Hamdan Hamid Travel Site: Osaka Day 5

The next day Sunday, we went to Nara. Before leaving, I took some time to cycle to the mountain and back to the beach which is close to their home. The bike belongs to Akiyo father Katsuyoshi. I did not manage to cycle far since the weather was very cold.

We went to Nara with Akiyo and her mother. We left for Nara at 10am. His father left home very early to play golf. It was a 15 minutes walk from Akiyo home to the nearest station, Korean. Along the way, we stop by the river bank, home of tens of cherry trees. Unfortunately there were no cherry bloom yet.

Akiyo home from the side access

Road biking in Nishinomiya

It was a 1.15 hours train ride to Nara. Nara was once the capital of Japan (year 710). Nara were the home of the ninjas and samurais.

Akiyo sister, Yoko Harada was waiting for us at Nara train station with her daughter Yuna. Yuna is 8 years old. Yoko works at Nara University. We walked to the famous Todaji Shrine Complex. They were reconstructed remains during the ninjas era. All attraction were within walking diastance from Nara train station.

We had lunch at one of the stall in Nara specializing in noodles. I called it mee udang Nara. Later we feed the deers at the nearby deer park. Many stalls sold deer snack for the tourist to feed them. They had their horns sown off to ensure no un-towards incident.

After lunch, we walked to Nara National Museum and later visited Kohfukuji Shrine which is one of UNESCO World heritage site. It housed the 50 meter 5 storey pagoda which is the second highest pagoda in Japan.

We left Nara 5pm to Akiyo home in Nishinomiya. At Korean Station, Katsuyoshi, Akiyo's father was already there waiting for us with his Subaru car. He was an active triathlon participating more than 41 events in Japan in swimming, cycling and running.

Had a nice warm bath and had dinner prepared by Yoshiko. Yoshico, Akiyo's mother is a good cook. She prepared all kind of Japanese delicacy for breakfast and dinner during our 2 days stay at their house. For dinner she prepared sushi and miso soup.
She graduated from Nara University but was a full time housewife. She was a badminton player and represents her university in many tournament.

After dinner, we had another round of chatting since the following day we will be leaving for Malaysia. The wife played doctor-patient with Yuna while I chat with Katsuyoshi.