The previous post in this series is here..
While on the bus from Osaka to Kyoto, we had already decided to go back to Nara to see the Todaiji temple and the giant Buddha. It meant having to get up the very next day and take an early train.
There was no breakfast included in our hotel in Kyoto. Also, my BFF and me decided that there will be more Uniqlo shopping. That meant, every food item we had got from the US in case we could not find veggie food had to be consumed to make way for clothes.
We got up early, folks got stuff at a 7-11 outside the train station and we got on the train to Nara.
We walked literally past the deer park that we had visited the previous day and went on for another 20 minutes through quiet streets and parking lots to the Todaiji temple. This temple has a very very large Buddha statue and the entire temple complex is huge and amazing. It was built in the mid 700’s out of wood and metal nails. It is massive. Then the deer are everywhere. They smelled the energy bars in my bag and kept going for it!
The temple had a small hole in a pillar through which folks were trying to squeeze themselves. A few kids made it but adults tried and failed. I did a corkscrew maneuver through that tiny hole and my friend pulled me out a bit! Everyone there clapped for me. Apparently folks who can go through that hole in the pillar are in for good times. That certainly has been true. (you can see it in the video). It was a nice experience.
Do NOT miss this temple when in Nara. It will take at least a few hours to see the temple and the museum which is fantastic (sadly, no photos allowed inside museum) but you get to see the artifacts from 700 AD of wooden Saraswathi and Lakshmi that are even more impressive than the Bronze statues we see in Tanjavur museum that came 200 years later. Two photo galleries..
A few photos in landscape format..
It started drizzling when we came out of the temple. The photos we got were gorgeous with the rain clouds being all dramatic. We stopped for some ice cream on the way out. We were in two minds to eat something in Nara or go back to Kyoto and eat. Decided to stop at the 7-11 opposite the deer park for a short break (the restrooms are there) and we made our way back to Kyoto. By the time we had finished the temple the restaurants weren’t open.
Jr. wanted to eat in this famous Raman place in Nara, but it wasn’t meant to be.
A longer video highlight reel.. especially the train ride. Trains crossing each other every 3rd minute at that speed. 6 year old kids just traveling on their own for 30 minutes by train to go to school. A very different country and a very different culture.
We caught the next train back and were in Kyoto station. Our next location was bittersweet.. that in the next post.