Sun Hotel Nara

... wouldn't you know it. My fortune is given to me by the monk......and yup.......NO LUCK. See the pic within this blog as a verification of what transpired. Of course I was like.....are you f'ing kidding me? As birnie giggles uncontrollably like a school girl, i read my fortune from top to bottom with the monk smiling in amusement.. Feel free to read it yourself and have a good laugh at my expense. But to summarize, I am a loser. Not a ...

... approaching - simple but ingenious. Kinkaku-ji was a zen garden which we visited next - it's got a golden pavilion in the centre coated in extravagant gold leaf - beautiful. The remainder surrounded by typical japanese garden traits - much unlike western gardens - this means simply a pond, evergreen trees and some carefully positioned stone and soil work. Finally in the morning before lunch we made our way to what was the Emperor ...

... n hoy Nara hace parte de las ciudades declaradas como patrimonio cultural de la humanidad por la UNESCO. En la estación Nara del tren JR de se encuentra un mostrador de información muy completo, doce puedes adquirir mapas y panfletos con información de la ciudad y sus sitios turísticos. Para llegar al centro de Nara solo basta caminar unas cuadras, para recorrer las calles antiguas de la ciudad. El primer monumento que visite es Kofukuji Temple allí se encuentra ...

After Osaka it was time to look for some traditional culture so we headed to Nara with it's famous park filled with temples, shrines and deer. The deer are supposedly messengers from the gods and walk around freely throughout the park area. You can feed them special deer biscuits...if they don't take it from you by force first. However, we did not need to go beyond our door ...

... If I feed 1, the other would knock my hip with its horns yet not fully-grown. Very soon, the situation went out of control. I tried to escape and the hoard of deers, or shall I say, hungry monsters, chased after me with full speed. I had to pitch the biscuits to Scott, who is anxiously waiting for the deer-feeding experience. I saw him smiling first, said a lot of sweet words to his deer pals. Then I saw him running and hopping ontoa tall bench! The whole crowd jumping ...

... been turned into a museum.<br><br>And that's where the town of Nara comes into play. Nara, is a 'small town' by Japanese standards, and would have gone unnoticed if it weren't for the fact that it holds the largest wooden structure in the world; Todaiji Temple. But the real kicker is that its the longest surviving wooden structure in Japan. Way back when, the Japanese constructed all of their Temples, Shrines and Castles out of wood. Everything was made of wood. Of course, that ...

... lly but th*nkfully timed our visit to N*r* with. If the very ide* of drums pounding *nd Shintoist's ch*nting in the dist*nce *s you work your w*y up * n*rrow, wooded tr*il - deers frolicking by your side - illumin*ted only by th*t of three thous*nd gi*nt, moss encrusted, stone l*nterns doesn't conjure up * most mystic*l im*ge in your mind, then I don't know wh*t does.<br><br>As for the l*st few d*ys, we spent them in the surrounding *re*s of Kyoto, which is * truly be*utiful city *nd ...

... 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 ...

... I took pictures :D I was laughing so hard whilst trying to be silent that my gut ached so much .... And I now have some very awesome pictures :D In all Kyoto is a really beautiful place and anyone who comes to Japan should DEFINATLY go there. The way it feels is different from any other place I've been so far, its a bustling city, and yet it still holds so much of its traditional culture and aspects that its simply stunning. Theres really no words that can give it justice ...

... Osaka to Nara is supposed to take something like forty minutes. Maybe even less. At least if you catch the right train. We caught the right train, technically speaking, in that it was taking us right to the JR station in Nara. It was just doing so in local fashion, and as our train stopped and started over and over again, allowing Japanese commuters to file in and out on a beautiful, sunny day, we watched as the train we were supposed to be on sailed past us, oblivious to the ...