Travel Tips for Nara | #travelkansai

Travel Tips for Nara | #travelkansai

• 10.04.2017

Oh the attention i'm getting! Stop it ya'll *blush* 

Can't believe i'm actually sharing this post but yeah..think deers and me don't get along too well lol, despite them being somewhat domesticated (?) from my experiences with them , think i'll just keep a safe distance for now. It's best for both of us really.

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BECAUSE THEY TRIED TO EAT ME! 😭😭😭😭

You know how anyone goes to Nara just to take pictures of deers and like nothing else?

What they fail to mention is how scary the deers are especially when you have those deer feed biscuits at hand, they'll seriously go mad over it and CHARGE at you especially when it's finished.

But before that lemme tell you guys that this post is actually a continuation of my previous Hiroshima post which you guys can read HERE is you have missed out on it :)

But if you want to be in Snow white's shoes for a day then this is the place to be lol, but i do find Nara to be a quiet place with not much activities to do compared to other places and most shops closes by 7pm too making it look like a ghost town before dark.

Okay probably using the word "most" is an understatement , it's about 90% of the tea houses, Japanese gardens, roadside shops (except kombini's) , restaurants are closed and i'm wondering if they even have any nightlife around here, probably there might be 1 or 2 small bars hiding somewhere but it's really eerie once the sun sets lol.

Probably Nara has more to offer than just its deers roaming around freely, i might come back with a guide to check out more.

That reminded me that i wanted to catch a glimpse of the abandon amusement park too that was featured in one of those photography websites but by the time i was done with the town area, didn't think it was a wise move to wander towards the outskirt park before its about to get dark and mind you that i have very poor sense of direction so i tend to wander around in circles abit before reaching my destination lol.

If i was this poor kid being chased by a doe, i'll definitely grow up to be scared of them for life lol

They do look pretty but not the kindest bunch >.<

After my traumatizing encounter with them (deers), it's safe to say that i won't be visiting them anytime soon lol, i rather be surrounded with cats on Aoshima island, Ehime or the Fox village in Miyagi.

So if you have yet to visit them and want to for the sake of visiting JUST ONCE because it's considered a "must visit" place for all you virgin Japan travelers, here are some tips i picked up and you might find useful as well, you can thank me later lol.

Travel Tips for Nara (deer park)

• Never wear WHITE clothes

Never wear white clothes because first when they noticed the biscuits are out, they'll come biting all over you with their grass/ dirt stained mouths and especially if you are wearing white it will leave a noticeable stain on your shirt. Spent an hour trying to remove it with wet tissues or else I'll be walking around with a weird large bite stain in the middle of my shirt.

  

• Wear COVERED shoes

If you are not wearing covered shoes, beware because they'll bite your toes too. Or maybe my luck with deers is just rotten. Also it's Japan, tons of walking so it's more ideal to wear sneakers or sport shoes rather than those fashionable sandals/ high heels.
I'm really surprise that there isn't any cases about visitors losing their limbs to these aggressive and forever hungry (more like hangry - hungry + angry instead) deers so far lol.

• Provoking = Death (kidding!)

Stay a safe distance and don't provoke the deers with the snacks because they will charge at you with hesitation. Though it might be unintentional gestures like trying to get the snack out of your bag, to the deers it's just about getting the food and nothing else, if they can't eat then they'll be angry. Pampered AF creatures, i changed my mind about calling them "majestic".

I blame you Bambi for setting such an unrealistic image of deers being graceful creatures lol

• Don't sit on the GRASS

Not unless you want to be covered with fresh & old deer droppings lol, it looks exactly like those chocoloate balls on the ground and they actually sell deer poop shaped chocolates at the nearby omotesando. So if you are there with kids, make sure they don't pick anything up on the ground and eat them (eww).

• Avoid carrying maps/ papers

They are deers and they'll likely to eat anything out of your hand so be careful whenever you are in close proximity to one while holding your map or any documents.

Expensive deer feed but.. oh well, for the experience of sacrificing myself as a human bait to lure deers to me

All those cute travel videos showing how "polite' the deers are like bowing before getting their food, sorry to burst your bubble but that only happens if you are lucky lol. 

Other than that they are just gonna insist on getting those crackers.

You can selfie with them, just make sure they are just chilling and sitting around. Don't approach one that's walking because unlikely you are going to get a clear shot with the moving around.

