The plan this morning was to head to the Fushimi Inari shrine to see the 10,000 torii gates just south of Kyoto. We got up at 6am hoping to beat the crowds to get some pics without bumping into people but along the way we went to the wrong subway station, got on the wrong train which missed our stop, then had to back track on another train. We probably used up an extra 45 min trying to get to Ryukokudai-mae-fukakusa Station. Fortunately we saw other tourists with the same problems as us so it definitely wasn’t my poor navigation skills.

Yesterday was our first full day in Kyoto. After a few days in Yakushima where we had a few chill out days we were ready and rested for more sightseeing. First place to check out with Nishiki Market, which has a history of 400 years of being “Kyoto’s Kitchen”.

Saturday meant it was time for us to leave Yakushima Island and continue moving on with our trip. Naturally, it was beautiful and warm outside. Just in time for us to head out. I guess it’s better that we have nice weather to leave on the ferry otherwise we’d be stuck indoors again with heavy rains. We had our last breakfast with our new friends Matt and Julie overlooking this gorgeous mountain view.

I woke up this morning to heavy rain pelting the windows. Guess yesterday’s question of “are we going hiking today?” was answered. As I got ready for the day, the rain would stop and switch to mist which raised my hopes but then the mist turned back into sideways rain again within a few minutes.

When planning this week, I had intended on leaving the day after our long hike with a chill out day as I knew we’d be sore and immobile due to our old age of 35. Even if we wanted to go out and explore the island, Typhoon Marwar decided for us that it was not the day to do so.