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Old 13 Apr 20, 05:48 PM  
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Gr8WideSomewher
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When you gachapon a star: Tokyo Disney and Japan 2019 - Day 13

Dear all,

I know this might be a record for longest time between trippie posts, but in my defence we did have a little Apocalypse that happened - don’t know if y’all noticed! Luckily me and Bex are well and so is the rest of our fam - I hope everyone else is OK too.

Obviously there was a bit of upheaval, but nothing major. In fact, my work barely missed a beat and I’ve actually had some of my busiest weeks all year which, when combined with the new experience of working from home, has just left me a bit worn out at the weekends, so I haven’t done a lot of writing recently. However, I was fully determined to bang out a few more days this Easter weekend and that’s just what I’ve done. I have Days 13-15 written and Day 16 half-written (it’s a long one). I now need to add pictures to them all - hopefully that won’t take too long.

For now, please enjoy...


Day 13: Arashiyama and exploring the Gion district

CW: Monkey business

I woke up early on the morning of Day 13 in a sudden panic that we hadn’t set an alarm. When Bex woke up shortly after, however, she said she had set an alarm for 7.30. But we were up by that point so we decided just to get going. Unfortunately, the extra time didn’t translate to a more organised start to the day. We noticed that the clothes we’d tried to wash in the laundry the previous day had not washed properly, so we had to take them down for a second wash, and then as we were finally leaving we noticed that our internet dongle hadn’t charged, so we had to return to the room for 15 minutes to let it charge a bit. It was lucky we weren’t in a hurry!

We finally left properly at 8.15 and, total pros at navigating the train station at this point, caught a train to Arashiyama at 8.30. Arashiyama is an area on the outskirts of Kyoto which is generally very pretty and has a number of tourist attractions, including a bamboo forest and a monkey sanctuary. We had planned to get there early because we had heard that the bamboo forest was nicest when it was peaceful, but our somewhat disorganised morning had nixed that idea.

I’m afraid I can't actually remember how long it took us to get to Arashiyama. It was probably around an hour. Once we got there we walked toward the Tenryu Ji temple, which was supposed to be one of the ways of getting into the bamboo forest.




Although most of the tourists entered the bamboo forest from a different direction, which was free, we had decided to pay the 500 yen (£3.78) to go into the temple and then enter the bamboo grove through the temple’s garden. It was supposedly a sort of shortcut, though, as we didn't go the other way, I can’t say how much time we saved.





Anyway, it was probably worth it as the temple gardens were very pretty. We didn’t go into the temple itself but wandered around the gardens for a short time before heading out of a back exit towards the bamboo grove. The one thing that was a bit annoying was that there was no re-entry into the temple if you left. 500 yen is quite a lot to pay to go into a temple, and we only had a very short visit. It would have been nice to show our tickets and come back in after exploring the bamboo grove.




The bamboo grove itself was spectacular! There were already quite a lot of tourists there when we got there, which is why all these pictures are from such weird angles. However, no one was being pushy or loud, so the area was still very tranquil.








The number of tourists grew exponentially during the short time we were there though, so I think the early you get there the better. We must have been there around 10:00 and my advice would be to be there much earlier than that if possible.

There isn’t much more to say about the bamboo grove, except that it was extremely beautiful and probably would be throughout the day, whether you went there in good weather or bad. As usual, we were dealing with weather that was warm, but muggy and cloudy.




After the bamboo forest, we walked down towards the river. We had heard there was a nice coffee shop by the bridge and obviously we hadn’t had a chance to eat breakfast yet.




The bridge is featured in every travel vlog and guidebook about Arashiyama and is very picturesque.




I must admit I was having a bit of a hard day. My feet were really punishing me and the fact that we hadn’t eaten anything was making me very cranky. Bex told me to sit down outside the coffee shop and she would go in and buy us some breakfast. There was no seating, but I sat on a wall.





Bex had to queue for quite a long time to get us some coffees and it also turned out the cafe didn’t sell any food, which was disappointing. However, the view of the bridge and the river from where we sat was very nice and the coffee did give me a little bit more energy.







After our ‘breakfast’ we walked over the bridge towards the forest, where the monkey sanctuary was. I was very keen to see the monkeys, as I love all wildlife.

