Deer Oh Deer July 3, 2006
The plan today was to make our way to the town of Nara to see several historical sites. After savaging the breakfast buffet we navigated the labyrinth of underground walkways from the hotel to the subway. After 15 minute subway ride we were scratching our heads while looking at a typical spaghetti bowl Japanese train map for the next leg to Nara. We eventually gave up; by-passing the automated ticket machines, and made our way to the ticket office and politely asked how we could get to Nara. In true Japanese fashion the clerk looked at his schedule, told us the platform number and time the train was leaving. We were on our way riding the Namba-Kintetsu Rapid Express and 35 minutes after boarding we were in Nara.
Nara has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We had dinner plans with friends of friends at 6:30 and didn’t have time to see them all, so we chose three for our day’s tour.
Kofukuji Temple was moved to its present site from Kyoto in 710 AD and has Nara’s trademark Five-Storied Pagoda on the grounds. This pagoda is the second tallest in Japan and was only edged out of first by inches. The temple is very traditional Japanese architecture and built from wood. That has to be some of the oldest wood we have ever seen. Very impressive, if for no other reason than its age.
Todaiji Temple was originally built in 752 AD it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt at 2/3 scale in 1692 during the Edo period. It is reported to be the largest wooden building in the world and although there seems to be some dispute over this you get the idea. It is one big wooden building. Very traditional Japanese architecture makes this behemoth pleasing to the eye and restful to the soul. It houses one of the largest bronze figures in the world in the form of the Buddha.
Kasuga Grand Shrine while still Japanese style is different in form and set in a thick forest. With striking vermillion corridors and hundreds of hanging bronze and carved stone lanterns it is quite elegant yet somewhat lighthearted.
Nara Park which is where all of the above is located covers an area of about three square miles. There are several major avenues that pass through the park and on this Monday the auto and pedestrian traffic were moderately heavy. The odd thing was there were deer everywhere. One gentleman told us there were approximately 1200 deer in the park. The deer have been here since pre-Buddhist times and today enjoy the status of National Treasures. You can purchase feed for them, but be warned these are not your average, “oh no it’s a human, I’d better run” deer. Once you buy the deer food from one of the path side vendors, you become fair game. I purchased a small stack of round crackers tied together with a ribbon and was immediately deer mugged. I was butted and I was bitten. I was pushed, shoved and prodded in places that I didn’t want to be prodded in. In self defense I started breaking off pieces and throwing them wildly hoping to distract my attackers. This worked on some, but only seemed to excite the more cunning of my pursuers. It all ended as quickly as it began because as soon as the last morsel left, actually snatched by deer lips, from my hand they lost interest and moved on to the next sucker. I saw this repeated several times with other poor souls so I know it wasn’t my rugged good looks that got them excited. If you’re ever in Nara my advice is let someone else feed the deer. FYI, Holly was too busy laughing to get a picture of the action and I refused to buy another stack of Bambi badgering.
After our tour we headed back toward the RR station but stopped to sit by a small lake that had a wonderful view of the five storied pagoda. Several artists were painting the scene as we looked on. A man of 60 or so walked over, sat down and introduced himself. He wanted to know where we were from and 30 minutes later we had discussed families, politics, geography, economy and military issues. He then thanked us for the conversation and walked away. A very nice fellow and very easy to talk to. We then wandered around through streets and shopping alleys for about an hour before heading on to the train station. We stopped at an intersection to look at the map and get our bearings. When we looked up it was our friend from the lake walking on a different street into the same intersection. He asked us where we were going. When we told him he immediately said follow me and started off at a brisk pace. Six or seven blocks later we were at the train station and he turned and headed back the way we had come. We have had this same experience several times in the past here in Japan. They are a very helpful people to visitors.
We walked into the Nara rail station and saw that we had 30 minutes or so until the next train. We looked around and there was a Starbucks, we couldn’t believe it. I’m being sarcastic here as Starbucks are becoming more common than McDonald’s here in Asia. We had coffee, forgot the time and had to run to make our train. As we ran down the stairs the departure warning was sounding but we ran harder and stepped on the train as the doors slid shut behind us. There weren’t any seats left but that was OK, we were on the train. Holly and I were standing bracing ourselves against the motion of the train while talking when she suddenly started to laugh. She pointed at a sign over the door which read “Women Only Car”. I looked around and sure enough I was the only male in this car and I was being stared at. The closest lady to me was elderly and had evidently seen the surprise on my face when Holly pointed out the sign. I looked at her and said I’m sorry and she just smiled and shook her head as if to say that’s alright. The reason for the women only cars here is that they have had a lot of problems in the past with women being groped on the trains.
We retraced our train path from this morning to get back to the hotel. We met the friends of the friends for dinner. They took on the ordering and we had a great meal of traditional Japanese foods that included two soups, abalone, chicken wrapped in melon, tempura, noodles, sashimi, eel and a small whole fish for each of us that looked to be fried and which you ate whole. When I say whole I mean this fish had been caught and dropped into the pan as nature had made it including what it had for its last meal. I thought it was pretty good, but Holly passed on the fish.
