We wanted to capture some more of Beijing’s famous temple sites and had been recommended to visit the Yongegong Lama Temple along with the Confucius Temple, both located very close to the subway stop on line 2 and not far from the Drum and Bell towers.

The Lama Temple is described as being the most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet and houses several shrines, incense burners, pavilions and an 18m high statue of the Maitreya Buddha sculpted from a single block of sandalwood. It’s a very impressive sight and draws people from all around to burn incense and pray to their gods. It’s a busy place to go but during the week it is quieter and nowhere near as crowded as The Forbidden City. The colours of brick work have been maintained to a very high standard and on a bright day it’s a really beautiful place to be. Further south from the Lama Temple and down a tourist Hutong we found the Temple of Confucius. Much quieter than the Lama Temple and a little less looked after this place does have some controversial history surrounding one of Beijing’s most famous writers Lao She. We didn’t really know much about this but have read up on it since. Aside from this though it has some impressive Chinese Classics engraved on huge stone slabs kept in a cold and dark warehouse. It’s quite eery in there and very cold!

After our Temple sightseeing escapade we walked along the streets to an area we’ve grown to love in Nanluoguxiang where we grabbed an okay bite to eat at Passby Bar before making our way back to Xinjeikou on the tube. Just a quick note on the subway over here in Beijing. At times it can take a while for you to get to your final destination due to the lack of lines joining in convenient areas…but it is incredibly cheap and if you don’t mind the masses of locals using the subway you can get anywhere for 2 yuan per person which is around 20p. Sometimes it’s quicker than getting a taxi and it certainly helps for those on a budget.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Up early with the hope of reaching a lonely planet recommended organic cafe not far from our Minshuku. This was our third time of trying to get into this place – the opening hours are 8-11.30 in the morning, but it wasn’t open!! For some reason many of the shops and cafe’s say they’ll open at 8am but don’t actually open until 10am, something to get your head around. So we had hoped for an organic breakfast but we settled on an art decor cafe further into town which provided us with fruit, eggs and some good chunky toast.

We checked out shortly afterwards and went to the station to wait for the train. Ivan and Kim turned up and we were set for a good few laughs on our journey. We traveled with them as far as Toyama where we had to rush to get the train to Kanazawa whilst they went in search of a way to get the famous Alpine route. Kanazawa is a fairly large town based on the west coast of Japan above Kyoto, it has a number of historic sites, castles and one of the most beautiful and written about gardens in Japan. We stayed at the very cosy Guesthouse Namaste not far from the station along with several other backpackers from around the world. Our host showed us around the retro designed kitchen, we could cook our own food at last!

Our first night was in a Japanese style room but we were to be moved upstairs to a western style room the following day – a good thing really as it was located right next to the wash areas. So with only a few hours to spare before the sun would set we explored the local market, went to a great little coffee boudoir type of place- the most amount of care taken over making coffee we have ever seen. Then on our way back to Namaste we picked up food stuff for the next few days.

Whilst we’ve been traveling through Japan many of our guesthouses haven’t allowed for the opportunity for us to cook our own food so we were pretty excited about getting things in to cook and also for the prospect of enjoying some long awaited porridge! In the kitchen we heated up some gyoza, enjoyed noodles and our own style broth and a lovely fresh salad. This was enjoyed along with our fellow house mates and we chatted over beers, exchanged creative projects and planned for the next day. Simon from Quebec had won an International short film competition in Tokyo and had won his trip to Japan so we all loved watching his 40 second award winning short film, here is a link…

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We have taken the final nights sleep at our first accommodation of our adventure. Bye bye Hotel Sakura you have done well. It’s time to leave the city-scape and head into the hills. First stop is the local underground station to get to the overland train. With one change of train along the way, we settle into our seats. Even the ordinary class, non-reserved seats are very comfortable with lots of leg room and space for bags etc. We see people eating out of wooden boxes that contain a surprisingly nice looking assortment of food items. We think we may have to get something like this for a quick and easy meal.

Views along the second train are great and the sun is shining. Blue skies adorn the mountain trees and the small plots of land that people tend for vegetables and fruits. So much is grown locally for personal consumption its great to see. The Ryokan owners supplied us with a free pick up from Fuji Yoshida station so while we waited, we popped into the food store and bought ourselves a takeaway boxed meal. Looked good.

Our pick up arrives and we are taken out of town to the smaller village Oshino where our Ryokan is based. Inn Fujitomita is lived in and run by a lovely couple along with their three children. It’s a big place and we learn that we are the only guests for the next two days. The film “The Shining” springs to mind with the retro 70′s carpet and long corridors. Never the less we are shown around and given instructions of what to do. There are a few rules you must follow when staying in more traditional guesthouses in Japan; not shoes in the house and slippers are provided, no slippers on Tatami mats and we are told the correct way of wearing a Yukati gown. The room is huge, about four times bigger than Sakura rooms and its very traditional Japanese in style with a great view of the “Shy mountain”, Mt Fuji. Now this is what we have been waiting for!

Feeling the need to get out and see whats around we set out for the nearest lake in Yamanaka. When I say nearest it is about 4km away but we thought we could make it there and back before dinner at 6.30pm. After a long highway path we eventually made it to the lake, a quick photo and then a turn around to walk back along a slightly different road. Oh how quickly it gets dark here in Japan. Before long we were walking in the dark following a map that wasn’t exactly accurate. We even had to stop and ask at a hotel in the village to ask for directions. Time was rapidly approaching 6.30pm! We made it with 30 minutes to spare but it was a quick last few km to make it on time. Freshen up and a change of clothes then dinner. Dinner at Inn Fujitomita was outstanding! We will leave it to the photos to tell that story! There were a couple of strange flavors and textures but we pretty much demolished the lot.

Our host Hiromi, asked us if we would like a lift to a nearby village in the morning. We accepted and headed to the Onsen bath. Very hot and soothing on our weary legs. Back up to the room followed by a little bit of photo editing, free wi-fi and then off to bed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)