Daytrip to Nara

as the title of this post suggests, we went to Nara today! (we don't have day trips every week ok. so it was pretty special for us! free lunch, transport and entrance to some cultural/historical places freeee!! i like i like.

anyway, Nara was Japan's first capital city. and it escaped the US nuclear bombs because it was recognised as a place that embodied the spiritual heritage of Japan. So our fixed itinerary included visits to 2 different Temples: the Horyu-ji Temple, and the Todai-ji Temple.

the photos will all look the same to you guys, so i've decided to save u the pain and the computer the agony, of 'downloading' and uploading the photos respectively. This is my token photo with the world's largest wooden building. and. get this. what you're seeing now, is only 2/3s the size of the original temple. it was constructed in 752AD. so the sheer scale of this temple is... Simply Amazing - a testament to humanity's ingenuity and passion. This temple houses Japan's largest Buddha statue, and there are many japanese craftsmen who dedicate their entire lives to the upkeep and maintenance of this statue and the others in the temple.




one of the funniest things that we did was to worm (and i use this word deliberately) through a small squarish hole in one of the thick columns that support the temple. apparently, your wish will come thru if you manage to worm thru the hole. hurhur. i suspect its just a trick that a Japanese man/woman with a sense of humour came up with in order to increase the level of enjoyment and participation for children and parents on a temple excursion. :)

ANYWAY. these are the wormy pics. enjoy and laugh alot please.

oh crap i'm stuck:


the 'hole-ly crap picture:


ejected from the tree....


Gift's experience was damn funny la. she had like... 5 people helpin to pull her out because 2 certain parts of her anatomy were too big to go thru. hurhurhur. guess the parts! ha.




SO after Todai-ji Temple, we decide to trot off to Wakakusa Mt, is about 342m high, full of grass and deer! Deer, or 'Shika' (in Jap) are seen in Nara as messengers from God, so they pretty much do whatever they want, whenever they like... they molest unsuspecting kids, waylay frail ladies who buy them their food, and walk around like they own the place, Seriously.
BUT! instead of showing u guys pics of the Deer (the messengers of God deserve their privacy, right?) i have decided to show you HOW THEIR SHIT LOOKS.

EXACTLY LIKE RABBIT SHIT. BIG RABBIT SHIT.


Here are the rest of the pics from the mtn:

the first group to arrive at the 1st 'summit' --> there were 3-4 summits/mini-summits.


this is at the top. we were doing silly things with the rock (i mean: SILLY) and then one of our friends, Khine, came running up to us to tell us that we were standing on burial ground. C.R.A.P. that was the end of our rock exploration.