Ah, we do have internets. Hurrah.

Today, as previously mentioned, I left the capsule hotel and headed to K’s House Kyoto, a cosy little hostel near the station. They had bikes to rent, so I gained a snazzy blue mountain bike and off I went, the Pokemon bike music playing in my head. Ah, bikes. The only way to travel. You see things you’d never get to on foot and would just rush past by train.

My intention was to head south to Fushima Shrine, and to my utter surprise I actually found it first time. Fushima Shrine is famous for its humongously long lines of bright orange torii gates that form a corridor through the forest. To think Scarlett Johansen’s been here.

Anyway, with Air’s “Alone in Kyoto” playing in my head, I headed up the mountain. It was a long, strenuous climb. There are fox (kitsune) spirits everywhere.

As further I climbed, I began to get some amazing views of Kyoto.

And then I got to this one.

Something compelled me to sit down there, sit and meditate. So I sat down on the dusty ground and just stared at Kyoto, soaking it all in. I considered starting a religion, called Kyotoism, which would basically be a rip-off of Buddhism except you had to make a pilgrimage at least once in your life, by bicycle, to Fushima temple, come up to this spot on the mountainside, and sit and contemplate Kyoto. I imagined that in a century the spot where I sat and founded Kyotoism would possibly because a historical site. I was alone, but then someone else came up and just stood there, looking at Kyoto, for almost as long as I did. I didn’t know her name, or who she was, but we were both Kyotoists. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a white cat appeared and said “miaow”. “A sign!” I thought, though I didn’t know what of, so I decided that in Kyotoism white cats are sacred for arbitrary reasons. In years to come, people will talk of the white cat that appeared to me at Fushima Shrine. Possibly.

Anyway, after an eternity, I made the final slog to the top of the mountain. A network of ~170 shrines is crammed on top.

Of course, being me, I got lost on the way down and ended up in another part of Kyoto. I had to get the train back to Fushima to pick up my bike.

So now I’m off back to Osaka to visit the world’s biggest IMAX screen. How can I resist?