Nara!

Today we both awoke feeling like we had been hit by a bus.
I dont think ill get stuck into the Asahi like that again,
Anyways we managed to visit Nara today.

I Havent seen Kyoto other than the station transfer yet but at this stage i would have to say Nara is the nicest place ive ever been. Such a pretty place and wild deer wandering around the beautiful parks completes the picture. Upon arrival we headed straight for the nearest konbini (7/11) and grabbed some food. I opted for the traditional rice ball and melon bun whilst sarah grabbed a hot box of chicken karaage and an ice cream cone in a cup. I didnt know what i was getting when i grabbed the onigiri (rice ball) so i was a little nervous when i bit into it but all was well when i tasted the pickled plum filling!! The melon bun was nice as was Sarah's chicken and ice cream.

We managed to get a lovely lady named Mayumi for a guided walking tour at the station, so we able to get a full rundown on the tourist spots as well as being taken to a real life Geisha street and sampling some Authentic Nara Pickled cucumber. Although it was very different and interesting to try seeing as though its pickled with Sake i dont think ill have it again haha.

Once we got to Nara Park i was amazed at the beauty of the place. The trees, ponds and gardens were so beautiful. We were lucky that our guide explained everything to us and gave us the historical background on things. We grabbed a packet of deer wafers and began to feed the deer, it wasnt long before we realized these animals really were wild. A pair reared up right infront of us and then i was bucked when i was stingy with the food haha.

we wandered our way down to Todai-ji temple, this is a spectacular site as its the biggest wooden structure in the world. whats more impressive is the giant buddha inside. Its kinda hard to guage the size of the buddha until we were shown a picture of the cleaners abseiling down his head during cleaning. Mayumi gave us the rundown on the history of Buddha and the great temple before we headed off to the museum where we saw a number of interesting things including an earthquake simulator. This was real interesting and sitting in the hot seat we got a real hands on idea on what the great japanese earthquakes felt like.

Throughout most of our day trips we were constantly talking with the japanese school kids. Spring is the time they go back to school and excursions are popular at this time all over the country. Whats really cool is they all love foreigners and want to practice their english and get pictures taken with you! We were both happy to oblige and just showed us another part of this wonderful country's culture.

The conclusion of our tour with Mayumi meant we would hop back on the train and head for Lake Biwa and the city of Kusatsu. But i could hardly leave this city without trying the famous persimon leaf sushi. I opted for the traditional mackeral type and although nice it was kinda weird with leaves :)