The friends we had dinner with were very nice and had taken time from a busy schedule to make us feel at home in their country. Notice I dropped the "friends of" because they made us feel so welcome. For that Holly and I are truly thankful to have met and spent time with them.
Nara has eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. We had dinner plans with friends of friends at 6:30 and didn’t have time to see them all, so we chose three for our day’s tour.
Kofukuji Temple was moved to its present site from Kyoto in 710 AD and has Nara’s trademark Five-Storied Pagoda on the grounds. This pagoda is the second tallest in Japan and was only edged out of first by inches. The temple is very traditional Japanese architecture and built from wood. That has to be some of the oldest wood we have ever seen. Very impressive, if for no other reason than its age.
Todaiji Temple was originally built in 752 AD it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt at 2/3 scale in 1692 during the Edo period. It is reported to be the largest wooden building in the world and although there seems to be some dispute over this you get the idea. It is one big wooden building. Very traditional Japanese architecture makes this behemoth pleasing to the eye and restful to the soul. It houses one of the largest bronze figures in the world in the form of the Buddha.
Kasuga Grand Shrine while still Japanese style is different in form and set in a thick forest. With striking vermillion corridors and hundreds of hanging bronze and carved stone lanterns it is quite elegant yet somewhat lighthearted.
Nara Park which is where all of the above is located covers an area of about three square miles. There are several major avenues that pass through the park and on this Monday the auto and pedestrian traffic were moderately heavy. The odd thing was there were deer everywhere. One gentleman told us there were approximately 1200 deer in the park. The deer have been here since pre-Buddhist times and today enjoy the status of National Treasures. You can purchase feed for them, but be warned these are not your average, “oh no it’s a human, I’d better run” deer. Once you buy the deer food from one of the path side vendors, you become fair game. I purchased a small stack of round crackers tied together with a ribbon and was immediately deer mugged. I was butted and I was bitten. I was pushed, shoved and prodded in places that I didn’t want to be prodded in. In self defense I started breaking off pieces and throwing them wildly hoping to distract my attackers. This worked on some, but only seemed to excite the more cunning of my pursuers. It all ended as quickly as it began because as soon as the last morsel left, actually snatched by deer lips, from my hand they lost interest and moved on to the next sucker. I saw this repeated several times with other poor souls so I know it wasn’t my rugged good looks that got them excited. If you’re ever in Nara my advice is let someone else feed the deer. FYI, Holly was too busy laughing to get a picture of the action and I refused to buy another stack of Bambi badgering.
After our tour we headed back toward the RR station but stopped to sit by a small lake that had a wonderful view of the five storied pagoda. Several artists were painting the scene as we looked on. A man of 60 or so walked over, sat down and introduced himself. He wanted to know where we were from and 30 minutes later we had discussed families, politics, geography, economy and military issues. He then thanked us for the conversation and walked away. A very nice fellow and very easy to talk to. We then wandered around through streets and shopping alleys for about an hour before heading on to the train station. We stopped at an intersection to look at the map and get our bearings. When we looked up it was our friend from the lake walking on a different street into the same intersection. He asked us where we were going. When we told him he immediately said follow me and started off at a brisk pace. Six or seven blocks later we were at the train station and he turned and headed back the way we had come. We have had this same experience several times in the past here in Japan. They are a very helpful people to visitors.
We walked into the Nara rail station and saw that we had 30 minutes or so until the next train. We looked around and there was a Starbucks, we couldn’t believe it. I’m being sarcastic here as Starbucks are becoming more common than McDonald’s here in Asia. We had coffee, forgot the time and had to run to make our train. As we ran down the stairs the departure warning was sounding but we ran harder and stepped on the train as the doors slid shut behind us. There weren’t any seats left but that was OK, we were on the train. Holly and I were standing bracing ourselves against the motion of the train while talking when she suddenly started to laugh. She pointed at a sign over the door which read “Women Only Car”. I looked around and sure enough I was the only male in this car and I was being stared at. The closest lady to me was elderly and had evidently seen the surprise on my face when Holly pointed out the sign. I looked at her and said I’m sorry and she just smiled and shook her head as if to say that’s alright. The reason for the women only cars here is that they have had a lot of problems in the past with women being groped on the trains.
We retraced our train path from this morning to get back to the hotel. We met the friends of the friends for dinner. They took on the ordering and we had a great meal of traditional Japanese foods that included two soups, abalone, chicken wrapped in melon, tempura, noodles, sashimi, eel and a small whole fish for each of us that looked to be fried and which you ate whole. When I say whole I mean this fish had been caught and dropped into the pan as nature had made it including what it had for its last meal. I thought it was pretty good, but Holly passed on the fish.
The friends we had dinner with were very nice and had taken time from a busy schedule to make us feel at home in their country. Notice I dropped the "friends of" because they made us feel so welcome. For that Holly and I are truly thankful to have met and spent time with them.
posted by Gary and Holly Davis @ 8:01 AM
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