Blarg! Another two weeks without a post! Again, all I can really say is it's coming... probably... eventually... My schedule for the rest of the year is quickly filling up and I'm not too sure how much time I'll actually have to write. Rest assured, however, that in whatever spare moment I may have, I'll post something. 'Til then...

Changes in leaf color, plans, season.

Alright, before I'm a full three weeks behind I really should really post some content, shouldn't I.

Starting where I left off, I was all set to travel to Japan's holiest mountain, Koya-san. Unfortunately, Monday night, my travel buddy bailed on me with some lame excuse about applying to graduate schools. Bah! Future planning and higher education my foot! (Please read as a tongue-in-cheek comment.) Luckily, I had also been invited to go to Arashiyama (Western Kyoto) to see the Autumn leaves with some co-workers the next day.

A group of 6 of us met up in Osaka and rode the train out to Kyoto together. The main trip coordinator was prepared enough to have brought maps and had some idea where we were going. Even so, and you know my opinion about Japanese maps, we still got a little lost. Our first stop was a bit of a funny mistake actually. We were looking for the temple with the "hundreds" of stone jizo (little Buddha statues) and found the one with "thousands" of stone jizo.

The main courtyard at Nenbutsu-ji.
(The grey stones are representations of the Buddha.)

All of these jizo were buried by a devoted monk, as a sign of devotion, several hundred years ago...
just to be dug up again and placed here.

Although it wasn't exactly what we were looking for, the leaves were particularly beautiful here.

The stupa (Buddhist mound) and fall leaves at Nenbutsu-ji.

The bamboo grove at Nenbutsu-ji.

Moving on, we asked directions to the temple we were actually looking for (turns out it was just a bit up the road.) After a brief walk we arrived at Otaginenbutsu-ji: home to hundreds of moss covered, sometimes funny looking, jizo statues.

Look closely, can you see the Kendo player? or the guitar player?
(I took more pictures (these things were hilarious), but the light balance came out funny.)

Looking down on some of the jizo (there were a lot more up the hill.)
(One more photo on my Flickr account.)

After taking as many pictures of funny looking Buddha statues we could, we departed to meet up with the 7th group member and, perhaps, to find some lunch. In lieu of lunch we ended up stopping at a small shop and buying yaki-imo (steamed sweet potato.) Our next stop was yet another temple known for it's beautiful fall leaves (really, every temple in Arashiyama is known for the same thing.)

We were trying to get a picture of this gate but people kept posing in it, checking their phone messages in it, standing around for no reason in it. We finally has one of our group go and pose there so people would get the idea of what we wanted to do.

Lastly, after a brief stop for ice cream, we all went to a foot bath. Foot baths in Japan are generally run by hot springs (usually as a free service) and are more-or-less what they sound like... a pool of ankle deep water, surrounded by benches, in which to soak your feet. After a long day of hiking it felt marvelous.

A parting shot of the Autumn leaves in Arashiyama.

One of the people I was trekking with mentioned that he was going to Tokyo the next weekend (last weekend, the four day weekend I've been talking about.) I tentatively agreed, as going Tokyo for a few days would have been great. As it happened, however, all of the night buses (the cheapest way to get there from here) were booked well in advance. Perhaps another time...

The Thursday after I went to Arashiyama, two days before my four day weekend, I got it in my head to sell my Nintendo Wii and buy a Playstation 3. This decision resulted in much fun being had in my apartment but also resulted in none of the residents leaving the house over the entire course of the weekend. Before you think we got nothing done, we did beat at least one game in it's entirety... And yes, that is the major reason my blog entries have been laking the last two weeks (fear not, the novelty shall wear off soon and I'll be back to my usual adventuring self.)

One last weather related note: It seems that fall decided to give up and invite winter in. Right after the Arashiyama trip the temperature dropped 10degrees Celsius in one day. The highs are holding still now in the lower 50's (F) but it's a dry, bitter 50.

Okay, that does it for now. Here's to hoping I post on time this week, having done something wonderful (no promises, though.) Until next time:

Jaa Mata Ne.

P.S. Happy 50th post to me!