Every year Kyoto is set on fire

- strategically of course. There are mountains surrounding the city, which usually only serve to up the temperature and humidity, but on this night, they are the focal points of millions of eyes. International and domestic tourists flock to Japan's cultural heart to see the fires that mark the Obon festival.

I must admit that I was expecting more festivities than there actually were. The Gion matsuri has more to look at. and more of a festival atmosphere, but the Obon festival is more of a personal and religious event.

During obon, the souls of ancestors find their descendants, and they receive offerings of rice and sake, incense and prayer. Families light lanterns outside their houses to help their ancestors find their way. Having an unfamiliar ghost at the table may cause some awkward moments I guess.

There are five symbols lit around the city, but from our vantage point on the banks of the Kamo Gawa, we could only see the 'Dai' symbol which means big. (For a list of the others, just google Gozan no Okuribi, or Kyoto fire festival). Some hotels open up their rooftops

Maiko

for the night and for a small fee you can go up.

Expecting a more convival atmosphere, adn market stalls and thigs we opted to stay on the ground - but in hindsight perhaps the hotel view would have been better. We even missed out on a festival in my local area - it seems we're good at missing out on festivals...

We travelled to Gion again, to get some more Geisha pictures (my new favourite Kyoto pastime), and then arranged to rendezvous with some Kyoto dwellers at the riverside. Rather than the bustline 'festival' I thought it would be, it was more of a milling around kind of atmosphere. We picked our spot on the riverside, and waited fot the 80 metre Kanji symbol to be set alight. A lot of other people had the same idea though, and we were just 2 of hundreds, trying to take a non-blurry picture.(Not entirely sure if I was successful).

After snapping away, and making the obligatory 'ooh' and 'aah' noises, we all went to our favourite dining joint, known only as "The 280 yen place!" I'm sure it has an actual name, but for us

Maiko

it's the cheap place that sells massive beer. Yay! We definitely indulged there, and then decided NOT to go home, but to stay out ALL night in one of Kyotos clubs.

We went to the Kyoto-ites local standby, Sam n Daves...and perhaps it was just my perception, but it seemd like there were more japanese poeple on the bottom floor, and the top floor was practically ALL Foreigners.

It's a hip hop RnB club, so we got to bust some moves, and Danilo and Markus (ALT) were playing pool with the cool Japanese guys we met. Danilo and I were well pleased that one of them was called Kakashii, but that's because we love Naruto, the anime (yes we're nerds, but we like it!).

To cut a looooong night short, we had a lot of fun, (and a lot to drink), and then capped it off by trudging to the subway station (just as it opened) in order to doze off and miss the first train home. Several trains later, (and a few more naps), we made it to the local line, where we passed one of my students (who luckily didn't recognize her dishevelled