Kyoto

Kyoto hit us hard after the wonderfull time we'd had in Hiroshima. It's a much larger city and seems impersonal as a result. It didn't help that when we arrived, (after a brilliant trip on a bullet train), the weather was frankly shockingly cold and very rainy which dampened not only our clothes but our spirits too.
We'd been told that Kyoto is the proverbial jewel of Japan and that thecherry blossom wold be in full effect so we were rather disappointed to find that it was on it's way out and that it looked a little drab against a grey sky. Our mood dropped a little further when we quickly realised that, unlike in Hiroshima, this was not a city to wander in. Everyone says that Kyoto is beautiful and, maybe we didn't see it in it's best light or maybe we weren't at our best, but we just didn't really 'get it'. It just seemed like any other big, sprawling, expensive city.
That said we have had some wonderful days here wandering around the ancient temples and eating fine food. We took the 'Path of Philosophy' from just behind our accommodation which, by the way, is a charming traditionalstyle Japanese house run by a very un-traditional mix of an American, a Scot & a Japanese woman, which boosted our spirits. It's a gentle stroll along a river and through toriis and shrines hidden in the woodland.



The river is bordered by cherry blossom trees and Japanese couples were out in force vying for a decent spot to have their picture taken arm in arm. The blossom really does add a wonderfully 'serene' quality to everything and I'm glad we've been able to catch it before it goes. Japan practically worships the blossom and it's appearance sends the nation in to a kind of frenzy, lovers sit under it, old women chat, men discuss things with their friends and groups lay out blue tarpaulins and picnic beneath it.
Unfortunately you do tend to get herded around the temples and the shrines and you're always accommpanied by large Japanese tour groups and before you know it youre back out on the street where you started. It made us realise why the Japanese tourists behaved the way they did throughout S.E. Asia, even in their own country they're corraled together and they beetle off taking pictures of each other in front of trees, rocks, toriis & shrines.



There's no sense of 'breathing in' a historic or venerable place just the need to visit it to tick it off their list.
It was here that we really started to miss home, the crap weather and the high cost made us very melancholy and we wished we could drop everything and head away from the rain to a small Greek island to get a tan and drink wine.
Luckily the rain eased off after a few days and Kyoto was once again looking good so we jumped on a bus and headed off to see the highly bling 'Golden Temple', (it really is all gold!), and a famous rock garden. The garden is a perfect example of the Zen philosophy as you can only see 14 rocks from any position which are placed within an immaculately raked gravel 'garden'. If one sits in contemplation one can see within the garden whatever you wish to see. A magical 15th rock should also appear once you've reached your spiritual zenith. We know it's there, we looked at the model. Here's the highly serene and zen-like garden.



To banish our homesickness we headed to an Irish pub, (called 'Tadgers' or something), to grab a taste of home and a Sunday roast. It was rubbish.