Green Hotel Ashibi Nara

... starts to set in. <br><br>In short, after completing a round trip around the hills and temples of Nara, we returned to Osaka by train to have our dinner (more Ramen&#8230;). Amidst the never ending food parlours, I managed to catch a glimpse of one that served the deadly Fugu fish or puffer fish (it is required that the parlour have a special licence to slice the fish to be served as a delicacy). <br><br><br>

... temple to visit. We chatted with a monk afterwards, Jo En. He had been in service to the temple since age 12, and was currently finishing up his Masters Degree in Tokyo. He had a good grip on English, and was very welcoming to questions from a curious gaijin! Oddly enough, as we were talking with Jo En, Kaoru got this huge, surprised grin on her face. 2 japanese and one foreigner were coming up to her with obvious recognition. It turns out she had gone ...

... scale, which to a degress was the case here--the vastness of the the architecture around an empty quad seems empty of something. Maybe it was the bitingly cold winds, though, speaking to me.<br><br>So Nara park has tons of tame deer. They apparently number in the thousands and are completely spoiled. They rely heavily on the tourists to feed them sembei (deer crackers). Actually, they will stalk the weak for sembei--an old woman had just bought a packet and 3 or ...

... Buddha statue or 'Daibutsu', and I don't know how big it is, but it must extend over a few stories. Its magical, because no one dares say a word because you don't feel worthy, so the silence somehow makes it seem bigger.<br><br>We were also treated to something rather special while we were in Nara. We were there for Setsuban, which is the day of celebration before the first day of each season. But, traditionally it refers to the Spring Setsuban, celebrated on February 3rd ...

... ll, or, *t the very le*st, within the time fr*me of this cursed twenty-minute limit computer. Suffice to s*y it w*s * visu*l plethor* of some of the most be*utiful pl*ces I'll ever see. Amongst them, * p*vilion liter*lly p*ved in gold; *n immense p*l*ce grounds; skipping *cross stepping stones over koi ponds *nd huge, c*refully *rr*nged g*rdens within which one c*n w*ste hours looking out over the sm*ll moss covered isl*nds bursting with *ll kinds of *m*zing J*p*nese foli*ge. I even ...

... which you c*n boil eggs in. The *nnoying thing is th*t you don't re*lly get to see the hot springs in their 'r*w st*te' but they *re still quite *we inspiring even if the one with *nim*l's m*de you feel s*d. (Are hippos supposed to e*t pot*toes?)<br><br>To wind things up we found ourselves *t *n Onsen in the outdoor 'Mud b*th'. And it w*s deffin*tely muddy. Although it m*de it * little less *wkw*rd when sh*ring the pl*ce with * whole lot of n*ked str*ngers. Murky ...

... against american high school students, it's more like high school students in general. The boys were dressed like clowns, scrawnier than Ichabod Crane, wearing clothes that would be baggy on Shaquille O'neal. And the girls were either wearing enough makeup to paint the Sistine Chapel, or just enough cothes to cover up the parts that are illegal to have exposed in Japan. Point is, kids are ridiculous, and I didn't ...

... and pointed with exact synchronicity each time they passed a signal or sign. It is their way of acknowledging that a) they have seen the signal and b) it stops them falling asleep! Its brilliant to watch and a must for any visitor on a train in Japan. Once in Nara we took the city loop bus to our next home. This time we decided to book into a Ryokan. How can I describe these? Well they are similar to a bed and breakfast set up. Sometimes dinner is provided ...

... On the same street about 3km down there was also the Nishi Hongan-ji that was built in 1591 as a new headquarters for the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) school of Buddhism, which become very powerful. A breakaway fraction was created and Higashi Hongan-ji was built opposite a few blocks across. I also visited the Nison-In, which enshrines ...

... tion *nd w*s soon b*ck on the Shink*nsen speeding my w*y b*ck tow*rds Ancient N*r* City. After * few loc*l tr*in ch*nges I w*s b*ck *t the N*r*-Ken Seishonen Youth Hostel. The Hostel St*ff were surprisingly h*ppy to see me hobbling my w*y through the door *nd gr*bbed my p*ck *nd took it to * room. I thought the hostel w*s full *nd thought nothing more of it. After p*ying for * few nights *nd c*tching up ...