Day 3 – Train Rides and Old Streets

26,667 steps taken – 15.84 km travelled.

After today, our group is complete! This morning we went to Arishiyama to ride the Scenic Railway and walk the Bamboo Groves. Although the areas are familiar from the last trip here, the experiences we had were completely new to us. We travelled to Arishiyama and booked our ticket for the Romance Train at 11.02. We were a little early so decided to wander around the area. We were soon distracted by fairy floss. A bundle of fairy floss larger than your head on a bamboo stick with various flavours to choose from. There was an amazing tantrum that we got to witness here as a poor child who was completely exhausted lost it for some reason. The noise even attracted a few local shop keepers who decided to see what was going on. This ended up taking a little more time than we imagined, so after that we headed back towards our train!

Unfortunately, we all ended up on different carriages. Drew and I ended up on the end carriage which was the only one fully opened to the elements, which made for a magical experience. We travelled along Arishiyama river, which was swollen from the typhoon coming through, looking out over the green trees and cliff faces. Every time we entered a tunnel we exited seeing a different scene.

When we reached the end of the line, we headed off towards the bamboo groves. Since it’s Sunday, it was a little busier and full of people, which was a little difficult. But we did a lot more exploring than we had last time. It was nice to spend a little bit of time in the Tenruji Temple Gardens with the moss covered garden beds, the bamboo swaying in the breeze and the huge koi pond. We spent a couple of hours in the forest, and then moved on to find some food.

We’ve had a chain of ramen joints recommended to us called Ichiran, which is a ramen restaurant where you can order your broth at a vending machine, and then sit at a cubicle where they give you your food through a little window, meaning you can go your whole meal without seeing a person. Introvert heaven!

It was late afternoon when we got back to the hotel, and when the last of our troupe checked in! We spent a little time getting Tristan, Shannah and Karen into their rooms and freshening up after a hellish travel day. Lobada soon joined the party which meant everyone had finally arrived. We decided to split the party because trying to find places for such a large group is difficult. A little more food later and it was time to head to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Tonight was a night I’m not likely to forget. Seeing this magical place at night was incredible. Walking through the gates in the dark quiet night, hearing nothing but the far off trickling water and the crickets chirping, making our way up the tough trek to the lookout over the night skyline of Kyoto was breathtaking.

We did have a small mishap while we were making the climb up though. Along the way we had spotted some signs warning people of the monkeys and the wild boars. It was through the dark outside the tori gates that we heard the loud grunts. We had stumbled across said boars! It was an adult and her two piglets. I didn’t stick around, I turned on my heels and went the other way to meet up with the rest of the group before heading on – strength in numbers I guess.

We eventually made our way home, showered and are getting ready for sleep. Ohh Deer, there is Nara chance you can guess where we are going tomorrow!