We have by decided to leave Japan for several reasons, but the main one was boredom. Now we are regretting the decision. We won't get to see Tokyo, Mt Fuji, or take a bullet train. Perhaps we have been hasty. Kyoto was beautiful but altogether too sedate, compared to the places we have been, but is the rest of Japan the same? We won't find out this trip. Maybe next time.
Nara is next. Its the former capital and even sleepier than Kyoto, but no less picturesque. Every historic building has appeared on a postcard many times over. I do sometimes wonder how they manage to get the thousands of tourists out of the shot, though. Every site is overrun with tour buses full of people, mostly foreign tourists, but the occasional busload of schoolchildren on a field trip. The kids have been learning English in school and have been given a script to speak to English speaking tourists. They have a question about food, about hobbies and about where we come from, they are achingly polite, but not overly shy. In fact, a few of them jostle for position to ask the next question in adorably fractured English. I feel mote than just a little shame at the fact that 12 year old schoolchildren have a better command of my language than I do of theirs, but its a feeling I have gotten used to, assuming the world understands me, therefore I don't need to understand them. We encounter a few of these groups and be as kind and patient as we can, trying hard to understand and answer all of their questions.
compared to north American or English schoolkids, this lot are incredibly well behaved and respectful. Makes me wonder where we went wrong. I blame hippies. Moving on.
the place we stay is again someone's home that we found on air b n b. That's a brilliant website. Of course the place is Japanese sized, so I am constantly braining myself on door frames, and my back really doesn't like the very hard beds, but the place has everything a little family needs for day to day functioning. We don't have much time, so we have to be choosey about what sights to see. We decide that the largest wooden building in the world, Todaiji-ji, will do nicely. The road to the temple runs through a park with semi-tame deer which you can feed by hand with thin biscuits sold at vendors dotted throughout the park. The deer are so used to this that there is no even the smallest hint of natural trepidation as they confidently approach you for biscuits. You hold one out and two deer come ambling ovrr to take it from your hand. Cute! You hold out another and there are 4 deer all vying for some biscuit love. You are lord of the woodland animals! You hold out another and 6 of them are advancing quite quickly. They think you could pick up the pace with the cookies. Then 7 or 8 of them are taking turns nipping at your shirt, biting your backside and headbutting your testicles. The sudden urge to throw the remainder of the biscuits at the closest deer and tearass it out of there with your newly retailored clothes and most of your manhood still intact sensibly wins out. Your place is behind the safety of a fence. You already knew this, of course.
When first approaching the gates to the temple, the first though is "When does this get interesting?". It doesn't take long to get interesting as the corner is rounded from the ticket takers' booth, and there, standing in the middle of a big green space, is a bloody great wooden temple. Its actually quite awesome, first sight catches your breath in your throat as you struggle to say " Wow!". A monster of a wooden temple houses a monster of a Buddha statue and a few others besides. Dominic decides he wants to sit in the giant wooden hand. Sympathetically we stop him as he tries to crawl under the rope. The gift shop runs half the length of the walls and runs the gamut between the tasteful and the totally unrelated. Dominic finds a pen he wants, I get a zenlooking bead thing, and Siobhan gets a few bits of cloth that she really likes the look of, but can't quite understand their relevance to the temple. The grounds are also immense and very peaceful, despite being overrun by tourbusloads of seniors and schoolbusloads of children again.
Like Kyoto, Nara is quiet and picturesque and we think that maybe it would be nice to stay in Japan. We understand the mistake we made by not waiting until we get somewhere more active. Too bad we have to fly to Vietnam. Oh well, next time.
Nara is next. Its the former capital and even sleepier than Kyoto, but no less picturesque. Every historic building has appeared on a postcard many times over. I do sometimes wonder how they manage to get the thousands of tourists out of the shot, though. Every site is overrun with tour buses full of people, mostly foreign tourists, but the occasional busload of schoolchildren on a field trip. The kids have been learning English in school and have been given a script to speak to English speaking tourists. They have a question about food, about hobbies and about where we come from, they are achingly polite, but not overly shy. In fact, a few of them jostle for position to ask the next question in adorably fractured English. I feel mote than just a little shame at the fact that 12 year old schoolchildren have a better command of my language than I do of theirs, but its a feeling I have gotten used to, assuming the world understands me, therefore I don't need to understand them. We encounter a few of these groups and be as kind and patient as we can, trying hard to understand and answer all of their questions.
compared to north American or English schoolkids, this lot are incredibly well behaved and respectful. Makes me wonder where we went wrong. I blame hippies. Moving on.
the place we stay is again someone's home that we found on air b n b. That's a brilliant website. Of course the place is Japanese sized, so I am constantly braining myself on door frames, and my back really doesn't like the very hard beds, but the place has everything a little family needs for day to day functioning. We don't have much time, so we have to be choosey about what sights to see. We decide that the largest wooden building in the world, Todaiji-ji, will do nicely. The road to the temple runs through a park with semi-tame deer which you can feed by hand with thin biscuits sold at vendors dotted throughout the park. The deer are so used to this that there is no even the smallest hint of natural trepidation as they confidently approach you for biscuits. You hold one out and two deer come ambling ovrr to take it from your hand. Cute! You hold out another and there are 4 deer all vying for some biscuit love. You are lord of the woodland animals! You hold out another and 6 of them are advancing quite quickly. They think you could pick up the pace with the cookies. Then 7 or 8 of them are taking turns nipping at your shirt, biting your backside and headbutting your testicles. The sudden urge to throw the remainder of the biscuits at the closest deer and tearass it out of there with your newly retailored clothes and most of your manhood still intact sensibly wins out. Your place is behind the safety of a fence. You already knew this, of course.
When first approaching the gates to the temple, the first though is "When does this get interesting?". It doesn't take long to get interesting as the corner is rounded from the ticket takers' booth, and there, standing in the middle of a big green space, is a bloody great wooden temple. Its actually quite awesome, first sight catches your breath in your throat as you struggle to say " Wow!". A monster of a wooden temple houses a monster of a Buddha statue and a few others besides. Dominic decides he wants to sit in the giant wooden hand. Sympathetically we stop him as he tries to crawl under the rope. The gift shop runs half the length of the walls and runs the gamut between the tasteful and the totally unrelated. Dominic finds a pen he wants, I get a zenlooking bead thing, and Siobhan gets a few bits of cloth that she really likes the look of, but can't quite understand their relevance to the temple. The grounds are also immense and very peaceful, despite being overrun by tourbusloads of seniors and schoolbusloads of children again.
Like Kyoto, Nara is quiet and picturesque and we think that maybe it would be nice to stay in Japan. We understand the mistake we made by not waiting until we get somewhere more active. Too bad we have to fly to Vietnam. Oh well, next time.
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