DEER DOMINION
On a ridiculously rainy Monday morning, armed with umbrellas (but unfortunately not rainboots) we set out to the city of Nara from our Airbnb in Kyoto. Nara is known for their deer. In the eyes of Japanese Shinto followers, deer are messengers of God. As such they roam freely around Nara.
We wandered around Nara park for quite some time, and I got really excited by the sight of all the deer. So my dearest travel buddy Vivian bought us some deer crackers from this little stall for 150 yen. The deer were pretty smart so they were swarming around the area where crackers were being sold.
I had done a bit of research online, and was warned of the aggressive nature of some of the deer, but I didn't think that they'd be that aggressive. But they were. Very much so. You'd think the crackers were made by some Michelin star chef of something (but trust me, they did not taste good. we tried. ).
Anyhow remember that pack of crackers Vivian bought? Well, the deer noticed immediately and proceeded to head her way so she tossed the pack of deer crackers to me. I think throwing a pack of deer crackers at your friend and letting them deal with the ensuing madness counts as "throwing them to the deer", yet Vivian begged to differ. I was running around all over the place with four deer hot on my heels. And it's all fun and games until a deer bites you in the butt. Literally. Luckily my jean shorts were of the distressed sort, so what's another rip or two?
Either way it was still quite a wonderful experience seeing the deer roaming around the park.The other deer we encountered were much more docile, and seemed content with munching on grass, especially since by that time we had run out of deer crackers.
There was also a great Buddhist temple in Nara park called Todai-ji. It has quite a grand looking facade, and its roof is topped with two gold, antler-like structures (deer antlers maybe?). The interior of the temple is not as large as one would expect, but features many gorgeous Buddhist statues such as the one below.
