kyoto

The other side to Japan is a fairly obvious one:

Zen.

Real zen gardens, involving rakes and gravel, thousands of ancient trees all topiaried to perfection, temples.

Kyoto is the environmental poster boy for the rest of the world. (No seriously, it was, at one stage.) As  you can probably imagine, it has loads of forest, Japanese gardens everywhere and temples.

It's literally the opposite of what Tokyo is; no neon, think leaves. It's beautiful, and a completely ridiculously lovely place to get proposed to.

They say once you go to one temple you've seen them all. Well to be honest, I'd just been proposed to, so I could;ve seen anything in Kyoto and fallen in love with it. ("I saw this amazing dumpster in a dark alley at the back of the hotel. Beautiful. A really stunning dumpster.")

In Kyoto, sadly once you've seen one temple, you want to see them all. Which leaves little time for chilling by the hotel pool reading the latest Company.

Why?

Well you get brown ones (traditionally most are just plain wood - it's meant to be humble and zenny...)

You get red ones...

You get golden ones one big motherbitch of a golden one:

 

You get tall ones...

 

It's a beautiful place. Where most of the Japanese, at some time in their lives, head to find out more about their culture. It's where it all happens. There are areas of the city where Geishas walk around, stopping in at the supermarket, or for pictures.

It's cleaner than any city I've experienced. And gettign proposed to there seemed like the most perfect place in the world. So perfect, that I probably won't need to travel in a little while.

Can you believe it? This engagement and going to Japan seems to have finally scartched an itch I've been banging on with for years and years and years now. Perhaps I'll never reach my full 100 country list before I die.

But I've been to Japan and have the love of a good man. 

I'm just so happy I've been able to do all of these things before I really settle down (and our cashflow goes straight into the wedding...and the bathroom...and and and...)