Breakfast still came with meat, but no fish. The bread, yogurt and quiche were very nice though and just enough.

Unfortunately there was no opportunity to slip in a black egg for Brigitte. She really doesn’t want to eat it🤢

It’s a bit like trying to get a child to take it’s medicine. I can’t ever bribe her with sweets as she doesn’t eat them.

I wasn’t feeling 100% myself this morning so I decided to take the plunge and eat an egg to top me up for another seven years. I’d have kicked myself if today was my day to leave this world and I left with an unused seven-year eggy extension in my bag.

I tentatively peeled it not knowing what to expect. Would it be black inside as well? Would it stink of sulphur? Would a small but perfectly formed Japanese dragon burst from the shell, bow respectfully and politely ask how I would like my egg cooking?

I gently peeled back the ebony shell. Piece by piece the small calcified shards fell away to reveal…

…an egg. Just an ordinary egg. So disappointing 😩, yet so edible for breakfast.

I’m not sure if I should eat another one straight away to gain 14 years? Maybe they work in series rather than in parallel? It’s only now that I’m regretting all the questions that I should have asked at the point of sale.

It was an early start today to get to the bamboo forest in order to we miss the crowds

Unfortunately we got the wrong train, had to detour and, of course, hit the crowds.

Everywhere we have been has been extremely crowded which may not be obvious from the photos. Of course, there’s nothing we can do about it. Everywhere is just so popular, but it must’ve been an even more amazing experience before all us tourists arrived.

We finally arrived at the the bamboo forest which is a forest made entirely from……..well, you’ve guessed it already haven’t you?

It’s a strange sight as the bamboo has no foliage until 10 metres up so it’s like looking through wooden stakes which I suppose it is. Bamboo is a major produce and raw material here and so many things you see here are made of raw bamboo. Gates, fences, it’s so versatile they even use it instead of wood to make their forest. So clever 🤷🏽‍♂️

It’s also the fastest-growing plant on the planet, up to 80cm per day – that’s 150mm per hour so you can sit and watch it growing!!

While we were in the forest we visited the Tenru ji Temple. We’ve been here a week and I have no adjectives or superlatives left to describe the beauty of the things we see here every day. The whole country is just aesthetically pleasing. Here’s some pix of the temple and its gardens.

Here’s a random cute dog picture for those who like that sort of thing.

We then took a trip across town to have lunch in Nishiki market. Again, just incredible (and strange) food displays..

Although the Japanese invented Jenga they keep the more complex variations for their home market.

We had street food in the market for lunch then stopped at a dumpling bar for main course. The only reason I’m mentioning it was to show you their toilet…

It has mood lighting!!

More things you only find in Japan…

Then it was on to the Samurai and Ninja museum where we learned the history of the Samurai and Ninjas, saw some ancient armour and weapons, and became fully trained in the use of Ninja throwing stars and Katana (Samurai swords)

On the way out we needed to use the bathroom so in we went, only to find a toilet with a built-in sink on top of the cistern.

This place is ridiculous!

And just when I’d convinced myself it just couldn’t get any more ridiculous, we came across this….

Then it was a zigzag across town to see the Golden pavilion, a giant pavilion which is….golden – of course.

It’s a stunning building in equally stunning grounds. It is adorned with 400kg of gold leaf. If only they’d planned ahead and bought 600kg they could have covered the whole thing but hindsight is always a wonderful thing.

I think Brigitte and I have probably reached peak temple.

After the pavilion we zag-zigged to the the Camelia house where we were instructed by Norie in the art of the Japanese tea ceremony. A Zen tradition in Japan dating back hundreds of years. The ceremony is an hour long and it takes 15 minutes just to brew the tea, as her intricate ceremonies dictate so many movements and nuances. For example, each tea bowl has a side where the painted pattern is especially ornate and this is to be placed facing you so you enjoy its beauty. Before you drink, however, you rotate the bowl two quarter turns anticlockwise, so as not to dirty the ornate side of the cup. Once you finish the tea, you rotate it back two quarter turns clockwise and enjoy the beauty of the craftsman’s work again.

There’s so many rituals involved that Norie has been learning thee ceremony for 20 years and is still perfecting it.

To be fair, I still have trouble with some teabags.

Toilet talk…

Last night at the restaurant we met a family of clean-bottomed Americans. I say this because we soon got talking about Japanese toilets and they were not only extremely well-versed in all aspects of Nippon toilet-tech, but it turned out that they had them installed throughout their home in California.

Even more exciting is the fact that we learned that you don’t have to change your whole toilet, it’s just the seat, and they are readily available. I’m sure that many of you, having been following this blog, will be desperate for your own, so that you too can have bottoms as clean as ours.

Well, now you can, no more spotless bottom envy, just go to Amazon and search for ‘Toto Washlet toilet’. It will definitely be my first purchase when we get home. We’re here for another week so you could have yours before we even get back!

Must remember # 3.

Never pass food between one persons chopsticks to anothers. It is a huge no-no. It’s possibly the worst transgression you can do when using chopsticks in Japan.

At Japanese funerals, the deceased person’s bones are passed between people with chopsticks. When you pass food between chopsticks, it reminds people of this.  

Very early morning start tomorrow as we head off for a long day in Hiroshima.

21:25 – 13th May – Kyoto