The next day was pretty full on with decent stops for lunch and dinner. Arriving at Arashiyama it was heaving with tourists as there were multiple sites

The floods of visitors were pretty full on due to the various points of interest in the area.

The bamboo groves were impressive for their stature. Appear to tower higher than a 5 storey block of flats with a gradient shade of green from top to bottom. I sat patiently for about 30minutes to try and get a clear shot, but unfortunately was impossible in such a short run.

So there were certainly a lot of bamboo, but not enough to set up scaffolding like on some of the huge buildings in HK. I was pre warned by others that they were a bit underwhelmed, but given I was prepared, I was able to appreciate it for what it was. In short its not that large an area. Probably a few hundred meters of path that walk through it. Surely there must be bigger ones else where? China surely.

The Monkey Park a short walk away provided an alternative side activity. The monkeys were all bred there and the keepers seemed to know each one by name. The park itself was at the summit of a hill which was a good 15 minute trek up the path. You start to see a couple towards the top, but once you get to the rest house you see the whole clan. It was nice to see the monkeys play around in freedom.

However the keepers did chase some of the trouble makers away to avoid larger fights. Some battle scars were apparent and some had even lost one of the eyes.

Maybe later in life the play turns a little more serious. You were able to get close and feed the monkeys from inside the meshed windowed rest house for $1. Infants would come and try get some food, but if you weren’t careful the elder ones would give them a bit of a smack and steal the food. Often followed by the alpha stamping his authority on the offending abusive monkey which was kind of nice to see. I applied some simple diversion tactics if any little ones crept up and fed the larger monkey while backhanding some nuts to the little ones who would then scamper off before anyone try to steal their spoils.

Heading up a few steps from the rest house gave amazing views of Kyoto in the company of more monkeys grooming each other in the spring sunshine.

Lunch by the river near the bottom of the monkey park entrance was a random choice, but was a stunning setting. It was set surrounded by sakura trees overlooking the river. I’m fairly certain in full bloom it would be near enough impossible to get a table without booking.

The room was a large tatami mat room with about 12-15 tables and with beautifully carved sakura trees in the wooden frames that divided the main room from the rest of the building.

The set meal was an incredible balance of lots of small dishes.

Blanched bamboo shoots and wrapped tofu skin accompanied some delicately grilled beef & grated cheese, garnished with a couple flower root pieces.

Some of the lovely soft textured tofu skin in a slightly sweet and savoury sauce and a touch of wasabi. Mochi balls, Japanese rolled omelette, smoked duck, fugu sushi, lotus root and black cod took your mouth through a roller coaster of taste and textures.

Standard bowl of gohan (rice) with spiced little fishies made it pretty easy to eat this in isolation.

The softest tofu I’ve ever tasted was warmed in a water bath which is lit on serving of the meal. Accompanied with shoyu and your desired amount of nevi (onion), ginger and katsuo bushi (fish flakes).

A very delicate side dish of skushi (pine cone looking nut), goji berry and spinach greens on tofu with some very young wasabi.

Another tofu dish with a gel which had a suspended shiso no hana (flower from the shiso leaf.

Walking back to the station there was a small shop which sold kimonos and there was a master artist painting the detail on a order which looked incredible. was interesting to see the rig set up which allowed him to paint one colour at a time and dry the various overlapping sections.

Kiyomizudera Temple – I hadn’t contemplated such a trek to get here. The single carriage tram and a local train to Gion seemed to be the quickest route, but there was still a fair amount of walking required. The walk was through some lovely small streets of traditional looking buildings except most of them were souvenir or food shops. Managed to bum into some girls dressed as Geishas taking some photos. Some middle aged women seemed to be going crazy taking photos of them dominating the best photo positions. After my 2 days of sitting waiting for the perfect shot I was starting to get impatient and then it dawned on me. These girls had paid to dress up a geisha and the women dominating the photo taking were probably the dearest mothers. Oooops

The temple itself was incredibly detailed with a whole section on shrines dedicated to find happiness in love

The main temple was raised and supported on the open face side the equivalent of 7 stories. It is traditional to cleanse yourself in a ritual of washing hands and mouth prior to entering the temple to pray. Normally this is with a bamboo ladle and trough of water but this one the water source from above and the ladles were all returned into a UV chamber for cleaning prior to the next person using.

Sunset in the higher setting of the temple was a fitting end to what was a long the day.

However that wasn’t the end of the evening. Kiln was recommended to me by Rochi, a friend in Tokyo and it did not disappoint. A hipster/artisan feel to the place was calm and warming. A huge wooden table dominated the main floor with a segment cut out for the uber hip barman / waiter with accompanying ponytail. As each individual drink was ordered he would sit down and make each order with the utmost clinical precision. Quite the theatrical experience.

A warm home made soda bread was a lovely reminder of dining back in London served with butter and a surprising, but great cumin flavoured humous.

Masayo San the head chef was young and obviously passionate about the food and the whole end to end experience. She personally replied to all my email enquires and was extremely accommodating and welcoming.

Fugu (blowfish) capriccio to start was well seasoned with a quality olive oil and dill combined with a citric sharpness .

The fried kawachi duck was very interesting. It was encased in a hard spice crust which on biting released sweet clove and light cinnamon flavours type aromas that almost smelt of Christmas. It was a nice sensation to bite through the caramel toned crunchy crust which kept all the duck flavours sealed and moist.

The duck pasta on the menu was off for the day so I asked them to make me an alternative meaty alternative. The chef rustled up a rich tomato pancetta pasta garnished with cheese. The orchiette was perfectly cooked to form that perfect bite with the rich oily tomato sauce.

The homemade spinach and rosemary scialatielli was a pleasantly interesting combination with incredible tender baby quid. I later learn that baby squid is only seasonally available in March and April.

A great recommendation and I pass on this recommendation on to you dear readers.