Japan - Day 1 Nara - Arrival and Todai-ji

This is partly my own selfish desire to keep a lasting memory of our trip to Japan and partly to share our experience with you. We left in the middle of May and came back in the first week of June. Being asian, I like food, so these photo's will be quite food related...

Hubby had a work conference based in Nara for 5 days, so I being the supportive wife, decided to some along. It's always been a dream of mine to travel to Japan and I was so excited that I finally got to do it. We spent a total of 3 weeks traveling around.

It wasn't the best flight over as our first flight was delayed, meaning that we were delayed for our connecting flight. Oh well, free night in Singapore with free breakfast :)

We flew with Singapore Air from Adelaide to Osaka as that was the closest international airport to Nara.

You can get a coach from Osaka airport to Nara, but we arrived there late (after 10pm) and the last coach left just after that.

So we had the biggest culture shock trying to work out the Japanese ticketing, train stations whilst being tired and dragging around suitcases. Basically you stare at the map to find your final destination and look at the price underneath. Then you buy a ticket based on the price. Alternatively you can just buy the cheapest ticket and use the fare adjustment machine at the other end. It cost us approximately $19 dollars to get to Nara.

Finally arrived at Nara (at midnight!) and checked into Hotel Nikko Nara (which was thankfully next to the station).

Love the bathrooms in Japan, they always so clean

 

After the good night's rest, it was time to go exploring!

Basically as you leave JR Nara station, all the main things are around Sanjodori St, you can't miss it, that's where everyone heads towards. It was also a Sunday, so it was quiet.

 We went past Ara-Ike pond, where we saw some men catching turtles. Not sure what for?

First up, Gango-Ji

Then we stopped for lunch. It was a cafe on one of the shopping streets off Sanjodori. One was salmon and the other was mackerel. Mackerel was better.

Next the 5 story Pagoda. You can't go in and they were doing some renovations to some of the other buildings.

 Then to the temple that everyone goes to in Nara, Todai-ji. 800 yen to get in, about $10.

Big Buddha statue and other deity statues inside. There was also this pillar that you could crawl through. I guess to see how thick the pillars were.

 Also note there were CROWDS of people. It seems that May is school excursion time and there are kids EVERYWHERE. In anime you see the primary kids wearing yellow hats? Here they have red hats and school uniform. Some kids get to go in casual clothes, but they have to wear a school badge.

 Next we went up east of Nara to another shrine

 Purify yourself before going up the stairs

 You get a nice view over Nara. At the top you can also buy amulets and charms.

We kept on wandering along Wakakusayama hill, there are a few shops and restaurants up here. Nara is known for deer, they are everywhere. And if you got ice cream like us, then they will try to eat your ice cream, or anything that you might be carrying

By then it was getting late in the day, and we were tired. The fantastic find was an Aeon supermarket next to the JR Nara station. We ended up getting our dinner there.
It was exciting, supermarkets are different in each country. This one at the station had a large section devoted to ready meals. They also have an area for tempura and crumbed products (freshly made).
We ended up with temaki-sushi (handrolls), some mackerel I think, tempura vegetables...

 Some curry (kare) croquettes, basically curried potato, crumbed and deep fried, salad and vegetables. We had the fruit for breakfast.

 For dessert, tea with dorayaki, pancake with redbean paste (very sweet >.<) and a sticky rice ball.

Off to bed with a full tummy! Next day was day 1 of the conference for hubby.