There are three big festivals (or matsuri) in Kyoto: Gion, Jidai and Aoi. I never saw the Aoi matsuri when I lived here because after seeing the Gion and Jidai ones I learned that it was all the same thing over and over again and so not worth the crowds. However as we were here and the Aoi matsuri was on, it felt like a waste not to attend.
The crowds were terrible though.
This is a temple in Kyoto that has lots of stone statues of the buddha’s disciples. As you can see the statues are a bit out of the ordinary. Way back when I’d seen an ad for the place on a train but never got around to actually seeing it. This was my chance.
After visiting the temple I went for a short hike in the rain along a nearby river. It was really nice, but after seeing warning signs for bears and snakes I became aware of the face that if anything did happen to me, with no phone and not having told anyone where I was, things wouldn’t be looking so good. The hike wasn’t so enjoyable after that.
tariq.ca 