SOCIAL MEDIA

5.19.2014

Japan Adventures // Arashiyama Bamboo Forest


Hi all! I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Today I am back to share another piece of our journey through Japan, starting with our visit to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto. Earlier on this particular day, we had visited a temple in the area and had to walk a nice, long up-hill distance in the heat to get there, so by the time we made it to Arashiyama and saw a bike rental shop, we were sold.
When we first rode off from the rental shop, bikes seemed to be the greatest idea in the world. Once we entered the forest, however, they seemed like a cruel joke. Because the forest was so very crowded in most parts (definitely more crowded than the photo above), we ended up having to walk our bikes through the majority of it. All was redeemed though since the forest was beautiful and majestic, and because there were plenty of opportunities to ride our bikes once we exited.
The road through the forest was so very narrow that I couldn't believe that multiple taxis were attempting to drive passengers down it, despite the pedestrians trying to enjoy the path. Not the place for this!
I'd like to note that I think Dai is adorable on a bike :)
Once we had our fill of bamboo, we stopped along the river to people watch and have some refreshments. I can legally drink in Japan, so we had a little fun experimenting with that ;)
The view from a bridge we rode over. The bank across the water is where we relaxed and enjoyed the view of the river :)

We had a full, busy day in Kyoto, but I'm glad we made it here and decided to rent bikes for our adventure :) People in Japan ride bikes everywhere, and I wanted to join in on the fun! It is a good thing we decided to do that here in this quiet place though because in some areas it is scary to ride on the street next to the cars!

Have you heard of Arashiyama? I hope you're enjoying seeing bits of our trip so far!



Z K said...

The forest looks so beautiful! I love the idea of riding bikes through all those tall trees :]]]

Danica Pardini said...

I laughed out loud after the cruel joke comment. Renting bikes always seems like a good idea, but I guess you never know sometimes when you're traveling what will work or not work. The bikes made for good pictures though!

Jess // Foreign Room said...

It was definitely a lovely experience and I highly recommend it :)

Jess // Foreign Room said...

True! I was happy just to have them for fun photos haha

Jess // Foreign Room said...

Thanks! He does a pretty good job of picking out his own outfits (with maybe just a liiiiitle guidance sometimes ;) ). Now if only I could convince him to do a his + hers outfit post haha that would never happen.