Sakura And Deer
I awake early and shower in the Japanese style bathroom. I am used to the whole ‘sit on a tiny stool and wash yourself’ routine, so it is easy going. Katsuro agrees to hold my bags for a few hours, so I grab my board and my map and walk up the road to Nara park.
DEER. EVERYWHERE. I didn’t realise how many deer there actually were. I knew that there would be some, but there are fricken hundereds. All the deer around the parks edges(closer to the city) are shabby and scabby. I see one that has blood pools in its cut down horn-stumps. Eww. Just as I get into the wild part of Nara Park I see an amazing setting of sloping hills, Sakura(cherry blossoms) and some grazing deer. This is the sort of thing I came for in Nara.
Onward towards the shrines. I see a botanical gardens along the way and stop to check it out. Bad decision, as nothing is in bloom. I seriously consider asking for a refund, however fail to muster the courage. On from the botanical gardens and it’s to the first shrine of the day.It is really nice, mainly because there are no tourists. I spend a good 40 mins walking through the grounds, admiring the building and the Shinto vibe. From here I walk up to Nara’s biggest tourist attraction, the Todaji Temple. A long pathway with a decorative gate lead the way into a large opening, where the enormous monilith of a building emerges. It is the largest wooden structure in the world (and it used to be 40% bigger!!) This is where all the tourists have come, so it means lining up and having to weave in amongst people taking myspace style shots of themselves in front of it. Up at the top of the stairs at the entrance is a huge pot, filled with burning incense. I pay some yen into the donation box and light my offering.
Stepping inside the temple, the first thing you notice is the statue of Bhudda. It is fucking enormous, like maybe twenty metres high. It has several smaller gold Bhudda around it, almost like a halo of baby-bhuddas. The other gaijin are putting me off with their snapping of photos and annoying American accents. I am mindful that I need to back to Katsuro to get my bag, so I descend the main road back into town on my board and meet up with him. What I fail to realise here is that I have overlooked one of my ‘things to do whilst in japan’ - crawling through the Bhudda. No enlightenment or long life for me.
Katsuro helps me find more accommodation, so I move hostels and then its back up the mountain. This time, to Mt Wakakasura(?), where I take the beaten path to the top. What I failed to realise is that in my gung-ho explorer mindset, I had missed the stairs that make the 600 climb a lot more bearable. Instead, I am climbing up actual forest mountain and tackling small creek crossings. When I get to the top, I am blown away. You can see for about 60 kilometers in about 270 degrees. It is amazing. I use the time to sit in the sun and relax, before heading back down the mountain. I skate through the park on the way back down into town, on what is the smoothest surface I have ever rolled on. I don’t see how it is any different from normal concrete paths, but it is FAST.
I head into the malls of Nara and hunt down the Thrasher shirt. I have to have it. Even though I said I would not buy any clothes. Consumer. I also buy a rising sun flag souvenir. All this shit that I am buying will need to be boxed and shipped home before flying out. I am gathering a fair amount of junk. After going back to the hostel and checking in, I leave my bags and jumpers and take only my skateboard as I head up into the neighbouring suburbs of Naramachi. The streets there are smooth and it is enjoyable rolling around and getting friendly smiles from locals, who I don’t think may have seen too many skaters hanging out in their narrow laneways. After half an hour of skating I change directions and circumnavigate back to the hostel. uptown I find a geisha walking home, so as I am bombing a hill, I snap off a photo, it didn’t work… Stopping along the way, I find a smooth parking lot and skate flat ground for a while. I haven’t done this in SO long. It took me back to the days at Woodlands Primary with Brad Ennis and Isaac Lukatlic.
The Hostel is warm, so I grab a beer and get on with researching Naoshima and Shikoku. I meet these two dorky British engineers who have been travelling for 6 months already. All they think about is how expensive everything is. I had gone out for a cheap meal of noodles which I thought were both great AND thrifty , whereas they were making there own and sitting in silence with each other OR being whiny and whingy about money. Fuck. I don’t worry about money so hard that it changes my mood. I don’t want to turn out like these two. They talk about the middle east a lot and I end up blocking them out and getting on with my travel prep.
