May 3, 2016
I have always heard about the bamboo grooves in Kyoto but, to my shame, never went there until now. I went there with my speaking partner, q couple of her friends and a couple of mine. By the way, Kansai Gaidai offers the Speaking Partner program where exchange students get paired up with local Japanese students for language exchange, and basically just to hang out. It is a nice way to learn more about Japanese culture and student life and I highly encourage it!
Now back to the bamboo forest. There are a number of stops that you could choose to get there, each fairly close by to the groves. However, we picked Siga-Arashiyama as our arrival stop because of its proximity to the bamboo forest/groves.
Once we got there, we decide to have lunch but since it was Golden Week, a few days where basically the entire island of Japan gets a vacation, most of the food places were crowded so we ate at a street vendor.
I ordered some Yakisoba, but I have mixed feelings about it. Anyway, the bamboo forest was close by and I forgot about it soon enough.
The moment I stepped into the bamboo groves, the peaceful feeling g that filled up my heart was amazing. Long, thick, bamboos that were hundreds of years old surrounds you as you trail along a path about 1km long. Of course, you do not actually get to get in the forest since it is preserved but nevertheless there were a couple of places to touch the bamboo and make some snaps. In short, I felt like a loose Panda in a heavenly place.
Next to the forest was the bridge where one could sit by the banks and listen to the rustle of the water as it flowed through and over the small dams. I took out my mini-harmonica and jammed my heart out a bit because I had to!
My speaking partner and her girl friends left after a bit, but the guys that were left were determined to ascend the Monkey Temple mountain. Of course, as stupid tourists we decided to take a detour from somewhere where we should not have been. The climb up was challenging – we came across dead ends that we decided to climb anyways up the nets that were, we realized later, were supposed to stop loose rocks. We were all alive but still not at the Monkey temple so we decided to go back.
The end of the day was rainy but we met up with some other friends and went to a shisha bar close to the Sanjo station. A day well spent!