Arashiyama

About a week and a half ago me and Mika went to Arashiyama to go rafting down the Hozu river in traditional river boats. They wern't really traditional though because they were made of fibreglass but none the less they looked old.

Mika outside of Hankyu Arashiyima station

A short walk from the station is Togetsukyo Bridge which Literally means "Crossing Moon Bridge". It's an old school wooden bridge thats not so old anymore with lots of concrete and strange looking blue neon lights all the way across. Still it looks nice with the river and mountains in the background.

Togetsukyo Bridge and Hozu River

Before going on the boat trip we had to walk up the mountain to another train station to get on the "romance train" that would take us further up the mountains to the boats. It was a really nice trip on the old train that went along the river most of the way. The scenery was really beautiful and not many signs of humans which is rare close to the city.

the romance train

The boat trip wasn't what you would really call going down rapids or anything but it was a leisurely cruise down the river. The trip took about two hours and i saw some of the most beautiful scenery i've ever seen. The mountains are so green compared to Australia and the river is a beautiful blue colour. I only got we twice but got wet enough that it took me a couple o f hours to dry out. I should have listened to the guide earlier that was pointing at the big sheet of plastic at my feet

in charge of the steering

me and mika after i figured out what the plastic was for

these ones were wooden