I bumped my head twice, it hurt

Yeah, so I'm a bit tall for this country. Or at least some parts of it. I hit my head coming out of a store today, and going to the bathroom. Not in the same place, but it hurt nonetheless...

So I`m in Nara right now, staying with a couchsurfer, Mayumi. She runs a cafe, and above it she has a few rooms where people stay. Her kitchen is quite nice, lots of fun things, but she needs some sharper knives... =)

Anyways, Nara is amazing. It's a very small town, the old capital of Japan, yet it a perfect example of the dichotomy of the country. There is the older part of town, where the cafe is located, with alleys and old buildings, with the feeling that you are walking in a very old part of town. Right next to it there is the modern area, complete with shopping malls, pachinko parlors, and a nice train station. Old and new, living together. Oh, and with a huge park with tons of ancient temples very important to Japanese History and Buddhism-Shintoism.

I just walked around today, getting to the cafe around 1PM. All of the temples close around 4.30 or 5PM, so I wandered around the old city area. I found a closed photography museum, which is supposed to be great (I guess I'll find out later), and about a million deer. They are everywhere around the park, and they are servants of the gods, so they are not to be harmed. However, they are to be fed, and they will bow to you when they get food, as if thanking you for the eats. (It`s amazing what you can learn from the older Japanese, when actually able to communicate).

I stopped in at this Soba place, where the picture outside made it look like everything was homemade, and very well known. I walk into this beautiful cabin style restaurant, with a little garden in the back, and lots of antique stuff all over the place (a mini organ, old general electric fans, etc...). I immediately get chatted up by this guy who hands me his flyer for his architecture firm, but naturally doesn`t speak any English, so communication was difficult (it took 10 minutes and an atlas to figure out he wanted to know what part of Kyoto I stayed in). The chef came out, and he spoke English pretty well. I told him I was a chef who cooked Japanese food in America, and the floodgates opened.

I`m talking picture taking, shoving food down my throat (above what I ordered, including some of the best Dashi I`ve ever had. He said it was his pride and joy), showing me pictures of his 1944 US army jeep that he shipped over from the US to drive, explaining to me the difference in soba noodles (the part of the buckwheat seed used), and helping me feed the deer. I stayed at his place for an hour and a half, having good times (he jokingly called me a movie star), talking shop, and commenting on the most beautiful part of the buliding (the bathroom, which the architect guy with us designed).

This is a guy well known for his noodles (he said during busy periods, he has a line 100 people long out his door), and just hanging out and being so open and friendly to a foreigner he has a little in common with. I am not sure if this exists anywhere else, but it damn well should. I keep saying the people in this industry are amazing, and it`s my favorite part about cooking. Leaving a place feeling all warm and fuzzy for the human race. This keeps on happening over here.

The oddest part is, I don`t think I could have done all this stuff if I had a traveling companion. Walking into a small shop with a few people is a bit daunting for a person behind the counter, especially if they all speak a language that is not the native tongue. The Japanese are so shy to begin with, I would imagine it being very intimidating. On my own, I am forced to try and communicate, and not seem like a fly on the wall. I mean, this is my style anyways, and I do want to know about the culture (food especially), but everyone who was worried about the solo traveling, believe me, looking back I wouldn`t have it any other way.

On the flip side, I'm going to have a buddy in a few days as well. Yuka should be meeting me in Osaka to see the Aquarium and travel to Kyushu, and I am definately looking forward to it. Traveling also produces fast friends, and I am so very excited to be able to say I have native Japanese friends (and Australian and British too, it looks like). So, in essence, I mean to say that there are many different ways to travel, and each has its upsides and downsides.

But I get a personal translator, so there!

(She can read the blog too, because her English is good, so I have to watch what I say. For example, I shouldn`t mention how she forced me to brush my teeth, against my will. Torture, it was.)

On a side note, speaking of people reading my blog, someone seems to think I look and sound like Bert from Sesame street. I think that`s banahners. Can I have my wonderful friends and family who would never speak badly about me because they like me so much weigh in?

After soba and more exploring, I came back to the cafe, and I got to cook dinner again. Or at least part of it. I made a chicken stir fry thing with lotus root and Mizuna (look it up), and Mayumi made Yamaimo and miso soup with fried tofu. Mmmmm. The place is very cozy, and Mom would love the decorating. I have to take some pictures, but then again, I have to charge my camera.

And I should also get another memory card. That`s right ladies and gentlemen, I`m taking lots of pictures.. get ready for a 3 hour powerpoint slide show when I get back...