Fushimi-Inari, Nara Buddha and Sushi with friends

Ok, before I start telling you about the attractions of the day, I have to warn you, if you're planning on coming to Japan, regardless of what anyone else tells you, bring bug spray. Lots and lots of industrial strength bug spray. And just in case, bring after bite. I was told its not the season for mosquitos, and seeing as we're backpacking, I decided not to take either of the above necessities. BIG mistake. At least for me. I have been eaten alive, all over. I have on on my temple, about twenty on each ankle, a big collection in the shape of a C on my back, and don't get me started on my arms. Ori? "don't worry about him, he's just fine. Not one bite. Probably cause they're all busy biting me. 

Ok, back to the day we had. Throughout the night there was torrential rain. The typhoon had finally arrived. Thankfully, we awoke to a few drizzles and by the time we were on our way, the clouds had mostly cleared up.  We headed out to Fushimi-Inari. It is a temple made up of one thousand red Toriis, one after another, creating a long red passage way up the mountain. 

It takes about an hour, maybe an hour and a half to climb all the way to the top (yup, another day of climbing) but it was worth it. So different from any other temple, from any other place in Japan actually. Again we were blessed with timing and were able to take some photos on our own. The thing about the climb is you dont really know how much further, so with the humidity and the bugs and the scratching, I can't say I totally enjoyed every second, but was encouraged to continue when the canadian guy we passed on his way back down reported we only had another twenty minutes. And a little after that a nice Chinese couple offered me some of their tiger balm to put on my bites. Just before the top there is a beautiful point over looking the city. Funny enough, it was the opposite direction as the view point we had the day before when we were on the Monkey mountain. We continued upwards to the top of the mountain (233 meters elevation) but there was no view from there. It was just the top of the temple with a prayer alter and some religious artifacts. Interesting but not what we had expected. 

It was probably one of the more impressive temples we had see on our trip. 

Next we went to Nara. We got back to the train station and found out that we had almost a half hour before the train to Nara and so we went hunting for some food. I spotted a kiosk of something at the end of the block and we went investigating. It was a man cooking beef on a bar-b-q. Ori had just said that he was craving meat so I told him to go ahead and that i would head back to the 7 eleven and find a rice and tuna triangle. As Im standing in front of the rice options trying to figure out which is the tuna and which is the shrimp, in comes Ori half harried waving a skewer of meat at my face - You have to try this! He said excitedly. I took a bite, thinking, ok, its beef, how exciting could it be? Oh how I underestimated Japanese street meat. It was amazing. Heaven on a stick. Do you want one? he asked. Already half way to the door to get another before we had to get to the train. I paid for the drink and rice triangle and waited for him outside. He came back with two more. It was that good. I dont know what kind of meat it was, or what cut, or what spices he put n it, or how long he cooked it, but it was mmmmmm yummmy!  Needless to say, I did not eat that rice triangle. 

Throughout the planning of this trip, I told Ori that I didnt want this to be a checklist trip. The kind where you pile on a whole bunch of things in one day and you go - check, check, check, that youve been to those places. Its not the kind of trip I wanted, and definitely not the kind of honeymoon. Luckily, its not Ori's cup of tea either. We take our time, we stroll, we sit and enjoy parks. We may not frequent coffee shops, but we're not rushing through either. Why am I mentioning this at this point? Well, because today is the closest I felt to that kind of trip, and yet, not really. Once we were finished the climb back down Fushimi Inari, Ori suggested we pop over to Nara to see the big buddha. It wasnt on our original schedule, but I had never seen a big buddha and Ori, having seen a few in his travels in the East, said that I would probably enjoy it. Since we were so close to Nara (which used to be Japan's capital in the past). We got on the train - the local one, Oy. The Lonely Planet says that Nara is a short 30 minutes away. And so when it took us over an hour and fifteen, we were seriously frustrated. The train stopped and waited at every train station for so long, we made a point of getting the schedule for the next direct train back once we arrive in Nara.   

We got to Nara to find deer everwhere. Not like in Miyajima where there are a few, here they were everywhere. And people had booths selling their crackers. One woman started feeding them and they almost fed on her. The photo here is of an actual deer - this is not a statue. 

We got to the temple and were wowed by the view. The old wooden temple on a backdrop of bright green was awe inspiring. 

The Buddha inside is 15 meters high. Our eyes took a second to adjust to the low light inside the temple from the bright sunlight outside. I looked up and there it was - a huge, serene, quiet buddha guarded by two golden statues. He is sitting on lotus flower leaves, each carved symbolically with images of people, temples, flowers, and other deities. the details were indescribable.

 We walked slowly around the statues trying to take them all in. 

 Hard to do when just its hand is that big. 

What a fabulous day so far. But wait, its not over :) We havent had dinner yet. 

We got back to the hotel, showered and got all pretty and went out to meet Maya and Erez for sushi dinner. Yum! Too bad the place was closing twenty minutes after we arrived (no exceptions). We inhaled our dinner and went our looking for dessert. Maya and Erez recommended a french bakery place down the street and so thats where we went and had the souffle that they had before. The Japanese are not really well known for their desserts. Not only the dish itself but the practice of eating dessert. Most often, people will purchase sweets (usually bean paste based) and take it home to be shared with friends and family there). Restaurants dont often have desserts on their menu.  

The souffle was nice and the company was nicer. 

Signing off, till next time.