day 150, Nara then Kyoto

Had an excellent sleep not ruined by snoring or shuffling or movement and woke up very slowly. As there wasn’t much to do in Nara during the night time I decided to head back to Kyoto sometime in the evening and ruled out going to Amanohasidate as it would be too expensive for what it was and didn’t fit in with the bus timetable to Hiroshima. I booked 2 nights back in Kyoto at the same hostel I stayed in, and with that weight off my mind I headed out into Nara on a beautiful day. I walked into town, got some light brunch and went in search of the Big Buddha at Todai-ji temple. The place was pretty busy with tourists however it’s attractiveness shone through, the gate to get in to the big Buddha hall was made out of wood and looked mightily old and held my attention for a good 15 minutes. After that the Big Buddha house (trying not to make the awful joke of saying it was the predecessor to the big brother house or something along those lines and failing, I’m sorry ali) was equally impressive, and the Big Buddha was amazing. Built in the 8th century it just baffles me, it’s 15m tall and huge and intricately made, and was great to see and walk round it. Half way round the Virocana Buddha was a queue about 100 people deep lining the wall, mostly school children. Intrigued I followed the queue to one of the massive pillars which at the bottom had a hole in, and yes people were queuing up to fit through the hole in the same building as one of the best things I have ever seen. From the big Buddha hall i walked round in a circle through the park and passing numerous shrines and loadsa deer, stopping off here and there to read my book. I made my way back to the hostel to pick up my bag and walk to the train station though the line to Kyoto was closed due to a badly translated “accident or death occurrence”, so got put in a bus to another train station then caught a train to Kyoto. Japan as the novelty wears off seems to becoming more expensive, so instead of taking the 2 quid bus I walked to my hostel for 50 mins with Michelle, my big bag, and a little pissed off about nothing in particular I walked into a shop and bought a carton of milk and some cake costing more then 2 quid. While I was paying for it the irony struck and I started smiling, then asked for a straw to drink my milk but the girl behind the counter didn’t understand, so I did the miming action  for a straw and she looked a bit startled, me a bit confused I pointed to my milk and she looked relieved and broke out in a nervous smile, walking down the street re-doing my straw mime trying to work out what she was startled about it hit me and I cracked up. Got back to my hostel and settled in. I’ve booked a bus to Hiroshima for Monday night, it’s half the price of a train and it is overnight so saves me accommodation for the night so am chuffed. I heard mark in the corridor so shouted to him, he was off for some food then to watch the Chelsea arsenal game, we went to a dumplings restaurant that was recommended by the hostel which was very nice, my love for oolong tea is increasing by the day, then headed off in search of football. The place that I watched the rugby was a private party, so headed to a british pub where we saw the Manchester derby. They were playing the united game though after a bit of persuasion turned it over and was a great game. Mark is a Chelsea fan and I inevitably ended up routing for arsenal, plus it was the Halloween party in the pub and some of the costumes and effort was extraordinary, from the best Japanese amy winehouse I’ve seen, to col gadaffi to my favourite, an american in a giant costume about8 foot tall and 5 foot long, a sort of giant black fish with teeth either side of his head, it had a harness and he couldn’t stand up without hitting the roof and had taken all the fake cobwebs off with him. He said it took him and 3 others 15 hours, though he was getting plenty of lady attention so he reckons a good investment. We finished the game and walked home. Mark is going to Hiroshima tomorrow, I have 2 days to kill really in Kyoto before my bus.