Day 9 - Nara

So, before we crack on with Day 9, a quick mention of: The Nice Man From Osaka. He was a nice man. From Osaka. When we were trying to find the big building we wanted to get to the top of, he clearly noticed we had no idea where we were and offered, in very broken English, to help. When we showed him the picture in the guidebook, he couldn't explain the directions to us, so ended up walking us there! It was definitely out of his way, but he chatted to us as we went, and seemed to enjoy the good deed. He definitely got some good karma yesterday!

So. Day 9. Definitely the best weather we have had so far. Not a cloud in the sky the whole day, so quite hot, very sunny and a lovely day to be able to spend in the beautiful town of Nara. It's a lot smaller than the cities we have been to, and the majority of it is built around the bottom end of a massive park. Within the park are all of the sights to see, so it means a day wandering through greenery from place to place surrounded by the number one attraction of Nara - wild (but very friendly) deer! The main temple was being refurbished, so not a lot to see there... There have been a few that are getting some attention while we have been here, so we might have missed a few of the biggies! However, it's quite impressive to see, as they build a warehouse over the whole structure, I presume so that we don't have to look at lots of ugly scaffolding. But the end result is that they look like, well, warehouses!

We then went to see the Isui-en Gardens - an historical and very traditional Japanese garden. However, we took the wrong entrance and ended up in the Yoshiki-en garden just next door. These were smaller and much less impressive, however entry was free, so no big deal. Having had a quick wander round and realising our mistake we headed back to where we wanted to be.

The second garden was incredible, based around 2 big ponds with some streams and a few tea houses and other little buildings throughout. You could also see the top of the Todai-ji temple as well. The maple trees here were in the middle of changing colour, so a lot of the backdrop looked like it was on fire. Very serene and a lovely place to mosey round in the sun.

The Todai-ji is the largest wooden building in the world, and was built to house one of the largest bronze statues in the world. The statue in question is of the Daibutsu, or, Cosmic Buddah. We have found that the pictures don't really do it justice, so for some perspective, his ear is 8ft tall. It was awe-inspiring to say the least, but again, lots of people. But compared to him they were tiny ;)

Now, on to the Deer. These cute little guys were EVERYWHERE. Outside the temples, wandering the pathways, sunbathing or even going shopping. There were a few places dotted around selling Deer Biscuits which you could buy to feed them. Which is all good, except once you've fed them a little bit, they just start following you round. Or, as we found, they eat your guidebook - we were so busy taking photos we didn't notice him go for it until it was too late! Our number one favourite deer though was the one who stood in a shop sniffing around, then swiftly stole a bag of sweets. Full marks for brazenness! Final point to note about the deer is that they seem to have also evolved the habit of bowing their heads just like the locals, especially when you give them a treat.

So, having finished Nara, we jumped on a train back to Osaka to head to the Shitenno-ji. This is the first temple that has a Pagoda you can actually climb up inside, so I was quite excited. Until we got there. And it was closed. However, fortune favours the bold as, on doing a quick tour of the grounds, we found a large pond filled with at least 100 turtles. The most we've seen in the "wild" before was 1, so that's a fair jump. Plus, we managed 2 of Ant's top 3 animals in one day. Success.

Quiet night - a bit sun tired and weary legged - just a quick bowl of ramen and some beers.

Top day so far, but we are predicting some competition from tomorrow.