Male keywords: jelly, naked - Female Keywords: nature, onsen

Above: Behind the Japanese writing on this wall lies naked women in very hot water!
The temperature has dropped! For the first time since I got off the plane, I can wear jeans! I also wore one of the tops I bought in Hiroshima. It was size L; I didn't try it on. It covers my stomach about as much as one of Madonna's tops in the 80's. Hmmm

Jelly for breakfast. Well it had fruit in it. I dropped the jelly all over me on the train. It's a good thing my top was the same colour.

Took a local train to Kibune, a small semi-rural town on the egde of Kyoto. It was beautiful, in a valley amongst lush mountains, with streams and waterfalls everywhere. I hiked through the town, which was dotted with temples and then across to the next town, Kurama. It was hard going at times, trotting through tree roots and across mud, but I saw some Japanese girls doing it in high heels and leg warmers. Respect. (But you still look stupid!)

A lot of older people were walking the trail; the Japanese are really hard core when they travel. They had walking sticks, quality hiking boots, floppy rimmed hats, water bottles, day packs, the lot. I wonder what they thought of the high heeled girls.

The trail was punctuated by temples and shrines, so it sort of felt like a pilgrimage. Only Shinto being Shinto, there's no central figure to worship, other than the big bloody man-eating spiders that lined the route. The two main temples were, Kifune Shrine for water gods and Kurama-dera, which is actually a Buddhist temple.

My worshipping was going to be for the self - I'd be pushing myself along the trail with a promise of an onsen at the end. Several hours later and I was sitting with a load of naked Japanese old women in hot mineral springs in the outdoor air, staring at the mountains and spotting trees whose leaves had started to turn to autumn colours. It was divine, heavenly and the best 1100 Yen ever spent.

Here's a quick run down on onsen etiquette.

• Before entering the onsen you must wash yourself by sitting on a small stool and pouring buckets of water over you and rinse in the shower adjacent. Soap and other products should never enter the onsen.
• You are supposed to slip into the water gently but I tripped at one stage and caused a splash. I could almost hear people scolding me.
• You should enter slowly because the water is hot enough to make your heart palpitate, well mine did.
  
• You take no towels or clothing into the onsen but you can take a modesty towel. Now I had seen these on men, they are like face cloths, they allow you to get down to the water modesty protected, then you take it away from your bits when you are in the water and put the towel on your head. Personally I think the latter looks quite silly, but anyway... I was curious what kind of modesty towel women would have as we are built needing three fig leaves, technically, if one wants to be modest. I was quite surprised that nearly all the Japanese women used their modesty towel. Quite surprised as I didn't have one so was serving as the encouragement to "love your body" and walk with pride. Well I hope they saw it that way and not that I was overly perverted...