Yesterday at around 10AM, James and I met up with our friends April, Jillian, Joe and Rich to set out from Hirakata-shi station to Nara. There were a few train switches involved, and one very uncomfortably crowded train, but the last train we rode took us around Osaka from high up in the mountains, so the view was incredible. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that... but what pictures we DID take be added here soon.
When we finally arrived in Nara, most of us were somewhat hungry because we hadn't eaten substantial breakfasts. Joe and I wandered over to McDonald's while the others tried "karaage" from the stand on the sidewalk leading up to Nara Park.
Once we were all content, we began trekking up the main road to find the deer. The area was packed with tourists, both foreign and Japanese. Hot sweet potato stands were lined along the boundaries of the park; from some of these one could also purchase deer food, thin brown cracker-like discs no bigger than the palm of my hand. The deer would walk up to anyone who looked like they had food; and having watched a few greedy Nara deer videos on Youtube, I myself was wary about buying anything to feed them. But April and Joe did, and both of them shared with the rest of us so that we all had a chance to feed the deer. Feeding them was fun, although it was a bit creepy when some wouldn't stop following us for more food.
The six of us explored the park, admiring the temples and watching other people feed the deer. It was fun to see kids do it... they'd feed a deer and then run for it as soon as the food was out of their hands (smart idea).
The second time Joe and April bought food, we were surrounded by a good five or six of the deer and... right as I was beginning to worry, this old man comes up to me with his hands full of thinly sliced bread pieces and says to me, "Taberu." I knew he was giving it to me to feed the deer with, not to eat ("taberu" means "eat"), so I thanked him in Japanese and watched him walk off hurriedly. Then the realization hit me: I was standing in a crowd of deer with my hands FULL of food. Uh-oh.
So I started to feed them to get the bread out of my hands a.s.a.p., but then more just crowded around me... and in no time I was crying to Jillian, "HELP ME?". When she offered her hands out, I gladly handed her half of the remainings. As we fed the deer, the six of us kept inching away, trying to get a good distance to make a run for it once we were empty-handed. A couple of the deer followed us for quite a while, nudging at our pockets and bowing their heads (it's what some of them do when they think you'll feed them...polite, right?). April told me to put my hands up to show them I didn't have anything. At last, we got away without being butted or bitten.
We only wandered around a little more after that... April generously bought everyone candy strawberries. The candy around them was hard as a rock and stuck to our teeth, but they were very good.
When we got back to Hirakata-shi, we did karaoke for a couple of hours and had dinner at another osho restaurant (usually we go to Osaka Osho, a Chinese style place, but Jillian showed us a similar one on another side of the city). After that, we stopped Family Mart and Tsutaya, the DVD rental place. Then we all more or less parted ways for the night.
Overall, a very eventful day! Which means... today is a lazy day.
By the way, Happy New Year!
