December 13th - Kyoto and Nara

Today we thought we might visit the bamboo grove in Kyoto before we got on our way to Nara. We got ready to leave but realized that is was quite a long way away and we were a bit stressed about activating our Japan Rail Passes. We went for a short walk in the city instead and got a great view of Kyoto Tower and the Big Tin Shed.

After we picked up our bags (heavy) from the hotel we walked down to the station and negotiated our passes. We felt very special being able to usurp the ticket machines and simply show our passes to the man at the gate. We’re SPECIAL PASS HOLDERS.

We figured out the platform to go to Nara and saw a train ready to leave. It was a local train and we thought “Oh, it’s only 37 kilometers, it can’t be that bad.” When we got on the train and it stopped every 10 seconds we took the initiative at a big station to change to an express. Very clever of us.

When we got into Nara, Chrissy was a bit disappointed that the station area looks just like every other city in Japan with big messy buildings and loud traffic. The walk to the ryokan was uneventful but annoying with our bags which we dropped off and went to look about and find lunch. Nara has some shopping arcades as well, kind of like a mini Teramachi and Sanjo streets (Kyoto). We went back to the ryokan for a while and then went out to look at the park. According to the map, about half of central Nara is park with temples, museums and a few shops. The light was fading but we had a nice time looking at the deer. We walked through a giant temple gate and when we turned around we realised that there were two giant scary statues watching us! Scary!

Dinner was at a chain Japanese restaurant specializing in rice with ingredients on top dishes. These are usually called something-don in Japan and this restaurant is called the don. Chrissy ordered an old favourite of ours – oyakudon ­– or eggy chicken on rice. I ordered a mysterious item which turned out to be crumbed and fried OYSTER on rice. Bad choice since I’m not that keen on oysters. I probably should have looked at that page on the menu which featured a big picture OF AN OYSTER.

We came back to the hotel reasonably early and used their big bath to wash away a stressful day. Soon – sleep!
j