Good morning everyone! Today mark the last day of our Kansai trip. This is my 5th trip to Japan.
We will head East, to Nara. It's a fine day, so no need umbrella. A view from our room, we could see the statue of Liberty because we are staying in the America Mura area in Shinsaibashi.
We use Kintetsu train, so we will head to Namba for our Kintetsu train. (You can use JR if you have JR pass)
We reached Kintetsu Nara station after about 1 hour including waiting, buying tickets and everything, Nara is famous for deer. Deers roam almost everywhere and they treat deers as god sent.
Outside Kintetsu Nara station, we have the opportunity to practice generosity. I think it's a good chance to create a karmic link with Zen monks.
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| Metta offering alms |
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| Signboard which confuses me upon first arrival although I have in mind where to go |
The few (UNESCO) famous temples and shrines in Nara could be covered on foot, but if you prefer to use public transport, you may use the bus specially catered for tourist. Just pay for 1 day free pass. As you can see the signboard mentioning the distance, you may guage whether you should use the public transport or not. We covered the few temples and shrines on foot within a day. Do a round course and it's not so difficult especially you can come close with the deers almost anywhere,
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| The first deer we caught on sight while walking to Kofuku-Ji |
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| We enter from the North gate |
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| Obasan selling Shiga senbei for feeding the deer |
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| One of the deer seen in Kofuku-Ji | | |
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| The 5 story pagoda is one of the landmark of Kofuku-Ji |
The children are getting excited over the deers rather than the UNESCO temple. I think there is a beauty in this temple. The pagoda load with slow roaming deers, is extremely peaceful and beautiful to me, perhaps it is due to a weekday.
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| Keep on teasing the deer with dry grass instead of senbei |
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| 2 horn fighting deers, but their horn had been removed |
Left Kofuku-ji from the South side and came to a road junction. We look at the Sarusawa Ike Pond from the top of the slope as there is a long flight of stairs to walk. Since we are going to left side, we do not intend to go down. If we do go down, we will come to Gangoji (another significant temple) and further down would be Naramachi (the city area). Since our main aim is to visit Todaiji (one of the UNESCO temple), we turned left.
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| Behind KL is Sarusawa Pond |
We walk about 300m left and came to this Torii gate. If you walk all the way down, you will reach Kasuga Taisha Shrine. At this moment, we decided to walk through this Torii gate and will go to Todaiji first.
Along the way though the Torii gate, again, many many deers around. It's deer enclosure. Pine trees all around and along the way we picked pine-cones (to decorate our Christmas tree) and brought them home.
Back to the deers, they roam freely. You can touch them, feed them, but please be gentle. Walk about 400m.
After passing this building (about 400m walk), we came to another cross road junction. If we continue to walk (along side lined with stone lanterns, which only light up at night), we will reach Kasuga Taisha Shrine (about 800m walk). However we are going to turn left, and walk to Todaiji temple.
We have to pass by Nandaimon, again alot of deers. Young deer asking for Shiga senbei, very cute right? The deers keep nogging their heads as if asking you, "Can you please give me some senbei?" After they finished your senbei, they will nog their heads again as if saying, " Thank you dear."
Bought tickets and we came into Todaiji. Todaiji is one of the significant temple in Nara which every tourists should not miss. This is the second time I visited it. There are many temples surrounding it but we did not visit every of them. We only went into the Daibutsuden (大佛殿）.
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| Wash your mouth and hand before entering a temple. They have been so well trained since our Tokyo trip |
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| This is Medicine Buddha statue. Wow, it has been sitting there for a very long time liao. |
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| If you can pass through this small hole, which is right below one of the pillar of the Daibutsuden, you will have good luck. I tried before last time, I can pass through. Now is my children's turn to try |
Time to leave Todaiji. We wanted to search for a place for lunch. We took to walk the East side of Todaiji so that we could go to Kasuga Taisha Jinja on the way. Along the way, we see the Great Bell, just East of Todaiji.
