Monsoon weather

After wading through torrents of rainwater inches deep gushing down the street across from youth hostel bus stop, the guy behind reception brushed it off as just another shower. In this weather an umbrella might keep the rain off your head, what it cannot do it however is counter the sheer impact of the rain as rebounds off the ground around your feet. Even the ducks must be getting sick of this.


Tenryu-ji

The day had started brightly enough: it was dull and overcast, but at least it wasn't raining. We took the bus in the direction of Tenryu-ji (the temple of the heavenly dragon) in Kyoto's north-western district of Arashiyama where we had cycled on our first afternoon in the city. Tenryu-ji is, by all accounts, one of the major temples of the Rinzai school of Zen and its main attraction is the 14th century garden. Gardens often accompany shrines - they offered a source of meditation (and inspiration no doubt) to Buddhist monks.


The bamboo grove behind the temple

Behind the temple is the famous bamboo grove. Lonely Planet listing it as one of the must-do experiences was, in my view a exaggerated. I would put it on a par with taking a stroll through my local beechwood in Imstenradebosch: uplifting, but not life-changing.


The Katsura-gawa river

Above the bamboo grove is a "summit outlook" which affords a wonderful view along the steeply wooded valley of the Katsura-gawa river.


Waiting for the 59

We boarded the local electric railway, alighted after a few stops and then caught the 59 bus in the direction of Demachiyanagi station in the north-east of town. From here it is possible to catch a train to Yasa-yuen on the Eizan line and then take the funicular and cable car up to Mount Hiei. The station at the summit is within striking distance of the Enrayaku-ji complex of temples. This too was meant to be an uplifting experience in more ways than one. For 2500 yen each for a return trip, you would expect nothing else, the price being as steep as the ear-popping funicular.


Train,


funicular,


and cable car

What stopped it from being "uplifting" was the rain. In these troubled times (or should that be climes?), we continue to live on hope, but after today, even that is fading. The mist descended on Mount Hiei as we walked the last two kilometres to the temple. There would have been fantastic vistas to be had of Kyoto, but alas, not today.


You could say it was atmospheric

Enryaku-ji was founded in 788. At its height, it possessed some 3000 buildings (today only some 120 remain) and an army of "warrior monks". The whole complex is spread out over several kilometres along the summit ridge and is divided into 3 sections. By the time we had finished the eastern section (Toto) the rain was non-stop, so we decided to cut our losses and head back to the cable car.


Golden lanterns

Enryaku-ji is one of the 17 UNESCO world heritage sites in Kyoto, but only our seventh. At least that leaves scope (or maybe hope?) to come back and finish them off.


The funicular on the way down

Once we had got back within the city limits, we made for the 59 bus stop and headed back in the direction of the hostel. We had decided beforehand to stop off at the interestingly named restaurant, Big Boy a few stops short of the hostel. Both of us had nodded off on the bus and we missed our stop. When we alighted at the next, there was a sudden downpour of rain which had us running pronto to the nearest shop awning. There we waited ten minutes until we caught the bus back one stop to Big Boy.

Satisfying our curiosity, we found out that Big Boy was nothing more than a grill restaurant, but thankfully they provided knives and forks to cut the meat. Oddly enough, at the next table we watched as one of our dining partners ate chips with their chopsticks but proceeded to tackle the rice with a fork. Now you might be forgiven for thinking that our hour-long stay at Big Boy would have given us respite from the rain. At this stage we still had hope, but when we walked back to the bus stop, it started coming down in buckets again. Now where I come from, this type of rain never lasts for more than several minutes, but as we huddled under our umbrellas for 15 minutes waiting for the next bus in the torrential downpour, we just got wetter and wetter from our feet upwards.