We left one big bag behind at Cloudland hostel as they offer a free luggage storage service for 3 days (thereafter its 3yuan per day). So we took advantage of this and packed most things into one main rucksack and had the smaller ones for cameras and so on. The bus left from the one bus station in Kunming which is way out of town, it takes around 45 minutes to get there and will cost 50 yuan by taxi. We were lucky as two girls from the hostel were making their way to the bus station so we shared the taxi ride with them. They were also going all the way to Yuanyang so it was good to know there were more travelers making their way there.

The bus left at 10am but it was a chilly start to the day, much cooler than previous days and all the way to Yuanyang this weather seemed to stick with us. There were a few stops along the cliff edged roads, one of which led us to some interesting outside toilets others were drop offs for extra parcels and passports the driver seemed to be transporting. There was a bit of a traffic jam coming into Xinjie where the main buses will stop at for the terraces and we eventually pulled up at 4pm. Greg from Sunny’s Guesthouse was there to meet us, he’d been staying there for some months helping out and as their English speaking guide for the guesthouse. His English was perfect and this in itself was very helpful in negotiating the mini bus fare back to their village. The two girls we had met on our way to the bus also joined us, so all in all we had managed to save a few yuan by sharing taxis and so on.

It was pretty foggy which we’d heard is very common at the terraces as they are set at altitude so often the mist settles into the valleys and takes a day to clear. We stopped at a few vantage points along the way which gave us a hint of what to expect when the weather clears. Sunny’s Guesthouse is one of very few accommodations in the Douyishi village. It is run by husband and wife and their sun Frank, they are currently doing some renovation work (as is often the case in off season China) and they are limited when it comes to heating, but it has amazing rooftop views and is located at the foot of the rice terraces in the village so we were spoilt for choice! We opted for a double room mainly due to body heat, it was freezing!! We did have an electric blanket though so there was comfort in that. The mist didn’t clear but we got a few shots of the landscape before dinner and two of the other guys staying there turned up from a stroll so there was a good group of us around the table. Dining takes place in a separate outer building from the main guesthouse, Frank is the chef and he kept churning out top quality home-cooked organic dishes one plate after the other. We also enjoyed the red rice which is grown in the Yuanyang rice fields. The family ate at the table next to us which is great in itself as they really do welcome you to their home. We stayed up and chatted next to the little fire in the communal area and then settled in for the night in anticipation of a good sunrise the next morning.

We woke early but the fog was still with us so we stayed in the warm bed a little longer before getting up to join some of the others for breakfast. They were disappointed as the whole time they were there the fog was too! Still even the fog offers some great opportunities pictorially. For breakfast we enjoyed an eggy bread style theme; egg pancakes with jam (very tasty) eggy french bread (good) and fried egg…it did the trick but was a little too stodgy! Still it was hot food and the air was cold. Nathan from San Francisco had arrived at 5am so he joined us and we chatted about plans for later on hoping to catch the sunset if the fog cleared.

After breakfast we went for a stroll into the village. Still foggy, adding atmosphere to the surroundings, we wandered past the pigs, chickens and cows roaming around people’s houses. There is very much a sense of community here and we learned that the rice terraces belong to the villagers and they share out between themselves what they grow, we figured it must be the same for the animals. The houses are very simple, many with straw roofs and it’s a very basic way of living (although we’re sure they have large flat screen TV’s tucked away in some of them!) It’s a very picturesque place and making our way down to the terraces was really rewarding even in the fog. You can walk into them quite far on the small paths, the terraces can be quite abstract too with left over rice plants sticking out of the water. At times the sun peeked through the cloud and offered some strong reflections, but the fog would soon swallow it up again.

We arranged to meet Nathan, Frank and one of the girls at 4pm to head out in search of some better weather later on. This meant we had the day to catch up on editing, the electric blanket was turned on, we wore all the clothes possible and every so often we would pause for a run up onto the roof terrace to catch the views before going back down again. Helen got pretty cold so along to the Chemical Brother’s Push the Button album she had a boogy in the room to warm up!

