Day 1

In fact I didn't have a concrete itinerary of where to go every day, just had something on my mind only. But the first place I should go doubtlessly is Arashi-yama, a forever-spectacular place where I won’t be fed up no matter how many times I've visited. *Discovered that I didn't have to take JR to Kyoto station and transferred there.

It was freezing and I was breathing out white mist, as if it was my soul, the stunning view was taking my breath away. Decided to rent a bike to save up some time and energy to walk around, but it started to rain once I rode on it. I couldn't feel my fingers at all and my whole body was like taking out from the freezer, wet and cold. On a contrary, what I could see were blazing trees all around me, maples were dazzlingly scarlet, mixing with golden ginkgo and cherry trees.
Roads were jammed with people and cars and my bike didn't help much to get rid of the slow flowing people.

I just had a coffee as breakfast so as to hungered myself for an early lunch at 11am. The place was a Japanese style hotel along the river, with tofu lunch and onsen. It was nice to defrost myself with tofu hotpot and even put myself into the hotpot, I mean hot spring. The sky was getting clear after lunch and I thought it would be so nice for biking. So I went ahead to my next stop with full stomach and warm body.

Saw the recommendation of friends' travelogues and went to pay a visit to this temple, with songs of the late diva. It was my own perception but those songs sounded much sentimental and lively. They moved my heart. Did she sing any song when she visited here?

原來今生心債 償還不是一世

You could never expect what was going to happen with the ever-changing autumn sky. I was frozen again on the way and I saw something falling like snow rain. Went to the northern rural area for a temple which it was said to be a place accommodating many homeless souls. What I could see, were faceless stoned souls standing in the square. It wasn't odd and spine chilling. They were gone all long ago, but still standing peacefully straight in this world. Even though we are moving human, I wonder have we ever been in such a peaceful state of mind.

I couldn't help stop by a café for a green tea.

On the way back to the riverside, I stopped by a shop where I could get a napkin for bubu with his name embroidered on it. The salesgirl said bubu is a very lovely name. Same here.

Walking along the river when it was getting dark, I went back to Osaka for dinner. It’s been 10 years since my last visit to Osaka. I don’t have much feeling towards it though. It’s pretty much like how it looked 10 years ago when I reached Shinsai-bashi. I wonder if Kansai accent means Cantonese, because all I could hear was Cantonese at every corner. I also found that lately it seems to me Hong Kong girls all look alike, just like I find it hard to distinguish among people from Africa. It is quite rude indeed.

Queued up outside the place for grilled squid balls and noodle to see if they could recall my memory. I could say - they were real rip-off! Sadly speaking they didn't taste good at all and I can easily find a better place anywhere in Tokyo. Fame is far highly ranked than real quality, but still people were queuing up for them. Needless to say, they weren't enough to feed me but I didn't know what else I should eat. So end up I went to see my good friend. I didn't know why people were staring at me when I was drinking a mocha outside on the road. Did I look too smart?

***
As I said, I need to have music to mute the environment and I am so right. Fully understand that people were excited to have a trip with their beloved ones, but could they just shut up for a second to savor the atmosphere around, rather than keep talking non-stop? These kind of relentless lousy tourists were everywhere and no one noticed they’d been talking too much and too loud and needed to give their throats a break. Temples and shrines aren't for rowdy crowds, but places to soothe our hearts. It’s the first time I discovered that Japanese can be such chattering.

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