Day 3 - May 29, 2006: Nara
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Early morning in Izayasu Ryokan. We slept in traditional sleeping bags on the floor. That lump in the middle is See Ming, I think.
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And as usual, breakfast is served in the privacy of our room.
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When we first arrived last night, we put our bags down by this nice corner of the room
but was promptly requested to move it. We later found out that this was a sacred corner also
known as a tokonoma alcove and that all japanese rooms had one. Usually there's nothing in the
alcove except an antique scroll and some fresh flowers - these are changed according to mood
and season.
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Standing next to See Ming are (from left) Myoki, Takako and Toshio. They are the family that run Izayasu ryokan.
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The little garden in the ryokan courtyard.
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A manhole cover in Kyoto.
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Some pictures taken at Kyoto Station.
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Some yukatas on sale.
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Hydrangeas were blooming everywhere we went.
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This cycad tree is a national treasure. We found it in the grounds of Jokyoji temple in Nara.
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On the main street of Nara, we found a shop called Yomogi biscuits that made fresh mochi
(a sweet desert ball with red bean paste inside) so we tried some.
Even See Ming liked it and she normally wouldn't touch anything with red beans in it.
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Some deer keeping cool under a tree near Kofukuji temple.
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They looked quite docile and tame but we did see this sign.
My japanese isn't much good but I think the sign either means don't milk the deer or stay away from the fawns.
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Most of the temples were crowded with kids on school trips.
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The five-tiered pagoda at Kofukuji temple.
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A little buddha statue.
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These garden pictures were taken at Isuien and Yoshiki-en gardens.
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Todaiji temple
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We have been eating at what See Ming calls "hole-in-the-wall restaurants" for the past two days so we tried to look
for one in Nara and found this takoyaki (fried octopus meatballs) joint. Just like the past two
hole-in-walls, this one was run by a nice old lady and she had a chatty old gentlemen for a customer. His name was Fujii
and hers was Tomiko as our phrasebook-aided conversation turned towards our country and our currency, we gave them our
last Ringgit notes as souvenirs... Mr Fujii wanted to give us back 1000-yen notes in return but it was too much so we
couldn't accept. In the end, he insisted on giving us his cap, which he had just bought.
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A sweet shop in Nara. Japan seems to have as many sweet shops as they do restaurants.
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These cards tell your fortune by matching your birthdate to your bloodtype.
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They were being sold at this little souvenir shop near Nara park. See Ming also found a 1200-yen printed
clothe tapestry she wanted to put in our house. The shopkeeper rummaged through his storage but couldn't
find any new ones for sale, so we offered to just buy the one on display. He was quite embarassed to
sell it because it was a bit tattered around the bottom, so he tried to fix it for us and he
wanted to give it to us for free. We insisted on paying for it so in the end, he priced it at
100 yen. This is turning out to be a full day of Japanese generosity.
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We saw some young girls with antlers so See Ming took some pictures with them. After that, we thanked
them and they were keen to practice their English, so they poured out a torrent of thank yous, goodbyes,
good lucks, and even an "I love you" which in any other country would have seemed quite odd.
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Back in Kyoto, we had dinner in our ryokan again.
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