We met up with the others at 4pm to go in search of a sunset, Frank had heard that the sun was out in a few areas of the region so we went off to find them. Some of the best views were found at roadside platforms where we could catch the terraces for free, the bigger more well known viewing areas are all charged on entry so we had to toy with the plan…if the weather isn’t going to be good over there let’s see what we can find for free rather than getting there, paying and having no views. When we originally came into the Yuanyang region we managed to avoid the entrance fee by sitting in the back of the mini van and being unnoticed by the gateway keepers. To access the villages alone there is a 60yuan per person fee for tourists, but if it’s foggy, the weather is bad or you can hide behind local drivers then you will miss this fee. We were nearly charged on the second day but Frank managed to talk us out of it.

Finally we reached an area that had clear views and strong sunset colours reflecting off the water filled terraces. It was quite a special moment, we could see the fog coming in on different sections of the terraces. Wow! The terraces go on for what seems like miles, and this was only one section!

We did have to pay Frank for ferrying us around but it was only 30yuan per person so that wasn’t too bad at all, he also took off some money for us as he didn’t take us all the way to other viewing areas, this was mainly because the weather wasn’t as clear there anyway so it did us a favour. Back at Sunny’s we enjoyed another family meal, perhaps not as good as the first night, but there was plenty of choice and we were joined by some more guests. We stayed up with Nathan and Greg sipping on hot tea and chatting away until it was bed time. We were leaving early the next day but had vowed to be on the rooftop for the sunrise.

6.30am and we were on the roof watching the sun rise over the mountain tops and Dave shot some more slow shutter imagery on the Olympus Pen. If we’d have had more time we would have loved to stay for that day as we knew the weather was getting better, but we had other plans to go further north from Kunming and we were happy with what we had seen.

A quick breakfast and we were all squashed into the mini van to take us back to the bus station. This time we shared the journey with 4 others so once again costs were reduced. The bus left at 8.30am and along with Nathan we made our way back to Kunming. It was a much warmer day all round and we arrived in Kunming at 5pm, Nathan shared our taxi and covered the costs as a work expense which we were very grateful for. We said our goodbyes and landed at Cloudland at around 6pm in time for dinner.

A few hellos to other travelers we had met in Shanghai and we went out to one of the local eateries for some great cheap local food. This was followed by a quiet night at the hostel and arrangements to take a bus to Dali the following afternoon.

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

Traveling around China has been easier than either of us had imagined especially after hearing some dodgy stories from travelers in Japan who had come here and left pretty quickly. We left our hostel behind early on the morning and headed to the bus station via the metro. Its a bit of a walk from the metro station to the long distance bus station so be prepared for a walk of around 15-20 minutes with rucksacks. We stopped off at some shops along the way and bought some breaded goods for the journey.

Boarding the bus we were excited to be finally heading off into the country and away from the masses of skyscrapers and crowds of people. The bus left on time and we settled down to a five hour journey. The roads in China are some of the most deadliest in the world with a statistic of 500 deaths a day related to road traffic incidents. This is clear to see from crossing the road, you take your own life into your hands, drivers have little patience for pedestrians or road signs, and over-taking on the smallest of roads with blind hairpins is a fun filled adventure every time. The bus driver on this journey loved to put his foot down and over-take anything and everything. One more thing, they don’t believe in seat belts!

We arrived safely after a few hours and were dropped off right outside the Koala Huangshan YHA. There are two hostels in Tunxi with Koala in their name, according to the map we set off in completely the wrong direction and did a big u-turn to end up back where we started when we got off the bus only to see the YHA right there. It’s a pretty cool building, although in the winter there is no heating and as the space is so vast in the communal areas it gets really chilly. Central heating doesn’t make it much further south than Beijing either so you’re always relying on hot water, air conditioning heating vents and electric blankets. We had a double room booked here and it was bloody freezing!

From the hostel we sorted out our trip to Huangshan Mountain. You can do this from the towns closer to the base of the mountain but there is a good rail and bus link to Tunxi so it’s easy enough to get your sleeper train from here. We had a pick up for the next morning at 7am and from there we would get to the drop off point for the mountain trek.

So up until leaving we had a half day or so in Tunxi and wandered into the town to take a look around. It has a very old part to the town with some tourist shops, but the buildings and alleyways are particularly attractive and fun to explore. We watched the sun set over the river whilst the local ladies washed their clothes at the waters edge and others were leaving their pak-choi to dry out. Over the road was a little cafe tucked nicely into a backstreet called The Ying Yang Cafe, it is recommended in The Lonely Planet and offers a fairly decent range of western and Chinese food. It was a little empty when we arrived but the food was good in the form of a vegetarian pizza and tuna pasta. We’re really looking forward to getting the hostels and guesthouses that have kitchens and or cooking areas as it sucks to have to pay for someone to make it for you!

