Really wanted to put Kyoto: Kulcha & Krabs, but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it! Think it was the thought of my mother tut-tutting up in heaven. 

We were hanging out for food and coffee this morning, having only eaten a couple of pieces of toast and Vegemite since lunch time yesterday. After a couple of blocks, yay! Starbucks! 

Coffee pangs satisfied we went outside to see a line of people forming in the banks of the nearby river. They were all kitted out with backpacks, walking poles, water bottles, hats, all ready for some serious day hiking. And the line grew and grew and grew until dead on 10:00 am they all set off along the river bank. I love the way Japanese people are so orderly and polite, no-one tried to push in, some just waited patiently by the river bank for the end of the line……they would have been waiting a while, the line just grew and grew. I don’t know where they were going, perhaps a trek through a bamboo forest.

  
We wandered through alleyways of shops, I bought a hat, Liz bought pressies, we looked at meat and mushrooms, very expensive, 

 

  

 and enjoyed the signs and ads. 

   

 Watched little old ladies off to play pokies and geeks off to play computer games

 

 
Went to a performance of Gear, a non-verbal show of mime and magic. Press the link to read all about it.  Amazing, don’t miss it next time you are in Kyoto. Loved  the young Japanese boy in the audience who was SO embarrassed because his teenage sister wouldn’t turn off her mobile phone despite the signs and announcements. Didn’t need to understand the language, body language said it all 

  
Yummy, yummy lunch at the crab restaurant. It looked very Japanese, lots of rooms , climbed lots of stairs, was relieved to find proper tables and chairs. I find sitting on the floor distracts from the meal for me! 

 

  

 

   
 
 

  

 
 

  

 
Loved the conversation behind us in the street where an Aussie guy was explaining football to his non-Australian friend. Rugby, organised chaos, AFL , you can run with the ball for a while and then bounce it, the latter said with a slightly derogatory tone. Not sure he really knew anything about either codes!

A fascinating night tour of the world of the Geishas (more in a later blog) and dinner at a diner. 

There was no English button on the machine and we couldn’t work out how to order anything. When a kind person eventually helped us, it turned out the grey boxes on all these dishes say Sold Out.    

 

Loved our first day in Kyoto!