DAY 2

OSAKA – NARA – OSAKA TOWN

If you planned to go to Nara early in the morning and you thought of having your breakfast there, you should probably think twice. I have no idea about others but it’s kind of hard for me to find one restaurant which is opened when I reached Nara at about 10ish in the morning, most of the restaurant only open at 11am! So if you can, grab your breakfast before you leave Osaka!

If you have got your JR-West Rail Pass already, from Osaka Station, you can board the Yamatoji Rapid Service, Yamatoji Line which heading to Kamo, 3 stations before Kamo is Nara Station (refer to the railway map below).

After alighted from train, always remember to look for the Tourist Center and get a map. Nara is pretty easy, I did the Nara Deer Park to famous Todai-ji Temple all by foot. If you can’t walk, you can always take the bus, maybe it’s a bit hard if you cannot read Chinese, but you can always ask the tourist center or show the bus driver where you want to alight, Japanese is really kind and helpful anyway. The map below give you a little understanding of the tourist spots in Nara.

After 500m or 1km walk, you will start seeing some deer walking around and you know you’re approaching the deer park already after seeing the temple below.

This area is open for the public to visit but this is not Todai-ji yet, Todai-ji is about 500m farther.

The deer is not afraid of human, you can touch and play with them, but since they’re wild animal, you’re still advised to touch them gently. Keep exploring and follow the deer if you can and you’ll eventually end up at Nara Deer Park.

The park is really big, there’re people selling foods with $100yen per pack and you can feed the deer with the food. Once you’re holding the food, the deer will start doing something to amazed and pleased you! Yes, the deer will BOW at you!! How can you not feed them after seeing their pleasant behavior right.

Follow the crowd after passing the deer park and you’ll reached Todai-ji. This place is full of deer!! Oh! My DEER! They’re everywhere!

This is by chance, I saw a deer sitting and resting on the stair step, so I sat beside and took a picture with this popular star! After Todai-ji temple, if you’re lazy want to walk back to the station, look for the bus, not to worry because the last station of the bus is always the train station. If you’re back too early, you can stop by Uji for their famous Uji Green Tea too. 😀