Back at the hostel we got an early night in preparation for the Huangshan adventure the next day.

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

As we are staying in a Hutong it makes sense document the way of life here. On the surface many of these alleyways look pre-historic and worn, but we know that inside they may be completely the opposite and often you will see a huge 40 inch TV screen through the window. There is always construction occurring throughout the Hutong area and it seems that the community are the one’s who get behind the backbone of the work. Washing is left to dry on the street and many still don’t have wash/toilet facilities so every 50 meters or so there are public toilets. There is a huge element of trust and respect in the Hutong, children safely play in the streets whilst old women chat on the corner selling oranges or dried fruit. The alleys are always busy and where we are staying we’ve noticed a games room of a night time packed with locals playing the local board game. We’re not sure what they’re doing but it sounds and looks like they’re having loads of fun. You can get good street food and since we’ve settled into out area we often get the nod from our service operators for the apartment block. This is certainly an experience we will never forget.

In contrast to this we have The Village in Sanlitun. If you’re ever feeling homesick as a westerner in Beijing this is the place to go, however it’s very easy to forget that you’re in China at all. The Village is a huge shopping, restaurant and apartment complex with stores ranging from Adidas through to Prada. Although parts of the Village are bustling with expats, at the northern end the designer stores seem to be lost in an architectural maze of glass, lights and space. We walked around one of the malls at 6pm and it was completely empty. We’d been to see the Frank Gehry exhibition, which we enjoyed and Helen enjoyed a new hair cut, afterwards we couldn’t stop ourselves from photographing the empty vast spaces that surround us. It all seems a little eery but also as if everyone is waiting for something to happen. The designer retail market hasn’t quite hit off over here yet but we’re sure that in the next few years Gucci will be frequented more and more as the capital grows.

So tradition and culture versus modern urban living? We don’t think we could live in a Hutong area all year round but it certainly has character, charm and atmosphere. The Village offers comfort but you could be anywhere in the world in a sterile shopping mall with lift music ringing in your ears. We would rather have the crude neon BBQ signs and locals riding around on bikes shouting to collect your rubbish. They are protecting the Hutong around the Forbidden City which is a relief to hear as this is where the history lies and where the real Beijing exists.

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

Today is the day that we become semi-residents in Beijing, China. We grabbed some breakfast from the Templeside lodge which was very nice, photographed the Hutongs from the upper outdoor deck and chatted to an American guest drinking tea on the terrace. All very pleasant however there was a strong chill in the air, not as warm as Japan!

We were picked up by our host for the next few weeks and driven to the Police station to register. This was as easy as signing a document to confirm that the details were correct. Helen’s parents have friends here in China who are able to help us out with accommodation for our stay in Beijing, and we are very grateful to them for allowing us to be their guests. We climbed the concrete flights of stairs to the 6th floor and into the apartment which is very nice and spacious, I think we have been spoilt again in our travelling journey. We were then invited to go out to dinner with our host, his wife and Frank a colleague who was our translator and they would meet us at 4.30pm.

So after some relaxation time in our new temporary home and some washing in the leaky washing machine, we popped out to the local Wu-Mart to see what was on offer. This place is pretty big and they appear to sell anything and everything at rather cheap prices. It was hot and the trolly was as crappy as the ones at home! We pushed through and bought enough items to stock up the fridge and replenish any depleted stocks from the past few weeks. It does appear that we are in a very local area, I don’t think we saw another western face on our trip out, with lots of stares from the local populace which can become a little unnerving.

It was not long until our host and entourage arrived to escort us around the local area with hints and tips on local places of interest and a guided tour of the farmers market. After a visit to the local lake we headed inside to a restaurant which specialises in hotpot. Hotpot here is not the same as in England, it is a sharing experience that involves a very hot metal bowl in which water boils and you place in your bits of meat and vegetables to cook then scoop out dunk in the nutty sauce and finally chew it down, it was very nice. One thing we have learnt very quickly is that the Chinese people don’t really like you to clear your plate, it’s a sign that you are not full. Loads of food was ordered and we were most definitely stuffed by the end.

Back to our new lodgings we relaxed with the only English speaking TV channel CCTV news, let our food digest and headed to bed.

