Thanks to https://temporarilylost.com/2012/09/18/thousands-of-hungry-deer-and-one-very-large-buddha-in-nara/todaiji-temple-26-daibutsu/ for that picture.
Now, back to today. I got on the train a little after 10. After a transfer, I got to Kibune station at 11:00. I found a helpful picture for how to ride the train. I apologize for the quality of the photo.
I hiked from the small town of Kibune, over the mountain, to the nearby town of Kurama. Before I began the mountain pass, I had to hike twenty minutes up a car road. On one side, there was a beautiful forest. On the other side, there were tons of tiny waterfalls.
Once in Kibune, I quickly stopped to see a small shrine.
Then, I began the mountain hike. I had two water bottles with me, in case. It ended up being a much shorter hike than I expected. From train station to train station, it took me an hour and a half. Saw some cool trees and roots along the way. I was happy that it was shorter than expected, as it would give me time to add the Philosopher's Path that I had missed yesterday.
Near the end, I finally caught a closeup of one of the small lizards that I have seen crawling around. There was also an odd statue by the end station.
On the second train, I got off one stop earlier. I walked towards my hotel and then north, to see some craft shops. One such shop, Zohiko, has been around for many years, and sells Lacquer. It was a very nice, expensive upscale shop. Across the street, I wandered into an antique shop that blew away even Zohiko's prices. I quickly walked out. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed in the direction of Nanzen-ji, a recommended temple that is near the start of the Philosopher's Path.
In the way, I wanted to take a more than five minute look at the Kyoto handicraft museum shop, a store in the basement of an exhibition center. I picked up something small, and while looking, realized that off to the side was the beginning of what looked like an actual museum. I was anxious to go to the Path, so I went back to the first floor. It had started raining heavily.
I decided to go ahead and check out the museum while waiting for the rain to stop. Weather reports showed that the chance of rain would be decreasing. The museum was very thorough. It showed off tons of different historical crafts of Kyoto and in a few instances, showed the different stages in making the crafts. One notable example of this was in the creation of lacquerware. It had touchable versions of each step in the process of creating the lacquerware. Unfortunately, the museum did not allow pictures to be taken and I respected their wishes. There were even a handful of craftsmen and women working nearby.
While waiting, I looked up at the board showing what is on each floor of the building.
Apparently, a pro Magic, the card game that I used to play as a kid, was occurring on the third floor. After waiting an hour and a half, I had had enough. I darted across the road to a starbucks.
I ordered a hot chocolate. I am a huge fan of whipped cream, but the whipped cream they put on top was rancid. I promptly burnt the top of my mouth on the merely acceptable drink part. After twenty more minutes, the rain stopped. I walked toward the first temple. It was 5:20 when I left.
The temples were huge, but closed. I also saw an aqueduct. In the picture, you'll notice two girls wearing kimonos. It is apparently widely known that it is mostly tourists that rent these kimonos to walk around town, as both the guide and the old man in the restaurant made a point to inform me of this.
A few blocks away was the Philosopher's Path. It is supposed to be beautiful during cherry blossom season. It is not currently cherry blossom season. Anyhow, along the way I caught sight of yet another restaurant that use fake food creations to demonstrate their food. I've been informed by Grant that this is considered an art form in Japan.
The Path itself was nice enough. Shortly after starting, I ran into a woman feeding some cats. I stopped to take pictures.
If you look off into the distance in this next picture, you will see the Coca Cola machine that was used by the ancient philosophers that walked this road!
The path ended near the Ginkaku-ji Temple, also known as the silver pavilion. This temple was made by the grandson of the man who created the gold temple seen previously. He died before it was completed and silver ended up never being added to it. Nonetheless, it is supposed to be a worthwhile visit, with a beautiful garden. The front gate to everything was closed.
In an attempt to salvage the night, I decided to follow a blog's suggestion of hiking up a nearby path to what was declared to be the greatest view of the city. I saw some neat dams on the way.
At some point, it seemed questionable which way I was supposed to go. I chose to go in the direction that I thought would lead me to the top of the mountain. There were markers on trees and occasional steps, but it was a bit treacherous, especially with the rain from earlier.
It was beginning to get pretty dark and the climb greater and greater. I finally had to call it quits as it began to get exceedingly steep, and it was getting darker and darker. My gps read on google showed me slightly off the path that the blog's map indicated I should be on.
I tried to take some pictures of how steep it was and how there wasn't much of a trail, but not many of the pictures came out well. All I have are these two.
