ARASHIYAMA

I remember it was cold that day in Arashiyama.

You probably can't tell from the pictures, but it was one of her mental leap days and she spent a lot of that day with me in tears under the nursing shawl. By the time she felt a bit better much of the day was gone and the plan for the day was completely askew. We didn't have enough time for the monkey park or the Saga romantic train (insert crying emoticon here) but on the flip side, everyone was largely gone by the time we reached the bamboo forest. I think I've never seen it so peaceful before.

On hindsight I wonder if given another chance I would bring the baby along a trip again. Before the baby, I've always felt it was a waste of money to travel with kids. Afterall, what would they remember, and what would they understand? But after this trip I realized that even without understanding, they could see, they could feel and they could respond, even if they remember nothing afterwards.

I'm babbling, but more than alphabets and flash cards or Baby Einstein videos, I want her to see and experience a bit of this bewildering and wonderful world.

"It is good to know something of the customs of different people in order to judge more soundly of our own, and so that we might not think that all that which is contrary to our ways be ridiculous or contrary to reason, as those who have seen nothing have the habit of doing."

- Descartes