Blogs from Nara, Japan, Asia - page 4

Advertisement

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara September 27th 2013

Friday’s day trip was Nara. During the 8th century, Nara was the capital of Japan and as such, there was some intense temple building happening at the time. Even after it was no longer the capital, Nara was still an important religious centre. Because of this, there are some great temples and shrines to see. And unlike Kyoto, most of them are right near each other within a large park. The train trip took about 50 minutes. You can do it quicker if you take the private Kintetsu line, but my rail pass doesn’t cover that. The Kintetsu station is also closer to the temples, but it wasn’t a big deal. There were a lot more tourists (Japanese and westerners) because Nara is a premier attraction in Japan. Thankfully it wasn’t as hot as previous days ... read more
3 Story Pagoda
5 story Pagoda
2 red deer come to blows

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara July 13th 2013

Since my sister is down in Osaka for a summer internship, I waited patiently until the only national holiday in June and August, and then took a week's vacation down to see her. I'd only been to the Kansai area once before, and only for 2 days, so I was very excited to see more of it this time around. And to see my sister, of course! The problem was that I had not anticipated the DEMAND for shinkansen tickets due to the three-day weekend, and as such, when I bought my tickets Friday night after work, I could only get a non-reserved seat. The shinkansen ride to Shin-Osaka from Shin-Yokohama is 137 minutes, and I stood in the CROWDED non-reserved section for 80 of them. It was HOT and pretty miserable, haha. Luckily, I grabbed ... read more
nara 007
nara 008
nara 010

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara March 19th 2013

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 kuin suunnittelin, ja venyipä vielä pidemmäksi, kun maj... read more
Vähän on karttaa maisteltu.
Iso on temppeli, ja kuva vähän vinossa.
Iso oli Buddha.

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara February 13th 2013

My friends and I are traveling in Japan now. I think I won't tell about my trip in chronological order, it's boring. I'll start with what comes to mind as most fun or impressive. One of the first things is Nara park with its deer. I've never seen so many deer so close before. It's amazing, they are not afraid if people at all. Right at the main park entrance special deer crackers are sold. You buy them, unpack and - wow - immediately find yourself surrounded by deer. Some of them make bows asking for food, some just snatch the crackers out of your hands and more impudent ones might even butt you or pull your clothes. It's fun to touch them and play with them. The further you go ... read more
IMG_7691
IMG_7740
IMG_7673

Asia » Japan » Nara January 3rd 2013

Sougetsusai roughly translated as November Festival is held once a year in Gose City. I was invited to attend two years ago by a dear Japanese friend, but eventually didn't make it. This time around not even the rain can stop me from going to this festival. There are so many events going around town in celebration of Sougetsusai. The main attraction of this festival is the showcasing of traditional Japanese houses by its owners. They open their doors to welcome strangers to take a peek of their lovely homes. It was great that some of these houses retained its original design, and some even more fascinating, that materials from the time it was built ages ago still remain. Quite noticeably, the opulence of these traditional old houses lies in the subtle beauty of its architecture ... read more
IMG_0158
IMG_0169
IMG_0211

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara October 12th 2012

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
At the second tallest pagoda
One of the many choices
I'm impressed by the signage in the park

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara July 9th 2012

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
PJ at breakfast
View from our breakfast table

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara July 9th 2012

Well got the train to Nara with no hitches at all we must be getting good at this and we even got off at the right stop. We thought Kyoto had a lot of history and also very typical Japanese but hey ho, it has nothing on Nara. Mind you we arrived at Nara train station and looked at the map and spoke to the lady in the tourist information centre and she said it is a 15 minute walk to where we are staying. We arrived in the hotest time of the day and guess what Mike wants to walk - WHAT I exclaim, are you sure - it is hot out there i.e. 90 degrees - yes he exclaims I want to feel like a real back packer. Well that came to haunt him ... read more
Room 205
Gambling/Gaming Hall

Asia » Japan » Nara » Nara March 16th 2012

Friday, March 16, 2012 Today we were up early. We were checking out of the Hilton Osaka a day early. We decided since our trip was delayed a day, we should go back to Tokyo to visit a few more sites before returning home. After a quick breakfast, we headed to the train station to go to Nara. The train ride should only take 45 minutes, however not today. It took two hours. We are not sure what happened, but we think either our train had an issue or there were other trains delaying our trip. This is our second trip to Nara. We visit here in 2002. Today we are visiting the Todaiji Temple, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, Three Story Pagoda, and several deer on the way. Nara is a fairly large city, however ... read more
Cindy and Todd in front of Todaiji Temple
Todaiji Temple
Todaiji Temple - Great Buddha

Asia » Japan » Nara February 10th 2012

Sadly this is our last Blog for Japan as after Osaka and Nara we headed up to Happo One for a few days of ski-ing, which was amazing fun but not really worth blogging about. We had an evening in Osaka which is famous for its food and is said to be the food capital of Japan. Its two most famous dishes are blowfish (and you can see live blowfish swimming in the tanks outside most of the restaurants) and octopus ball dumplings called Takoyaki which are sold everywhere and are delicious. Osaka is often called the working heart of Japan is a modern urban city that lacks the sights of Tokyo but well worth a couple of nights, as like most Japanese cities it seems to come alive in the evening. After Osaka we took ... read more
Osaka2
Osaka3
Osaka4




Tot: 0.195s; Tpl: 0.007s; cc: 12; qc: 84; dbt: 0.1297s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb