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Published: June 22nd 2019
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Day Two was supposed to be a self-guide day, with a suggested itinerary of a morning train trip to Nara, a town located on the outskirts of Kyoto. Having awoken just too late to avail of breakfast, we wandered down to the main street to locate a café, and while sitting there decided that the toothache which started as an annoyance yesterday, was fast becoming something which could ruin my Japanese experience. After a quick Google of dentists in Kyoto, we found an English speaking one which apparently took walk-in emergency cases, and set about finding it using the local subway.
Proud of ourselves for finding it, we gingerly approached the receptionist to hope she spoke English and when that worked, to explain my plight. She asked us to take a seat, and went off to confer with the dentist. After initially suggesting we could 'return at 14.30 but please fill in these forms' , upon her return she miraculously told us I could be seen immediately.
Faking bravado so as to not upset Senan, I bounced off up the steps to the treatment rooms. After a slew of very modern xrays (and lots of smiling/bowing) I was brought
into a treatment room to meet the dentist. What a relief - his English was really good! After tapping around in my mouth and pulling the xray pictures up in front of me, he explained what he thought was wrong. Unfortunately this was confirming what I already feared based on a previous chat with my dentist back home: I would need a root canal treatment to stop the pain!
I was handed an A4 sheet explaining the (two step) procedure and I asked if they could complete step 1 anytime soon. 'Yes, now' came the response.
Right, well, no time like the present, carpe diem, and all that! After a quick check on price (cheaper than Ireland, about the same as the Netherlands) I took a leap of faith and he dosed me with the anesthetic. While that was kicking in I popped downstairs to send Philippe and Senan off to a local park (more playgrounds!) for an hour, so Mammy could be 'fixed' by the dentist.
Back upstairs as a cloth with a hole in it was laid over my face, I went to my happy place and just let them get on with it. The
procedure itself was notable only because he stopped half way to request a second round of xrays (I had a double root in there - who knew that was a thing?!) but 40minutes later, I emerged minus a root (or two), minus a chunk of money (hello travel insurance) grasping antibiotics, painkillers, a dental report complete with a cd-rom with all my xrays on it, a referral for a dentist in Tokyo to do part 2, but most importantly No More Pain!
Although we were three hours behind schedule, I was determined to go see the bowing deer in Nara so while the anaesthetic was still active we bundled ourselves into the next available train and tried to catch up with our itinerary.
The city of Nara is a tourist mecca, but was well worth a visit. Aware of the impending closing times off the shrine and temples we got selective and grabbed a taxi, heading over to the Kasuga Taisha to see the stone lantern avenues riddled with deer begging tourists for a snack. With a sleeping Senan on my back, we negotiated the empty buggy up numerous steps. The shrine itself was nice (but to be
honest they are all starting to feel a bit same-same) but it was easy to imagine how awesome it would be on the two times per year that all the lanterns are lit.
Making our way over to the Todaiji (which houses the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world) we were accosted by hords (and herds!) of hungry deer! We bought some deer crackers and giggled as we fed them to these super tame animals. And they really do bow!! Fortunately Senan came round in time to also partake in the fun, and also manged to witness a hilarious stand-off between his Daddy and a particularly large stag who was determined to eat our map of Kyoto!
The big Buddha was extremely impressive. It is housed in one of the largest wooden buildings ever built. Apparently casting the Buddha early bankrupt the country at the time of it's creation but given the flocks of tourists present, it was a good long term investment. A fun element is that at the rear of the statue there is a small wooden structure with a small hole drilled out of it, supposedly the size of big Buddhas nostril. Legend has
it that those who can fit through the tunnel canearnenlightenment in the next life. We'll we couldn't pass that opportunity up for our little munchkin, so we queued up behind all the school children and waited our go to tackle the nostril. After a lot of cooing from a bunch of enthusiastic Asian tourist at the prospect of the attempt. Needless to say the crowd went wild when our brave little boy crawled all the way through and emerged proudly on the other side!
After paying our respects (and cash) to the rather impressive big Buddha, we could finally lerax a bit as we had essentially caught up with the itinerary. All the temples and gardens were closing, but we had seen what we really wanted to see, and so wandered back to the city centre at a leisurely pace. Before getting the (very slow!) local train back to our hotel we grabbed a few beers on a terrace and as evening fell we reflected on how funny life is. A root canal, big buddha, deers and beers : all in a day's work!
Dinner was delicious ramen in a local joint, with the three of us sitting
on high stools up at the bar, acting like locals. Senan 'loves noodles' and set about charming the girl behind the bar, much to the chagrin of the owner, who wanted all of Senan's attention for himself. The guy practically walked us back to our hotel he was so taken with Senan!
Early start tomorrow as we take in a traditional tea ceremony before packing up to head south to Hiroshima!
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