since there is only one private shower and there are three of us (my mom showered last night) plus who knows how many other people in the hotel who are going to use the private shower, i got up at 6am and did not dilly-dally to use the shower. luckily when i got down there the shower was not in use. the sisters were in line behind me as well. what a funny shower. in order to save water, the shower only emits water for 30-60 seconds. i'm not sure exactly how long but it was very short! kinda like some faucets in public restrooms. i had to keep pumping that thing to prevent it from shutting off on me.

a continental breakfast is included for free at the hotel which makes it an even better value. the rooms are clean. there is a tv in the room. after sleeping there for a night, my mom has gotten used to another cheap place and doesn't think it's so bad now. the breakfast is served to you when you hand in your hotel key at the front desk. they hand you a tray. the tray has 2 different breads wrapped in plastic (the kind you can buy at any convenience store), a packet of dehydrated corn soup with a cup, another cup for coffee or tea, and some butter/jellies. i love corn soup so i had some of that. it's probably not vegan but it's not like we have access to a kitchen nor time to cook our own meals this trip so we've made compromises.

sign in engrish: it is careful in a head

we walked to the jr train station which is very close. i had read about which train to take to nara and how long it takes. i looked on the train map and confirmed there is a line to go to nara. we looked at the signs and walked to the appropriate platform and boarded the train. at no point did we ask for help. once we started riding and realized the train has come to the end and is now going back to osaka, we realized something was wrong. this is what happened: we took the local trains instead of rapid trains! we got on the 8:35am train by our hotel and it took 30 minutes to kashiwara. there we had to get off the train and wait for 15 minutes for the next train that will continue us on our journey. when we got off, we were perplexed and my mom asked one of the workers on the train we just got off from as to what we should do. he wasn't helpful at first but then he saw that we were a bunch of foreigners. now he was helpful! he came over to us and explained how to read the train schedule. it's pretty weird. just numbers with boxes around them. once he explained a simple thing, everything made sense! the numbers with boxes around them do not go all the way, they make a stop at the hub and you have to get off at the hub and wait for the next train. that's what we did. we're waiting at the hub. the next train took us to ouji where again we had to get off and wait for the next train to take us further. we finally got to nara at 9:50am. overall, it took us about 35 minutes longer than it should have by rapid train. [author comment: i can't tell you how many times our trip was like that in asking for directions. japanese are very unhelpful if you look/sound japanese. they think you're stupid for not knowing how the trains work! well fuck you, there are no trains in okinawa and we don't know the local geography here. the same with restaurants. no substitutions! that was my trip 2 years ago. now with the sisters, our group looks very gaijin and the japanese locals are much more helpful and accommodating with our food orders.]

sarusawa-no-ike pond

when we arrived at nara station, again we weren't sure exactly in which direction to walk so we just followed the trail of tourists. once we hit the narrow street full of souvenir shops, we knew we had made it. we browsed a bit and had a second breakfast at mcdonald's. very bad i know but that continental breakfast just wasn't enough. plus this is the sisters' first time in japan and they need to see what a mcdonald's is like. i pointed out on the menu that they offer a smile for only 0 yen. i always tell people about this but now i got to show that it is true and they still have it! the sisters were actually impressed with how clean it was and that there is soap and towels in the restroom! did i forget to mention to carry around your own handkerchief and hand sanitizer in this country? japanese are very clean but for some reason there is a lack of soap/towels in restrooms.

pagoda at koufuku-ji temple

we then continued onwards towards nara park where all the stuff we want to see is. we came upon sarusawa-no-ike pond right on the edge of the park. it's a nice little pond with turtles swimming in it. the tale is some young beautiful lady was heartbroken and killed herself in there. something like that. there's tons of stories like that in japan. behind every rock is a fable. we then walked up the stairs towards koufuku-ji temple and were distracted again by a small pagoda and sculptures for children with shinto garments on them--there are so many things to see! we continued up the stairs and did not enter of the koufuku-ji temple facilities. part of the area was under construction too. we were really here to see the pagoda, which is the tallest in japan. i'm also on the lookout for deer as tons of tame but still wild deer live in nara park. they are sacred and protected. there are many vendors selling food to feed the deer. we spotted some deer right away and a food vendor. the food is a little expensive but this is one of those lifetime experiences so i purchased food for everyone to feed the deer. my mom even nibbled on some of it to see what it tasted like, not bad she said but no thanks!

