10D9N Spring Japan Trip: Arashiyama Mountain and River, Kyoto
Arashiyama (re: Mount Arashi) is not only referring to the popular district located in the western part of Kyoto but also referring to the mountain right across Katsura River. Arashiyama is literally translated as Storm Mountain but the mountain looks pretty lushful instead of...I dunno, stormy? Haha.
If you'd like to take a closer look at the mountain, you need to cross the river via Togetsukyo Bridge. The river at the right and left side of the bridge apparently is named differently. The east of the bridge is named Katsura River while the west of the bridge is called Hozu River.
Right in the middle of Togetsukyo Bridge, you should see both side of the river as they give you a completely different scenery. The west side shows a riverbank which is flowing through the neighbourhood of Arashiyama.
While the other side gives you the scenic view of the Arashi Mountain. If only we came a week later, the mountain will be so pretty in pink. Oh well.
Once we have crossed Togetsukyo Bridge, we have arrived at Arashiyama Park. A lot of people are enjoying a walk in the park especially when the weather is good. Japanese is good at maintaining cleanliness and obviously all parks in Japan will be pristinely clean.
If you want to visit attractions which are located near to the Arashi mountain, you can take a lot of buses from the bus stop at the main street right beside the park. Iwatayama Monkey Park and Horinji Temple are some of the attractions located at the slope of Arashiyama.
We did not really have time to go to those attractions, so we walked back to the other side of Togetsukyo Bridge and started our leisure stroll along the neighbourhood. We saw a bunch of sakura flowers tied to the electric pole. It kinda piqued our curiosity.
There are a lot of papers tied to the branches of the flower. They are probably the paper wishes which the Japanese like to tie to the tree whenever they are making a wish. I'm just guessing though. Hahaha.
If you can't really walk that far, you can always opt to ride the rickshaw instead. The Japanese men who pull the rickshaw are mostly looking quite hot and muscular. I suppose a lot of energy and muscle strength are required to carry that rickshaw plus 2 passengers. The person who pull the rickshaw will also act as tour guide. I notice that most of them are happily explaining about the history of Arashiyama while pulling the rickshaw.
The problem is, I don't think these men can speak fluent English. Most of them who were chatting with the passengers are speaking mainly in Japanese. If you don't understand what they are talking about, at least you can still enjoy the scenery while occasionally take a peek at those muscles pulling your rickshaw. =P