***This post is a recount of the trip after I returned to Singapore from the trip.***
And it was time to visit Nara, the 3rd city in the "Kansai triangle". Of course, my only reason for visiting Nara is to see the deers at the Nara deer park. Woke up semi-early at 8am for this day trip. Was rather excited because my friends have been talking about Nara for a while.
Reached Nara station at 10am to a bright sunny day. Decided to walk to the park via foot. Of course, I got myself some coffee from Starbucks before heading into the park. Quickly got bored of the deers cause they are super ugly and all the same. So I headed up the mountains at the back.
There was this spacious carpark at the peak. It took me about an hour to go up cause the roads were super meandered and long. Gentle slopes though so no sweat. I chilled with some deers for abit at the top before deciding to head back down.
Just before I went down, there was this super view. It was super windy and cold but I love it. Took a lot of photos there and also got strangers to take some of myself. Shiok. This was legit one of the best views this trip.
Then from this point on, it all went downhill. “Accidentally” walked on a highway and pissed off some local who called the police on me. I was following the roads after the 10km mark (on Strava), happily and nicely, until suddenly I had to sprint and veer off course into the dense jungle. It was fight or flight mode.
An entire squad just started driving up and down that same stretch of road hoping to find me. I am way too paranoid for them to even try to explain stuff to me so I had to hide in the jungle near the highway. In the end, I had to practice my bound to bound jungle I learnt in SAF so as to hide behind trees out of their view successfully. They were driving pretty fast so I had to time my advances.
Suffered a few bruises along the way and a few minor skin bleeding, but I survived with one shoe entirely covered with mud. Tracked my way to a local town and blended in with my hoodie. I’m pretty sure the Japanese police are still looking for me because a guy in a toll house that I passed by while tracking through the forest saw me and started to say something on his walkie-talkie.
In some instances, I had to prone to crawl under fences and do topology to establish my position. Ultimately, it was still a cool experience talking to deer in Nara Park. These deers are some of the most chill animals I ever met in my life. Also, thankfully I’m a very fit ex-soldier with a VO2 max of 54, so I am 100% confident that I will not get caught today.
On hindsight, those might not have been police. My friends say it sounds more like the yakuza. But whatever, I escaped. No police or gangsters will be able to catch a crazy soldier in the jungle like myself.
As soon as I reached civilisation, I instantly put on my hoodie to blend in and disappear into the crowds. Felt like I just survived an apocalypse. The adrenaline was so damn high and so addictive. Cannot keep pissing off random people overseas though.
After getting some snacks from the 7-eleven closest to Nara station, I ate and headed back to Kyoto. Went back to the hostel to get a much needed clothes change, before leaving again to find dinner. After surviving a GTA-style adventure, it was finally time for my friend to meet me.
This friend, Yi Lin, I've known her for more than a year. I met her in the orientation committee back in 2023. She kinda chose me to be under her so it was fate and there was nothing I can do about it. But yes, we barely talked throughout the last one year, maybe some occasional catchup sessions with the other teammate, Wei Ren.
Knowing that it's only dinner, I chose to run to the dinner location, cause why not? Turns out, she was LATE. Ayo. I hung around the area for like half an hour just watching people live their lives in Japan. After we entered the restaurant, we kinda pissed off the waiters. HAHAHAHA.
No comments:
Post a Comment