the deer at nara park are much friendlier than the ones on campus at ucsc

nara park is quite large and intersected by streets so you could take transportation instead of walking to each place but we chose to walk. all the temples and museum are spread out so we had lots of opportunities to find and feed the deer as we walked to our next temple destination. there was a deer far away and there was a fence between us. however, my mom called out to it and to my surprise, it came over. my mom fed it through the fence. we then came across a gang of deer. we watched a japanese couple as the woman fed the deer and freaked out while the man took pictures and laughed. i then told twiddle thumbs to feed the deer too and she was also freaking out like a little child at a petting zoo. i was laughing my ass off so hard that i barely took any pictures of this. next time, it's going on video! i was careful when feeding and petting the deer so that they would not bite me. another thing you will notice about the deer is that the males have their horns cut off. this is an annual ceremony and was happening while we were there but we did not want to witness it. plus, it turns out that you have to pay to see it. i mean, if it was free and we just happen to be walking by as it happens, well that's one thing, but i'm not interesting in watching guys chase down a deer, pin it to the ground, and cut off his horns. i could've seen that shit in new zealand, but with sheep!

daibutsu-den hall at toudai-ji temple, where the daibutsu (great buddha) is

along the path to toudai-ji are many vendors selling souvenirs. the first ones you come across are a little more expensive than the ones in the very back that are closest to the temple. probably the ones in the front receive the most business so it doesn't matter what their prices are. we decided to hold off on souvenir shopping until we returned from the temple. inside of toudai-ji temple, which is the largest wooden building in the world, is the great buddha statue made of bronze. when i think of giant buddhas in japan, 2 come to mind, this is one of them. one is indoors in nara and the other is outdoors in kamakura.

daibutsu (great buddha)

when you walk into the hall, you notice the main buddha but what i didn't realize was all the decorations around it. there is a giant golden panel behind the buddha and a golden statue next to the budhha. there are also bronze decorations in front of the budhha such as a lily (i think it's a lily). you enter from the front/left of the building, behind the buddha, around and exit from front/right of the building. behiind the buddha is a model of what toudai-ji used to be like. there was once two pagodas on each side but they were destroyed a long time ago. the building and buddha were once destroyed themselves hundreds of years ago. the statue was recast and the building was rebuilt to two-thirds its original size. there is also a pillar with a hole at the bottom, about 1 foot wide and not much taller, either. i've read that people try to fit through it because supposedly you can reach enlightenment that way or reach it faster. anyway, the point is, tourists try to squeeze through. so i was walking around trying to find this pillar and i didn't have to try hard. there was a circle of people gathered around it, watching a group of australians try to fit through. well you know those sneaky convicts, they all fit through! such an enlightened country. i guess that's because a lot of people have nothing else to do in jail but pump iron and find god. hehehehe

shika no fun (deer poop) chocolate candies

as we walked back, we browsed the souvenir shops. i finally bought a souvenir for myself: a phone strap of the father from the "gegege no kitaro" cartoon on top of a deer. i was shocked to see a snowglobe of nara and pointed it out to twiddle thumbs because she collects those. one of the things i had read about was the chocolates they sell branded as deer poop. reminds me of all the shit chocolate in new zealand. kiwi poo. sheep poo. etc. my mom bought some of the deer shit chocolates. i also saw other funny ones like buddha boogers, buddha's belly lint, etc. one of the regular snacks they were selling was kusa-mochi. hmm, what is kusa flavor? because kusa means grass! luckily, one of the shops had a translation in english and they called it mugwort. oh, well that sounds a little more appealing than grass mochi! so i bought one to try it. you know what? it doesn't taste like grass. it tastes like dirt! hahaa. it wasn't that good. don't go out of your way to try it.

we were now getting hungry and it was time for lunch. there was this small shop on the corner so we stopped in there for a quick bite. i had zarusoba, which i surprisingly haven't had yet during this trip. it was my staple during my trip 2 years ago when the restaurants i went to in would not do any substitutions nor make something without meat for me. it rained while we had lunch. as fortune would have it, it only rained while we were indoors having lunch. otherwise, the weather was fine. we debated whether or not to stay in the park and see some more, namely kasuga taisha shrine which i wanted to see but it's up on a hill and looks like a long walk. we don't really want to walk up a hill after it just rained! we decided to leave the park and see some more temples within the city. we took a bus to kintetsu nara station and looked at the maps to figure out which temple we could see before they close (most close at 5pm).

