Konichiwa... it is not Kawaii

Kyoto is a major small town with just above the six million marks. All the buildings are low so the city are spread out across major areas. Travelling to the places to be takes time. It involves trains, trams, buses and walking.  A lot of walking! It is nice. Yesterday when we went to the botanical garden it rained so we were almost the only ones there. Then we went to the Moss Garden. There we had to write sutras for an hour during the chanting of a Buddhist monk. Just to relax our minds from the stress of ordinary life before we were seen to have entered the correct state of mind. We ended the night by trolling the Gion district for the so called "maiko" (舞妓). Trying to take a snap of them is like being a paparazzi as they run down the alleys in their nice dress going from venue to venue.

Today we went across the town again to the western area with subway and then a bus. And ended up at Ryoanji, the most world famous stone garden. We stopped then at Tenruji, another famous garden/temple. Now we saw the crowds. It was people everywhere, a taste of the Tokyo crowds? Ended the day with a slow walk in the Takao forest alongside the Katsura river.

Tomorrow is a free day - time for shopping!! YEAY. The problem is that I still haven't found anything cool. I saw nice cameras but it was all with Japanese menus. Price was much better than home. A new GoPro Hero 3+ Black, is 4300 SEK in Sweden, 3000 SEK if you bought it here and got the Japanese menu.

Just outside Moss Garden. Dark lonely woods.

Just outside the Stone Garden (see the pattern?)

Bamboo forest.

Omnomnom - Horse meat tartar.

From inside the Botanical Gardenäs Night Garden.

Kawaii!!

Moss Garden snapshot

Not the Geisha - just the pupil in Gion district 

Extra snapshot of another one..'

Darn hard to snap a Maiko as the time of day is more time of night. Dark alleys with fast moving objects. And I didn't use flash as it gives a silly "look" and is also pestering the poor girls.