Into Kyoto Station, off to Arashiyama and back to Kyoto downtown - Thursday April 16th

We were woken by sunshine streaming through the eastern window this morning,

In any other circumstance this would annoy both Tiz & I but today it was a reason to get exited and leap out of bed.
We decided to go to Arashimaya.
Lots to see & do there including a monkey forest.

When monkey forests are mentioned I instantly think of that 300kg silverback I wrestled in Bali.
The beast had stolen a young lady's sun hat and I was going to retrieve it for her.

OK, the "beast" was more like a 3kg macaque BUT it hissed and spat and displayed much unhappiness and sharp teeth after I deftly snatched that hat out of its clutches.

We have now broken the Kyoto Transport Code. 

This an imaginary code that people like me think has been created to give them a day or two of frustration before figuring it all out.

Also by "we" I meant Tiz. Credit where credit is due.

We caught a bus to Kyoto Station with ease. 

A Suica Card is an absolute must in Japan and makes travel & many purchase as simple as "tap 'n' go".

We got to the correct platform but my tour organiser, and most favourite travelling companion of all time, and a lot of other great things, was not 100% sure it was the right one so we waited for the next one. As it turned this was a good move, as we got a seat, being the first there, on a very crowded train.

Arashiyama is a very popular tourist destination, as found out after our 20 minute train ride.

I'm sure you could find out a lot more about this place on the web than I could tell you, but I can tell you we loved having a wander around.

WE tried to NOT follow the crowds and headed off into the back streets of the areas where the people still live.

Below are a bunch of pictures of that area.  

.... but not before we found some yummy sticky rice balls with a teriyaki sauce

And now for the backstreets of Arashiyama

                                       

A little stall selling chicken and duck "bum nuts". 

Most of you would know them as eggs.

There was even a little place selling lovely looking and smelling planks of wood.

I'm sure one of my forester co-workers would be able to spot what sort of wood it is.

Bamboo forest.

Very cool.

Pictures do not do it justice. 

"OK, let's head down here as see if we can get lost!"

"He's nuts but he gets lost in some great to be places!"

 Exploring new places is hungry work.

Yes, that's ramen, a rice bowl, nihonshu and beer-ru.

 I thought of putting this in just in case you were getting bored 

with looking at my pictures of doors and gates and rocks and stuff 

Above and below are pictures of the plaque for 

Tenryu-ji Temple

We spent about three hours in Arashiyama and headed back to Kyoto. 

From now on we're back in downtown Kyoto

 One of the many alleyways running from Shido Dori to the arcade that runs parallel to it, 

for a very long way

The arcade - West

The arcade - East

Tiz, in front of a huge shop that stocks fans.

As in fans that you fan yourself with when you're hot.

Utterly amazing. 

On the way home we noticed that they had set up a pop-up noodle shop outside the Pachincko Slot palace over the road from our place. 

They looked yummy, the two ladies cooking them were working like crazy and we figured that at ~$1 per serve (Yes, I kid you not - 100 yen per serve!) and a bottle of Lawsons (think 7-11 with booze) finest nihonsu we were going to eat in.

It turned out to be a great decision.

Noodles were terrific and the nihinsu tasted more like shosu but was not a bad drop nonetheless.