Me Ol' Bamboo

Today didn't quite go as planned... originally it should have been straight off to Kobe, but last night we decided we'd like to see The Bamboo Forest on the outskirts of Kyoto... which was just a train ride away.

However, our walk to the station took us past the Higashi Hongan-ji Temple, which was actually just beside our hotel and is one of the largest wooden buildings in the world. Photography inside the temples is prohibited, but you take your shoes off to walk around, often while people are praying. We'll need to get some books of the temples, because they are just astonishing inside - extra 3.

Anyway, off schedule already, we dashed down to Kyoto Station for the train, then finally discovered the station entrance hall. Oh my giddy aunt... what a building... new and modern. Extras 3 and 4 show the hall, which has escalator after escalator taking you up each side, and above in the roof there is a walkway joining each side. Underneath all the steps there are posh department stores and below it all are malls and then the station. So... another 90 mins spent off schedule.

Finally we boarded the busy commuter train to Arashiyama and a walk to the bamboo, main blip and extra 1. It was a pleasant walk out of the sun and some of the views were lovely. Instead of returning to Kyoto we took the train up thought a winding valley to Kameoka, which proved worthwhile as again there were lovely views of the river below. Finally we returned to get our bags, via a quick fresh pancake, banana and cream stop (oof) and attempted to board our Kobe train.

This is when our schedule really started to go down the pan... we were told it would be quicker to go JR Rail rather than Shinkansen (bullet train) but didn't pick up the reason, so we dashed to that platform with minutes to spare and boarded the very busy train - it was 4.45pm. On a funny note, there was a wee Japanese boy sitting with his mum, looking out the window singing Happy Birthday To You, then with a Japanese name. We got off at Shin-Osaka (Shin being a Shinkansen station) and then found chaos... delays on them everywhere... we only had a rolling notice board to follow, but it went from a physical injury on a train, to a passenger injury, to a collision with a car and on the loud speaker, a death of a colleague. Not sure we'll ever know but it resulted in train after train being delayed or cancelled, but finally we got on a train almost 3 hours later than we should have... for a 20 minute journey...

Earlier in the day, I had probably jinxed us...I asked my family if they could name one thing wrong with Japan so far... and we had nothing to say! Well I found something during the delays... they list the trains due, and their original departure time, but not an updated expected departure time. So we had a 16:04 train listed with no idea when it would turn up. I really don't understand why they can't list the expected time? Even Scotrail does that... I'll look for a customer feedback form tomorrow.

Anyway we're in Kobe, need to speed tourist tomorrow to catch up.