Japan, Nara 26 July 2014

26 July 2014.

The last night of our stay in Japan. This morning a bit of organizing was required as all busses out of Kuala Lumpur airport towards Mersing, the place where we need to get the ferry back to Tioman and Stamper, were completely booked. Whatever route we tried, we could only arrive at Stamper 5 days later. In the end we settled for taking a flight from KL to Johor Bahru and from there a bus was available to Mersing. We still need to see if the tide allows the ferry to go when our bus arrives.

Nara is the oldest imperial capital of Japan, founded in 720. Many buildings originated from that time but have been rebuilt after destruction from fires in the centuries to pass. Nara has a pleasant laid back atmosphere, not too busy with tourists and some surprising fashionable shops. A walk through the park brings you to most old temples and up a hill providing a good view of the low lying land of Nara, Osaka and Kyoto. A distinct boundary exists between the flat land, used for building and agriculture and the hills that only have forest or some temples.

Nice tuna for sushi

The streets of Nara are also frequented by deer seeking cookies from the tourists. Some of the last act quite strange to the attention of the deer.

Turtles in the ponds are seen as less aggressive by tourists, but beg nonetheless just as much.

Some of the houses are quite big in Nara, probably worth a fortune in this space-poverty country.

Your guess about the meaning of this is as good as ours. Most likely wishes for something good to happen.

We tried to figure out how to get your car out of place x. The storage room underground is as big as the storage above ground. Most likely they can shift the boxes with cars up and down. We could not however figure out how it really worked.

These are calligraphy brushes and ink-stones. Julie tried some of them and they write remarkably beautiful.

A minimalistic styled restaurant with excellent food for a very reasanable price. We ate here twice and offered a generous tip, much to the surprise of the personel. a sample below.. for a price of about 5 Euro per meal.