Piss up / Outdoor bath

Yesterday it was again raining cats and the species that shall not be named so i went on a totally inappropriate jaunt into the mountains around Kyoto. The villages up there are called Kibune and Kurama. Going to Kibune was not entirely worthwhile as there was nothing there, but I walked for 1 hour over a mountain and arrived in Kurama. Here I had an ice cream and then went to the onsen.
An onsen is a hot spring resort found all over japan, most commonly in hilly areas where the water is believed to be capable of healing pretty much anything. It was basically really nice and hot, a little pool to sit in and look at the autumn foliage on the opposite site of the valley, while listening to the water coming in from a little spout, and trying to ignore the vastly overweight, bearded, naked man from osaka splashing around hopelessly at the other end of the spa like a blind whale.
It was just me and him mostly and we talked about some stuff, although my bit was in english and his was in japanese, so the likelihood that we were actually discussing the same thing seems fairly remote.
I stayed there for about an hour, until the overwhelming heat began to give me a headache. Then I got out and tried to take a photo of the steaming bath without being seen doing do and hence being taken for just another western pervert. I got the train back down to Kyoto and visited the International Manga Museum, somewhat not what i had expected, then retreated to my lodgings and made the mistake of going out drinking with half a dozen guys from various former colonies, and spent the night in reggae bars listening to Snow's Informer (1992).
This morning required a pretty enormous breakfast, fortunately one where unlimited orange juice was on the table, and then i jumped back on the train to this place- it is called 'Takayama' and is located in the western part of the japan alps. I am staying in a Zen Buddhist temple, an experience known as 'Shukubo' in which i sleep like a monk and stuff. There's a temple where I may go and meditate for some minutes if i feel so inclined, and there is a curious underground dark tunnel, which apparently i can go into to try to locate the 'key of enlightenment'. There is also a kitchen with unlimited green tea.
There is a playstation but the abbot only has really poor games like dance dance revolution 1 & 2, i may sit him down later and tell him that although he may know Zen, he doesn't know crap when it comes to games.
Takayama is noted for the continued presence of traditional japanese houses, such as sake breweries and others. There is a morning market, which i shall hopefully go to tomorrow and also an open air museum of old houses.
The weather is really nice now but it is bitterly cold. There is a pretty deadly looking kerosene heater in my temple room, but thankfully also an electric blanket.