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Letter 42
Sunday 22.09.13 63,66 km
The distance to Nara isn't quite easy for cyclists. There is nothing positive
to say about it - unfortunately.
When I come to the center of Nara, it's obvious and the train station is also
just a bit to the left. The city is full of tourists, you can just follow, then
you'll get to all the attractions, most of them is in a big park.
The tame deers
The deers are tame here, that's also an attraction, but they are still "wild"
and can kick, bite and turn you over, as a warning says on a sign. A funny
situation occurs when we (50-60 people) are waiting for the light to change. A
deer that is in a hurry just steps out in the road and the cars stop. It crosses
the road while we all keep on waiting....
With such a number of lanterns you HAVE to have a fire extinguisher
You could buy yourself a wish
I didn't take part in the lecture
After having seen some of the attractions I go back to the station and find a
stone bench, where I can eat. I'm not going to share with the deers. Today there
are sardines in tomato sauce on the bread.
Then I go to find Route 24, which I will have to follow tomorrow. In the simple
map that until now have served me well, it looks like it's pretty close. But
it's not. When I get there in the end, I continue on the other side to a site
there. I can't really figure
out, if it's a reconstruction or not. It's first when I get to what once was the
entrance to the area, that THAT is solved. It is.
An older jananese with his name on the chest, ask me where I come from? Ah,
Denmark - Copenhagen... He was there 20 years ago. He has been working for Sharp
and been to Germany lots of times - and in China. But he doesn't speak german
and he doesn't use his english every day, but after a while it's ok. Now he's a
volunteer at the site. When I've admitted I'm 65, he asks how old I think he is?
I'd better shoot low to be polite. I think he's my age so I say 58, haha. He is
actually 73, which
you cannot see.
My japanese friend "New Mountain" - Nijama... ....and the gate he guarded
We have a nice half an hour there in the shadows of the entrance. About the
japanese relation to religion, he says, that most japanese have a kind of double
citizenship with religion. When a child is born it's celebrated in a Shinto
context, which means in a "Shrine". When a person dies, it's common, that it is
in Buddhist Context.
It's not until I get to my hostel in a narrow alley, that I remember this giant
Buddha, that I haven't seen. It must have been in the only one of the important
sites I haven't been! It's too late today, but it should be open at 8am. so
it'll have to be first in the schedule for tomorrow. It's almost 100 km to
Wakayama, from where I ought to catch a ferry early in the day after tomorrow.