keep myself tethered to the days i tried to lose

Left Tokyo this morning and headed towards Kyoto on the shinkansen - very exciting! Checked into my hostel in the middle of Gion and headed to Fushimi-Inari, famous for its thousands of vermillion gates.

One of the things I love about travelling is the people you meet; regardless of whether you like them or not, they just make you think, don't they? Like the annoying French guy in the hostel last night in Asakusa, the lovely Japanese woman who introduced me to the awesomeness of self-service soba restaurants with vending machines and the coolest German couple I met during dinner tonight. They were old enough to be my parents, but as I was seated next to them at the counter, it was only natural that we started chatting. They were really inspirational people; the woman in particular had travelled all over India and had then passed on the 'bug' to the rest of her family. I had a really, really nice chat with them that left me feeling really positive about my life. If I can be as cool as them when I'm their age, I'll be a happy person.