I rode naked in an elevator last night. Sure, there's no photo evidence and the only witness was a geriatric Japanese lady who was also naked and, like me, navigating the three levels of the sento (public bath), but I thought it was a novel experience.

Yesterday was a fantastic day. After a slow start with the Kiwis at some rather uninteresting temples that we rode to on our rented bikes, I decided it was time to take off for some solitude. I first went to Nanzen-ji, a grand temple in the Southeast corner of Kyoto nestled far into the hills. The temple itself was beautiful, but I have to admit that all of these gorgeous pagodas and shrines are starting to look alike. What made this one spectactular was the hike I discovered in the way back, far from the busloads of Japanese tourists (by the way, it never occured to me that I'd see so many Japanese tourists *in* Japan). I started at this little quiet garden and noticed a gate out to a road. I followed the road past a small Buddhist cemetary and then found myself ascending deeper into the woods on a trail lined with several mini altars, shrines, a little red bridge over a stream, and a little waterfall at the top. I was alone, save the mosquitos and some hikers from Colorado who had happened upon the same trail, which apparently extended for several miles through the woods all the way to the shrine we visited on our first day, Ginkaku-ji.

I decended back to the temple to quickly get my bike in order to ride to Gion, the famous geisha entertainment district, by sunset. I rode along a lovely tree-lined stream into the heart of Gion, where my Lonely Planet indicated I should be able to spot some of Kyoto's only 20 or so remaining geisha hustling to and from their evening appointments. As I milled about trying not to loo too much like a tourist (pah!) I noticed three Japanese men setting up a video camera on a giant tripod. I figured that was a good sign, so stood close to them and waited. A crowd began to draw around us and by the time the first elusive geisha actually appeared, there were about 40 people with cameras poised. The first I saw was in the back of a car, which made for a very paparazzi-like photo. But then I lucked out and saw two girls walking together. As luck should have it, they had to stop at the crosswalk of a busy street, and I was able to not only get a reasonably good close up of them both, but I even got some Aussie to take my picture with them. They were beautiful, and I felt pretty lucky for that opportunity.

A quick note on my hostel, which I just checked out of since I will be going to Kobe this afternoon after one more temple visit (Fushimi-Inari, supposed to have miles of gorgeous hikes). This place was such a relic. Comprised of a maze of rooms that looked like they'd been added on slowly over the years as need dictated, the place was dusty as all hell and wreaked havoc on my respiratory system. There were signs posted on nearly every available surface mandating such things as "No roasting of cockroach! Fine! 5,000 yen!" and my favorite, "No peeping in shower! Fine! 5,000 yen!" I wanted to know how much time that bought me. Hee hee.

Final note... if you ever come to Japan, allow plenty of time for Kyoto. It is a truly magnificent place. And now, off to Fushimi-Inari.