I managed to take a few shots with them, and they are really unimpressed by humans lol, guess that's what happens when they spend most of their lives being surrounded them. And humans, easily impressed with everything including deer pooping lol (seriously).

HOOMANSSS. 

PATHETIC INDEED. 

Guess how i took this picture lol, read to the bottom to find out!

Top: Uniqlo

Skirt: Taobao

Isuien Garden (依水園) 

So my clueless wandering brought me to one of the best gardens in Nara!

It's walking distance from the main deer park, you can at least enjoy the serenity of the Japanese garden and it's great that it isn't filled packed with tourists.
They do have tea sessions offered too but you gotta check their time slots and dates, you can inquire at the ticketing counter.

900 yen (includes entry to the Neiraku Museum)

Peaceful walk path

The scenery would probably be nicer now since it's autumn

Neiraku Museum

Owned by the Nakamura family, it's been part of Isuien Garden (依水園) and established themselves in 1969. Over here you can over 2000 beautiful antiques collected from Japan, China and Korea on display that belonged to the family. Heaven for me because i love museums, also a way for me to escape the heat la lol, and do take note that no photography is allowed in here!
This is to preserve the delicate artefacts on display as sudden flash may cause damages

Isuien Garden

74 Suimon-cho, Nara
Nara Prefecture 630-8208

Tel: 0742 25 0781
Hours: 9am-5pm; closed on Tuesday except in April, May, October and November
Admission:

• 900 yen (includes entry to the Neiraku Museum) 
• 650 yen (Isuien garden alone)

Higashimuki Shopping Street

And since you are already there, do check out Higashimuki Shopping Street that's nearby the station as well, though most of their shops close by 6-7pm, it's worth checking out as they have tons of eateries here serving all kinds of dishes. Also this was where i discovered the most delicious takoyaki i've every tasted, even better than the ones i had in Osaka (ironically) lol that's located along this shopping street. It's half the price of what you usually pay in the city because this is considered a "small town" area, but the portions are still huge. My first meal of the day and i was glad i just settled for something simple as this rather than asking myself which restaurant should i go into because all of them looks so good as well!

Simple pleasures in life, discovering cheap and delicious takoyaki lol!

粉もん屋八[konamonya_hachi]

I know some of you hate negi but i love them alot!!

Spam all the negi on my takoyaki and all this for only 350Yen!

Thank you for the extra takoyaki ball treat! 

So nice of the boss! :)

His store is located outside of OKest Fresh Mart, if you guys do pay him a visit to try his Takoyaki, please do send him my love! Haha!
Really do miss his Takoyaki very much, think i might purposely go down just got pack back a box of Takoyaki and go back to Kyoto lol

Since every shop was closed by the time i finished my meal and wanting to head back to the station, to my surprise their huge Daiso store was still open and being very "aunty" i had to see what house hold items they have that i can bring back to Malaysia lol and i really love their Daiso branches here, they have so many stuff and probably Malaysia only has less than 20% of the stuff carried by Japan, my favorite section of the entire Daiso is the food section. Yes they sell cooking ingredients here as well, and all of them are in small portion sizes which is great for people who are living alone or couples! 

Normal grocery stores only sell full size items, more ideal for family size households but i only staying alone le.

Went a tad bit crazy and bought quite alot of food stuff back, there's even mini kewpie mayo (so adorable sia) so that's how you cook Japanese food at home, all the #CheatOne short cut prepacked sauces from Daiso Japan 😂

Japanese people really know how to make life more convenient in general lol.

That's all my post for Nara!

So overall it's definitely easy to cover Nara's main attraction in one day (half a day actually) so you can use any of your JR PASSES like the Kansai wide area pass, Kintestu Rail pass or for my case i was utilizing my Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass since i already had it at hand.

If you are wondering how i usually get photos of myself taken, ladies and gentlemen let me present to you "THE ROCK" lol

Think i deserve an award for being this innovative 😂

Check out my other related Japan Travel postings!

• http://www.arisachow.com/2017/09/hiroshima-miyajima-stranded.html
• http://www.arisachow.com/2017/08/travelkansai-kobe-himeji-in-one-day.html
• http://www.arisachow.com/2017/07/travelkansai-osaka.html
• http://www.arisachow.com/2017/06/visiting-arashiyu-kyoto-japanese-foot.html

XOXO,