Day 100- Big Surprise!!!

12 March

We had a super busy and exciting day planned today. First up, monkey mountain. Pretty self explanatory; on the outskirts of Kyoto there is a mountain.. with hundreds of wild monkeys. We spent over an hour just walking around amongst the adorable animals. There were loads of babies (monkeys not humans) running around and playing together. It was so much fun watching them climb up trees and falling out of trees (they’re almost as clumsy as Andy). Another slight positive of the virus is the place was quite quiet (compared to how I imagine it normally is).

We decided to feed them and the great thing about this place is to feed the monkeys, they put you in the cage rather than the other way round. It was a really great experience. As in nature there is always a leader and here was no different; with one big beasty boy apparently being chief (we named him Bruce). He was quite a bully. Andy fed a baby monkey a piece of apple and Bruce sat next to him, watching. The moment the small infant had it in his hand Bruce struck; giving the baby a huge shove, knocking him off the ledge!! It was heartbreaking and funny at the same time. The weather was amazing, especially compared to the previous day.

One of my good qualities is appreciation in the moment. We were so happy wondering around and joking together. I knew today was going to be a good day just hanging out with my bestie. You’d think spending every minute of every day with someone would be stressful and cause arguments, let alone added to the stress of traveling. Yet we haven’t had that issue at any point in the last four months (touch wood), we balance each other in any situation.

At the bottom of the mountain was a small (busy) village. Walking down towards the bamboo forest I noticed a sign for ‘Kimono Forest’ pointing down a side street. It looked just like the background of our caricature! We had to check it out! It was a walkway with plastic poles with kimono material inside made to look similar to its neighbouring bamboo forest- it looked beautiful. This area was particularly busy (well not as busy as normal I’m sure but a lot more busy than anywhere we’d been), interestingly only with Japanese. I guess all their schools and businesses closed and unable to travel why not go on holiday in your own country? We walked through the ‘forest’ and found a perfect quiet spot for a photo. There was two teenage girls taking selfies. Traveling hack- always ask people taking selfies if they want you to take a picture of them so you can ask them to return the favour for you. These Japanese girls were more than happy for me to photograph their photo shoot. They then asked if they could take a photo with us, we haven’t really had this anywhere (we expected it more in China) but we were happy to oblige. We’d wanted to find someone dressed in a kimono to take a photo with so this presented the opportunity. It was a strange experience, having a photo shoot with two Japanese teenagers!

We carried on to the bamboo forest. It was incredible how these single shoots are so strong and how they can grow so tall without snapping. It was taller than a normal forest however didn’t feel as closed in since all the shoots are so narrow you can see so far between them all. It took about an hour to walk through the forest with bamboo as far as the eye could see.

With our day planned out we looked up how to get to our next stop the Philosopher's path, we realised we were going to end up going right past Kinkaku-ji. A temple with the upper two floors entirely wrapped inside and out in gold leaf. We amended the route for the stop off here. As soon as the temple came in to view the sun hitting against the gold was almost blinding. It really did sparkle from the reflection of the water in the lake in front of it. It was spectacular and another attraction we almost had to ourselves.

During the trip we’re so busy in the day we generally just grab a small pastry for breakfast and skip lunch (means we’ve both lost weight, mini win), however it was such a hot sunny day we decided we’d treat ourselves with ice cream. Wanting to try everything we could while on this trip, we dismissed the delicious looking chocolate ice cream covered in gold flakes, and opted for the green matcha tea flavor. Unsure if it was going to be delicious or disgusting. Surprisingly it tasted like passion fruit flavour, perfect for a hot day!

Making our way late afternoon to the walk from Higashiyama Jisho-ji temple to Nanzen-ji Temple alongside a River. Apparently a tourist attraction popularised from a university professor walking this route every day (you may have expected something more noteworthy, so did we). Yet you can't deny it's beauty. It was a lovely walk and known for its colourful cherry blossom. Below is a picture of how it looks in spring...unfortunately, we’re here in winter so instead it looks like this:

There was a few craft shops along the walk we popped in to with some lovely trinkets but nothing we would be able to carry in our backpacks for four months without breaking them.

Our next stop was supposed to be the love steps. However it was now around sunset so instead we decided to make our way there tomorrow (read about that in the next entry blog). With Andy’s clumsiness it probably wasn’t a great idea to jump from one stone to another with his eyes closed anyway. Instead we looked how to get to Fushimi Inari Taisha. It seemed simple but Japanese google doesn’t tell you bus stops so we wandered around Kyoto bus station for almost an hour trying to find where it goes from (doesn’t help there is two number 5 buses), unable to read where buses are terminating etc. A minute or two before we were about to just suggest going back to the hotel and out for dinner (we were already on a tight schedule since the restaurant we wanted to go to closed at early), we finally found the right stop.

