Day out in Kyoto

I have always had high expectations of Kyoto. It is supposed to be the embodiment of what is quintessentially Japan. The Geishas at Gion area, the temples, the rickshaws, the many folks walking about in Kimonos, etc.

But this day, my expectation was ever so high as we were planning to walk the Path of Philosophy under the cherry blossoms. More on that later.

We started off with very good weather. Blue sky. Nice cool breeze. Off we go to the Arashiyama area, to visit not the Tenryu-ji Temple, but the famed bamboo forest that I read about by chance. It is not easy to find as the guides did not explain its location well.

After some misadventures, we finally found it. And just in time, the rain came.