The walk up to the monkey sanctuary was quite hard work. There were lots of dire warnings at the bottom of the hill saying you should only do the walk if you were fit and had water to drink etc. I think these were a bit of an overstatement - it’s not really all that hard - but with heat and the humidity, it certainly wasn't a leisurely stroll. It took about 20 minutes and was nearly all uphill, and we were glad we both had water bottles, but apart from being rather sweaty and gross by the time we got to the top, neither of us found it hard. I even rather enjoyed it, as walking uphill put pressure on a different part of my feet!




It was also totally worth it, as there were hundreds of monkeys. I will now overload you with cute pictures of them.







They were all very relaxed around people but were still sort of wild monkeys. There was an area where people could feed them through the windows of a little hut built for the purpose, but this cost money so we didn’t do it. Most of the tourists were being respectful of the monkeys and none of the monkeys got aggressive, as they can sometimes do if fed by hand, so that was nice to see.







Even the little baby ones were happy for people to go right up to them to take pictures. Bex got lots of great pictures and I got lots of mediocre ones.





Don’t! I’m too shy!

Oh OK...I suppose I do look pretty cute.

Where you going?

We stayed up in the monkey sanctuary for about 45 minutes and then walked back down the hill. The walk down only took about 15 minutes and there was a nice breeze for once.



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Old 13 Apr 20, 05:52 PM  
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Part 2

We had seen all we wanted to see in Arashiyama by that point, so we headed back towards the train station. This was quite a long walk, so we took it at a leisurely pace.





Along the way, we spotted this Miffy bakery, which we both thought was pretty cool. I would have gone in to buy something to eat, but Bex didn't fancy it, so I just snapped some pictures through the window. It’s not really surprising that Japanese people like Miffy - she is very kawaii.





We also happened upon the kimono forest, which we’d read about but which there had been no sign of all day. We must have walked straight past it because it is actually right next to the train station.



We had no idea what a kimono forest was, but it was free so we walked through for a quick look. It turned out to be really cool and, big bonus, tourist-free.




We had it to ourselves as we wandered through and marvelled at all the beautiful kimono fabrics. At the centre of the ‘forest’ is a little pond where apparently people come to pray for their dreams to come true or something. It was very pretty and peaceful, and I’m glad we got to see it.









There were some gachupon machines next to the train station and we couldn’t resist another go. I’m telling you, those things are gambling-lite. Bex played the same Kyoto-themed machine that she had played before and this time got the maiko figure she had been hoping for. I played a Hokusai-themed machine, hoping for a Great Wave-themed toy, but instead I got the Tiger in a Snowstorm. This was still pretty cool though, so we were both happy.




We strolled into the station, only to find that our train was due to leave in 5 minutes! We sprinted to the platform and managed to catch it just in time. We even found a couple of seats, so that was lucky.

We got back to Kyoto station round about 14:00, by which time I was very peckish. I wanted to try out one of the cool-looking bakeries in the station, so we ducked into one. I bought a curry bun, which was a deep-fried, bread-crumb coated pastry with curry filling on the inside. It was yummy, though quite rich and greasy. Bex decided to be boring and so bought a sandwich and some crisps at the 7-Eleven on the way back to our hotel.



When we got back to the hotel, it was time for a sit-down in the AC and some relaxation. This was extremely welcome!

We headed out again at about 17:00 with the intention of exploring the Gion district. If you’ve heard anything about geisha or maiko you’ve probably heard of Gion, and many many tourists visit the area with the hope of spotting a genuine maiko and getting a photograph. This wasn't why Bex and I wanted to go, however. Gion is a really beautiful area with lots of traditional architecture and beautiful sights to see. I can't help feeling that stalking maiko and geisha in this way is a little creepy. Yes, their way of life is very interesting and ‘mysterious’, but they are people, not objects to snap a picture of without permission.

Anyway, Bex found a walk on the internet which we could follow, and which would allow us to take in most of the major sites. I’m afraid my notes from the evening are extremely limited. We were on the go the whole time, meaning there weren’t any good moments to stop and take notes. Hopefully, the pictures will give you a decent sense of the area.

We took a bus to Gion from the train station then started our in Harayama Park, which was quiet and really pretty. We wandered around the park for a bit, stopping at a shrine, which was gorgeous and peaceful in the early evening.