This shrine is also known as 1,000 gates (self explanatory). We walked around and under the first few Tori gates almost alone; another positive of the virus. Although I imagine it is usually quieter after after dark, we were only there with a handful of other people. We walked under the section of the first line of gates; I’m a sucker for nighttime and dim lights. I love fairy lights, candles, flying at nighttime and seeing city lights twinkling below. It seems so magical and peaceful. This was no exception. It was lit up by just a few spotlights every ten or so Tori's, it was beautiful, a very romantic walk.

I tried to get a photo of the gates we’d just walked through as each one had inscriptions on, it was so atmospheric with nobody around. Turning to continue walking confusion hit me... how has Andy fallen over (and strangely quietly)?!? Remember above, I was saying about how clumsy he was. It took me a second to realise he hadn’t fallen over, he was on one knee... with a box in his hand. After a short speech and question we were both in tears and I had a new ring on my finger!!!!!

We had been having such an incredible day and this was the cherry on the cake. I had not remotely seen it coming, how had he been carrying that ring around all day and I hadn’t noticed? Turns out there had been four previous occasion the ring had been taken out but the day hadn’t gone to plan (I’ll let Stew tell you about the times I’d obliviously ruined his plan to propose throughout this trip). The last four years have been such an incredible adventure together, feels like we’ve known each other for a life time already. It was such a perfect moment for us both. Overwhelmed, excited and so wholesomely happy is just the start of the emotions coursing through my body in that moment. Adding an extra special touch to this amazing trip we’re on and although Japan is already our favourite place so far it just cements it as our favourite place. From the moment we met we just work, we make sense, we just fit together. We understand each other and encourage each other’s weirdness. <nerdy computer game bleeping> Level Up!

We were so giddy, neither of us really paid any attention to our surroundings for the remainder of the walk. We even left the shrine and just walked down the street before we realised we had no idea where we were going and didn’t know the way back. We decided to get dressed up for dinner and have a little celebration. Worried the restaurant would be full or deny entry since it was only 40 minutes before closing. We arrived to a completely empty restaurant! We sat down and ordered our ramen (another Japanese dish we were yet to try here) and everything else on the menu too. Before our dinner was served, we were handed paper aprons- only Stew and I could get dressed up for dinner then end up covering up and eating in paper napkins! Since the restaurant was empty we basically had an personal chef. He bought over the two bows of ramen, explained some health and saftey rules and then poured a pan of fire in to the ramen, shooting flames about two foot high, right infront of us. It was definitely an experience. Luckily the chef nor waitress seemed to mind that at 10 o clock we were still eating and chatting even though it was there home time.

We decided to walk the 25 minutes back to the hotel rather than get the bus. We were both so stuffed from all the food we thought a walk might help. I started the day a girlfriend and have ended up a fiancé! Seems so grown up!

Andy's Input
Although Iz wanted to write this blog entry I couldn't let it be uploaded without a little input from me. I've known for a long time that this girl is the one for me. She is beautiful, kind, crazy and competes me! Despite our little frustrations and odd little downs like every couple we really are best friends and whenever I picture the future she is the one person I always see by my side. These last 4 years have been the best of my life and that is all down to Izzy, the experiences we have had and the friends/family around us. I'm writing this with a huge smile on my face as I sit across from the woman that has agreed to be my wife and I can't wait! Anyone that knows me well will know I'm a hopeless romantic and although our story hasn't followed the usual Disney storyline, I do feel like I'm in a fairytale.

I've known for a long time that I wanted to propose to Izzy and knowing our big trip was coming up, seemed perfect timing with so many unique and beautiful settings to choose from. I had asked her parents nervously before coming on this trip for their blessing and had always planned to ask her somewhere. Although, uncharacteristically for me, I purposefully didn't plan where. As I wanted it to be in the moment and I didn't want to get too worked up over it. However this has therefore meant hiding the token ring (I didn't want to get the real thing out of fear of loss in some form) for 3.5 months in a bag that Izzy goes in and repacks everyday. It also meant that I had to be prepared should the optimum moment present itself. As Izzy references this means taking it out on a number of previous occasions only for the weather, the crowds, or just the fact Izzy would rather stay in bed instead of a 30 minute bike ride in -5 degrees to watch the sunrise over Mount Fuji to scupper it.

Today however I knew it was going to be a good day. And although not everything went to plan it was! And if only one good thing came out of the Corona Virus for us it is that we got to experience a hugely popular tourist destination with hardly any people (I say this as we sit in a hotel waiting to call our insurance to curtail our trip). It was exactly how I imagined it to be and more... I just wish I picked somewhere easier to pronounce (Fushimi Inari Taisha)!