Maple leaves are back to our eye sight. After we left Kyoto, maple leaves are rare sight because Osaka is like a big city, buildings and shopping and hardly any parks.
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| Maple leaves over Kagami-Ike pond |
We came to the doorstep of Sangatsu-do Hall and to trel further, we can reach Nigatsu-do Hall. We did not visit due to too much walking, so we head towardsWakakusayama. If we pass here, we can go to Kasuga Tasiha Jinja.
This bare patch is actually the Wakakusayama. When come to spring, this is green.
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| Deer deer, so cute, he wants to eat senbei and is waiting |
We stop by a shop. This shop is actually a shop selling omiyage. However the owner also cook for tourists, so we are really honoured to taste what it is call "homecook".
...and after our late lunch, we are full of energy. We are setting out again towards Kasuga Taisha Jinja. Along the way, we finally decided to get the deer senbei to feed the deers
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| Getting deer senbei from the shop behind us |
Once we reached the road right below, we will reach the garden avenue of Kasuga Taisha Jinja. It's very beautiful over there, alot of maple leaves.
After walking through this area, we will reach Kasuga Taisha Jinja. The sides are line with stone lanterns. As it was almost closing time, we decided to explore around the garden and not going in for visiting.
We walk around and again chance upon some deers. The children decided to feed the deers with all the left over deer biscuits. A cute deer came to ask for the senbei.
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| Deer senbei |
Getting dark, so we walk along the pathway, both sides line with stone lanterns. The walk is about 800m up to the cross junction to Todaiji. Meaning is you want to reach the red torii gate I mentioned earlier, you have to walk another 400m (total walk 1.2km). To reach Kintetsu Nara station, have to walk another 400m (so total of 1.6 km).
So after walking about 1.6 km, we are back to Sarusawa-Ike Pond along Sanjodori Street. Sky is already dark.
We walk and shop along the street for while and even went into a tourist centre to use the wifi over there. We also have some tea.
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| A Japanese style hotel or tea house |
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| Ebening by Sarusawa-Ike Pond |
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| Shops along Sanjodori |
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| Walking down and along Sanjodori |
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| Not very late, buy the winter sky darken fast |
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| Some kind of mochi |
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| Shopping alley around Kintetsu Nara station |
Time to leave Nara, We bought some omiyage and crackers from the shops along the shopping area before we head into Kintetsu Nara station, just few steps away.
Tips: Please check the timing of trains and plan properly for your shopping time allowanc because if you miss the Express train, the next few would be normal trains. It will take almost 30mins longer to reach Namba station compare to Rapid Express train.
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| Back to Kintetsu Nara station |
Here we were back to Namba station. Since it was our last night in Osaka, we decided to take a walk back to hotel. Again we went to Daiso, after which we ate at the famous Takoyaki shop.
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| Takoyaki Dotonbori stall |
This time we walked on America-mura side after crossing Dotonbori River. We walked almost up to Hanshin Highway and took a turn to the small Triangle Park. I was told that there was a famous stall (Kogaryu) selling Takoyaki as well (usually long queue) but when we were there, it was closed, argh... missed!
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| Triangle Park |
No choice, so we decided to head back to hotel from Triangle Park. On the way, we came across a shop which points underground. The shop sells Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba. All of us want dinner and especially fried noodle on teppan, so decided to try since it was our last stay in Osaka.
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| Waiting for the soba to be placed on teppan |
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| Start to DIY your food with your own preferred sauces |
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| Okonomiyaki |
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| The Yakisoba was great but we only order this much |
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| The cosy place at the underground restaurant before we walked up to the cold street again |
We returned to our hotel to pack up our luggages after the wonderful dinner cum supper :)
The cat is waiting, always waiting. I like this statue very much, so happy to see it sitting at the front door, welcoming us back! Kawaii desune!
That ends the last day of our trip in Kansai, 2014. We are heading home tommorrow. Our Singapore, our home!
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| Cat statue in front of the hotel lobby |