We continued, following the directions on Becky’s phone, and made our way into the Gion District proper.

There are a number of cool sites to see in the Gion District, including the traditional tea houses, the Yasaka Shrine, and an old outdoor theatre, but for us, it was mostly about wandering and appreciating the traditional architecture, cute little narrow streets and canals. It’s really a beautiful area, and I think going in the evening was a good call, as it wasn’t too busy and the weather was good.









We ended the walk in a busy, high-end shopping area round about 19:00.



This is an appointment board telling the maiko what lessons and appointments they need to get to.





I was really feeling my feet and couldn’t go on any longer, and we felt we’d seen enough, so we decided to get a bus back to the station.






This was probably the only significant trouble we had with public transport the whole trip. We looked up what bus might take us back to the station and there did seem to be one, but we waited at what we thought was the right bus stop and it didn’t come. Other buses came that might have got us where we wanted to go, but everything was in Japanese and we couldn’t be sure. Also it was a really manic and busy area, which made it even more difficult to work out where we were or what bus to get.

In the end we decided to get a taxi. Big. Mistake.

We flagged one down without too much difficulty and gave the driver the name of our hotel. We then proceeded to have the most terrifying experience of the entire trip (Journey to the Centre of the Earth’s lava monster had nothing on this guy!) as the driver swerved round corners, hurtled out into oncoming traffic, fiddled constantly with his phone navigation system, went through five red lights and nearly crashed into a car in front of us (which had foolishly assumed that red lights were something you stop for). He was a lunatic. We paid 1400 yen (£10.35! ) for a 10-minute near death experience!

What made it worse was that the driver obviously didn’t wait for us to belt up before driving off and Bex had a lot of trouble getting her seatbelt to fasten. For the first half of the journey she was fiddling about with it as we tore through central Kyoto at ridiculous speeds. Unfortunately panic not only made her more and more uncoordinated and less likely to be able to fasten her seatbelt, but also more and more giggly! So I was sitting hanging on for dear life going, ‘Bex, I swear to God if I’m left sisterless today because you couldn’t do up your bloody seatbelt...stop laughing! This is not funny!’ while she cracked up and struggled with her seatbelt. My legs were actually shaking when we got out of that taxi!

It was about 20:00 when we finally emerged from the death machine, thanked the driver (we are British after all) and went to 7-Eleven to get some tea. I haven’t written down what Bex bought, but it was probably one of her precious egg sandwiches. I got a rice and deep fried pork combo which the 7-Eleven staff warmed up for me, and then packed up so I could take it back to the hotel. It was really pretty good, and it was nice to have something hot.



Back at the hotel we watched Stranger Things until bed at half 11. We also discussed what we were going to do the following day. There were still various things to see in Kyoto, such as the Gold and Silver Temples, a walk by the canal and Fushimi Inari, but Bex also really wanted to experience a proper traditional onsen. She’d found one and added it to the plan many months before, but I still wasn't sure about it. Getting to it would take about 90 minutes and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that much travelling in a single day. I also wasn't sure if lying in hot water was really what I wanted to be doing in weather that was so stifling and hot.

We didn't come to a final decision about it, probably because I was tired and too focused on my considerable foot pain to contribute helpfully to the discussion, so we decided to leave it till the following day and see how we felt.

This was a 20,900 step day - argh! The pain!

Edited at 09:15 PM.
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Old 13 Apr 20, 06:56 PM  
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Sparksy72
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You always take the most amazing photos! I love the bamboo forest and the kimono forest is beautiful in its own way too. You are both incredibly tough, that was a huge walking day and then to top it off you have the taxi ride from hell home Thankfully you both made it back in one piece. I’m looking forward to the next instalment
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Old 20 Apr 20, 10:26 PM  
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Originally Posted by Sparksy72 View Post
You always take the most amazing photos! I love the bamboo forest and the kimono forest is beautiful in its own way too.
Thanks! It's impossible to take a bad picture of the bamboo forest though!

Originally Posted by Sparksy72 View Post
You are both incredibly tough, that was a huge walking day and then to top it off you have the taxi ride from hell home Thankfully you both made it back in one piece. I’m looking forward to the next instalment
Haha thank you - it was good fun even though I could barely walk by the end. There were a few "So this is how I die" moments in the taxi but, hey, it makes for a great anecdote!
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