April 18, 2001 (Day 42)

April 18, 2001 (Day 42): Ryokan Hakuhoh, Nara, Japan – 11pm

Health: fair. My sore throat continues. This is one of the many signals that my body is sending indicating that rest is required. I am not alone in this. We both know we are pushing ourselves towards the ship and the promise of long-term downtime.

Morale:  good. We are both at the same point. We know we are tired and that there is only so much productive sightseeing we can do without wearing ourselves out. Fortunately, we have a similar tolerance; there is only so many things we can look at with fresh eyes before we have to do something different. The advantage of traveling together as much as we have helps to identify each other’s limits.

Tonight is laundry and postcards night. It is certainly an indicator of how long you have been on the road when doing laundry – the allure of clean clothes – is a highlight. It gives us a chance to catch up on overdue postcards. The washing part does not take too long, but drying is interminable. We are passing the time trying out the various libations offered by the vending machines. The beer is fine. I wish I could say the same about the sake. It is as good as one would expect coming from something dispensed from a vending machine in a Mason jar with a foil pull-top cover. In sake veritas – at least truth in advertising. The word “dreadful” leaps to mind, but I am not sure it is that good. The universal law of alcohol that says terrible things taste better in quantity certainly does not apply – or the quantity required would float a small oil tanker. I have had decent sake and this is not it.

We were able to rent bikes to visit the temples today. It really was the best way to go. It was far better than walking and nice not to have to depend on public transport, not to mention good exercise. For rental bikes, they were fine – the rental office was just across from the bookstore with Internet access. Nara seems to be fairly bike-friendly so getting around was not much of a problem.

Did our fair share of temples today. Not coincidentally, these temples coincided with UNESCO World Heritage Sites. First on the list was the Todai-ji temple, whose claim to the superlative is the world’s largest bronze Buddha. While this was impressive, the appeal of this temple to me was a post with a hole in it. According to legend – a phrase guaranteeing my interest if ever there was one – if one can pass through this hole, one is assured entry into heaven. I took one look at this hole and decided I stood no chance of making it through …until a woman roughly the size of Anna and me duct-taped together shot through it as if oiled. A number of school children were interested in attempting this feat, so I needed to wait my turn. The plan was to delay until there was no one around to witness my potential failure, but that was not going to happen. Attempt number one was not successful. There is that brief moment where one becomes lodged in and thinks that, well, this is it. I will spend the rest of my natural life stuck in here, surviving off of offerings left by school field trips.

After wiggling out, I got a piece of advice from a regular visitor. He tapped his shoulders and then raised one arm above his head. Soon I was back in line. School children, more interested in a laugh than eternal paradise, permitted me to go ahead of them in line. It worked – surprisingly well, actually. A round of applause greeted my passage. However, it happened too fast to be appropriately captured on film so, after Anna made a successful passage – also greeted with a rousing response from local school children – I made my second successful attempt. This should erase the paradise deficit from Ethiopia.

Nara is awash in small deer. Small, tame deer. Small, tame, hungry deer. A large portion of their diet must consist of the “deer cookies” sold by local vendors. These animals know the drill. They know you are not going to eat these cookies yourself so you might as well give it to them. Tourists must encourage them to nod their head before they will be given the treat. The end result is an animal with a countenance part-subliminal message, part-assertive request, all-give me the damn cookie, pal.

Liberated from our cookies, we cycled to the Kasuga shrine, which felt about as uphill as Nara could get. Entry to this shrine proved a bit of a challenge as their seemed to be no entrance, only an exit. In an act of desperation I do not condone, we went in through the out door. The interior was very tranquil, disturbed only by the swaying metal lanterns and the faint trickle of a stream. On our way out, we discovered the entrance hidden between a cluster of fortune-tellers.

Our biking led us to a pond with a pavilion in the center. As we crossed the bridge to the pavilion, our progress was followed by a school of fish. These fish gathered at the surface, fervently smacking their mouths indicating that a donation of food was encouraged. The tranquility that this site promised was undone by the hungry sounds emanating from below. On more than one instance, I double-checked the integrity of the railing and platform itself, ensuring that I would not plunge unexpectedly into the feeding frenzy below.

Had to check out the Japanese video game arcades. One thing that is very popular here is a tambourine game. There is some sort of sensor in the tambourine that moves a cursor on the screen. The player moves the tambourine to get the cursor within a circle then clap a button on the tambourine in sync with the group of animated dancing girls on the screen. It seems to be popular with both sexes. Watching men play is particularly entertaining. Photo booths are rather popular as are games with cooing “cute” animated characters. Since none of these “cute” characters are associated with a shooting/kicking game, I do not understand the appeal.

Withdrawing money at an ATM proved to be a cultural experience. At the end of the transaction, I looked at the screen to see a graphic of a woman bowing towards me. What a country where even the ATMs show some form of respect.

Excerpts from Anna’s journal included

• ChasingFogg15
• Japan
• Nara
• Travel
• UNESCO