today before i left the apartment lisa and i were able to make reservations with a hostel in hiroshima so i could stay there on sunday. then i left to go to nara (after first taking the wrong train line, but we’ll forget about that), and got to see a shrine (forget the name of it right now), and also was able to go see daibatsu – a giant statue of buddah. it’s HUGE. as brian told lisa who told me, a grown man could fit in its nostril. and it’s only something like 1/3 the original size, and this one has been there since the 8th century too, so it’s ANCIENT!

very overwhelming.

anyway, after i saw that, i went to mcdonald’s for lunch. i was trying to order a double cheeseburger in japanese, and so i said “し” for “#4” which was the number for the meal. but then the cashier asked me a question but i couldn’t quite hear, so i thought that she was asking what i wanted to drink, but then she asked in english if i was eating here or taking it to-go. i was so surprised to hear her talk in english that i kept talking in japanese. ^_^;; turned out that i only ordered the sandwich, which was ok by me since it saved me a few hundred yen and i still had a bottle of water with me. i figured that if i really needed something else to drink i could stop at any of the vending machines that were all over the place.

then i went back through town and poked in a few shops. i went back in the books / magazines / comics / cds / movies / video games store and poked around and got volume 1 of the azumanga daioh manga (yeah, so it’s in japanese, but i’ve seen a few strips translated and it’s funny to look at anyway, so there :P), and looked at the cd collection again (i noticed today there was a large used cd section so i poked through there).

after that i took the train to kyoto and went to the one international atm that lisa had showed me the other day, and poked around in the building that that was in. i found an underground mall there too, so i investigated that too and went in a bookstore and a music store there. i got a pepsi bottle-can (it’s a metal bottle) from a vending machine. after that, i just took the train back to tatatsuki, where i wandered the streets and went into a 7-11 where i was able to find a cup noodle to bring home for my dinner.

my legs are sore now from all that walking. ^_^;;

my plan for the rest of the week:

saturday – explore kyoto, stay at hostel overnight

sunday – take the shinkansen to hiroshima, stay at hostel overnight

monday – make my way back up here to tatatsuki, stay here overnight

tuesday, wednesday, thursday – make my way to tokyo, stay in hostel overnight

friday – make my way back to tatatsuki, stay here overnight

saturday – pack up, and fly back home