I’ll not make you wait, today I was cycling Kamogawa and I saw a woman walking her pet pig. It was adorable, grunting away and rooting around. Man I want a pig now.

 

Prior to today I visited Murin-an, a gorgeous house and garden built and designed by political and military leader Yamagata Aritomo in 1890’s.

Now open to the public and you can even have some matcha and a sweet. Great way to spend the hottest (39C) day.

 

Now to cover a bit of the nightlife area, between Sanjo and Gion.

This place is great for finding cheap places to eat and a lot of bars are jammed in here.

There’s a good variety of bars and a few international ones so if you wanna meet English speaking people it’s incredibly easy. I’ve met a lot of interesting folks from all over the globe this way.

I went to a great izakaya that served mainly seafood. It was seriously delicious and a bargain for the quality. I imagine the same in Britain would have been upwards of £25 per person but I paid about £12 for a filling meal including a bottle of sake.

Another great thing about this area is you see quite a few people walking around in traditional kimono and yukata. The couples look adorable together! I never saw couples dressed like this in Tokyo but you’d see the odd girl.

If anyone watches the anime K-on! they might recognise this:

I went to the school that was used as the location in K-on! and I gotta say, it’s a little surreal being in the real world version of an anime you’ve watched. (I recommend it, very slice-of-life and easy to enjoy)

There was also a matsuri going on which was good fun. A lot of delicious food too.

And one of my favourite parts of the trip so far, cycling! Kyoto is a cyclists heaven. It’s so safe here and the whole city is basically flat.

Kyoto is a city but it’s also small enough that you can leave if you feel like it. I decided I’d cycle to the mountains and it was so relaxing. I did get rained on a bit and had to shelter under a tree for a while though. It dried up and I took advantage of the seats you find dotted across the Kamogawa. Some shaped like giant turtles and others are like boats.

Oh and I watched some tv.