My first week in Kyoto

So I arrived in Kyoto almost a week ago now and to be quite frank I don't feel as though I've done a hell of a lot. I arrived last Wednesday just before 3pm and I pretty much just unpacked my stuff, got some takeout from a little shop on the corner and crashed. And even the next day I mainly spent my time in bed which, honestly, I'm not upset about. After almost 3 weeks of travelling around, exploring and not sleeping in a bed that I could call my own I was quite ready to simply recuperate.

Now though I keep thinking that I haven't done much considering I've been here for a week, that's not strictly true. I went and hired a bike (I keep saying "push-bike" but that's just confusing the locals) and went to Nijo Castle, if anyone has been following my Instagram then you probably know that I decided to start utilizing the function that my phone does of automatically creating highlight reel slideshows of photos and decided to start uploading slideshows of photos that I've taken instead of posting individual photos. I've also created a folder in my Drive account where I've been uploading all my photos from my travels. It must have damn near 300 photos now...

Anywho, I explored Nijo by myself and cycled around that part of the city, the next day I got together with Michael Moore from Chicago (whom I met at the first Airbnb meet-up) and we went first to Kinkaku-Ji (the golden pavilion) and then went to Kamigamo-ji the temple just behind my accommodation/apartment/whatever. The next day we met up and walked the bazillion stairs to get to the top of Inariyama (Mt Inari) via Fushimi Inari Taisha which was framed in a copious amount of gates, we went off the main track to admire a bamboo garden (field? forest? collection?) it was a nice walk but....stairs... so many stairs... Michael wasn't feeling too well and after the walk, I wasn't feeling that great myself when I got home so I had an early night and spent the next day in bed just to ensure that I didn't come down with anything.

I feel that the whole going out into the cold, walking around a lot/going into central heating and warming up then going back into the cold, rinse and repeat, is not wonderful for my health. I've been wearing multiple layers when going outside (mostly...) but then when I get inside I start to overheat and have to strip. Though today I was cycling around with just long pants and a t-shirt, that was comfortable until it started to drizzle.

Today I didn't do a huge amount, I cycled south to the Kitaoji Vivre department store, a relatively small department store but huge compared to anything back home. I had to go to uniqlo to get myself some new long pants, I only brought 2 pairs of pants and I must admit that I'm finding it a lot colder than originally anticipated, especially if it's snowing and windy. I went for a cycle with my jeans on but they tore, which is upsetting but they are like 8 years old so I can't really be that surprised. The shop had, as far as I could tell, a single pair of long pants that fit me (the majority of the Asian demography seem to be significantly smaller than I am) and they were a pair of jeans that have the, I think they called it, distressed look (torn....like a hobo....) so I bought a pair of faulty jeans... anywho it was necessary so I went there and then went and did some more grocery shopping. I'm to start doing actual meal prep from tomorrow onwards because I weighed myself and in the last 4 weeks I've lost 10kgs, all dem gains lost T_T so I'll start eating more and I really have to get into a working out routine.

So of the last 6 days I spent the time;
arriving,
recuperating
Nijo
Kinkaku-Ji
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Watching anime in bed
went for a cycle to the store and watched more anime.

So yea, I haven't done a huge amount but I'm enjoying my down time.
I might do a write up about the people I've met on my travels but that would take a lot more thought than this kind of recounting does so I'll leave it for another time. Now I'm going to sleep. Take care everyone.

Oh by the way, I tried to reply to a comment from Rony on one of the other posts but I never saw confirmation that my response was sent, You may end up with two responses or none idk what's going on in that regard, anywho it's cool to see you found the blog and I hope you're well.