本州物語 第6章－奈良：東大寺、興福寺

Like Kyoto, Nara used to be a capital of Japan, and preserves many traditional temples and shrines as well. The most special thing about Nara city is that there are many free roaming deer on the streets - yup totally free to wander around like stray dogs and cats, without any supervision. This means passers-by can also touch, feed and play around with them too! But this comes with a little price - the paths and grass are littered with beads of shit everywhere. You have to watch where you are stepping. Better to walk on concrete paths where the shits are more visible.

Mascot of Nara. Doesn't appeal to me though.

Kofukuji Temple. There was intermittent rain on that day...not the best time to tour outdoors.

People usually visit Nara for these two 'things'.

I can't remember which side initiated this phototaking. There were lots of times when we wanted to take pictures with the cute little Japanese kids, but felt shy to approach them lol.

你在偷拍我吗？

Sorry dear deer, I have nothing on my hands...just posing for a shot haha.

"Don't molest me while I'm drinking" =(

Special moves by the deer. They can join Street Fighter liao.

Hope the deer are intelligent enough not to roam on the roads. However there are still many cases of deer being knocked down by cars in Nara.

National Museum of Nara. Didn't visit due to time and cash constraints.

"I also want to visit the museum, cannot meh?"

Cool basin! Water, soap and blow...all in one panel!

与鹿漫步. There is a reason why there are so many deer roaming around this shopping street...

This guy is buying crackers to feed the deer, but it looks like the deer are getting very impatient...

The moment you get hold of the crackers, all the deer will swarm towards you haha. Can be pretty intimidating...

Let's take some close-ups while we can. =)

These deer are obedient enough not to enter the temple.

Wow! Todaiji Temple is huge! The biggest wooden temple I've ever seen.

Hordes of students on excursions, like in Kyoto.

Todaiji has to be huge in order to house this large Buddha statue. Learnt from a Japanese module that the construction of this temple in the 8th century left the country bankrupt -__-

Side views of the Buddha. (Reference its size with the people below)

No idea what this 'tunnel' is for. Heard that this is the actual size of the nose on the Buddha statue. So huge ah?

EEEEEKS!!!

Lol...even the Buddha has capsule toys and figurines. Uniquely Japanese...

BEST omelette rice I've ever eaten! The portion is huge too!

The more traditional and less saucy omurice. But still delicious nevertheless.

本州物語 第5章－京都：龍安寺・伏見稲荷・嵐山

Temples usually close their doors early, around 4pm or so. In view of this time constraint, we plucked up courage to take a taxi, even though the distance just requires a 25min+ walk. Throughout the taxi ride, I was staring at the meter, praying that it doesn't jump. Thankfully we reached our destination without the meter jumping haha. It remained at the flag-down base fare of 640 yen, which is about 10 SGD. FYI the meter jumps 90yen (1.50 SGD) for every 200m. So SGeans, please stop complaining that taxi is so expensive in SG.

Pretty pond in Ryoanji Temple gardens

A random shrine in the middle of a temple garden... It doesn't forget to collect money as well.

A random Buddha statue hidden within the shrubs.

Calligraphy in Ryoanji.

I feel like rolling on the tatami, from one room to another lol.

Here comes the highlight of Ryoanji - this rock garden. Very zen indeed. People can just sit down and admire this garden for hours.

(Attempting an artistic shot) I enjoyed this place a lot, compared to other temples. It's very calming and less crowded, especially after a long day, seeing hordes of students everywhere.

How cute...a little well with a little ladle to wash your hands.

Enjoy the greenery =)

Even the layout of the garden looks so zen...

Fushimi Inari Shrine. Unlike temples, shrines are usually unmanned, no specific opening and closing hours, and free-of-charge to enter. Anyway there are A LOT of such arch (known as 'torii') in this shrine, of all kinds of sizes, from small hand-held size to really huge ones.

I like the colour scheme of this shrine. It looks like it's just freshly painted.

I wanted buy this home as souvenir, but it was a little ex... (btw we are supposed to write our wishes and hang it here, not bring it home haha)

This path behind the shrine has thousands of torii. So many that the exact number is unknown.

Torii is supposed to be a gate, but too much of them becomes a tunnel.

The torii 'tunnel' leads all the way up a hill. Gave up and turned back when we realised that we've covered only about 1/3 after trekking up a long long way. Apparently (from the map), the peak of the hill lies merely a stone carving (probably with some words like "Congrats you've completed the tunnel march, please mind your steps while you make your way down").

Want a torii of your own? Please donate the required amount according to your desired size.

These cute foxes are said to be the messengers of the Inari god. Tempted to take one home lol.

福禄寿?

Came across a little shrine hidden at a secluded corner in Arashiyama.

It's said to be rude to read other people's wishes...but some were really interesting haha.

First time being in a bamboo forest! Doesn't this look like a setting in 武侠 movies?

I need a sword, swordsman robe and a rope (with harness).

Luckily we 'evacuated' the forest before it got really dark. No time to explore the rest of Arashiyama, maybe next time..

Tonkatsu (pork cutlets) to fill our stomachs!

Back to Kyoto station. It's really larger than it looks. Took many flights of escalators and steps before reaching the top.

Nothing fantastic about Kyoto's night view (other than the tower). After all it's supposed to be a traditional city without modern lighted buildings or skyscrapers.