Many Trains, Misty Mountains and Intentionally Squeaky Floors

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After positive feedback on Facebook about the loos with multiple controls, I decided to give it a go in the Ryokan loos, where at least I would be close to my room should things go awry. The instructions on the controls were only in Japanese, but the diagrams gave a good idea of the various ways in which water can fire up your backside. I went for the option that looked like it had spouted from a great whale. Oooh! That tingled. Defo worth another go.

Apparently our Ryokan man had given an archery demonstration in the hall last night but we missed it, either because he forgot to tell us or perhaps because we'd gone out - we're not quite sure of the reason due to language barriers. After my last and mishap-free onsen, we headed out into the rain to catch the 8.17 train to Nagano.

The rain seemed to ease off slightly the more we progressed and the countryside was mostly farms, all arable fields at least knee-deep in rain water with a backdrop of cloud-shrouded mountains. I've not seen any farm animals at all. Considering we've just spent over a day in a country town, I'm surprised by the lack of animals about - no cats (boo!) and the only dog was some tiny shiatsu thing we saw being pampered through the window of a pet grooming salon. Maybe because of the torrential downpour, all the local animals had better sense than to hang about outside?

At Nagano Glyn managed to negotiate reserving our seats quite easily (with a JR pass you have to reserve all your seats even if you do it just minutes before your train). The journey to Kyoto was quite long, leaving at 10am and arriving in Nagoya at 1pm. We had paid extra for our JR pass because we'd read that it gave you a better guarantee for a place on the train when they are crowded, and given the precision timing of my itinerary (ha!) we didn't want to risk missing any trains. The upside of this is that we get to ride in the Green carriages, with so much leg room my feet barely reached the footrest and I had my own fancy fold out table.

The middle of Japan is incredibly green; where there is no agriculture, the land and mountains are covered in thick green foliage with impenetrable looking forests. In some places, I saw the long thin trunks of bamboo trees which were a lot taller than I'd expected. In one field I finally got to see some wildlife: two huge white birds with massive wine spans and long thin necks, I've no idea what they are but I'm sure I've seen only seen similar in bird sanctuaries before.

Passing the Asahi brewery, I knew we must be getting closer to civilisation and soon we were at Nagoya with only 10 minutes to find the train to Kyoto which would take only half an hour to get there. The rain had stopped but the air was extremely damp and hot, the sky thick with grey mist. The buildings were huge and covered in advertising. A young lady on the bullet train presented us with cold wet flannels which I was rather grateful for (they do like giving out damp flannels around here a lot). This train was more swanky than the last, with individual reading lights at head height set into the side of each chair, options to heat the seats and electric sockets. Every member of staff bows when entering the carriage and when they leave, they turn around and bow again - even if none of our seats are facing them (I had to turn around in my chair to witness this).

Kyoto station is so big, it's also a shopping centre and has a ridiculous amount of platforms and connections, so it took longer to find the platform to get the local train to Tanbaguchi station than the actual train took to get us there. After a 10 minute walk, we arrived at our Air B'n'B accommodation - a tiny one room apartment on the fourth floor with a bathroom not much bigger than a loo on a plane. The bath was one of those that I would have to fold my knees into my chest were I to bathe in it, but it has a shower. There's a fridge, sink, one ring cooker and tiny balcony, plus two single beds pushed together. Glyn had been sent instructions as how to get there as it was guaranteed we would get lost and local shops had been complaining (about other people getting lost, not us!). Upon arrival, we found a combination padlock on the door that contained the key. Naturally there were slippers in the tiny entrance with the notice telling us to remove our shoes. We also were supplied with pocket wifi which is something I have never heard of before.

Time to go out again, but this time with the pocket wifi so we could do a bit of Pokemon in Kyoto - yippy! - but it was on the way to Nijo Castle, we're not that soft!

One thing of note, if you are stood in a station looking a bit confused, you will get a random friendly Japanese person coming to help you. The people are ace here. And have I mentioned how polite? They even bowed to us in the posh department store we visited even though it was very obvious I was just using the loo (they sold Gucci and other over priced gear). I did start to see a few pet dogs, mostly tiny ones in carry cases on wheels that have extendable handles so that there owners can wheel them along. A few dogs actually had to walk, but not many.

Nijo Castle was created between 1543 and 1616 and has loads of ornate interiors with paintings of big cats and suchlike that turned out to be replicas, much to Glyn's disdain. It was mostly made of wood with 'Nightingale' floors which had been carefully laid so that the cramps and nails would rub together and squeak when walked upon to warn of intruders. With lots of people in there, it squeaked a lot. Glyn managed to mess up the shoe thing: there were pigeon holes to place your shoes into before entering and Glyn was silly enough to think that he could walk right up to the pigeon holes still wearing his shoes before removing them. What a fool! He got told off pretty quickly!

Afterwards, we followed my guidebook map and headed to Pontocho Alley, buying brollies on the way. It was still very hot (too hot for even a light coat), but the rain began to fall softly and I didn't want to risk getting soaked again. Potoncho Alley is a narrow pedestrian area where it is impossible to use a brolly because it's so tight, but still people try and there's a lot of clashing and eyes being poked out. It's full of restaurants, licensed as a gay area - whatever that means.

At the end we turned into the Gion District where apparently the Geisha hang out, but unless you are a fancy Japanese business man or have huge wedges of cash, there is little chance of seeing any unless to catch them on their way to an appointment. I'd read that this is more likely just after 5pm, but it was closer to 6pm by the time we got there. However,, we did see. A fair few women and some men in traditional kimonos wandering about. We were on Shijo-Dori, a massive street of neon lights and nightlife packed solid with umbrellas fighting each other as the people underneath tried to keep their eyes from being removed. I was getting a bit hungry by this time - the day had whizzed past so quickly I realised that I'd only eaten some crisps at breakfast and one of Glyn's rice sushi for lunch and Glyn hadn't had much more than that. I'd had a few cans of cold coffee though as there's a lot of that and cold tea in the vending machines as these are the only drinks I recognise. I thought I'd bought some water earlier but it turned out to be a lemon drink that tasted fairly similar to the stuff you get in the UK for curing bladder infections.

Glyn spotted a restaurant, Sakuya Vegetable Bowl where 'vegetarians are welcome' - I was taken aback! It has been hard to find many veggie options, but I was unaware that I was not welcome. The waiter was also the chef, in fact he was the only member of staff and was run off his feet between the six people he had in there. So service was a bit intermittent, however, the food was amazeballs! Locally sourced food, freshly cooked and very tasty. Glyn had some meat thing and I had a creamy tofu dish, the like of which I have never had before. There were also smaller dishes of things that I had no idea what they were, but liked. On our way out, the guy gave us origami birds and asked to take our photo to put on his Facebook page.

We decided to walk back as we were fed up with the hassle of trains (turns out it took a couple of hours and we've walked a total of 11.2 miles today) but we found an interesting shopping area that had.... OMG..... wait for it.... a Bengal Cat Forest Café!! Who knew such a thing existed? But then it was just closing so I peered through the fake leaves to see one lucky lady stroking the dearest of little spotty cats. We have to go back tomorrow. We are going back tomorrow - but answer me this... how on earth will I sleep tonight?!!

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