Nara

            For our last day in Osaka, I left Scott and Lynsey in charge of deciding what time we were going to leave for Nara, since I was a bit of a cranky pants. They decided we would leave at 6:30 for the trip out to Nara. I was really excited to go here, as there were lots of temples, shrines, and the Great Buddha. Upon arriving, I was disappointed to discover that each temple required a fee to get in. I was expecting it to be more like the other countries I’ve visited in SE Asia where nine time out of ten you can just show up and go in without having to pay fairly large fees.

We grabbed breakfast at the train station in Nara, visited the Tourism Information Center, and decided on the route we wanted to take to get to Todai-ji where the Great Buddha has his home. First we stopped at Gango-ji Temple and the Five Story Pagoda. We walked around the grounds and admired how beautiful it all was. We decided against paying the fee and going in to see the museum. I think after the museums in our first three full days in Japan, we were ready for a bit of a break from them.

Next, we made our way to a second temple that we again decided against going inside. We then headed for Nara Park where we began to see the sights of the famous Nara deer. They are absolutely everywhere and all shops sell little crackers to feed them. As a result, anything you are holding in your hand is deemed fair game by the deer. One even came up and tried to take the map that Scott was holding behind his back. It was rather comical as the deer was rather insistent that it wanted the map.

An infamous Nara deer

Building where the Great Buddha is housed. 

The path through Nara Park was beautiful as it was lined with trees. 

The Great Buddha

The gate at Todai-ji was absolutely enormous and swarming with people. The original Great Buddha statue was cast in 746. The Great Buddha is beyond impressive. It reminded me a lot of the reclining Buddha in Thailand because of its sheer size. It stands 16m high (not including the base) weight 437 tons. There are two smaller Buddhas on either side of the Great Buddha. I say that they are smaller, but they are still enormous. At the back of the temple but still flanking the Great Buddha are two huge wooden statues. They are called Nandai-mon and are Nio guardians. They were carved in the 13^th century. They do look very life-like and are quite fierce.

Nio Guardian

Next to one of the Nio guardians is a pillar with a hole in the bottom. It is said to be the same size as the Great Buddha’s nostril. Anyone who can crawl through it is ensured of enlightenment. Of course, there was a long line of kids waiting to try their turn at receiving enlightenment. 









We stopped at one more temple called Kasugataisha Shrine. This was unique as it had stone lanterns lining the paths around it. We were lucky to have found a side entrance into the shrine complex because it was quiet and relaxing. Once we entered into main area we encountered all the same people that had been at the Great Buddha earlier. 

We decided that we were rather templed out and went in search of lunch. For the second time in less than a week we ended up at an Indian restaurant. It wasn’t quite as good as the first one we went to, but we were hungry and it served its purpose. We ended up in a little market spot that had a shop with traditional Japanese cloth. Scott and I bought two while we were there, one for ourselves, and one for Sandy. We also stopped in a shop that had origami crane earrings. I’m believe they are made out of tiny pieces of paper before being put through some process to harden them, so they won’t get destroyed by use. As I told Lynsey, my husband is a bad influence!

We headed back to Osaka with the intention to do some laundry and just relax for a little bit. We’ve been averaging about 30,000 steps or well over 10 miles of walking every day, so all of us were a bit tired. We hit the ground running as soon as we arrived, and it definitely caught up with me by the time we made our way to Nara. Osaka has not been our favorite spot so far, so we did not feel like we were missing out on very much. We’ve gotten mixed up on the subway system and lost around our hotel. The area, Dotombori, that’s advertised as being the place to go for food and nightlife, was rather too gaudy for my taste.

We did venture back out into Osaka for dinner that night. We ended up right where we had been the previous night where Scott tried his Tako-yaki. We ate at a Chinese restaurant and just got some dumplings and steamed buns for a lighter meal.