Day 39 & 40

Saturday I went to two temples one the Byodo-In in Uji and the other Todaiji Temple in Nara. 

The seemingly fancy bus we rode to Nara

This is the Phoenix Hall entrance of Byodo-In Temple. we got to go inside, but could not take pictures. 

Here's my ticket to get inside

Full view of the Byodo-In temple

A Bell, So I accidentally threw away my english translation to what everything was so yeah, the bell has to suffice for now.

This is inside the museum, we weren't supposed to taks pics so I had to put my camera away, the walls were cool though.

We stopped for lunch at 7-11, I'm not one for eating lunch at convenience stores, so I didn't partake, but here were some options.

So off to Nara we went from here. A popular part of Nara is their Deer, they are considered holy, so they rome freely. Now I'm not newbie to deer but touching and feeding I was. 

petting a deer

these were little babies

This is an entrance to get to closer to the temple. It's called Nandaimon gate and has two statues taking guard

one of the statues

I bought some deer crackers to feed the deer. I was trying to open the package when this little fella came along, he kept head butting me too, I only gave him half a cracker.

Petting a nicer dear, he's happy to have food

Apparently he thought I was hiding food

Ok now mr. deer, I have nothing else for you

Here is Todaiji Temple. It is the largest wooden building in the world, and it is only 2/3rds of it's original size

Incense outside the temple

water to drink and wash hands

This scary thing, you can read the caption below

This is the largest Buddha in Japan over 52 feet high.

another Buddha

So the first Buddha sits on a lotus flower, and here is one petal, a replica of it's original size

some other things

There were other temples here as well, here are some more pics

It was an interesting trip, I was also able to buy some souvenirs and for that I was grateful, it seems that I have to go to touristy spots to get Japanese gifts, well at least I know now. And it seems like a lot of the Japanese culture is surrounded by Buddhist practices. Everywhere you can go besides Hiroshima and Tokyo is always to see a temple. It's very interesting. But I am excited to go more places. I plan to got to Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Tokyo in March, there is this special discount pass that you can take advantage of. I'm going to see if I can tag along with some students or maybe just venture off myself, but I would have to get a cellphone first, which is an easy fix since now I have my alien registration card. 

Sunday/Today I cleaned, slept and did homework. My roommate moved out too. So when applying for this program I signed up for a Japanese roommate, when I got here and didn't have one, I thought that was it. However that was just because the Japanese students hadn't arrived yet, in the next month and a half 3 english programs will take place and I will have 3 different Japanese room mates. So let the fun times begin. My room mate will move back in in April for for the next week in a half I have a single and that is great. 

So yey to my exciting weekend. Visiting an elementary school on Friday and an Home stay this coming weekend so Lots to do. I wanted to leave you with one last picture.

Aren't they cute, doggies fully dressed.

Well Until Next Time,