Yesterday, after getting lost in the vast metropolis which is the Kyoto train station, we caught a train to Arashiyama, which is to the west of Kyoto. Ostensibly, we went there to see the famous bamboo forest, but like a lot of people visiting the area, we discovered that there was a lot more to see than we originally expected. Not only are there countless eateries and souvenir shops, but there are lots of temples and traditional homes, an amazing river, gorgeous mountains, monkeys, birds as well. Photographic opportunities abound.
As we took a stroll through the back streets, we found that a lot of Japanese had dressed up in their traditional clothing for the visit. Even some men got into the act. While they took selfies and posed at beautiful spots, I became a stalker and took photos of them, generally from the rear, although I think everyone was so pleased with how they looked that they would have been quite happy to pose for me.
A lot of the homes here are beautiful houses with beautiful traditional gardens. I get the feeling that a lot of very rich people live here. I wonder if they commute to Kyoto for work or whether these are their holiday homes?
We reached the wide, flat but very fast flowing river, with its famous bridge, the Togetsukyo, and the rising hills above it. The autumn colours were just beginning and the textures and colours of the trees provide a pleasing sight. Once past the bridge, the river is flatter and calmer you can hire a boat and boatman to slowly take you for a ride. We saw some girls in kimonos doing this and it looked so peaceful, languorous and poetic. Lovely. Actually, this top part of the river was considered a great place to take photos. Husbands were taking photos of their beautifuly kimono clad wives and children, mothers had dressed up their daughters for photos. It was a photo opportunists paradise.
Eventually, hunger struck, and with her usual aplomb, Trish found a treasure of a restaurant for me to go into raptures over- the Yudofu Restaurant "Sagano". In keeping with the Buddhist temple theme of the town, this restaurant specialises in tofu based cooking, which sounds bland, but isn't. It was magnificent! Firstly the gardens and buildings are impressive. Think moss lawns, a mini bamboo forest, traditional houses, trained pine trees, rocks, representations of Buddhist monks.....we chose tatami mat dining so had a beautiful, traditional, low set table overlooking the gorgeous garden. The menu is a set one and we discovered that we were having sesame flavoured tofu, which tasted like sesame cream, a soft boiled egg, raw wheat gluten which was deliciously sweet, baby gori fish in soy, a sort of vegetable and tofu dumpling, konjac or devil's tongue jelly, vegetable tempura, steamed rice and a broth boiled tofu which you ate soaked in a soya sauce based bowl with ginger and sliced spring onion. Dessert was a sweet tofu dish. The meal was accompanied by Japanese tea. It was so filling, neither of us could finish it. If I could eat like that all the time, I would become a vegetarian.
We dragged ourselves out and wandered round the back streets, avoiding all the temples, to the bamboo groves which gently slope of the mountain and are broken by the occasional temple. Apart from the tourists, the sounds are of the wind through the leaves, the songs of birds and the occasional beat of the trunks against each other. It was a warm humid day but under the bamboo, the light and heat were muted. Very beautiful, but very hard to get the feel of the place in pictures.
After that, I stressed Trish out by taking her on a walk through more back streets to disorient her. We found craft and gift shops, thatched cottages, more temples, vegetable gardens and more private houses and gardens. Eventually, we found civilisation in the farm of the rickshaw stalwarts pulling the tourists round for a tour of the town, and the main shopping street, and wandered in and out of the souvenir shops. We collapsed at dusk at Tully's coffee shop, beside the amazing Kimono Forest - lit tubes of kimono fabric lining the Keifuku Arashiyama railway station. Absolutely beautiful.
We completely lost our bearings on our way back to the station for the train to Kyoto, and found ourselves walking up what felt like an entrance to a freeway in the dark, with cars whizzing by. It turns out it was a bypass, and we made it safely off it, but for a while, it felt that we were in a horror movie. We finally made it back to the station and back to Kyoto. In spite of the adrenaline ride at the end, I would love to have more time in Arashiyama to do more exploring. There is so much to see and do that a long weekend would be great.
In Kyoto, we explored the station and discovered a model in Lego of the station, a display of lights, music and water, and the incredible Isetan department store, trying to find a place to have a drink. For some reason we were very tired when we got home!
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