Grateful for:
- Staying up ALL night yesterday with Will trying out 10 different Linux distributions to try to find a best match for my machine. Managed to erase Windows in the process and still did not find one that works well but learned heaps in the process anyway.
- Setting out at the unheard of early hour of 7am without sleeping at all to visit Kumara mountain. It was planned for a while now but we never managed to wake up early enough to make this day trip.
- Slumbering through about 2 km of uphill and downhill mountain tracks.
- Taking a short nap at the summit on the temple benches.
- Avoiding part of the difficult ascent by taking a cable car.
- Being one of the first people there this morning – tourism like it was meant to be enjoyed, in solitude and silence.
- Seeing tall pine tree trunks and mountain landscapes that inspire me so.
- Having all sorts of matcha desert cakes for breakfast.
- Walking around the village and taking lots of pictures of wild and domestic flowers.
- Returning back to Kyoto and after failing to find a suitable lunch restaurant buying lots of breads in a bakery and heading down to Imperial Gardens for a picnic.
- The bakery owner have studied in Le Cordon Bleu as the diploma on the wall testified so the various breads turned out to be absolutely delicious.
- Seeing absolutely amazing colour displays in the gardens, each scene is more breathtaking than the next. The place was swarming with Japanese amateur photographers but it was totally worth it.
- Heading over to checkout Independants Cafe in Nishijiki Markets following a recommendation. The place had such a Melbourne style and vibe, it even had Melbourne-like people in there. The food and atmosphere were amazing so this one definitely makes it on to the list of favorites. Note to self to make lentil salsa and mashed pumpik with nuts at home.
- Realizing that almost a week does not go by without me trying some new kind of tea, the same trend has been happening for a long while now. On Will’s suggestion I will begin cataloging my tea tasting experiences so I can recall them later and compile my personal taste guide.
- Walking home almost zombified after 40 hours of being awake and physically and mentally active. It was an unusually long day due to our early departure and one I am hoping to repeat frequently now if we manage to reset our internal clocks to “early to bed, early to rise”
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