Japan -Kyoto

Difficult to get internet time. Was in Kyoto for a few days. Stayed with Stephen Richmond, a friend from Australia, and his family - wife Keiko and the extremely cute Beatrix (Bee-chan). Bee-chan is the cutest baby I've seen for a long time. Sorry you guys with babies out there, your babies have all been very cute but Bee-chan has just taken the prize.

Kyoto was my favourite city in Japan. So interesting with so much to see around every corner. People in kimonos just going about their business, I don't mean the whole city but many more than I saw in Tokyo, or Yonezawa for that matter. Also the sakuras were still in bloom when I was there. Didn't see many left in Tokyo.

And Arashiyama (an outer suburb of Kyoto), close to where I stayed with Stephen, was just a really beautiful Japanese town. Lots of tourists of course but only because it's so pretty. Getting lost in the streets there is almost a joy. There's a rippling stream, an elegant old bridge, shrines and temples nearby, sakuras colouring the nearby hills. Swallows and martins weaving about in the skies. Ducks, herons and egrets in the stream. Ahh..

Sober lesson: DO NOT lose your JR rail Pass