Wednesday 5 May 2010

Japan Trip Day 8 - Botanical Gardens


Day 8
Getting lost on the way to what i thought was the Kyoto Botanical Gardens I went to visit the Nishi Temple and the ornate Karamon gate instead. Not one to give in I finally found a park on the map - a fairly neglected public park with an enclosed bit in the middle that cost 200 Yen to get in (about £1.60).


No kidding, i was the only visitor in the park - wandering around in the pouring rain looking at plants trying to avoid the freaky feral cats that kept growling at me. There were weird birds calling in the trees, but i couldn't see them and steam trains hooting nearby. An altogether strange place to venture. I collected dandelion leaves from near the sign post to the entrance of the park and left.


On getting back and looking in my guide book I since discovered I was in totally the wrong area of Kyoto to find the botanical gardens and was instead at a funny little park called Umekoji-koen!

I caught the train to Tokyo and then got the NEX to the airport where I was staying overnight. The original plan was to meet up in the late afternoon with a couple of friends (actually the friends of the ex-girlfriend of my house mates brother) but because of the Icelandic volcano travel trouble I decided to go straight to the airport and arrived there by 6pm.

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