Holiday - Kyoto

Afternoon,

So last week my mum, Amy and I went on holiday. My mum had the week off because the site was shut down. We decided to do a tour of the south of Japan as it is quite as way from where we are based. Quite excitingly I was given the task of planning the holiday completely, I normally have an input but this year it was all up to me, muah ahaha! A tad stressful but it was fun.

Plan of Action -
Day 1 - Travel to Kyoto, Explore, Sleep
Day 2 - Bamboo forest, Travel to Atami, Sleep
Day 3 - Relax, Sleep
Day 4 - Relax, Travel to Tokyo, sleep (not what actually happened but explain later)
Day 5 - Tokyo Disneyland, sleep
Day 6 - Tokyo Shopping, Home, sleep

Because so much happened that week I have decided to do 1 blog for each location, so stay tuned for the adventures of Atami and Tokyo.

So on the first day we began very early in the morning as we had to get a train to Kyoto which took around 3 hours. That is a lot I know but when you think about it, its 522 km away vertically on the other end of Japan, which would take you around 7 hours to drive without stops, it all doesn't seem that bad. The train was quite simple as well just one change at Tokyo and very civilised. they say the north and the south of Japan are  very different, and they would not be wrong. You wouldn't expect it but why not, its like 2 different neighbouring states in America, still american but have completely different cultures.

We arrived I decided to take them to the Inari Shrine only a 5 minute train journey away from Kyoto central. This is typical tourist territory like most of the trip, its often the front cover of the travel books and its no wonder why; its so beautiful. However the picture are deceiving; from the picture it looks like there is one row of maybe 50-100 gates, not quite. The gates go on endlessly in various sizes and were wiggling up a bloody mountain. Don't get me wrong, its amazing and it was fun but not when its like 35 degrees and you have suitcases to bring with you up the hour long trek.



In the evening we arrived at our hotel in Arashiyama and we were completely frazzled, I'm surprised we even made it to dinner, I could have fallen asleep right then and there. As a result we went to bed at the ridiculous time of 8.30, I haven't gone to bed that early since I was 5!

We woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to explore the Bamboo forests. Breakfast is always interesting, no matter where you go it seems; just varying degrees of odd. On our way to the Forest only a 15 minute walk from our hotel, we stumbled upon a bicycle hire shop where you could rent a bike for 1000 yen a day (that's £6 for the whole day!) and it was definitely money well spent. Arashiyama is not the biggest of places but it is spread out and it would be hard to do everything in one day, however with the bikes we were able to see almost everything with time to spare.

The two main attraction for us would be the Bamboo Forest (of course) and the Scenic railway. They were both amazing experiences and it felt like you were transported to a different world. From the streets you could hardly tell there was a forest behind, until you take a little alley street and then all of a sudden you are immersed in Bamboo and you have lost site of the bus street behind. The bamboos Shoot up as far as the eye can see. Even the fences are made of bamboo shoots. It's incredible and I cant quite do it justice in words.

 The Scenic railway is a steam train that runs along the bamboo forests as well as vast river that winds around the mountainous range. On our journey we saw that it is the perfect river for a white water rafting experience however that would have needed to be booked in advance. The colours and the views were to die for and it was so relaxing to look out onto whilst chugging along on an odd train. Very nice and peaceful end to our stay in Kyoto.

Stay tuned for what happened next on our holiday

Maria xx