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11:22 PM, Thursday, May 19th 2005:   Now that's a storybook ending to the day...   I'm on the bus back to Kyoto from Nara. The same guy who told me about Kyoto said Nara was a must and there was an all day package tour for Kyoto and Nara together so I figured what the hell and plopped $125 and let them herd me like cattle.   So yeah, I will say up front, I hate tours. Almost with a passion. I always end up going ahead of the tour just to have the ability to go at my own pace and take in the sights as opposed to being inundated with fact after fact while having 10 seconds to look here, 10 seconds to look here. Well, unfortunately that was this tour. We'd arrive at some INCREDIBLE place and have literally 10 minutes to run through take pictures, run back to the bus. I was so friggin' aggrivated. I could have spent 3 hours at each site and seen 2 places all day and been happy. That being said I did end up seeing an awful lot in one day. I'll try my best to not make this a "hey look at my slides" type of entry. And as always I'll try to give my perspective on things that you usually don't get from National Geographic...although these pictures might as well be from a magazine.     I mean WOW. Can you believe that? Now imagine being rushed past that in roughly 3 1/2 minutes. Yeah, it was very difficult to enjoy at the time. I believe I'll enjoy this entry more than actually being there. By the way, I have so many pictures that I'm going to literally make little thumbnails that you can all click to see them at slightly bigger resolutions. That way I can write around everything. So please CLICK THE PICTURES.   View to the left of the Temple... This is just a sampling of some of the views of and around Kinkakuji Temple. When I first saw the temple around the corner I actually gasped. It's that extraordinary. This was one of the spots I could have stayed for hours. Sit down and just take in the views. Unfortunately there were thousands of people all being pushed through all of this. Then we were given 5 minutes free time which made everyone laugh as she said they would not wait if you were one minute late for the bus...so of course no one used those 5 minutes. I did get some gorgeous shots, and as expected, I'm enjoying looking at them like this more than I did at the time. Heh.   You really can't fathom how "perfect" all the trees and bushes are kept. It's as if you're walking around in a miniature set because it's so hard to comprehend how anyone could keep such a vast area so meticulous. Just the thought of it makes my head spin. Now, onto NIJO CASTLE: Trees behind and to the right... Closer view... Another angle... Shrine just past the Temple... No time for "Tim"...   I know, I know - I should be caned.   No castle would be complete... They didn't want flashes to screw up the ancient pantings inside the caslte and I knew that wouldn't happen on my camera, but I still had to be all James Bond and act like I was just holding the camera on it's side. This was the residience of the infamous Tokugawa SHOGUN. HAI Danielson. Heh, I have felt the need to say "Hai Danielson," after anything I say in a Japanese accent. I'm so a child of the 80s.   Luckily I completely passed the tour group and was able to spend a little time outside taking thes shots. I felt bad for the others though. By the time the "tour" part was finished, they again had 5 minutes and I had already spent 15 minutes roaming the gardens and taking in the sights.   That pic on the bottom left doesn't show the true concern I had leaving my camera sitting there for some kid to take. Then again, I have never seen more well behaved school kids in my life. Onto th Imperial Palace: Shogun was livin' it up... Absolute Artists... Red is pretty... Kid, don't touch my camera.. Elmo loves you too...   I bet she can kick ass. What do you think?   The perfect Tree... Well, in comparison to what we had seen, this was quite the letdown. Everything was very spread out and was much more designed for safety and security rather than anything that would be pleasing to actually look at. The garden area was nice, but again, after what we had just seen - everyone was pretty ready for the lunch break.   Apparently it's a month long wait for Japanese citizens to view the grounds, but visitors have some special permission? Strange, huh? As you can see from my pictures, I was more than pre-occupied by goofy things. 9 times out of 10 I get more of a kick looking at people than I ever will looking at buildings.   And I think I finally figured out the hat thing for the kids. When you're under I believe 7 years old it's a grey hat, and then until you're a teenager it's yellow. That's all I could gather from observation. Cute as hell though, aren't they? Onto Nara... Emperors get pretty gardens... I'm riding a bike at work... Royal bad-ass, this way... YOU! Quit that... Were backpacks ever that big?    Look up massive in the dictionary. I swear this is there...   Guardians of Todaiji Temple... Nara took about 90 minutes to get to and our first stop was everything I hoped it would be. It was in Deer Park which has 1200 wild deer that are completely used to humans and will eat out of your hand and you can literally pet them like dogs. The deer deserve their own section so lemme get to the giant Buddha.   As is the case with the two guardians, no picture can express the size of this statue. It was another "gasping" moment for me as I entered the building. Well actually, now that I think of it - the best way to gather the size is to look at the picture above, housing it - and realize it's head touches the top of that building. Now look at the little people next to that building, voila. Dude is massive. I could go on a rant about time and money poured into religion while people starved, but let's not get negative here...   