Kyoto Japan Day 6 and 7

Our bus arrived to Kyoto at 6am and our hostel doesn't open till 8am and does not allow you to check in till 3pm. We found  a cute cafe in front of the bus station and had some breakfast while we waited till 8am to make our way to the hostel. Eden and I keep getting lost and people here have been so helpful. We point where we need to go and people will just take us and walk us there. No way would that ever happen in NYC. We are staying at K's house hostel and sleeping in a dorm room with bunk beds. Again we hadn't made any plans and had no idea what we wanted to do so luckily when we walked outside this nice old Japanese man told us to visit Arashiyama where we went to see the monkey temple,Tenryuji temple and bamboo forest. We took a 30 min train ride to Sagano and made our way through the temples and shrines. When we first got there we realized that it would be a trek to get to the monkey temple so we went on  rickshaw and sat in the little cart where a man pulled us to the monkey temple and taught us how to say thank you in Kyoto...not sure how to spell it but it sounds like okeni. When we got to the monkey temple we did not realize how much of a hike it was. We ended up trekking up a large hill all the way up to the temple which was surrounded by monkeys. You are then welcomed with a cold wet towel and you can go inside where you are caged in from the monkeys and you are allowed to feed them peanuts. The walk down the hill was much better than the trek up... our legs were killing us. We then walked down to the temple. The Tenryu-Ji temple was one of the major temples of the Rinzai school of Zen built in 1339 on the former site of Emperor Go-Diago's villa after a priest had dreamt of a dragon rising from the nearby river. The dream was interpreted as a sign that the emperor's spirit was uneasy and the temple was constructed as appeasement-hence the name tenry which means heavenly dragon. Fun fact of the day. So again to reiterate the heat here is unbearable and we walked through the garden found 2 benches and took short naps. It is zen here its sooo beautiful I cannot believe how gorgeous this garden is. I felt like I was dreaming.

When you want to go into any temple or shrine you have to take off your shoes and put on slippers its a disturbing concept knowing that I shared slippers with 73487584768578 people but hey I have no choice. We were starving by the time we walked out so we went to a restaurant and ordered cold noodles with chicken and vegetables followed by icecream. Anything cold right now is much needed.

We then ventured off to the bamboo forest. Of course we got lost and by the time we found it Eden was not feeling very well and noticed she was sun burned with sunpoising on her legs. The sun and heat were getting to us so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hostel. We grabbed some aloe for Eden at the pharmacy, headed to our room and I took the longest shower ever and Eden chose to nap.

Unfortunately when Eden woke up she woke with a fever. The motherly instinct in me kicked in and the homeopath as well so I gave her some natural medicine, took her temperature with the thermometer my mom made me take with me.. thanks mom and got her some ice to put on her head. My goal was to break the fever some how. So I waited about an hour took her temperature again and it still was pretty high. I headed to the pharmacy and the woman could not understand me when I said fever so luckily being the flashpacker that I am I had my blackberry with me and translated fever in Japanese she gave me some Aspirin and I gave it to Eden and the fever broke and she felt much better. Just call me Dr. Goldstein.

In our room we had 3 girls from Australia and this Indian guy from Denver Colorado who needs to keep his shirt on because he is soo hairy and he keeps spraying the room with axe.... its gross. The 3 girls were really nice and they told us where to go to in Osaka and Nara while we are here and shared photos of their experiences in Kyoto.

Eden and I did not have much of an appetite and we both just had apples for dinner and passed out. The next day Eden woke up feeling much better but now just has a small cough. I have been loading up on vitamin C so I dont get sick.

We ate breakfast at the cafe next to the hostel check in and I have been craving cereal bad!! They had cornflakes, eggs, potatoes, toast and beverages. I got Eden some tea with lemon and hope it helps.

These guys who I am assuming are from California sat down behind us and started talking smack about the east coast specifically NYC and CT which are both my homes so I just raised an eyebrow but kept my mouth shut. They were all covered in the ugliest tattoos I have ever seen.

We are going to check out the Japanese baths in a bit. We have been doing a lot of hiking and sightseeing and our bodies need a break. I will let you know how it goes :)