How do I start on a day so full of action?

Well, having woken up by an accidental 16 hour (well deserved) sleep, I thought we were in for a gloomy day judging by the weather. This is not unreasonable as it is rainy season here! But then, once it hit 9.30am, the sun rose above the smog. One thing I did not counter in was the 1.5 million population of this city and the pollution, I hadn't experienced it before! Anyways, I was provided with a French breakfast before being given instructions to get on the bus to Kyoto Station. Well, I faced my fear and managed to catch the bus for a whole 2km without dying or hurting myself, snaps! At the station, I jumped on a train and head to Arashiyama without too much difficulty before hopping off and thinking I'd come to the wrong place. The information officer assured me I hadn't, so I head off down the main street before realising I had gone the wrong way. Then I looked up. Infront of me was a circle of lush, green mountains. These were what I had been waiting months to see. I accidentally wondered into a world heritage temple before backtracking to the bamboo groves.

The groves were exactly as they had been pictures on Pintrest and in the book, I did not have to go far at all to find some Japanese wilderness. They were awe-inspiring. Natures very own air conditioning, and atleast 20m tall, I'd never seen anything like it. But the true beauty came from further along the track, I found a small pond with turtles in it, nearly got bartered into a 3000yen tea house and when I was faced with the choice to go back along the track or onto a dirt one, Robert Frost crossed my mind with all that 'road less travelled'. I ended up hiking up a very steep hill in birkenstocks in considerable pain, but it was worth it. I was in Japanese wilderness, not much touched by the had of humans. I got to the peak of the mountain, entirely by accident and as I came back down I found I had made it to the highest observation decks in Arashiyama that were inbetween 2 mountains and down the river. It was absolutely incredible, I spent atleast an hour wondering that path before somehow getting myself down to the river bank and wondering along there for a while, and the I was at the bottom of the main street and the bridge. I wondered up the main street, popped into a few shops and admired the japanese touristy gifts then stopped for my first Japanese meal, fried shrimp and rice - god damn it was so good! Then I wondered back into the grove for one last look, gave up on idea of the Monkey Park because it was 30 degrees with 88% humidity, up another similarly sized hill and it was getting late and I'll be visiting the Macaques in Nagano but unfortunately I had to miss Tadasu no Mori (but its on the list for tomorrow). On the train home I realised that Japan would benefit enormously from rooftop gardens or solar panels, it was sunny and the roofs were empty!

I got back to Kyoto and realised it was still light but too late to do anything very far away so I decided to walk back to my hostel before realising I could go up the Kyoto Tower - 7.7yen and about 100m up, like Telstra tower with panaramic views of Kyoto - incredible! Such a sprawled, busy city casually surrounded by beautiful green mountains - well worth it. I bought some green tea mini crepes for breakfast at the foyer downstairs, then stopped a bought some Japanese onion chips to get me through to dinner then got myself back to my hostel easily - it was wonderful walking through a foreign city surrounded by foreign language and just not knowing what was going on, it was a weird (probably misguided) feeling. I met up with 2 pals from uni staying just 600m up the street for dinner at a little bar where everything was 390yen, we got the lot - sashimi (raw fish), tempura, rice - it was to die for. Holy s***. And the beer here is so smooth and so, so cheap - an unexpected pleasure! We wandered the streets for some of the night, it wasn't scary or unsafe as I had imagined - quite the opposite, exhilarating and fascinating. Lights, geishas and colourful alleys everywhere as well as a river down the middle of the city and an enormous shrine, just casually. We sat at the river with a drink for a while, it was peaceful despite being in the middle of the city. There are nowhere as many white tourists here as I expected which I love. I like it here, on the way back to my hostel after dinner, I started chatting to a man from Morocco. He lived and worked here, I think he was lonely because he hugged when I said goodbye and was overjoyed to have an Australian friend.

After a much needed shower and change of clothes, Im looking forward to bed and the adventures tomorrow hold. Tasadu no Mori (by bus) tomorrow morning, then how to end my last afternoon and night in Kyoto before going to Osaka? Advice welcome!

Anyway, that was my day. I still can't believe I'm here and how lucky I am to be here, I love it here. It's a holiday from my life back home that I had become static and stagnant and permanently stressful. This stress is a different kind, a refreshing kind and is challenging me in all the right ways. This may change, but in the mean time I'm very happy here.

Catch you tomorrow, strangers!

xo Rach