I slipped almost instantly, and caught myself with my hands, without hurting myself. I took things very slowly, and slipped a few more times, but didn't fall again. I got to the bottom and it was fairly dark out. I reached into my pocket to look up the nearest bus with my phone. It was not there. My stomach dropped. Not only is the phone expensive, but without it, I wouldn't be able to navigate with the gps, text people, look up questions on google while moving around, etc. I started to panic.
I started scrambling back up the mountain. I searched the ground. I put on my glasses, which usually helps for night vision. It was so humid that it was hard to see clearly through them. I saw a man coming down the mountain. He spoke English! I asked if he had a flashlight and he said he was only using his phone, but he had to get home. I understood and kept going up.
A little while later, there was a younger man, likely around my age or younger. He did not speak or understand English. I used my hands to indicate myself making a phone call and then tried to mime a flashlight. I pointed up. He used his phone as his flashlight, seemingly willing to help. I had no idea when I had dropped it, as not only did I fall at the beginning and slip a few other times, but I bent to slide down parts. I also took a slightly different path on the way down as I had on the way up. I did not know how long he would be willing to follow me.
I was exhausted from the day and scrambling for breath as we took the path back to where I had given up. I saw no signs of it. I could barely see. Every once in a while I would indicate that it was just a bit farther and point. He had the phone's flashlight behind me. It wasn't very powerful. We were nearing the top, and we had found nothing. I saw the dam and pointed in the direction of where I stopped. I took the path that I thought had been the more slippery route that I had gone down. At the very top, we stopped and looked around. After about ten seconds, I saw it! Face down, slightly in the mud. It worked fine.
I thanked him profusely and we headed back down, now almost completely in the dark. Near the end of the more treacherous part, he took me a different way. I pointed towards where we came from, but he had something else in mind. I followed him. It was a bit tricky and steep, but he brought us to some steps, which we went down. We went around a pole that seemed to block the path, and across a tiny bridge. I had just continued on the path. I never thought to go across. I also couldn't read any of the signs and the blog had given no indication of crossing a bridge. The blogs have been very specific in the past. He had even made two pages referencing this hike, and I had checked both.
In any case, we continued down. Near the bottom, he turned and did a short bow towards what looked like a stone. It could have been a small shrine but it was too dark to see. We arrived safely at the bottom of the mountain. I mimed sleep and said "Kyoto." He pointed like it was just around the corner. I spoke to him using Japanese and asked if he was Japanese. He said yes. I thanked him and said good night. I wish I could have done more. His kindness saved me a good deal of trouble.
Thank goodness for the insane amount of vending machines everywhere in Japan It was very easy to find cold water. After drinking for a bit, I used my phone to find the nearest bus stop that would lead me home. It was about five minutes away, near the edge of the northeast part of town. The streets were empty of vehicles. A bunch of girls came over to the stop and spoke both English and Japanese. They seemed to think that the bus that Google said was coming was something we just missed and another wouldn't be coming for a while. I decided to wait until the time that Google said, before continuing to walk.
As it was hitting the exact minute of pickup, and having not seen anything up until this point, a taxi turned around the corner, or what I thought was a taxi. I couldn't see well. It was indeed a taxi. He was quick and got me home within just a few minutes, and for a little under $13.
I ran upstairs, showered, and headed down for a snack. I hadn't eaten in a while. To celebrate, I decided to go to my favorite snack place, Choco Cro. I arrive about 35 minutes before it was closing. I went for an English menu, and they told me that they were "sold out" of all foods. I assumed that they had meant that they had stopped selling food a certain amount of time before closing. I went to my second favorite place. It was in the process of closing 20 minutes before it was supposed to. I then went to any ice cream place I could find, for a quick bite of anything. I waited in line and when I went to order, they were "sold out" too. It is bad enough that they are using the wrong words to describe the situation, but would it be too hard to list it somewhere that they won't be selling food after a certain time?
I googled casual restaurants. None popped up nearby except for one. I went over and there was a line out the door. Apparently, it was an "experience" type of restaurant, whatever that means in this case. I found one more ice cream shop and ordered something. I was the last order and they closed the shop.
I decided to go to a convenience store and took the regular road, instead of the outdoor mall and its side streets. I almost immediately saw an actual food place that never showed up in google maps. Tonight just wasn't my night.
Tomorrow, I will be traveling south and up into the mountains, to stay at a Buddhist temple for two nights.
And again, to the Japanese guy that I don't know the name of. Your kindness and willingness to help a complete stranger is appreciated more than you can ever imagine!
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