It's been a while since I've posted on this dear blog, so I figured I'd tell you all the tale of the great Nara adventure. Said adventure took place this past weekend and it was just wonderful!
Before I start anything though, you have to go to YouTube and look up "really annoying snoring." I hope these videos bring you lots of enjoyment and curiosity of what took place in Nara this past weekend...
Ok I need to back up.
12 hours earlier.
It was about 2 in the afternoon on Saturday when this journey begins. Myself, Lindsay, Hanne, and Sayumi (Lindsay's awesome Japanese friend) were on our way to the land where the deer roam free! (No, not Wisconsin...) It was about a 2 hour train journey away but alas, we had many wonderful conversations, saw beautiful scenery out the train windows, and got stared at by Nihonjin (Japanese people) because we are gaijin (foreigners, minus Sayumi).
Our hostel was right across the street from the train station which was super convenient. We checked in and and headed out to see the shika (deer!!!).
Upon arriving to Nara Park, this is one of the first signs we saw and I laughed so hard at it!! I'm sure you can see why. Japan is a very clearly labeled society and there really are hilarious signs everywhere.
(PS... you can click the pictures to enlarge them this time... I have no idea what happened with the last one, oops...)
We hung out with the deer the rest of the afternoon (and the next day).
(Fyi... over the course of this post there will probably be a lot of deer so if you're sick of seeing dead deer on the side of the road in Wisconsin you should probably stop reading right now. Or you should keep reading and you'll get a good feeling in your heart that tame deer really do still roam free in deer parks in Japan.)
I know... this is probably considered a creeper picture.
We were fortunate and got to see some other sights in Nara before sunset which was super gorgeous! This is the Five Story Pagoda!
Oh hey!
Below is another part of the Kofukuji Temple... I believe it was. This trip worked out perfectly because in my history class we were just talking about Nara being the old old capital of Japan and then I got to see the places we were talking about this weekend! It was pretty cool.
Then it got dark and we went to a fire festival at this super old castle! None of my pictures turned out but it was insane. There were mobs upon mobs of people and the crowd was absolutely SILENT the whole time. But then something sweet would happen like someone would throw a fireball to the opposite side of the castle and then everyone would "ooh" and "ahh" at the same time. It was so entertaining and I spent half the time observing the crowds reactions and noise (slash lack thereof) because it was so unusual!
We stumbled upon this display with pictures of the fire festival! So these were what my pictures were supposed to look like. :)
After the fire festival event took place, we headed out to a bar and Sayumi taught us about highballs! Highballs are Japanese drinks and they are wonderful. They consist of whiskey, soda, and flavoring. Us foreigners got plum wine and Sayumi got a regular (has no flavoring and is just whiskey and soda... it was like 17 times stronger). But they were awesome and apparently are unique to Japan!
And now, folks, here we are. Back to the starting point. The hostel.
Now, this was my first hostel experience (considering we don't have them in the States). For those of you that don't know what hostels are, it's pretty much a giant room with bunk beds and you and a random amount of strangers sleep in a said room and it's super cheap. For 1 person it was like the equivalent to $20 USD for one night.
Anyway. I told you to look up "really annoying snoring" on YouTube.... did you do it??? If you did than you know what I'm talking about. If you didn't then you're just going to have to use your imagination. But it was real bad.
I woke up at 3 am to this low rumbling coming from below me (I was on the top bunk). I kid you not... the random person below me was snoring so loud it was like a low bass beating out of some obnoxious teenager's car. Then on top of that snoring, there were 2 other loud people crazily snoring on the other side of the room. Throw that in with a little sleep talking and sleep humming from others.... it was a chorus of snoring that kept me up for a couple hours at least. I never leave home without my iPod (for music and my handy Japanese translation app) but of course the one time I do is a disaster. But I have learned my lesson! Never again will I travel without my iPod. If you plan on doing any hostel traveling in the near future, take note!!
Our hostel. View from my wonderful top bunk bed.
The following day (Sunday) we explored Nara some more, hung out with our dear deer (ha) friends, and finally got home around 4 pm ish. It was a wonderful trip and so much fun! I will leave you with some more pictures because everyone loves pictures.
This, my friends, is why you should never ever ever use Google translator for a foreign language.... a return mouth?? Really??
Awesome tree branches.
They liked the scarf.
Stay tuned for more adventures from Japan!
Spring break is in 2 weeks and this will consist of heading the wonderful and magical Tokyo! And we are SO EXCITED. It will consist of many adventures and crazy happenings I'm sure. Marcy Ethel (yes, that is my cameras name) will sure to be documenting everything. Also hoping I'll get a chance to see the WELS Mission in Japan because it's in Tokyo!
But. I have to survive a week and one day of classes.... BUT this weekend a couple of us are heading to Kobe, which is well-know for it's Chinatown. Chinatown in Japan? I'm confused as well but I'm sure there's a good story behind that reasoning. And also heading to the famous Osaka Aquarium on Sunday to see some exotic sea creatures!
Oh I just want to say THANK YOU for reading this blog. It makes my day that people are actually interested in these adventures :)
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