Day 7 – Deers and Tears

Yes yes, I know deers isn't right, but try explaining it to my lovely Russian, this title was his idea.

Fast train to Tennoji, then a local train to Nara, only took about an hour in total, had fun finding the right train at the change, not as much English on the signs, both a little bamboozled.

Also saw this sign, absolutely no clue what it means.

I warned Ilya, as we arrived into Nara city, that I may well get emotional as I could already feel myself welling up (long story short, very complicated relationship with my only sister, Nara, who has had severe mental health issues for the last 24 years or so).

Got our map, and we started off on our walk off on our little adventure in this place. In the rain again!

It was really strange seeing my sister's name all over the place. Welled up a bit again at that.

Started off at the Five Storey Pagoda, which is a reconstruction (finished in 1426) of the original (from 730 A.D.) and the second highest pagoda in Japan, a smiley woman accosted us to practice her English telling us about the significance of different decorations etc, I didn't take it all in as I thought she was a bit odd doing this for free.

We first saw some of the deer here, all sopping wet and harassing the tourists, it looked fun, but I couldn't see where to get the special crackers from (they are only available from official sellers, for £1 a stack) so was starting to get grumpy, as I am apt to do occasionally.

Continued and finally found a cracker seller... started feeding the little blighters and like it warns in all the literature they were all around me... as you can see in this brief video directed by the famous Russian film-maker Burkin!

By the way 'bows', is another word which confuses people with English as a second language, he of course meant it as bow, rather than bow. Glad I cleared that up!

Here are a couple of cute photos of the deer...

On to the main event, the Todaiji Temple, one of the five largest wooden buildings in the world, but first, its south gate:

Impressive eh?

Here are the guards (don't know if they are really guards, but they are very imposing).

Then a little encounter for the Spy with some more cuties.

We got our tickets and entered the grounds of the temple. I took a moment to light some incense in thanks for my family, and also one for my Nara, to ask for her back, yes I know this is a serious moment, but I can't really find the words.

The Great Buddha Hall is so impressive, and the photos don't really do it any justice, but is is 57 metres long and 50 metres wide, but still 30% smaller than the original structure it was built to replace!

It houses the largest bronze Buddha in the world (nearly 15 metres tall), and made me feel so reflective. I am not a religious man, but sometimes when I visit stunning places of worship, I am in awe of them and can appreciate the spirituality they were built for.

There was a moment of levity, thankfully, kids forcing themselves through a custom made hole in the base of one of the columns, it is symbolically the same dimensions as one of Buddha's nostrils and apparently helps one gain enlightenment in the next life.

I walked away from the Buddha in tears, I just couldn't help myself, and Ilya thoughtfully just let it happen. I had to take a few minutes near a beautiful golden structure close by as I just couldn't stop crying. I miss my sister so much, but there is nothing I can do, I have tried all I can for so long, but it really hit me here in this place.

We carried on, after my little moment, managed to find a lovely old man who after much patience on his part and frustration on ours, wrote my sister's name in Japanese calligraphy, he was fascinated that it was the name of my sister, and explained in very broken English that it was his gift to me.

I had to take another moment after leaving him, and am welling up again now, here is what he did for me.

On the last leg of the park now, promise, we found the next wonder, the Himuro Jinja shrine, again so beautiful.

Then headed on a peaceful walk through the forest and the rain back to the city centre, all that crying made me really hungry.

Found a lovely little place which serves what it name suggests:

And it was like magic food, it revived both of us.

Back on the train to Osaka, tried finding a restaurant for the night's meal, ended up venturing out after the useless concierge did a google search to recommend a local place, well durr, we can do that. After wandering around for a while, we happened upon a yakitori place, looked great. Walked in, it was tiny, really hot, really brightly lit, low ceilings, basically three small tables, with some seats at the bar/chef station, I was feeling hot just thinking about it. We ordered some drinks and food, the drinks arrived quickly but I was already in a complete mess. Full on panic attack. Ilya said I went white and he could feel the heat radiating off me, so I had to get out quick and leave him to pay for drinks and cancel the food. Oops, first one of those for a while.

Ended up in Mos Burger, ordering a couple of delicious burgers, and five of what I thought were tempura prawns, but were actually chicken breasts... oh well, good for the protein.

This is a long post and it has taken me a long time to write, but I have had a lot to go through. I contacted my sister when we got back to the hotel and sent her some photos of where we had been, hoping it might get through to her, but no, it didn't, I have had to block her again.