Day Three of Japan

Day Three saw us leaving Osaka and heading to our second stop - Kyoto. We packed up early in the morning and headed to the train station to leave our luggage in coin lockers while spent the day at Nara Park and Todaji Temple (which houses the largest statue of Buddah in Japan). It was a really beautiful place, where deer roam free and you can purchase food to feed them - though they will chase you for it once they see that you have it!!!! :) We got off the train at Nara and then started the walk (trek!) to Nara Park - we walked down an awesome street of shops which we ALL would have loved to look in but time didn't permit. We DID find a Mr Donuts (similar to Dreamy Doughnuts) and buy our morning tea though which compensated just a little...Ystyn and I bought 5 between us and they were AMAZING!!!! They had this awesome curry one - I enjoyed a plain old glazed one (which only cost 125 yen - less than $2???) and a custard filled one. Can't really remember Ystyn's apart from the curry one but they were great!

At the entrance to the temple area there was this big pond with all these turtles in it - so of course we had to take some photo's for the kids...

This was just a beautiful a tree that I thought was really really beautiful - we walked down this great wide avenue lined with trees and filled with deer - they were so picturesque and I loved how ancient everything looked - ancient except for the drinks vending machines that you find EVERYWHERE in Japan - filled with delicacies like Grape/Peach/Mixed Fruits Fanta, Fanta with jelly pieces in it, and Ystyn's favourite - Calpis - say that out loud and you'll understand why I was a little reluctant to give it a try :)...

 When we saw this pulled carriage we all marveled at the drivers/pullers strength!! How hard would this be...and of course we ALL wanted to have a go. We weren't sure if 'gaijin' (foreigners) would be allowed considering our size!!! hehehehhe)

 One of the beautiful deer that were all over the place...they were really docile (most of them) and would allow you to pet them and pose with them...look at their gorgeous eyes...

This was just the gate!!! These kind of gates were at the entrance of every important place we saw and are just amazing - they're made without any nails and pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle - and they're hundreds of years old - just amazing...

Inside these gates were two of these statues - they were the Guardians and stood guard over the entrance. They were MASSIVE!!! Made from wood as well and the detail was exquisite...we thought West would enjoy their scary faces...:)

This was the Todaji Temple which was just gorgeous...so so big - it had these steep as stairs at the front ( I can't remember if we had to take our shoes off here or not, I think we did - they provide plastic bags for you to put your shoes in to carry while you walk around the place on tatami mats (flax (??) mats that are used for floor coverings - very very cool and comfortable on the feet).

This is the huge statue of the Buddha - it is really really big! It sits in the centre and is flanked by two smaller statues - again, its about 600 years old...

This last one was one of four statues inside the temple - they stand in each of the four corners of the room...so so stunning and amazing in their detail - it was such an interesting day and we thoroughly enjoyed it...

We left Nara after grabbing lunch at the 7-Eleven (they're STOCKED with ready made meals, sushi and sandwiches where we bought many of our meals and so so cheap - to buy food over there was really really inexpensive - to get a meal, drink and something for dessert each would cost Ystyn and I about 1000 yen which is probably just a little more than $10 - lets just say we didn't starve!!! :)) We grabbed our luggage and jumped on a train to Kyoto. We were scheduled to attend something called the 'Maiko Experience' and even though we were running late they kindly urged us to come along anyway. This was a new stop on the itinerary so neither Ystyn or Cheryl had seen it before it... and we were all keen to see it too, but once we experience our mode of transport to get there I wasn't so sure at all. We had to catch the public bus to the tea house with ALL OUR LUGGAGE!!!! 18 of us crammed in. You've all heard the stories of packed trains - I guess I didn't really think about it, but I think being crammed into a train would be better than being crammed on a bus. I'm sure they don't have any capacity limits either - the driver would stop at EVERY stop no matter how much there was NO exisitng room, and people would just shove shove shove till they could get their bodies inside the doors. I hated it with a passion. This was my least enjoyable experience the whole trip. Its actually a little ironic - Ystyn WILL NOT catch public transport here in Australia unless its free to sporting events, but he didn't even blink an eye at this horribleness. I probably had a really bad attitude, but I hate hate hate crowds of people and feeling like I'm in everyone's way and like there's no way out...uggghhh.

So anyway - we had to catch this crowded crowded bus to this tiny little tea house where we were able to watch a 'Maiko' or Geisha-in-training perform a tea ceremony. She was beautiful. So delicate and precious. And it was so interesting to hear that 'Geisha' and 'Maiko' is still a profession that girls choose...I'm pretty sure its just for entertaining purposes - Maiko train for years to become Geisha and they practice singing, playing their instrument, and dancing till they qualify to be promoted to Geisha. Its all really interesting.

By the time we caught the bus (yes, the crowded public one) back to the hotel I was smashed!!!! Ystyn and I walked around (for ages!!!!!!!) trying to find somewhere to eat and also to scope out a restaurant for us all to eat at the next night, and he made me walk around the block 4 times at least! :) I really liked Kyoto - it felt a lot more lively than what we saw at Osaka and is the ancient capital so there was always lots to see.

Anyway I think that's more than enough writing till tomorrow, or the next day for Day Four of Japan! :)