#trip diaries

[ultimateaclrecovery]

Japan Day 5! Day trip Nara and Uji from Kyoto

Started our day at Fushimi Inari, and saw all of the red torii gates. It was early and still kind of dark which made it extra cool. Also Anthony is a power walker and I refuse to ask him to slow down so we hella power walked up and down this mountain 😂 but it was very efficient!

Then we took the train on to Nara and feeding the deer! I had so much fun. Too much fun. But there were just so many tiny deers!

After we fed the deer we saw the wordless largest Buddha statue and the temples and monuments in the area

We got curry for lunch and then head in the Uji where we got a fun set of tea. Uji is known for their tea so Anthony also got a bunch of tea to take home (I didn’t because I never make tea)

After we got back to Kyoto we went to a light up temple where they gave us tea and it had these little sweets and mine had a deer on it!! 😍

The light temple was really cool but a bit more religious than anticipated.

We then ended up getting Korean bbq for dinner

Overly long travel diary

I put 2000 more yen on my ic card

Fushimi inari. All of the red gates.

Fushimi inari. All of the red gates.

I am torn between my desire to not be an annoying Instagram picture taker and get in everyone’s way, my desire to not annoy my bf with too many pictures, my desire to just be present in the moment and my desire to have all the cute pictures. I try to find a balance and take a couple.

It is really cool to walk through all of the red gates, they feel endless. They all have the same thing in the front but the backs have lots of different writings. As we go up the mountain the forest gets denser and darker and makes it almost ethereal. I like all of the fox statues and the shrine kitties.

I always forget how much of a power hiker my bf is until we start passing all sorts of people. I don’t have a problem keeping up but it does sometimes make me feel like I’m being annoying when I then invietablly stop to take a picture or just meander a bit.

The higher up we go the less people there are which is nice. We stop for breakfast on the way down and eat our 7-11 sandwiches at some benches overlooking the city

Nara

600 yen ice cream card

3 packs of 200 each deer crackers Anthony

4080 yen total for bag shipping Anthony

Then it’s off to Nara and the deer park. We start seeing deer almost as soon as we get there. They are little and have split hooves and many are so very friendly. We buy a pack of deer crackers and go to feed a couple. There is a bit of a swarm right by the cracker stand and some people are getting mobbed. We go further away and pick out a nice looking deer. A lot of them will bow for crackers which is pretty fun. We feed the deer and take pictures and generally take in the chaos. After two packs of 200 yen each cracker packs we continue walking towards one the the temples. There are still deer everywhere. Just like freely wandering the streets jumping over little fences, no fear and no hesitation. It’s extra funny to see them just walking amongst the shrines. They were worshiped in Nara for many many years and killing one of them used to be punishable by death.

We head into the temple. Anthony pays the 600 each yen entrance fee and we go to see the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. The temple itself is huge and made entirely of wood. There’s also a couple other big statues inside and a 50 to 1 replica of the whole complex which is really cool.

We continue to walk around Nara and see some of the other temples including one that has a couple octagon buildings which is the first time I’ve seen that here. There’s also a five story pagado.

We try to go to the deer house that’s a part of one of the temples but alas it’s closed. We head back to the train station and I stop to get a soft serve ice cream cone decorated like a deer. It has little Pretzle bread antlers and googly eyes and a chocolate nose and is just so cute. We buy one last cracker pack and spend some more time feeding the hordes of deer and making friends. They are happy to be fed, content to be pet but do not want hugs.

We grab lunch in one of the markets at a curry place. A lot of the restaurants in Japan are designed for maximum efficiency. At the counter they have a button to push when you’re ready to order. And then give you your order slip with your food so whenever you’re done you can just take it to the front and pay and leave. Means getting lunch even at a restaurant is very fast. I get the chicken curry. It’s good but has many different vegetables, one of each feels like. I try most of them but give the ones I don’t like to my boyfriend.

On the way to the train I pause to take a picture of one of the manhole covers because it’s engraved with a scene featuring a deer. Some of the ones in the main area are also painted (but too crowded to take a picture). Lots of the manhole covers in Japan have pretty designs. The ones in Osaka had pretty flowers and a lot of them were painted too.

We then take the train to Uji which is known for its tea. My boyfriend picks up a couple of things of tea and then we go to a shop to get cups of tea. We order our flavors of tea and the lady tries very hard to ask exactly which thing we want but we aren’t really sure what’s she’s trying to ask? Some drawings later she ends up satisfied and we end up with their tea set which includes little scones and things and a full tea pot each of the kinds of tea we ordered. We were going for more of a single cup but also pleased with full set. I get a Carmel tea and he gets a melon earl grey. I am already at 29000 steps for the day. I tell my bf I think I’ll hit 40k today but he doesn’t think we have that much walking left.