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

We had over 30 hours to go when we woke up the following morning ready for our complimentary breakfast. Although the food announcements were made in English it seemed that the Chinese announcement was always much earlier, so by the time we arrived at the canteen they were already tucking in and the food left our for us was a little lukewarm. So we decided we would turn up for food 10-15 minutes before the scheduled timings and low and behold the food was always a little hotter and we were there at the same time as everyone else. For breakfast though we shouldn’t have bothered and on the second day Helen opted for porridge that we brought with us, whilst Dave had the left over cereal. We did have a few bowls and spoons with us which helped on the self-catering side. Chinese breakfast on the Yanjing consisted of Chinese porridge which is like a soupy rice and on this occasion flavourless broth, accompanied with some eggs that looked like they’d been boiled weeks ago. The fruit wasn’t free but was a good bonus to this poor meal. It would be good to experience Chinese porridge whilst we stay in China so that we don’t only have this experience to go by.

The only full day we had on the boat saw us catch up on our editing and writing whilst in between doing some more research and reading for China. We would pop out every so often to get some sea air on deck and noticed that the weather was changing. Leaving the calm seas of Japan led us out into some low-visibility conditions where we felt we were literally in the middle of no-where. The temperature up top had also dropped, but it was dry and we could still get outside as the sea was still calm.

We had bought a series of Peep Show, Misfits and The Hangover Movie from i-Tunes before we left Japan, however we didn’t authorise them on the laptop, so when we realised that we wouldn’t be able to watch them on the boat (no internet to authorise) we resorted back to more editing, writing and podcasts we already have. Still we did remember about the table tennis room and after hiring bats and a ping pong ball we had a few games following our own made up rules…Dave won best of 3 but Helen was starting to feel giddy due to the lack of oxygen down that part of the boat (excuses!) we were certainly better than the Chinese guys playing next to us!! Beth and Rick were busy writing but later on we arranged to meet them for another “tasty” Yanjing dinner followed by some more card games. We picked up a few more games for our travels that hopefully we’ll pass on and play with others, especially now Helen has written down the rules.

In between our working and walking around the ship we would photograph parts of the boat as there was always something to document. From the rescue boats, piping, old rope, left chairs, signs and the worn interior to the guests on board playing cards, learning their dance moves and posing for photos on deck. It was worth doing this journey for the content we have captured. A little like being in a Carry on Film at times! The staff who were all dressed in uniform aimlessly pursued jobs that didn’t really exist. We did watch one girl clean the upstairs area over and over again eventually she was tested for the cleanliness of the space, the finger test was complete and she seemed to pass with flying colours. Why they didn’t pay this kind of attention to the wash and toilet areas was beyond us.

On our final day on the boat we looked forward to arriving at the port in Tianjin at around 2pm. Our own supplied breakfast did the trick and we did manage some more editing and writing followed by another walk on deck. It had certainly become our little home for a few days but it was definitely time to leave. We noticed that the Chinese guests were dressed and ready for the arrival many having been in tracksuits and pyjamas for a few days. Bags were already starting to pile up next to the exit door in the lobby area. We still had a fair few hours left though so we weren’t in a rush to pack just yet. We had great pleasure in photographing some ladies practising Tai chi and ballroom dancing upstairs for an hour and they loved the fact that we wanted to photograph them. They all seemed to really enjoy their time on the ferry and the endless episodes of a Chinese soap opera had definitely kept most people enthralled for at least half a day. Apparently they even had it on full blast in the dorms for the entirety of the night, oh how special class did us proud.

Getting closer to the port we traveled through hundreds of anchored trawler, container and fishing boats, it was really surreal traveling through the middle of this and felt a little like no-mans land. The wind up on the very top deck was immense, Helen had to run through it to avoid being blown over. Close to the front was Beth, Rick and JP all enjoying the blast so we joined them in what felt a little like being on a roller coaster; arms in the air facing the sea at the front of the boat, hair standing up on end due to the blast of the wind. It felt amazing and pretty invigorating, Dave snapped away as our mouths were shaped by the wind.

We were ready to leave and the boat eventually got into Tianjin port at around 2.30pm. After we got off the boat we passed through passport control and stepped out to the front of the building only to by hounded by taxi drivers pushing us into their cabs. We travelled with Beth and Rick to the station in Tianjin which is a good 40 minute journey from the port. This was our first experience of Chinese driving and the manic layout of the roads in this area, something I’m sure we will get used to but after a 48 hour boat journey we weren’t quite ready for. We met up with JP at the station and we all boarded the high speed bullet train to Beijing south station together. Arriving at Beijing south we said our goodbyes to our Yanjing travel buddies and decided to get the tube to our stop as it was right on the same line as the train station.

