Nara

I spent last Sunday exploring Nara, next to Osaka. I was fortunate enough this time to benefit from the combined wisdom of two tour guides: Yoko, with whom I used to work, and her mysterious friend who I'll just call the model, because I've forgotten her name, and because she is a model.

Our first objective was culinary: we tracked down a small Japanese restaurant and enjoyed a traditional meal. Japanese meals tend to always involve hundreds of little plates and bowls with various unidentifiable dishes. No dead sparrows this time, it was all fairly above-board, unendangered and good eating.

Nara is famous for the park, which is full of temples and deer. The deer are always hungry and deer cookies are sold throughout the park. In typical Japanese style, the deer are all very polite about it and will come and bow to you if you have some cookies on hand to distribute. Occasionally they do get a little antsy, though, and bite your jacket. My grandpa had his map eaten when he went there last year. I escaped unscathed.

As for the temples, Nara Park is home to the largest wooden structure in the world. Inside is probably the biggest buddha in the world. The pamphlets claimed that its eyeball was about 5 metres across. That's a big idol. As if that wasn't enough, there is another statue on each side of one of his disciples.

I know my way around temples pretty well by now. Go to the offering alter. Yoko and the model made a wish but wouldn't tell me what it was, which precludes it from coming true. Guard statues, prayer tablets. Yoko explained that most of the prayer tablets here were wishing for luck in the entry exams.

No day-trip is complete without hanging out at the coffee shop. We headed to Mister Donut afterwards. Have I mentioned that donuts suck in Japan? Mister Donut only has two things going for it: the uniform, from which an enterprising ex-cashier could make a profit by selling it to one of those schoolgirl clothing stores, and infinite Cafe Au Laite refills. Usually one cup is enough to energise me and after two I'm red-cordial hyper. But you know, you get to talking... four cups later I was practically diabetic. On the train ride home I had the strangest feeling. I had a cold and was really sleepy, but at the same time I had all this caffeine and sugar surging through my system. It was trippy.