Went to the Golden Temple and it well and truly took my breath away. I bought a fortune oracle thingy there, just for the fun of it and it looks good, particularly for travel, childbirth (!) and "marriage proposal: it will be well arranged. Answer it soon." There have been no proposals yet but i expect my parents to be well into the arrangements. The "easy to birth" bit can come later.

Joking aside, i've had the most amazing day. I lost my guide book so had to guess and make things up as i went along and fate has been good to me. I found myself at some of the most amazing places. And then, when a massive storm hit some woman pulled me off the street and took me to her apartment to dry off and have tea whilst she practiced her English on me for well over an hour! I learned so much about Japan and Kyoto from her, better than my guide book for sure. I had to battle hard to insist on not being given an umbrella from her and to not cancel my accommodation and stay with her (she had nasty chihuahuas). I was most amused when i got back to the hostel and learned from a guy that he had exactly the same e xperience, minus the dogs.

I've only been in Kyoto a day and have found that i keep getting called over for kids to practice their English on me. Its truly bizarre. They seem to love the English accent too. Its amazing seeing peoples' faces change as you start speaking. I wonder if i should start charging for my lessons?