Photo: Bamboo tree

The day I reached the Bamboo Groves in Arashiyama in Kyoto it was stinking hot. Clutching desperately at my empty bottle of Pocari Sweat I was near point of collapse from the heat and a severe overdose of sightseeing. But then I stepped out of the sun and into the shady groves. The cool air swept over me, refreshing like a wet towel and all I could see for miles was green. Rows and rows of green. I have never been so seduced by nature, until then.