Part #3: Bamboos Galore!

Part #1: How I Quietly Fell in Love with Japan
Part #2: Getting Around Kyoto

My first morning in Kyoto, I headed west to the other side of Kyoto. Arashiyama refers to a district on the western outskirts of Kyoto, but to tourists, it refers specifically to the famous and beautiful bamboo forest in the district by the same name. That is what I wanted to see.

As I made my way to Arashiyama, I stumbled upon another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Tenry-ji Temple and the surrounding gardens. I wasn’t going to enter, but then I saw a pretty flower, and then a pretty tree, and then a cool Japanese gate, and the next thing you know, I’m deep in the gardens snapping away.

The aforementioned cool gate!

I caught the tail end of Kyoto’s fall foliage season, and jumped for joy every time I caught sight of red and yellow leaves.

I’m a little bit obsessed with Japanese trees. There is an elegance in their disjointed limbs. If only there was an elegance in my disjointed limbs.

Why don’t we have gardens like this in the U.S.?

Finally, I made my way to Arashiyama. The good news is that the bamboo forest lives up to the imagination. The bad news is that a lot of tourists want to see it too. If you want to take pictures without pesky tourists showing up your shot, you may need to go early in the morning. Or you can just use your telekinesis super power to move them out of the way.