Day 8 - Nara - Sacred Deer

W: Last day in Kyoto. Sad to leave as we have grown very fond of the place. After saying sayonara to Eimi-san, our ryokan host, we were off to the station with our bags. Mine started to fall apart, but we made it intact.

Found some large luggage lockers at Kyoto station and stashed the bags, so we were free for the day to set off to Nara before heading for Tokyo this evening.

Bought our tickets on the Kintetsu private railway and, as we had about 30 minutes to spare, headed for the Isetan department store to to pick up bento lunchboxes. Bought two vege (except for a prawn) bento - I swapped my prawn for one of Tony's kabocha tempura.

Train trip was half an hour through mostly uninspiring scenery but worth it to get to Nara. Train was full of Japanese middle age ladies nattering. There are two main attractions... the deer and the great Buddha statue at Todaiji temple.

The deer, incredibly friendly and occasionally bossy creatures who want you to give them food. The young deer seem very timid but the older deer and stags aren't timid at all. Eimi-san had told us that, being Japanese, the deer bow to you - and they do! It's extraordinary.

You can buy special rice crackers to feed to the deer, I was feeding one when another deer came up and ripped off a piece of my Isetan carry bag - and ate it. I saw a deer do the same to a lady later on, she was most put out.

The other main attraction of Nara is the Todaiji temple and Daibutsu, the unbelievably huge Buddha statue inside it. It's an awesome sight, quite indescribable really. There are also other large gilded statues of other deities inside Todaiji, but the Daibutsu is the biggest, easily twice the size of the others.

On the way back from Todaiji there was a row of snack and souvenir stands and we bought a sansai taro ball (ok but a bit bland). A Japanese couple chatted to us. They were very impressed with Tony's language skills.

T: They asked if I'd studied at university! We spotted them again later at the Y100 shop. There are more temples and gardens to see in Nara but we really needed to head back. Wayne picked up a lovely set of miniature wooden carved deer at a souvenir shop, then we wandered down the shopping arcades, similar to the Teramachi arcades in Kyoto.

W: Massive Y100 shop! We bought a Y100 tanuki and also spotted a plastic banana holder, a rubber geisha, and samurai wigs, among other delights.

Another stop at Starbucks, then took the train back to Kyoto. Looked at the Tezuka Osamu (Astroboy) exhibition at Kyoto station, changed some travellers cheques, collected our luggage, then went to book our bullet train tickets for Tokyo.

T: I'm getting braver with the language, at the ticket desk I ask for two tickets on the Nozomi Shinkansen for Tokyo, reserved seats, non-smoking, thanks very much. Small problem, although we could two seats on the 4:26 train we couldn't get two seats together. This information was conveyed with a very clever drawing, the ticket girl would have been great at Pictionary. Anyway, we could get two seats together on the 4:32 train. Done. We make our way up to the platforms, find our carriage number marked on the platform and wait for the train. Wayne went off to buy snacks.

The train arrived at 4:32 and we were off to Tokyo.

W: Train ride very smooth but speed and g-forces took a bit of getting used to. Railway coffee not bad. The carriage was almost empty until we stopped at Nagoya where it quickly filled up.

T: Now express to Tokyo except for a brief stop at Shinagawa. We figure we'd be best to get off at Shinagawa since it's closer to Shibuya where we're staying. At Shinagawa we switch to the JR Yamanote loop line. It's a bit after 7:00pm and we'd hoped we would miss the rush hour but we seem to have landed in the thick of things.

We make it onto the Yamanote train with our luggage but hundreds of salarymen crush in after us. It feels like all of Tokyo has somehow squashed into our carriage.

Luckily it's only a few stops and we're at Shibuya. Find the Hachiko exit and the taxi stand. Again, the address of our hotel means nothing to the taxi driver so we showed him a map we printed from the Hotel Fukudaya web site. In a couple of minutes we were at the hotel. At reception there is a sweet old Japanese lady and then an Indian guy appears. He speaks English which makes checking in a lot easier. He says the bath is free if we want a soak.

W: The room at the Fukudaya is nice if a little musty. The main tatami matted room has two futons, a wardrobe and the all-important television. A small annexe has a table set with tea and crackers. We take a bath, then walked 10 minutes or so down Dogenzaka to Shibuya Central for a look.

Crazy place - so many people, mad fashions, lights and noise everywhere. Dinner options initially looked dire but we found some places with vegie options. Stopped at Natural Lawson, healthy foods convenience store, for snacks and drinks before we head back to our futons at the Fukudaya.

Next> Day 9 - Tokyo - Japanese Lady Penelope