Day 11: Kyoto

Nara is a city about one hour train ride from Kyoto, and is famous for its deer park, where a large herd of deers (more than 1,200) thrive and become a major attraction to tourists. The deers have been living here for hundreds of years, and considered as sacred animals in the city. They are well cared for and protected. The deer crackers you can buy to feed them are specially designed for them, and safe for them to consume and enjoy.

As we arrived to the city, after walking about 5 minutes, we could immediately smell them. We bought some crackers, and walked towards the park. I was immediately mobbed by 3 or 4 deers! As a new comer, I was ill prepared for how to handle them. My stack of crackers were gone within a few seconds!

Steve was laughing and handing me some of his crackers, this time, I learned to take a small piece to feed them. I walked away from those aggressive ones though. Those deers were biggest and most experienced deers, knowing how to bully newcomers. 😳

The rest of the experience was more calm and fun. The deers would bow to you when asked to be fed. Some were more gentle than others. We didn’t like the ones who tucked our shirts, or nudged at us. The gentle ones got more crackers from us.

Steve enjoyed feeding the deers so much that he went to got more crackers, and we went to different areas of the park, and fed different groups. The one deer with an injured leg got most crackers from us.

It’s not often you see animals and humans interacting so peacefully together. Even though the deers are wild, without any caretakers around, no one was mistreating them. Humans are delighted, and deers are happy for the treats. What I saw was a park of harmony and coexistence. Loved it!

Another major attraction in Nara is Todai-Ji Temple. As we arrived at the entrance, we were at awe of the size of the building, turned out the temple is the largest wooden building in the world!! And the bronze Buddha statue inside is the largest bronze statue in the world! We decided to come to Nara in a whim, so Evan didn’t do any research on this city. Finding out these cool facts was a delightful surprise to us.

Tomorrow is Evan’s 18th birthday, so we headed back to Kyoto and bought some tasty pastries for his birthday celebration.

We have been trying to go the the Michelin Star Curry restaurant for two days now. The first time we were here, the restaurant had a sign saying they were in vacation. The second time Google map said they were closed on Sundays. Today, Google map indicated it should be open. However, there was another sign at the door, saying the staff was sick, so they were closed for the next 2 days! Sometimes we get a reminder that not every place is like America, so profits driven that the people’s well being is secondary. Even though we are sad that we may never taste their amazing curry, we do admire them for caring for their staff.

The last time we were is this area, I saw a restaurant fully of Japanese customers. So we headed directly there. Well, let me just say that you can always trust the locals to know where to eat. The food here is absolutely amazing!! One of the best we had in Japan so far. You can’t even find this restaurant on Google map! We wouldn’t have had the chance to eat here if we hadn’t passed by it. Disappointment turned into another delightful surprise for today.

Evan’s last day as a child has been a wonderful one!Read more