We awoke in our traditional Japanese room, we both had a robbo-shower and a little brek. Then it was off to get the train to Nara. It was easy enough and punctual to the minute. Everything I had heard about the Japanese train system is turning out true so far. If they say it leaves at 11:19, it leaves exactly 11:19. Brilliant. I'll try and bring that back to the UK shall I?!
An hour later, we'd arrived, taken some tourist information from next door and had been given a good map of the Nara park area with all the sites. On route, we had lunch in a "speedy lunch" restaurant with all the locals. It was another case of point at the menu and hope. I did get to ring the electronic door bell on the table to alert the waiter which was fun.
So we walked on and eventually found the 5-story pagoda next to Kofuku-ji. Incredibly foreign looking building. They are so cool.
We had read about the wild deer that live in the park. Not totally to our surprise we begun to see hundreds of the little buggers harassing people for food.
Obviously there are people around selling food to feed them. Some kids got a little bit of a nasty fright as they were virtually chase down by the things! It was quite funny, and they are quite harmless. They do make the place look nice.
We then walked down towards Todai-ji. As an entrance it had a massive gate. And a massive deer. No that deer is little, the gate is big...
We paid to get inside and were totally taken back about how big it was. We learnt that this is the largest wooden structure in the world and it was last rebuilt in 1709 and is only 2/3 as big as the original. Wow. It was so grand. The court yard was swarming with cherry blossom trees. It was overwhelming as a sight.
As we crept up the massive steps to get inside, we were greeted by the 15m Buddha...
And crazy detailed statues...
We were totally impressed and stayed inside for quite a while. Lots of Japanese Buddhists were praying and getting very religious about it all. I suppose it must be a little like going to the Vatican for Catholics or something. After an hour we wandered out.
The next sight on the agenda was the Shinto shrine Kasuga Taisha which was about a 2km walk. Before Buddhism, Shinto was the main religion. On route we stopped to sit amongst the trees. It was lovely and calm.
We watched the local girls having photos taken in Geisha clothes. I caught this sneaky photo which I feel sums Japan up so far: tradition, natural beauty and technology!
Eventually we started walking up the path to the shrine. Up the hill are hundreds of stone lanterns. Amy even snuck a picture of these two creeping about around them.
The shrine itself was quite a religious thing so we decided not to pay to pray. Instead we had a little sit around all of the lanterns and the prettiness.
So after a full days trip, it was time to get on the bloooody efficient rail network again. We took the bus towards the rail station (we had walked about 6km that day). In Japan, it seems you pay as you leave the bus. On entry you take a ticket. Then when you get off, you go up to the driver, put the ticket in a little machine and put your money in. Ame managed to cock this up somehow and caused the bus to be stopped for over 1 minute! Some old Japanese men were agitately checking their watches...
When we got back to the Osaka, we went and had a little dinner in the main Ebisu-bashi area that we were out in last night. We went to a pasta joint having been maxed out on Japanese food for 2 days.
It was all very nice (pizza was a little odd - puff pastry and about the size of a stamp) and not as expensive as you would of thought. Japan seems reasonably expensive but manageable just like living in London. Finally, we returned to our lovely hostel for a cosy night in. Tomorrow we got to Koya-san (san meaning mountain) for our night at a temple lodging.
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