Day 7 - Kyoto - Lovely day, lovely socks

W: Woke up at 6.30, Tony slept right through. I woke once or twice but mostly slept.

At about 7.30 we started with a walk through Higashiyama, heading up towards Kiyomizudera then heading down the picture postcard lanes of Sannenzaka (3 year slope) and Ninenzaka (2 year slope). Apparently that's how many years bad luck you get if you happen to slip and fall. Luckily we didn't.

Continue on to Yasaka-jinja, people out sweeping the streets or setting off on errands call out a friendly ohayo gozaimasu (good morning) which we are able to say back.

At Yasaka they seem to be setting up for a fair, but we need coffee so across the road to Starbucks.

Enjoyed checking out the Lawson convenience store - men's fashion mags and crazy candy (snoopy and some cute chocolate with woodland creatures).

Walked back through Yasaka and up to Chion-in and after climbing up hundreds of steps find out that the denchi (batteries) in the dijikame (camera) are dead. Our Japanese is getting quite good I think, but this is bad planning as we have left spare denchi behind at the inn.

We head back down to the Lawson store to pick up some batteries, and we also pick up some onigiri to eat on our walk.

T: We walk around the grounds at Chion-in, only a few Japanese tourists are around, chatting and joking. We can hear monks chanting in one of the temple halls.

The cool guys who run the tourist rickshaws are lounging around, no customers this early. A sharp looking Japanese dude says "good morning" to us in English (I think he's trying to impress the two girls he's with) but we say ohayo gozaimasu back - he looks a bit startled then laughs, and the girls start giggling.

From Chion-in we walk past Shoren-in before heading off towards more temples and the Path of Philosophy. We get slightly lost and end up at Eikan-do, a temple famous for its maple trees, but we've missed Nanzenji so we backtrack along the road (after first checking out the souvenir stalls in the grounds).

The rickshaw boys are doing a brisk trade now, one manages to joke in Japanese with the girls in his rickshaw while chatting to us in English. Apart from Eimi-san and one very helpful salesperson at the Daimaru department store, the rickshaw boys seem to be the only people in Kyoto who speak any English.

As there is nobody much around on the road we eat our onigiri on the walk back to Nanzenji.

The grounds of Nanzenji are very beautiful, though hardly peaceful because the tour buses have started to arrive and there are plenty of Japanese tourists around. We head north to the beginning of...

W: ...the Path of Philosophy which winds its way along a narrow canal in a very traditional area of small houses, tea shops and souvenir stands. Paths lead off to dozens of temples in the surrounding hills. Yet more cute souvenirs were purchased.

Walked past Kyoto University heading for a vegan restaurant we've found in the guide book. I found some manga records left in a pile of rubbish (the neatest pile of rubbish I've ever seen) on the side of the road. They're so cool with great covers. There were lots but I had to control myself. Then off to Cafe Peace. We're a little early and they are not quite open yet so went to a convenience store and bought Lotte squirrel chocolate puffs (that seem to have no chocolate in them). Also a great illustration/design magazine called Bonte.

At Cafe Peace we have a fantastic vegan lunch teishoku with a dozen small dishes. Everything looks beautiful but strange, and Tony accidentally eats his desert first (it didn't look like desert!). About A$10 each and totally worth it. With lunch they served rooiboos tea which I have since become quite addicted to.

Take the subway back to Sanjo, coffee at Starbucks, then to Tower Records where I bought the first of what was to be several Capsule CDs.

T: We go to a photo shop to get the photos transferred to a CD. I had tried to memorise what to say from the phrase book but suddenly went blank so had to show the phrasebook to the camera guy. He walks us over to a touch screen kiosk machine, which is totally baffling being all in Japanese, but we work our way through the process only stumbling at the step where I have to type my name in Japanese script! We manage to type in to ni and he tells us to come back at 3.00.

W: Off to basement record shop where I bought two Fantastic Plastic Machine CDs. The shop owner understood my attempts at Japanese, and I'm getting a little better at working out the Japanese filing system.

Back to the wonderful Teramachi arcades and our favourite omiyage shop which sells beautiful chirimen souvenirs of owls and other creatures. Bought yet more owls! The staff gave us a photocopied sheet in English explaining the symbolism of the different animals. Then to another record shop (which was shut) and a manga shop with masses of Shonen Ai.

See favourite poster of whole trip so far: Tutu Anna - lovely day, lovely socks. Picked up our photo CD and walked back to Hanakiya through Gion. Spotted a real Geisha.

After a rest, set out again through Higashiyama to Yasaka and then to a small cafe on Shijo-dori. Had delicious kitsune domburi then walked to Daimaru and bought lovely bunny plates and postcards.

Adorable shop assistant asks if it's for a present and when we say no it's for us, wants to make sure our $3 plates don't get smashed on the way home so spends ages carefully wrapping in paper and bubble wrap.

By now the chimes are sounding because the store is about to close, and the shop guy is all thumbs and can't get the wrapping done so another salesperson elbows him out of the way and efficiently completes the wrapping.

Then our purchases are placed in a beautiful carry bag (which must have cost more than our purchase which came to about $8) and everyone bows and we head down the escalators. We're just about the last people out as the store closes and our Kyoto visit is almost over.

Had a chocolate waffle on the way home and a long chat with the delightful Eimi-san at Hanakiya, then to bed.

Next > Day 8 - Nara - Sacred Deer