Kyoto, Nara and Mt Fuji

Well well Japan is strange, I have noticed a couple of things about it. 1) Everyone seems to be in a rush despite the fact that if they do miss the train/bus/whatever there will be another one along in about 3minutes, thats 3 minutes exactly not 20mins later, (to be honest not even 3 and a half minutes later) b) They are even quieter than in say London and you could talk as their trains are quiet and smooth and quick which is a bit of a novelty. iii) Although everyone here (I mean everyone, including the grannies) has a mobile it is considered rude to have it on, and there are signs everywhere reminding you of the fact so no annoying ringtones it`s bliss!!

Well I have been around the place and stayed in Kyoto and also visited Nara and seen my fair share of Buddhist temples many of which are impressive (in size, and in the fact that most of the buildings are made of wood and have all burned down at least twice - you think that they`d learn really) It`s just that they are getting a little samey now if you know what I mean. It`s funny how many people go to them though as they are all packed even on week days, and mostly 90% up are Japanese.

Then on the shinkansen back to Tokyo I was discussing going to Mt Fuji the following week with Toshiko and Mikio and so Toshiko rang her sister and we got off the train early and her sister met us at Fuji. Turns out she`s marreid to some buddhist monk type dude and they have a massive house with en-suite temple which was a lot more impressive than the ones that we went to see with the guide books and all.
They have a proper massive house too with all the sliding doors and paper walls that you could want with low tables and daughters to wait on us hand and foot. Was proper Bo and felt very special - I even got to ring their big bell outside. Another thing that I have noticed in the buildings I have been in is that it is very cold - colder inside than outside - odd. Anyway sorry for random thought. Good job that they give you slippers to wear really, even if they are too small!
They then took me to a very pretty waterfall, shiraito, I think it was called. Then drove up Mt. Fuji, well as far as we could go as they only clear the roads so far up it. It is so cool - snow, proper snow all over the place - I love the snow it`s ace. Wish we could have gone up further - it dropped from 9 degrees to 2 in the bit that we drove up. Oh yeah and that reminds me - how much do buddhist priest monks get paid??? I should think about that - big house/temple 3 cars thats right 3, one of which was a Subaru Forrester and another was a Nissen Skyline!! Was ver` ver` nice ;-)

Anyway, back now in Tokyo, thinking that the next few days will be spend exploring Tokyo and we`ll see what happens after that.