2013 Travel Dispatch #4 (Nara)

Another day and another temple and another garden. Not that it's anything to complain about. As you can see, the garden is/was lovely. This is the Isuien Garden in Nara. Nara was one of the ancient capitals of Japan, is just a short hop from Kyoto and made up the bulk of today's activities.  We took the train out of Kyoto this morning and joined the Sunday crowd of tourists (mostly Japanese) to see the sights of Nara. This garden was an absolute delight. And we're getting another round of fall. As is evident in the picture, leaves here are just beginning to turn. Interestingly, most of the commercial pictures I've seen around here are taken at this time of the year.

While the vast majority of Japanese dress in very western style clothing, you do see occasional girls or women in Kimonos. Someone said that if they wear kimonos they get into the various temple sites free. A gratuity that could add right up as the fees for temple visits are not inconsiderable. Happily, they are also very willing to pose.

This the Todaiji Temple in Nara. It is supposed to be "the largest wooden structure in Japan and maybe even the world" (their words not mine). It also houses one big ass Buddha cast in bronze. 

Here's a shot of the corner of the building's roof.

And here's the Buddha.

My little NEX camera did a fine job in really terrible light conditions, if I do say so myself... so I will.

But all is not temples and buddhas. 

It seems Nara is as weird about deer as India is about cows. They are all over the park near the temple and one of the favorite pastimes of the Japanese visitors is feeding the deer -- there are vendors for deer food all over the place. The deer are extremely tame and rather bold. We saw one that went right up to a vendor's cart and started helping itself.

And, of course, what's travel without food. And food shots have become almost as popular as selfies. Here's a shot of a meal already half consumed. The Japanese present food so well and we keep meaning to get a picture of it before eating. But the urge to begin eating always wins out and presentation gets destroyed. 

And finally, just to prove I do take picture of something besides temples, another shot of some dour young ladies in kimonos.

This may be the last dispatch for a few days as tomorrow we head down to Fran's monastery and chances are better than even that we will not have access to wifi. Until then, Be well and prosper. Catch you on the flip-side.

Photography by Burdette