We looked at the underground map and used the ticket machine to select where we wanted to go. It came up as 4 Yuan for two tickets which equals 40p, we were not sure if this was correct as it seemed so cheap! Xisi was our stop on line 4 and the hostel was not too far to walk from here so we jumped on the subway. We were booked into a hostel in the heart of the hutong area and when we eventually found the place in a dimly lit street, we were informed that they could upgrade us to their Templeside lodgings which is their luxury house a few streets away for no extra charge. It sounded like an offer we couldn’t refuse so our host walked us through the streets to Templeside and showed us to our room. Once again we have been spoiled on this trip, the room was huge with a bed twice the size of any standard double. It felt a little like some of the furnishings had been taken from Neverland, especially the fittings in the bathroom. The only downside was the drain smell. Something again I think we will be getting used to during our stay here.

We ordered some great Chinese food that was delivered to the hostel and certainly expelled the taste of any food we had eaten on the boat. We asked the hostel to ring the owner of the apartment we are moving to and we arranged a pick up for the next morning at 10.30am. Time to head to bed for our first nights sleep in Beijing.

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

We started the day off once more with the cost effective filling breakfast provided by K’s before checking out to start the first leg of the journey. We anticipated around 5 hours of travel so we were keen to get an early start. Our first train with the JR pass took us out of Kyoto on an express train to Osaka where we changed to go to Shimamiya. From here we had to buy train tickets for another train company which included a long winded train journey into the mountains and finally a cable car connection from Gokurakubashi up to Koyasan. The cable car took around 10 minutes and was a steep track up to a small station which still had the same ticket operating gates you’d see in the metro. You tend to find technology in the most unusual places such as vending machines on your way up to a historic temple, or right on the drive of someone’s house, this is something that always amuses us.

So with a short bus journey to complete our travel to this world heritage site we landed at what we thought was our temple accommodation for the evening. The only problem was that Helen had printed off the wrong temple information, when booking this the agents sent through a list of temples even though we had booked only one, others in Koyasan were included in the email, so we realised we were in the wrong place and they sent us up the road to what they thought was our temple. This was around 15 minutes walk up hill with all of our backpacks with us, arriving at the second temple and we found out that this one wasn’t ours either! Nightmare!! Finally we found our temple and it was right near the site entrance, so it would have been the first stop off the bus and the cheapest fare too!! We managed to laugh about it though.

The temple we were checking into is called Rengejo-in, more expensive than some of the others in town but we had read some good reviews and it was a kind of birthday treat for Dave. We couldn’t get into our room until 3pm so we set out in search of some local world heritage sights. We weren’t disappointed and the light was fantastic with blue skies, bright sunshine and red autumn leaves teasing us all the while. The site closest to our accommodation is called Garan and is a temple complex with several halls and pagodas. The Dai-to (Great Pagoda) is the most impressive and beautiful Pagoda we have so far seen on our travels in Japan. It towers above you in strong golds, oranges and reds and glowed in the sunlight whilst school children sketched their surrounding landscape. There were many pilgrim tours taking place as well as tour groups dropping into the site for the day. We loved photographing around this site and with the addition of red leaves against a blue sky it definitely captured our imaginations.

Walking up from Garan we retreated to the temple as we were keen to get our monies worth here. We were introduced to our grand, traditional Japanese style room by a friendly monk who spoke good English. He informed us about the do’s and don’ts, bath-times, ceremonies taking place and so on. We had an hour or so to settle in before the first ceremony which was a 45 minute meditation session. We drank some tea and kept our legs under the table which sneakily had a heater fixed into it, we had noticed the drop in temperature in Koyasan and the paper thin walls weren’t keeping us any warmer. At 5.30pm we attended the meditation session along with other temple guests. It was a really insightful experience as you only ever go into a temple rather than being part of any kind of Buddhist ceremony. The lead monk introduced the session and told us we would meditate until the incense stopped burning some 40 minutes later. Helen has some experience of meditation from her yoga class back in the UK and a few other retreats but for the most part around 10-15 minutes would be the longest. It was a very long 40 minutes but equally we were surprised that it didn’t feel longer. He finished the ceremony by telling us a few tales about the mountainous area, the importance of meditation and a few other more Buddhist related facts. It was something we will both never forget. Afterwards we were led into the dining room where we sat with the other westerners staying the night. We had something like 9 dishes placed in front of us from fruit, to miso soup, several kinds of tofu, pickles, squash, rice and other things we can’t quite remember.

