I have officially reverted to type and am now back to my old insomniac ways. I was absolutely knackered last night when I got into bed but Jim kept the three of us awake making us laugh and then conveniently fell asleep, leaving me wide awake until 4am. The 9am start today has made for a very grumpy Samways (sample quote: "Jim, the rule is you have to stop making me laugh - I need to conserve all my energy to walk.")

We went on a daytrip to Nara today (the capital of Japan before Kyoto was) and it was really sunny but stupidly humid. We did a vague loop through the Nara-koen (park) area where there were lots of wild deer roaming about. Apparently Buddhists consider them messengers of God. In reality, they were greedy and persistent. You can buy biscuits to feed them with but they actually seem keener on consuming human flesh. The three of us were pissing ourselves watching a little old lady getting terrorised by a pack of ravenous deer, all because she made the fatal error of feeding one of them.

Anyway, we then wandered up to Kofuku-ji and saw the five storey pagoda. We also stumbled upon Nigatsu-do and Sangatsu-do, two halls in the Todai-ji complex. But they were small fry in comparison to the main attraction - the Daibutsu-den Hall. It was the most enormous temple I've ever seen and is the largest wooden building in the world (yet it's still only two thirds of its original size). Inside was the Great Buddha which was 16m high, made of bronze and gold. Awesome really is the only word to describe it.

At the back of the room was a wooden column with a hole through the base that is the size of one of the Great Buddha's nostrils; apparently if you can squeeze through it you are ensured of enlightenment. I had a good try but failed at my shoulders. Jim and Don have lots of nice photos of my arse as I tried to unwedge myself!

After lunch in the park we headed back to Osaka to Den Den Town (the electronics district). On the way there we saw the most bizarre street act I've ever seen. It was a black guy wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the words "I am basketball man - the greatest superhero in the world" (winner of quote of the day). His act consisted of lining up basketballs on those little cone markers you used in P.E. at school, draping rope about and dancing badly to Eurotrash-style techno. We thought he was setting up for some kind of trick but no, he just turned the music off and starting packing the balls away as if he were a bit ashamed. It was AMAZING! You can check him out at: http://www.myspace.com/iambasketballman

After that little detour we went into Den Den Town and bought me a brand spanking new camera! It's not as good as my old beauty and the instructions are in Japanese (though I'm hoping I might be able to get someone to change that for me) but it'll do - it was only 100 quid (no pound sign on a Japanese keyboard!). After that we just monged in cafes and at the hostel where I met a lad who's from Church Broughton and used to work on Duffield Road. It's a small world...

Love you lots x x x