Day 5 – Deers! Deers Everywhere!
Todays tally: 11,929 steps, 8.58 km travelled, 20 floors climbed and 4 layers of clothing.
I think I’ve said it about every day, but today was a big day! The alarm was set an hour later than usual today, so a tiny bit of a sleep in for the boys. Not for me unfortunately, I can’t seem to sleep past 6! We got our usual breakfast at the bakery and headed to platform 10 for a nice long train ride out to Nara. 1.5 hours in the comfort of the nice warm train (heated seats are the bomb), and 30 minutes in a sardine can of a bus, and we were finally there. Deers! Deers everywhere! So of course I rush over, buy some deer biscuits and unwrap them eagerly. This is the dumbest thing you can do as a tourist at the deer park I quickly learned. I was suddenly surrounded by 8 deers pushing me, nipping at me fighting for the small pile of treats I had. No harm done, but if I was to do it again I would definitely hide those treats! This was a great experience nonetheless. And let’s be honest, I had to basically be dragged kicking and screaming to move forward through the park towards the Shrines and Temples we were here to see.
We slowly followed the paths that lead to the Todai-Ji Hokke-do area of the park where there were many shrines and a small temple where you could participate in the bell ringing and the smoke ceremonies. There was a section of this area where you could climb some stairs (bane of my existence) and reach the temple at the top, where there was a brilliant view of the Japanese countryside. Not quite as impressive as the view from the top of the Monkey Mountain, but also much easier to get to – so it kind of balances out. While we were in this area, there were two men sitting in a ticket booth just inside of a small building, and Drew wondered over to have a look. Me being me, I followed. And I’m very very glad I did. It was a section where there was compulsory shoe removal (Chuck Taylors suck at temples). We did as instructed and made our way into a small room at the back which housed 7 statues. We were sitting in a place called Sangatsu-do (meaning ‘Third Month Hall’). The figures showed a Golden Buddha in the center, two warriors on each side, and a monk in between each set of warriors. There were rules inside of this room. You removed your shoes, you removed your hat, you didn’t take photos and you weren’t to speak aloud. These rules made for an atmosphere that was so spiritual and reflective, it was hard not to be caught up in it. As we sat there looking up at these 2.5 meter tall statues, it made you feel quite small.
With that sudden burst of spirituality, we left there and headed over to the main attraction – the Todai-ji Temple. Now this thing is huge. This building is 57.01m wide, 50.48m long and 48.74m tall. Now with those measurements its hard to imagine how big, but with the images attached, you will see the scale of the building against all the people out the front. HUGE! And that’s impressive enough, but as soon as you walk in you are immediately confronted with the sight of the Virocana Buddha sitting inside. Now this statue has some impressive measurements of its own! The height of the body is 14.98m tall, the length of the head is 5.33m, length of one eye is 1.02m, one ear is 2.54m long, and the lotus it’s sitting on has a petal height of 3.05m! With all those numbers you probably can’t picture it, but again, photos attached will blow your mind – even though the images will never give this wonder any justice.
It was near impossible to leave this wondrous place, but it was getting to 2 o’clock and we still hadn’t eaten, and the need for food was nagging. So we made our way towards the exit through the food stalls offering many different options for nourishment. We grabbed some of the street food on offer and quickly ate. But it was getting late, and knowing we had another 1.5 hour trip in front of us to get home, we decided it was a good time to get moving.
What the train ride home taught me is that the heated seats are the reason you see people sleeping on public transport here. I do believe I was one of them, a couple times. Especially with the 20 minute wait being absolutely stationary waiting for another train to pass. Sigh. But we got home safe and sound by about 5.30. Tired as hell.
But we’re all packed and ready to go now! Tomorrow is a travel day. We’re checking out of our hotel by 11 and heading to Osaka to start a whole new adventure!