After a quick chat with a nice Dutch couple we went back to our room, used the onset baths and then settled into our beds for an early night. We were due to rise at just before 6am for the morning ceremony. Not before passing the time by light-painting with our head torch and some fairy crazy moves. Much laughter followed!

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

Along the train line towards Nara are some recommended walks and world heritage temples to explore. They’re a little further away from the tourist crowds accumulating in Kyoto every day but close enough to stop at a few places in one morning or afternoon. So with another filling breakfast setting us up nicely for the day our first port of call was Inari.

This is only two train stops away from Kyoto and using the JR pass we eagerly set off in-search of more temple goodness. We have had a knack of walking past the places that we want to visit / restaurants that we want to eat at, which as you can imagine becomes something of a running joke between us. This time it almost happened again. A massive bright orange gate opposite the train station exit was almost missed, however we spotted it just in time before heading off down the road in the opposite direction.

Fushimi-Inari is a huge complex of shrines and temples that are a big draw to many worshipers. As Fushimi-Inari Shrine is so big it did not feel too crowded, which is what we like. There is a tunnel of 10,000 orange shrine gates (torii) which form the path up to Mt Inari, 233 meters in height. The 4km path involves steps most of the way up so it also felt like a good workout. Groups of business men in suits were climbing the hill, stopping for beer in the many cafes on the assent to the top, they must have been roasting hot in there clothing attire. Half way up we found a great view of Kyoto city just behind some small shrines, however at the very top there is no view due to trees dominating the summit, Dave was not happy about this! We had a celebratory orange at the top and then headed down. A very worthwhile visit indeed and with free entrance it’s just marvelous. We were pretty intrigued by the small dog statues wearing bibs – this is something to do with having protection from the cold winter ahead. Helen thought they were particularly cute, you may see a few more of these!

One stop back towards Kyoto station we stopped at Kyoto’s largest Buddhist Zen Monastery, Tofuku-ji. This was lovely, really well looked after and some great photo opportunities, just a shame the sky was thick with grey cloud. A look around the gardens and temples and then our stomach’s started to rumble. We headed back to the station where just down the road is a great little organic cafe that sold a mix of Japanese and Korean food.

We made a classic Western error here. Doors can “swing” open as we are used to, but most tend to “slide” open. We tried about three times at pulling and pushing the door, wandering around looking for another entrance and getting mildly frustrated that the door appeared locked, but we could see people inside enjoying their food. Finally we tried the slide method and Hallelluja we were in. We got a few strange looks but we dealt with the shame! We had good portions of sashimi salad and rice for Helen and teriyaki chicken salad and rice for Dave, which we both enjoyed.

After returning to K’s Guest House we had some relax time with a few blog post updates, a cheeky rum and ginger ale (ginger beer is so much better but its hard to find over here) and some snacks from the bar. Helen made a skype call home to the Roscoe’s to brighten up her stay, they were all out in force with the Roscoe-Elwood addition and lovely Sukie smiling and waving away. Much love to them all, Karl was messing around and we giggled lots – missing you all! xx

After the excitement of skype we read about some temple gardens in Kyoto are only open during the evening and decided that a night garden experience was something that we wanted to do. Luckily there was no rain in sight and we easily found our destination; Kodaiji. Using artificial illumination in this garden works brilliantly, red and orange leaves reflecting off the pool waters bring very much of a mystical feel. The bamboo forest was also great with vertical lines shooting up to the canopy above. We both loved it.

For a late night bite to eat we stopped at a cafe and ordered a kind of omelette, rice and sauce. Dave opted for the curry and cheese version which was surprisingly nice and Helen went for a yellow pepper / white bean sauce which didn’t go down all that well, quite bland. The photos might not tell a great story of these, but they were OK and the price was reasonable.

K’s guest house was having a 7th Birthday party so we headed back to our lodgings and joined in the celebrations with a few drinks. Up early tomorrow to leave Kyoto and head to more peaceful and serene surroundings.

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