So, earlier I promised to describe a night in a Japanese house.
I completely forgot and did not do it, however since I’ve now spent a few more such nights, I’ll detail it later.
Now I’ll give you the nittygritty of my Kyoto visit.
My visit to Kyoto took a different path then one would normally take in the city of temples.
As I woke up, I decided to stay another night since I did not want to have to be in a hurry. Besides one should give Kyoto at least a day right?
I looked up some stuff in my guidebook, and the word Philosophers Path popped up. This grabbed my attention and I read a bit about this path. Basically some guy wrote some books around that area, or about it.. So it was apparently a nice quiet 40 minute walk.
I would start at Nanzen-ji (temple) (南禅寺）and move on to several other temples, and then finish it with the Path which would bring me back to Nanzen-ji. This is not how it went down however.
While wondering about 南禅寺 I came upon what seemed to be an old aqueduct, and as I went to explore it a bit more, I found a miniscule path into the forest. It was tiny and hard to access, so you could hardly even call it a path. So being interested in such things, I followed the path.
It began as a normal forest path, but soon it became steeper and the density of the forest increased. So far there were no signs of life, no signs or humans. After about an hour however, I saw a tiny bridge and some sign in Kanji which I could not read. However judging by it’s appearance it was information about the place I was at.
During this time I was wondering what kind of wild animals might live in the woods. However undeterred by such fears, I kept on. Eventually a larger interesection came up, with some sort of map drawn with a black marker and some names.
I looked at my own map of Kyoto and compared the Kanji on the signs with my map. I decided on a location and went in that direction. It went up. Another hour later it was still going up, and I was going hungry. Soon however the trees thinned at one point and I got view of Kyoto from god knows how high. The feeling of being surrounded by nothing but trees and mountains was also wonderful, and I can not even begin to describe that feeling of being one with nature.
At this point I should probably mention that it was raining all day, and that the track was not exactly easy. Having to hold an umbrella, not having the worlds most watertight shoes and wearing stuff on my back was a mission indeed. I am glad I decided to buy an extra pair of shoes before coming here. It would have been a problem otherwise.
So after walking for about 2.5 hours, I only saw one person going the opposite way. I had no idea where I was going, and secretly I was hoping to find some secluded temple where I could rest.
What I found however was a bench, a concrete pillar and the fact that I had reached the peak of the mountain at 466m. My fear of having to go back the same way was dissipated by the existance of a continuation of the path, this time going to a different temple. So after enjoying the view for a while and snapping some shots, I moved on.
The way down was as hard as the way up, however I believe it was shorter. I had by then lost all track of time.
A short while later I found manmade objects, such as stone steps, a little grave of some sort and other strange objects the purpose of which I learned later, and might detail later.
What I also found however, was an even better view. A huge panoramic view, with no trees or anything in the way. It was lower then the mountain top, but no less enchanting. Here I spent a little while, in retrospect, not as long as I would have liked, and then moved on.
I descended into a temple of some sort, explored its grounds and moved on.
My next point would be the temple closest to the beginning of the Philosophers Path, I believe it was 銀告示 (Ginkokuji). The entry was 500円 and being a sucker thinking that there might actually be something in there, I payed up and went in.
There were some sand gardens there, and you basicly had to follow a stream of tourists along a short path. At one poing the path went up and you were treated to a view of Kyoto. Having just descended from 466 meters, this was not a big deal for as you can imagine.
After the temple, I ate some udon, some candy and bought a few trinkets.
The Philosophers path was not quite the mountain trail that I expected it to be, it was just a street next to a small stream. It was a peaceful street and it had plenty of cafes and small souvenir shops, but it was still peaceful. Would probably have been better during Sakura season since it was lined with Sakura trees.
Being totally wet, tired and dead, I returned to my hotel and descended into the bath. It was a nice day and after walking for about 7 hours I deserved some rest hehe.
Since I had failed to locate any decent food places nearby, I ate both breakfast and dinner at the hotel. It was tasty tho, so I guess I should not complain.
I spent some time in the evening balancing out my economy and looking for places to go. I found a place called 妻籠 (Tsumago), a 100 year old Japanese post town, very well preserved and looks almost as it did 100 years ago. This interested me, so I decided to make it my next destination.
In retrospect, it was a very wise decision, as the chain of events that brought me to Tsumago and now to Nagoya are material for another story. Perhaps I should say that this is where my adventure really begun.
Now I shall endevour to upload some pictures, and if there is time, I will try to write up something about my chance encounter with a fellow traveller, and how I ended up in the mountains far from most forms of civilization. It also involves snow and lots of interesting things.
I’m back from Oslo now. Reading the posts in the order they were posted, as not to spoil the fun!