Day 16 – Kyoto

Today we arrived at the amazing Kyoto train station and after getting a bit lost trying to find the information place, we made our way to the Kiyomizu Temple with a balcony with an amazing view and a place to drink water which is supposedly meant to have life-giving properties. There was also a section where you take off your shoes and head into an underground tunnel that is completely dark. You follow a rail along the side of the wall that leads to a large stone lit in red from above that you spin (which is weird because it looks like the stone is floating in darkness, then when you place your hands on it they look disembodied). It was a very interesting experience.

Then we decided to try and find the Fushimi Inari Shrine, where they have a path formed by thousands of torii gates. We couldn’t figure out whether to walk or bus it, so in the end we just caught the bus and then jumped off on a random stop because we realised we had no idea where we were. Then we had a long walk trying to find this shrine, and by the time we got there it was dusk, but thankfully the trail was really well lit so we still got to walk around it. There was an impressive view of Kyoto from the top so we caught our breath there for a bit then headed back down.

That night we went to a restaurant where you get served the meat raw and you cook it yourself on a bbq in the middle of the table. It was... interesting, and I ate tongue and tripe. Not my favourite meal of the trip so far I must admit, but it was pretty fun.

 The massive Kyoto train station

 Escalators that go forever...

 Astroboy will show us the way! Actually there is a surprising lack of Astroboy toys and things around

 People collecting water and drinking it. I guess this is kind of an equivilant of Lourds?

 Lost once more.

 Found it!

 This amazing tunnel of gates goes a long way, and some of them are made of stone and it is tradition to try and toss a stone and get it to land on the gate. If it lands on it you're meant to have good luck apparently. I did it twice, one smashed into a million pieces on the ground but one landed on the top without a sound, so I think that just about evens out.