travelling allrite

I was tired and I was terrified. This was supposed to be our last day in Japan, we would fly back in the evening for Australia. But we had a transit in Cairns and category 5 Cyclone Ita was bearing down on the city. Being on the edge of Typhoon Fitow on the flight up to Osaka in October last year was scary enough, but the thought of being tossed around as we descended into Cairns was more than I could handle. I checked the Jetstar website the night before, I checked first thing in the morning. No cancellations listed. I went to check my booking online. Choose another flight. Yes! Desperate as I was to see B and Alex again, I wanted to stay out of the storm. Flight options were displayed, but... Mum was on another booking and she was asleep. Fortunately, the Jetstar call centre is contactable on standard Skype, so I wasn't faced with a huge phone bill. Answer on the first ring. Surprised! Yes the flight had been suspended. But I needed Mum to wake up to change fligh...

The one place my Mum insisted on visiting were the bamboo forests in Arashiyama, Kyoto. I had to keep correcting her on the pronunciation of Kyoto: K'yo-to, not Ky-o-to (actually the proper pronunciation is with a longer "ou" sound, but then it would look even more confusing). Unfortunately, accommodation in Kyoto was heavily booked or expensive, so we ended up staying in Osaka, half an hour away. There were a couple of options to Arashiyama from our area, the Hankyu private line or JR. Having a JR Pass made the decision easy and we caught a train to Kyoto station, then changed to another train to Saga Arashiyama. Having just visited the area in October last year and about four years before that I was not in a loitering or deep exploration mode. Sure there are many other temples and sights to explore in the region, but I had a list of things to show Mum and only a limited time to see them. We began at the Tenryu-ji Zen temple, which is also the entrance to the fa...