Super Hotel Nara Shinomiyaekimae

... of the times. Will have no success. Will find no love. Will not be happy. Shouldn't travel. Will get sick as a dog, almost dying, but will luckily recover after near death experience. And lastly, any competition I have in my life, I will lose. Sweet. I love Buddhism. I have since converted to Daoism. China is treating me much better, so screw those buddhists! Well anyway, after a bunch of laughs, birnie and I headed out to grab some ...

... main palace before he (and hence the capital) moved to Tokyo in 1868. Just a big Japanese Buckingham palace really. Nara I had lunch with the frenchies and practised a bit more french. The food was again a japanese style buffet. Did the job nicely. One hour drive to Nara (the very first capital of Japan - before Kyoto). Visited the immense and spectacular Todai-ji buddhist temple housing a monumental buddha. I am the size of his ...

... edificio de madera mas grande y antiguo del mundo que consiste en una estructura de cinco pisos, la cual es uno de los símbolos de Nara y que constituyo el sitio sagrado de la familia imperial de la época. Allí también se encuentra otra edificación de madera de tres pisos con un cementerio y otro santuario octagonal el cual es digno de visitar, ya que conserva muchas de sus figuras originales de la época. En el camino a buscar el Museo Nacional de Nara se cruza ...

... experience 'traditional Japaneseness' as we were staying in a typical Japanese house/hotel; a ryokan. For starters we had a Japanese bath and it was amazing! We washed/showered outside the bath on little stools and then climbed into a tub of steaming hot water and enjoyed the nice view of the pretty garden. Afterwards we slipped on some yukata (bathing/light casual robes ...

... the bench. I think he's at the edge of crying out "Help, help!" Amused by his helpless adventure caused by all the deer monsters, I got some interesting pictures (see attached). We made a mistake of not having lunch in Nara because we didn't realize that in Japan, restaurants didn't serve lunch anymore after around 2pm and only started operating again after 5pm. Therefore, it's not a funny feeling walking on the rainning streets of Kyoto searching for an open restaurant after ...

... t really come in handy when your town is under attack by an army of angry Samurai wielding flaming torches. Which is why almost everything is a reconstruction. Unfortunately, Todaiji was partially burned down during the first few years after it was made. Yet it still stands to this day and is gigantic. Whats scarier is that what stands now, is still just one third of the original.<br><br>Inside Todaiji Temple is the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen. It contains Japan's ...

... of the most *m*zing so f*r in its *bility to m*int*in *n *ir of sophistic*tion whilst simult*neously combining the big city vibe of Tokyo with the historic*l relev*nce of sm*ll temple towns. The outskirts of Kyoto, not five minutes *w*y by subw*y, feel *s though you've tr*veled to some f*r off, qu*int vill*ge town rich with cultur*l signific*nce. With the *mount of be*utiful temple complexes, shrines *nd J*p*nese zen g*rdens we visited, it would be impossible to *dequ*tely describe ...

... ter is good w*ter.<br><br>And now? Now, we *re in Kyoto. Ap*rt from Miy*jim* isl*nd, I c*n cert*inly s*y this is/will be my f*vorite pl*ce so f*r, even on the first d*y. This pl*ce h*s sophistic*tion, *tmosphere, but best of *ll, history. Within the first few blocks of Kyoto st*tion - which in itself is *n *ttr*ction - you could pick out * few sm*ll temples *nd shrines. Not to mention * gi*nt c*stle complex, which holds Nijo C*stle, built by the founder of the ...

After a very quick bullet train journey from Tokyo, through which both Sarah and I managed to sleep through a lot of but over 300km in 3 hours isn't bad so after a bit of initial confusion we found the right bus and in turn our hostel. The hostel was about twice the size of the room in Tokyo but twice the price as well! After dumping our stuff we headed out in to Kyoto to find some lunch and something to do. After a rather poor spag bol we headed to one of the temples nearby to checkout ...

... or twenty local stops we'd be making. Oh well, no big deal. The ride would give Ellie time to nap and me time to give a listen to some of the music I'd just bought. So it was that I rolled into Nara being blown away by a dizzying mixture of Fifi and the Mach 3 and Kahimie Kari. Nara itself is a small city, but it packs a load of history into the city blocks and outskirts that it has. Nara was the unofficial capitol of Japan for a while, though nothing permanent was planned ...