We head up a couple of switchbacks to an observatory deck just on the edge of the city. It’s crazy to me how quickly you can be in very deep woods in Japan. The trees are so tall and only really have leaves at the very top. We have a snack of Mochi that we got earlier from a famous mochi store in Nara at the top. The red bean paste inside still had bean shapes in it which is a first for me. It’s pretty good but the bean shells weird me out a little.

We then head back to kyoto and then over to ayrishima where we have tickets for a night light up temple. The lighted paths are very beautiful and there’s a path through a bamboo groove which I love. The way lights shine on the bamboo creates a really prettt color. The tickets include a little tea ceremony with a little sweet, a red bean paste filled pastry (mochi?) with a little deer stamped on top. We try to use what we learned about tea ceremony yesterday here.

We continue through the temple and look at the shrines. In the main temple there is a guy giving a lengthy explanation or something in Japanese while shining a flashlight on different elements of the statue inside. We’re starting to realize that this event is much more geared towards Japanese people than tourists. And is maybe more of a ceremony than a come look at pretty lights. We wait with everyone else for him to finish his speech and then quietly work our way back out through the gardens.

We head back to our hotel and pack up our bags. We are going to send them ahead to Tokyo so keep only what we need for our one night in Hakone in our backpacks. It costs 4080 yen to have them sent to our Tokyo hotel.

We then head out to dinner. We wander for a bit before deciding to check out a Japanese version of Korean bbq. We also get a 15 sampler set of sake. I kind of a hit a bit of an overwhelmed moment with all the different food and drink options and how many of them are mostly new and that I only kind of like. But most of it is still delicious.

We think about getting more fish pastries but alas I am too full.

[expelliarmus]

[literatureaesthetic]

📍marylebone, london — vowing that one day i'll move here, and it'll be my forever home. truly never felt so in love with a city before

[theslowtravel]

Rocky Mountain National Park / CO

[williammarksommer]

Wyoming Diary

iPhone Photos

[julykings]

by candlelight

[pencilscratchins]

they won’t let tpol be on season 3 of strange new worlds because they know footage of old tpol would allow me to finish my tripol silver springs fancam

[morecrearty]

i lied about probably not drawing much for the rest of the month 🤥 i went to the natural history museum with my pal & we drew lots of wonky lil guys ✍🏻😌

i am pleased to announce that the main scanner at my local library has been fixed and now nobody will be spared from my sketchbook spreads xoxo

[goodartitude]

Hiking mementos pt. 1

Taglist (please let me know if you don't want to be tagged under personal/non-amphibia art or writing!):

@dodelidoo @calamity-unlocked @turn-the-frickin-frogs-gay @mira-blue @kaseyskat @bardicspiration @maritasdump @perpetually-profoundly-confused @scribicronus-v02 @yourpersonaltimebomb @eeveearoace @cute-as-buttons @beneaththeiceandsnow @arcadiii @reyraccoon @gayfrogcoven @oraclecoven @allegory-of-the-rave @hachidementa @hey-its-puddlesock @watermelon-converse @bookmermaidcats @linkcalm @ivypond11 @chaoticcerise @nexstage @darcysd20 @gaynessisintheair @bloop-arts @banyanas @impact801 @mood-owl

[soulmvtes]

sitting at the window of a beautiful sunlit cafe drinking yorkshire tea in front of a tree whose leaves are turning brown and orange after a long week... i am soo back

[placeofwonder]

today: studied in the library of my new uni for the first time. this particular branch library was recommended during a campus tour as both pretty and not very busy, which seems to be true, and I picked out a table with a lovely view. I'll definitely be coming back here!

[witchstone]

long-crested eagle (lophaetus occipitalis) from saturday! we watched him swoop off the post and disappear into the long grass on the side of the road, only to return empy-clawed a few seconds later

[3416]

had THE™ time of my life this past weekend visiting minnesota, spending time with one of the best people ever @thedreamthieves over her birthday, and getting to see the leafs. st paul and the people there did NOT disappoint me even when my hockey team did <3. what a beautiful and lowkey place........ i will for sure be back some day.

[literatureaesthetic]

18th april '24 — london

this was such a special trip for me. my first time travelling entirely on my own, discovering and falling in love with a city. i've been to london a few times growing up, but i've never had the chance to really explore and live in it until now. forever an experience i'll cherish <3

[theslowtravel]

Rocky Mountain National Park / CO

[williammarksommer]

Nebraska diary

Part 1

iPhone photos