The grounds surrounding the shrine were as usual - gorgeous. It's amazing when you're looking around because everything is a picture. You turn and think: "Oh I have to shoot that", and then immediately turn and do the same thing in the other direction. The trees look painted, and I don't believe I've ever seen more immaculately groomed foliage in my life. I know I already said that, but it's just spectacular. I take that back, this is spectacular: Here's some size perspective... More gorgeous views... Largest Buddha in the world... Giving you the inverse finger... More size perspective...   Are you kiddin' me?   Your bumper's view... This pretty much made it all worth it. The train to Kyoto, the bus ride to Nara, being herded past amazing monuments only to see the back of a bus driver's head for the majority of the day. This was my spiritual moment, and I have to say all I could think of was goddamn Jess would love this. I'll get into that at the end...   I had an absolute blast playing with these deer. The guy at the top was the nicest one. He actually enjoyed being scruffed around the neck, and was actually somehwat playful. However, not my favorite. That would be the group of pics with me on the right side. I kept trying to get her to pose (they will actually bow for the food like in Japanese culture - classic) and she was just aggrivated. She threw her hoof at me and then tried to bite my finger. She was a riot. Chicks rule.   The last guy was the most at ease. It felt like playin' with Shizzle. He was completely comfortable laying down and being petted as long as you gave him the eats. There's a shot in the video of him trying to nudge me with his antlers for some food. That could've sucked. I proceeded to stand up after that. Heh. ...oh come on, that was funny. "I'll bite your finger, asshole" "Stop fuckin' with me!" "That's more like it bitch..." Nah, let him get it Adam... Who's a happy buck? Yessss... "Yeah, right there..."     The very last stop was one of the holiest shrines in Japan, Kasuga Shrine. This was the only view we had, and honestly, nothing could compare to how amazing the deer were. Most of us on the tour had gotten to the point where there's just so much you can see in one day and we were completely exhausted. Anyway, I finally decided it was time to buy a shirt. I've been looking the entire time I've been here for a T-shirt with japanese writing on it. All day I had been avoiding it because I didn't know what they said, and nothing really spoke to me. But, I almost felt it was my duty to blindly buy a T-Shirt I couldn't read and wear it proudly. Earlier in the week I saw a Japanese kid wearing a t-shirt that was some random women's clinic in West Virginia. LOL. I guess if mine said "Big American Penis" or something, that was what I got for being a goofy tourist.   What's crazy is it almost turned into a fortune. There were allllllllll these shirts. All with different sayings on them and none labeled in english. So I had to just look at them and get a feeling from them. And amazingly, I did feel things from them. Like I'd pick it up and think, no I shouldn't wear that one. I decided on this:     I took it to the counter and bought it. After I was done paying for it I turned to the lady behind the counter and asked her what it meant. This was the only t-shirt I was going to actually wear back at home and it would have to represent me. Almost bracing for her reply she said:   "True, Honest"   If I hadn't been in JAPAN I would have asked her if she had read the site. I smiled as emotional a smile as I could muster. I had somehow chosen the one saying that represented me more than anything that could be put in writing. I try my damndest to achieve it in every possible aspect of my life, and as you've all read...to a fault. It was such a perfect ending to the day for sure. If I ever, ever get a tattoo...I believe I've found my symbol.   So did I find my soul? No. The entire time I was on this trip I was 1/2 a person. I sat on the bus with an empty seat next to me. I watched honeymooners walking hand in hand and simply held a camera. Jessica should have been with me and I'm just completely saddened by the fact that she wasn't. It's not that she's my soul, she's just my second half. And we should be searching for my soul or her sould together. As I've said before of course I can do it by myself, but what the fuck for? I'm ten times happier with her next to me and I know she feels the same. Literally every place I went I took pictures for Jess to see. I bought all of these little gifts and then realized, oh shit - I bought them for Jess. I still haven't bought anything for anyone else because there's only one person I want to share things with. (sigh).   Man, I'm astounded by this. This is not what I expected to feel during this trip. And you know what the worst part is about missing someone so badly back at home? She's not at home. She's another 2500 miles away. That occured to me in the deer park today. I will make this huge journey back to Los Angeles, and she won't be there. Goddamn that's depressing.   Alright, could this entry be longer? 40 pictures? Whew. I hope you enjoyed what will be my only "touristy" entry. It's actually exactly what I hoped to avoid out here, but there was enough breathtaking beauty to put up with truly ugly american tourists spitting and shoving their face full of food as they trounce on sacred ground. Ahh well, you can't choose your country...   ...oh wait, you can. Hmmmmmmmmm...   Adam A