Japan Travelogue P6 - Famous Nara Deer Park and the Enchanted Uji

The inital plan was to explore Araishiyama at Kyoto before venturing out to Nara deer park, but we under estimated the crowd at Kyoto on a Sunday. We couldnt secure a locker for our bags at Kyoto station and as such, we have to make a switch in plans.

We took a train to Nara instead in hope that the crowd would be lesser and that we can find a locker at Nara.

The train ride to Nara took about 40mins and along the way, we saw a few attraction spots such as Uji and Inari that we decided to drop by on our way back from Nara!

Along the way to the Park, we came by these houses that i always saw in the Japanese drama..Would love to live in a house like that if i had the chance!




We decided to pay a surprise visit to this house and see if we can get an invitation to explore the house...haha but no one is around.


Nara is located at a rural area and it was pretty peaceful even on a Sunday.
The famous temple at Nara Park.


A nice big maple leave at the park!


This is where the deer are kept for breeding


A common sight...deers roaming around!


And we have a curry lunch finally at Nara


As there wasnt much to do at Nara, we decided to leave the place after lunch...
Uji was our next destination.
We didnt study much on this place but decided to drop by the station when we saw this from the train!


Took a map from the visitor center and started our slow walk thru the streets of Uji


A flea market on a sunday!




After 10 mins of walk, we reached the attraction.




We only found out that Uji was famous for green tea here!




The Mocha green tea, i was choked on the thick green tea powder topping!




As we stroll further in to the park




There was a guy on saxaphone who created a romantic ambiance! Adds to the serenity of this place!


When i saw this aviary, i realised that this is the famous tourist spot where the fisherman uses these special birds to fish. It was shown in Japan Hours once..


A shrine






unlike many other shrines, the lucky charm here is place at an open spot where no one is manning the stall...its based on faith and trust that people donate and pay on their own will.


This place is so comfortable that we stayed till sun set.




Reluctantly, we left this place with some green tea products..

Uji was the greatest discovery we have made in this trip to Japan and i will recommend people who has never been there to spend at least a half day there!