Nara Deer Park & Todaiji Temple

It’s our special day today (and a day to explore Nara)! Started off the day with this instant ramen bowl hehehe 🍜🍜🍜

Next destination – Nara for some deer petting! For our first stop in Nara, we had some traditional persimmon leaf sushi, which is a regional dish local to Nara. The restaurant is named Hiraso, which is a quaint little shop tucked away in a back alley. 

We had the Yamato set, which comes with the persimmon leaf sushi, sesame tofu, sashimi, tempura, miso soup and dessert. I don’t know what sashimi that is but it tasted so good! It doesn’t taste anything like salmon or tuna sashimi, but more like, jelly. Haha sorry for that poor description! And that innocent looking tofu was so rich in sesame and soy taste omg.

And this is Dennis’s Miyoshino set, with sesame tofu, persimmon leaf sushi, tempura, chagayu (tea based porridge) and Japanese pickles. The chagayu came in such a big portion! I didn’t really like it though, for its bland taste but I guess the tea fragrance paired well with the rice porridge.

Then it was quite a long walk to Todai-ji. But the heat couldn’t bring me down on our special day lalalaaaa~~~ Also stopped by the famous Nakatani-dou which makes traditional Daifuku mochi. They were famous for their live dramatic kneading but they weren’t making any mochi when we were there.

Hmm………sorry but they looked like they have been accidenally dropped in sand. 😂 Okay sorry, they tasted good and was really smooth and chewy (what we called QQ in Chinese)!

Lots of pine tree seeds everywhere.

Walked past a very beautiful garden!

And we arrived! This was the first one I saw and I was so excited to see Bambi!

Hey do not touch my lens!

Found another one with antlers!

I probably saw like 5 deer there and so I told Dennis, “That’s too few. I WANT A LOT OF DEER IN ONE PLACE.” Wish granted. But not the way I like it. You will find out why later …

Todai-ji (東大寺)

The left is a ‘well-trained’ deer which bows at you as you exit the temple. We later saw two deer bowing non-stop to two tourists when they fed them! Too cute! Much like saying ‘thank you’ in a deer way. And a cheeky one on the right which keeps on humping people’s bag.

Knock down haiyak!! 😂😂

Then, at the other exit, I saw them. ‘A lot of deer at one place’

I thought they were cute, and so bought some deer snacks from the street vendors for them. Wrong move. Remember the word ‘knock down’? Nearly happened man. The moment the lady handed the biscuits to me, all them hungry greedy deer came at me at the same time. Dennis kept saying, ‘Run!’ but I couldn’t. They surrounded me and I couldn’t budge at all! I used my bag as a shield and they kept pushing their noses at my bag and one of them bit my umbrella’s price tag (it was new)! I was too overwhelmed and can’t handle them so I passed the biscuits to Dennis. The deer caught on quickly and surrounded him instead! One of them got desperate and bit Dennis’s arm! Dennis had to throw the biscuits away to save himself 🤣

Here’s what they look like when they were obsessed with their snacks. Look at those hungry ones staring at the cart and the girl who was about to buy some yummy snacks lol!

Then we bid goodbye to the deer (I was still fond of them at this point) and took an express train to Kyoto station to board the Shinkansen. When I finally had time on the train, I realised an awful smell. I thought it must be my bag and my arms, so I sterilised my bag and myself with hand sanitiser and wet wipes. But the smell still lingers! Then. It hit me. Maybe…

Damn!!! I didn’t avoid those poo poo as well as I thought! Damn!!!! My new shoes 😭 My 10-days-old shoes 😭😭😭

At that moment I felt like crying, but I was laughing at the same time at my misfortune. Pout. Gosh. I smelled like shit. From that moment on, I have decided. NO MORE NARA DEER PARK.

I was more accustomed to my ‘scent’ when I board the Shinkansen later at Kyoto station. I was so used to it that I didn’t smell anything at that time. My condolences to those sitting near me.

Spotted a store selling ice cream and snacks at the platform, wouldn’t miss the opportunity for some tea-flavoured ice cream. I forgot how much they were but they were not cheap. But hell that taste was divine! Amaziiiiing really, one of the best! Both matcha and hojicha flavours were delicious! Verdict: 10/10!!!

And our drinks. That one in the middle was so strongly advertised everywhere so I had to try one (the brand is directly and crudely translated to ‘post-afternoon tea’ LOL). Very very nice indeed! Highly recommended zang! Verdict: 9/10

We arrived at Tokyo at about 6 and headed back to Tokyu Stay Shimbashi for a shower.

Then the mysterious surprise plan begun to unfold …

Dennis told me to put on something pretty because we were going somewhere special. I was flustered because I didn’t have anything special to wear! Plus, I didn’t have the time for any makeup otherwise we would’ve been late for our booking! Dennis then brought me to Hill Top Casita at Azabujuban. I was stunned by the settings of the restaurant as it was too romantic, too mysterious, too surprising and the staff were way too friendly, way too helpful. I had serious palpitation that night. 

The manager brought us to our table and I embarrassingly sat down on my own when the manager actually pulled the other chair for me. 😅 Hehe, not quite used to things like that!

Now, romantic stunts after stunts.

First, napkins with our names embroidered on it. But they spelt it wrongly though hehe.

Our personalised menu.

A personal card for our special night. Hehe notice that innocent mistake. We were fine with that, it’s cute. My name isn’t that common really.

Then the wait staff brought us our champagne, with our personalised label ‘Happy Anniversary Avy and Dennis’ 💖 Our dishes were very well presented but my camera is terrible in the dimly-lit surrounding. Very tasty too! (But the wait staff forgotten one of our dish OMG and we didn’t want to spoil the romantic atmosphere with some awkward comment, so…maybe next time?)

While we were slowly savouring our dinner, I was observing the couples around us and wondered what their story were. The table next to us looked like a new couple, as the woman looked like she was still working hard to leave a sweet impression, giggling and covering her mouth with her tiny hands teehee. But I shouldn’t comment on people, really, because I giggled too much too that night after a glass of our own champagne. 😂😂 Another interesting couple was the ones sitting outdoors, who looked like they have been together forever, sweating in their casual wear, eyes affixed on the LCD screen and looked like it was just an everyday dinner. After our last dish we were brought to the rooftop to enjoy Tokyo night view. Tokyo tower is so pretteeeeeh and I thought it looked a little like the Eiffel Tower hehehe. So we sat there Google-ing Tokyo tower vs Eiffel tower while savouring our desserts.

Verdict: 100/10!!! (No it’s not a typo, this place deserves a 100 percent!) The Casita staffs really give you their 100 percent in making your night special, no matter what the occasion. Great service, romantic ambience, pretty night view, yummylicious fine dining paired with champagne with your name on it, what more can I ask for?

Our friendly barista took a photo for us with the pretty Tokyo tower and made us a nice latte art. Then the climax. The wait staffs sneaked behind us with a music box and brought us a very pretty dessert with personalised message. Awwwww my heart melted that night.

With the very cheerful Daniel 

Happy Anniversary Dennis!!! Thank you love 💙💛💜