Sightseeing in Kyoto again

The first day for us to enjoy Japan begins and we decide to do sightseeing in Kyoto, again! We’ll spend the day with Tosh whom I’ve met on Instagram and we’ll visit two stunningly beautiful temples.

Sunday, november 15th 2015

After getting a bit drunk yesterday, Angie and me are quite exhausted today. But we can make it to Kyoto station (almost) in time nevertheless. Thank God Tosh spots us immediately and we’re walking over to the bus terminal. He is living in Kobe and he came all the way to Kyoto just to meet us. In spring I’ve asked him if he would like to meet up in Kyoto in november but sadly he couldn’t agree because he was supposed to be in the UK. About one month prior to our departure he sent me a message that his plans have changed and that we could meet in Kyoto after all. I just love these random acquaintances from the internet! Back to topic. We get on a bus to Kiyomizu Dera and talking to Tosh feels great because he’s such an outgoing and nice guy. The weather is amazing and we are keen on finally visiting the temple by day. Malie doesn’t feel better yet but we are taking a break from time to time. We walk all the way up to the entrance and we take hundreds of pictures.

Tosh is a smoker just like Angie and me so we can take some more breaks, yay! He brought his DSLR and almost takes more photos than we do – Malie and me are pretty grateful that this time we won’t be getting on someone’s nerves. Malie feels better the higher we get. I’m talking about the altitude, not our mental condition xD The fresh air in the heights of Kyoto seems to be good for Malie’s health and she’s slowly feeling better. Tosh talks about various things concerning Japanese culture and religion and we are listening to him excitedly. His English skills are awesome because he used to study in the UK – it’s so much easier to talk to someone who speaks fluent English. Autumn is definitely my favourite season and I’m so grateful to see all the beautiful autumn colors a second time in this year. We’re taking so many photos and we’re just enjoying the moment. Although there are so many other tourists around everything seems to be so magical and quiet here.

After we kept enjoying the beautiful landscape for some hours we are walking back. Before having lunch we enter the Ghibli store that Malie and I have already visited in march of this year. They sell soooo much kawaii stuff, we want to buy EVERYTHING, but most of the things are ridiculously expensive so we refrain from buying too much. There’s a restaurant located in the first floor of the building so we decide to have Soba noodles there. When sitting in the restaurant we enjoy an amazing view over Higashiyama, it’s just so stunningly beautiful here! Well, we have expected Soba noodles to be a bit tastier but it wasn’t spiced at all. But at least we tried!

After leaving the area around Kiyomizu Dera we are on or way to… Well, we actually don’t have any plans for the rest of the day. Tosh isn’t sure what we should do either, so we just keep walking in one direction. Suddenly we spot a beautiful temple in the distance and it seems to be quite near. Since the sun is still shining we decide to walk to the temple in order to take some more autumn photos. So we are walking through these old and narrow streets of Kyoto where we meet some Geishas! Probably they were Maikos, I’m not sure, I can’t see a difference. We assume that they’re only dressing up for tourists but it’s still a nice thing to see!

We reach Kodai-ji while walking through a bamboo forest and Angie is so excited. Well, we’re excited too because we’ve never been here before, but she seems to be a lot more stunned. It’s slowly getting darker and the atmosphere is breathtaking. We’re far above the city and looking down to all the buildings at sunset is just too great, plus the tourists masses are leaving so it feels a bit more special. I could stay here forever! The only thing I want to do right now is laying down in a bedroll and spending the night up here. I can’t explain what I’m feeling in moments like these. Maybe it’s a mixture of appreciation, bliss and restfulness. By this moment I already know that I’m gonna spend more time in Japan than only two weeks.

Dusk is approaching and we’re going back to Gion. We’re walking through the streets of Kyoto’s most beautiful district while it’s getting darker and darker. Tosh has to go back to Kobe soon so we decide to accompany him at least for Kyoto station. We’re getting on a bus altogether and it’s just human Tetris in here. If I ever live in Japan I’ll avoid taking a bus, this is crazy! So you think that there isn’t enough space for anyone else to get on that vehicle but when it stops you realize that there f*cking is enough space and people are pushing themselves inside even if it’s crowded already. We’re relieved when we finally get out of here, woah. After saying goodbye to Tosh we get back to our hostel where we’re having dinner. The day was incredibly beautiful but also exhausting so we’re heading to bed quite early.