See the deer at Nara, they said

What they didn't clarify is that the deer at Nara are a different breed from all other deer known to man and that what they should have said was "Watch out for the deer!". This picture really doesn't really do justice to the many hundreds of deer that roam the parks and pedestrianised streets as if they own the place. Rather than being remotely cautious of humans, they have come to recognise them as providers of the infamous "deer biscuits" that anyone can pick up for 150 yen.

A warning to anyone getting excited now, the deer aren't stupid. They have come to recognise when someone is in possession of the deer biscuits and make a beeline for you and can be quite persistent in their demand of your biscuits. If you stay away from the biscuits however, you will find that they are quite calm and even gentle.

That wasn't all there was to see in Nara, the home of a UNESCO listed World Heritage site. In fact, there are more temples and more shrines, including the impressive Giant Bhudda which was, well, pretty big.















By this point, I was starting to get a bit templed out. I recognise that this is a long trip and that there will be many, many more temples and shrines of various religions to visit so it's probably best not to OD on them in the first week.

The afternoon therefore was spent at the local Sega World where Johan impressed me with his considerable driving skills by beating me not once but twice at Super Mario's go-kart racing. He then proceeded to also beat me at a bizarre game (only in Japan) where two people played together as a hulking male zombie and a petit green female zombie who fall in love and try to excape from a complex where they were held.

Dinner was at a Japanese-style burger joint which had remarkably tiny but tasty burgers, followed by a take-away sushi tray which we ate back at the hostel followed by some tasty (bean-flavoured?) snacks that we bought earlier.

I'm very tired now, all the walking is surely good for me but man I'm beat. Today has been quite a quiet day so hopefully tomorrow I will have a little more energy!