Not another travel Blog

Ok, it`s taken a little while but it feels like i`ve got the hang of this travelling malarkey now. Tokyo i went at the place full speed, and it took 2 days in Nikko to rest up, and kyoto, 4 days in seems to hit the right kinda pace somewhere between the two.
The first day resulted in my first planning error, as on arrival i was told i wasn`t meant to check in till the 28th, a day later.....Craaap! The guy suggested another place down the road "the budget inn" not the most faith restoring of names but it was 2 mins walk and the same price, he also rang and booked it for me etc and the night was fine, no panick.
Kyoto seems big, feels even more so than Tokyo without the massive underground, but i knew i had a long time here and this time was going to take it at a slightly more relaxed pace. The major, or really just the most popular area of attractions seem to be in southern Higashiyma, mainly for the temple `Kiyomizu-Dera` but there`s a stream of impressive sights and shrines in the surrounding area as well. In order not to miss anything i followed a walking guide from lonely planet. I usually hate doing that, i don`t like the idea of walking the exact footsteps of someone whose done it all before, just loses the chance of surprise, but at the same time it took me to places i would of sure to of missed without it and had a nice chilled day. God knows what i did that night, i`m checking my camera...crap it`s on the other card. Lets just say nothing. On to the next day!
The weather so far, since arriving in London, has on the whole been amazing but as i arrived to kinkakuji (more commonly known as the golden temple, for reasons kind of obvious) the sky was a horrible grey and the humidity was unbearable. The temples cool, i mean it looks nice, but your only view point is from across the pond and i`ve seen that photo 100`s of times researching the trip and i don`t think you get anything extra from being there in person, or maybe it was just the weather making it look less impressive than it is



A short walk down the road close to the entrance to Ryoan-ji and the heavens opened, first time to feel rain in months and it bucketed it down. I`d just got to the temple and to shelter as it started to come down heavier but was pleasantly surprised to read from my book that this place, which is counted as the nicest of zen gardens in japan is best seen when raining (silver lining and all that) I sat for a good hour waiting for the rain to stop, with my legs dangling over the edge. It`s not like i had a moment of Epiphany but i came out feeling pretty good about myself and back to a blue sky and sunshine. The road then bends round to ninna-ji, which again is covered in temples, shrines and gardens. You could honestly be anywhere in Kyoto and be within a stone throw from any number of world heritage sites. At the night (i`m back on this camera card now) i went for an overly pretentious sake drinking tasting session with two sisters from the hostel, it was a good laugh actually.. despite the guys analytical ways. We got a tad drunk and learnt a little in the process.
By day 3 i was wanting to do something further a field, i`d done a fair amount of slow, quiet, shoeless walking and now fancied something a little bit more active.....