bell at toushoudai-ji

we decided to take a bus to toushoudai-ji. part of it was under construction. in order to rush right through it and possibly see another place closeby, we split up and ran to the restroom and then quickly saw one part and met up to see the rest together. nothing special there but they had a nice buddha statue. i was going to take a picture but was not sure if it was allowed or not. very few people were in the hall and no one was taking pictures. i could've snapped a shot but did not. we walked out and my mom was right there. i asked if she knew if photos are allowed or not. she pointed to me the sign that says no photos allowed. wow, you know what? i would have never known! i think i've been noticing that sign at many places but it's not the kanji i would expect to see for no photos allowed so i have been ignoring that sign, hahahaaa. my mom went in and saw the buddha and came out sad that she couldn't take a picture. she thought it was the most handsome buddha she had seen thus far and wanted a photo of it.

yakushi-ji temple

we raced through the garden and tried to catch a bus to take us 1 stop away to the next temple but we missed the bus. we walked quickly to go to yakushi-ji before they closed at 5pm. we got there about 4:37pm and they don't let people in after 4:30pm. the workers were standing right there and nothing would change their mind. oh well. we walked around the part across street to see as much as we could for free. you could walk around this one temple part but not go inside without a paid ticket. we could see a lot of it so that was cool. from across the street we could also look back at the top of the pagodas behind main entrance where we were denied entrance. perhaps one day i will have another chance to view this place up close.

doutonbori street (other side is more famous but this side photographed better since it has a sign)

we took the bus back to jr nara station so we could use our jr rail pass. we took the rapid train (not local!) at 6:09pm to namba station in osaka at 7:05pm. we did have to get off at kyuuhouji to get on the local train for the remainder of the trip back to osaka but overall it was a better trip than this morning. we walked through the underground mall called namba walk, then above ground to doutonbori street. we looked at the menus outside to figure out which restaurant we wanted to have dinner at. we ended up at a nice place you'd never know of from the street. the hostess pulled us in from the street by calling out to us and showing a menu. there were many others doing the same. we went down an escalator and into the restaurant. we had to take off our shoes and there were unique lockers to store them (at least a locker style that i had never seen before). it was one of those places where you order many small dishes. we ended up ordering perhaps a little too much but our total was still cheap. my mom was getting very frustrated when she tried to order rice and the waitress was very confused and did not understand. the word for rice is "gohan" which also means "meal". i think the waitress thought we were trying to order a meal and that for some bizarre reason, "gohan" no longer means "rice" for the younger generation! a lightbulb flashed on in her head and she said, "raisu?" (a japanization of "rice"). yes, that's what we want! goddamn, japanese don't even know the word for rice in japanese anymore because they are borrowing so many foreign words. one of our cab drivers was right. the youth are stupid! ("ima no ko wa baka.") this was said during one of my mom's conversations with cab drivers when they were discussing how the youth have also turned a very polite word for you ("otaku") into something not so good.

our farewell mainland japan feast on doutonbori street, osaka

for dinner we had seasoned gobo pieces (free with every order), rice, pickled radish, water, hot tea, sake, salad (daikon and mustard? with a nice sauce but it had parmeasan on top so us vegans removed the cheese), yakitori for twiddle thumbs's sister, tofu (soft! cheese-like) tempura with a tasty dry green powder dip (not a wet sauce), fried edamame, regular edamame, and fried potato! after gorging ourselves on a very nice goodbye mainland japan dinner, we shopped a bit on doutonbori as we walked back. twiddle thumbs got a few things at a 100 yen shop (tax not included, each item becomes 105 yen with tax) and we also picked up some engrish t-shirts for some of our male friends. twiddle thumbs wanted to go in to a pachinko place but no one else did and she wouldn't go alone. we left doutonbori street at 10pm. what a day!

today's expenses in yen:
¥2750 hotel
¥600 deer food
¥500 toudai-ji entrance fee
¥580 lunch
¥180 bus
¥240 bus
¥600 toushoudai-ji entrance fee
¥360 bus
¥1626 dinner
plus a couple drinks from vending machines throughout the day to hydrate