A month in Japan

• Morning
o I woke up this morning feeling good, and decided to take a nice shower to wake myself up. This worked very well and by the time I was changing in my room I felt ready to tackle the millions of temples that Nara had to offer. I realized by the time I got to Nara though that I was in no position to see all the temples
• Nara
o I decided to take the train to Nara, which turned out to be an easy ride, but it was a bit of a trip. First of all, the train stopped ever few stations to pause for a bit and by the time I arrived at Nara I had been traveling for close to an hour… yet, I was worth it.
o Arriving in Nara, it was clear that this was not Osaka or Tokyo. Every few feet you would see a small temple. Everywhere there were shops selling kimonos and charms. It was a nice quiet town and it reminded me a bit of Nagano if it were much bigger.
• Temple Time
o I decided to consult my map as to find the nearest temple which should I thought be easy enough, but it was about a mile and a half walk. By nearest temple, I mean nearest large temple. Along my walk, I started dying of hunger so I stopped by a curry place. Curry is really big in japan… it tastes great and it’s cheap. For about $5 you can get a very filling lunch that consists of rice, curry, and some vegetables or meet. I also decided to pick up a drink because I was losing a pound of sweat every few steps as I walked towards the temples. In the end I don’t remember exactly how many temples I saw, but I think it was atleast 10. There was a 3 story pavilion that was beautiful, yet it paleed in comparison to the 5 story pavilion that sat next to it overlooking a pond. Even so, these two were out of the ordinary, but were nothing compared to the temple that held the giant Buddah statue, which was 53+ feet high. I have never seen a statue even remotely that large in my life. It cost $4 to get in to see the giant statue but it was worth it. The building that housed it was also the largest wooden temple/structure in the world. I ran into some Korean girls at the temple who spoke English, which was a bit fun. After the temples though, I decided that since I had spent around 5 hours in Nara it was time to go back to Osaka since I was in dire need of a shower and some rest. The train ride back felt amazing since it was nice and cool in the train and I slept for about half of it.
• Back in Osaka
o Arriving back in Osaka I’m greeted by the guy selling fake louis vuitton bags who appears to have taken a liking to me. He’s one sketchy individual, but he appears to have good intentions… or atleast not bad intentions. I get to the hotel and go online for an hour or so, talking with friends, catching up, and all around relaxing from my trip. After my battery starts running low I decide that it’s time for a shower and so I take an amazing shower and then head out to the grocery store for a lunch/dinner. I decided to go outside the comfort zone and order a steamed meet bun, a rice thing, and a little red bean paste something for desert. I also snag a “pocket juicer” (mango juice) from the vending machine. This runs me about $4 and does wonders for my hunger. I settle down in my room and read some more Harry Potter and relax. After about an hour I decide to take a nap and wake up later and possibly go to the bar that some of the guys in the hotel were asking, but as it turns out things go differently.
• The game
o I wake up at around 11:30 and head downstairs with my laptop to talk with a friend whom I promised to talk to online later and low and behold what’s playing on the tv but a soccer game between korea and japan. Quick information point—korea and japan have amazing soccer players who could own the US players. I settle down on my laptop, but soon I’m absorbed in the game, so I decide to set it down and pick it up later. The game is zero zero and they’re in overtime. It’s amazing.. the players are making these wonderful saves and finally it comes to penalty shoot out. The Koreans manage to win by one penalty shot and the room goes crazy. Point of information-this hotel has lots of Koreans. A guy from England breaks out some plum sake and stars handing everyone cups. As we all finish our first cup of sake a girl from korea pops some money into the vending machine and out pop 5 large beers which she begins pouring into cups. Long story short… we all end up rather drunk. Yet, it was hilarious, and I got to meet all these random people. The one downside of the night was as I returned to my room and attempted to get to sleep it was rather tricky as the room kept on spinning. After about 15 minutes I was able to counteract this by getting into a perfect position, but it was a bit of a pain.