Blogs from Nara, Nara, Japan, Asia

Nukuinpa muuten kuin vauva tatamille levitellyllä patjallani. Heräsin siis virkeenä, mutta kuten arvata saattaa, niin se kerroksen ainoa suihku räpsähti varatuksi juuri noin 20 sekuntia ennen kuin ehdin ovenripaan omasta huoneestani. Suihkuttelija oli onneksi suht pikainen, mutta kun juuri hänen lopetellessaan jo avasin oman huoneeni oven, niin englantia hyvin puhuva nuori nainen sanoi, että oli käynyt kylmässä suihkussa, kun ei osannut säätää seinässä olevasta paneelista lämpöjuttuja ollenkaan päälle. Hän oli kuitenkin niin ystävällinen, että lupasi käydä alakerrassa kyselemässä eikä mun tarvinnut sinne lähteä. Apu löytyi, ja minä pääsin kyllä ihan lämpöseen. Kiittelin mimmiä melkein yhtä lämpösesti kuin suihkukin oli, mutta ei se ehkä häntä siinä enää kovasti lämmittänyt. No mutta, meni joka tapauksessa vähän venyvämmäksi lähtö... read more

We left Kyoto in the morning and arrived at Nara pretty quickly. Many people come here as a day trip from Kyoto and walking out of the station my immediate thoughts were that we probably should have done that too. The surrounding area reminded me of Spencer Street Station in 1990 - pretty ordinary. Even the Lonely Planet edition of 1995 reckons it is an uninspiring town on first appearance. Once we walked a couple of blocks, however, I relaxed. Leaving our bags at the guesthouse (nice word for hostel) we set off on the trek around Nara's world heritage listed sites. And they didn't disappoint. Absolutely magnificent. Eleanor especially loved the wild deer roaming around. At one shrine we were accosted by a group of school children on excursion. They had a task where they ... read more

Well night one completed sleeping in a typical Japanese house called a Ryokan. We had to be back and the lights off before curfew which was 10.30pm last night. So before finding somewhere to eat we had a walk around, Nara it is such a lovely place, it was well worth staying than just visiting for the day which most people tell you to do. We were back in plenty of time for the curfew which was good as at one stage we got a little lost as there are so many little side streets you keep thinking did I go down this one or not. Anyway as getting into bed Mike noticed the pillows were full of rice and were hard - so he was not the happiest bunny in the world, sleeping on the ... read more

Introduction Quite often, first time visitors to Japan are directed towards Kyoto as it does have the more famous sights. I can only blame myself, but I also fell victim to this and visited Kyoto three times and I enjoyed the sights a lot and continued to put Nara off as a second rate Kyoto and never went there as more important sights were left to explore elsewhere. When I finally made it to Nara, it was like a revelation: Instead of rushing from one side of a typical urban Japanese town to the other to catch the sights like in Kyoto, everything was located in or around Nara Park and the sights in Nara are first class, no matter what people might tell you. We were lucky, as it was a gloomy November day, the ... read more

Day 20 December 25, 2010 Kyoto & Nara We took a 30 minute train ride from Kyoto to Nara, which used to be Japan’s capital prior to it being moved to Kyoto. Nara was a much smaller city where about half the city was made up of a park. The park had hundreds if not thousands of “sacred” deer that walk freely around the park looking for food. In the park we saw the Kofukuji temple which has a 5 story pagoda, the Todaji temple, and the Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Though they were all nice to see, the Todaji Temple was clearly the showcase for us. Inside it has the largest (gilded) bronze Buddha in the world. It was a humungous statue that if I remember correctly was casted back in the 8th century. After seeing ... read more