Kyoto is the world’s stereotypical image of Japan – from traditional temples and shinto shrines to geisha and Gion, but it is also a lot more than that. Check out Adrian Seah’s 14 views of Kyoto, Japan on Handcarry Only.
We were spending the day in Arashiyama, on the western outskirts of Kyoto. With a liberal scattering of traditional Japanese shinto temples and shrines along the mountainside, each ridiculously picturesque and expansive, it was little wonder that we weren’t the only ones there.
It was over a decade ago that I had last been to Kyoto, Japan and the only memory I had of the place was an onigiri (rice ball wrapped in seaweed) that I bought from a 7-11 store and bits of the Nijo-jo, a wooden castle in the centre of the city. Suffice to say, there was a lot of the city I did not see the first time round. Fast forward a good 14 years and I find myself fresh off the plane and on the streets on Kyoto once again.
Roughly ten months ago, we embarked on this round the world journey. I had left my job to take off on this trip, this flight of fancy, travelling Africa and South America, not quite sure of what to expect but certain that the sudden plunge into uncertainty would beat the dreary routine that had been gnawing away at me for a while.