angela and Charlotte dropped into a Daiso store, which is the largest chain of 100 yen stores in Japan. I stayed out the front sitting on a pedestrian handrail, with Isabelle collapsed at my feet with exhaustion, which got some curious looks from passers by.

Since we'd walked enough already, we decided to complete the massive day's hike by visiting the closest Yayoiken restaurant. These restaurants, which appear to be some kind of franchise or chain, exist in multiple locations that we've found across Kyoto (and probably elsewhere in Japan). There is one next door to the Gimmond Hotel which we became very familiar with during our first trip to Kyoto in 2008.
Yayoiken delivers consistently superb food, at stupidly cheap prices. Customers enter the restaurant, having selected what they want from the display meals in the window outside. They then put their money into a vending machine at the front of the restaurant, select their meals and tickets on the touchscreen, and out pops their corresponding tickets, and change. The customer then gives these tickets to the waitress who runs away, and returns and unfathomably short time later with the meals, fresh and delicious.

And the meals are seriously cheap. For example Charlotte and Angela had the chicken filet meal, which included 5 or 6 good sized pieces of panko crumbed and deep fried chicken, sauces on the side, a full side salad with dressing, a side serve of tofu, and all you can eat miso soup and rice on the side, which you're free to go back to the kitchen and get refilled as much as you like. The price for a meal of this size? 680 yen. Factoring in the horrible exchange rate at present, that comes to around AU$7.50. And it comes out of the kitchen steaming hot in literally 5 to 10 minutes. I'm not sure how they do it, or how they're making a profit. My guess is that they rely on their profits coming from turnover, because it does appear to be a very streamlined enter-order-sit-eat-leave style of restaurant, rather than one you linger in and chat. This however, is absolutely perfect for us. Get in, eat, get out.

Exhausted, we walked the remaining kilometer back to the hotel, and virtually crawled up the stairs to the apartment. The girls watched TV, while I apparently fell asleep, or so I'm told. Not sure I believe them though.

With the massive day wiping us all out, Angela and I volunteered to do the 2 minute walk to the family mart around the corner for dinner supplies. A very simple dinner of bento boxes and a few sandwiches, and we were on our way home.

The path home to our hotel is largely through a very sinister, dimly lit back alley. If it were anywhere else in the world except Japan this alley would be downright scary. In Japan though, it is just an alley.
We left the convenience store a few steps behind a lady, and since there was nowhere to pass her, I just walked behind. She, unfortunately turned down the alley I needed to go down to get back to the apartment, so Angela and I had no choice but to follow her.

Around halfway down the alley, at its darkest point, Angela made a noise by kicking something, and the lady spun around in shock. She hadn't realised we were behind her, and the first sight she gets is me, around twice her size, with my leather jacket on standing only about 2 meters behind her, with the light behind me, making me look like just a huge dangerous silhouette. I'm pretty sure she thought she was a gonner.
She let out a small scream, turned back around and sped up to a half jog.
The thought did cross my mind to run after her to tell her that it was all a big misunderstanding, but I think I'd done enough damage to the woman's psyche for one night, so I let her run off up the alley unhindered.

Plus, with the amount of walking I've done today, I don't think I could have kept up with her.