Kyoto rain

I really didn't do Kyoto justice while I was in Japan. Beck and I went there for a day's outing, and it rained pretty much the entire time. Not pansy London rain either - this was serious, monsoon-esque precipitation, that soaks skin, drenches shoes and splashes your knees from puddles. Rain itself doesn't completely ruin a day of site-seeing, but it does put a damper (heh) on it, and when combined with being compressed into sweaty, packed buses full of rapidly oscillating Japanese schoolchildren it all gets a bit much. I did have an excellent day though, because the couple of things we managed to see were oustanding.

One area I saw before the rains really kicked into high gear was Ginkakuji, the Temple of the Silver Pavillion. It isn't actually silver, but it is rather beautiful, and surrounded by gardens, pools, Zen sands and moss. Lots of lovely, lovely moss. It was exactly what I imagined when I thought of historic Japan, except there was more rain. The umbrellas that slowly drifted through the garden seemed very appropriate and Japanese, somehow.

Another part of Kyoto that was an unexpected pleasure were the old, cobbled streets. Beck leaped off the bus on our way back to the train station and took me down a side street, and hundreds of years back in time. We wandered through cobbled streets, taking shelter from the rain in doorways and overhangs, peeking into tea houses, fan shops and noodle joints, drinking in the atmosphere of old style Japan. It would be very easy for me to live in a traditional house in one of those beautiful streets, as long as large sums of rent money magically appeared in my bank account each week and I instantly and magically learned to speak perfect Japanese.

There are so many temples, gardens and other lovely areas of Kyoto that I missed that day, so I'll simply have to return some time in the future, preferrably when it's not raining. I might even visit the cobbled streets again, and try and catch a glimpse of a geisha in her little carriage before she turns down a side alley and vanishes, just like she did in the rain.