Kyoto shopping & hiking

So far, the majority of my time in Kyoto has been spent doing cultural things, like visiting temples. This weekend I finally got to explore the other things Kyoto has to offer. I met up with the family on Friday night, but it was too late to do anything. Luckily I had also met up with them in Nara the previous night, so I got to hear all about their Tokyo adventures over dinner. On Saturday morning, we managed to fit in a little bit of shopping at the station before they left. I spent the rest of the day shopping in Kyoto station - there are so many stores within the station, it's crazy! I think I had just as much fun looking at all the sales girls as I did shopping. They all have hair dyed light brown/blond, lots of make up, crazy clothes, and very tall shoes (and even then, I think I'm still taller than many of them hehe).

On Sunday, I went hiking at Hirasan, which is north of Kyoto. I've never done any kind of hiking like this before. We walked upstream through the river the entire way - wading through the water, swimming past the deep parts, and even doing some mini-rock climbing :) Two of my friends got leeches, but they come off as soon as you sprinkle salt on them. At the end of the hike, there was a waterfall that we could swim to.

Picture from my labmate, Yu

After the hike, we went to a sento to wash up and relax (a type of Japanese communal bath, but not an onsens because it doesn't use water from natural hot springs).