15 Books

1. Scarlett - Alexandra Ripley
2. The Map that Changed the World
3. Sword of Truth Series - Terry Goodkind
4. Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5. Love Stories of Great Men and Women
6. Greek Mythology - Edith...
7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
8. Prince Caspian - CS Lewis
9. Voyage of the Dawn Treader - CS Lewis
10. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
and last but not least
11.  The Bible

11 books written but by count, is more than 15. Goodkind's books in the series are 11, HP's 7. :)

Prayer of Sacrifice

Good morning everyone!

I've added a prayer to the right side of my blog page. I hope you will also have to time to read through it and pray. It is one prayer that I have always liked and feels strongly with. After all, we have always struggled with sacrifices and the only one that could see us through it is God. May this prayer also move you as it always does me. It gives me comfort and I'm glad that now, I have a copy of it. :)

Again, may the prayer move you, too! :)

japan adventure - day 4

ticket to nara from keihan station

inside the train station, changing trains

i totally love japan's vending machines!

a monk just outside the kintetsu nara train station (to his left is the road going towards the deers and the todaiji temple

one of the many deers roaming freely on the streets and parks towards the todaiji temple

the temple is so near! there's the rooftop now!

and we were sadly mistaken. this was just the gate of the temple. it's so beautiful. just like in the movies where the gates are made of wood and the color is faded red and brown, weathered by time.

the entrance to the todaiji temple

(entrance fee was around 500Y)

the todaiji temple was created around the middle of 700 (conflicting dates from different sources) by an emperor. it is said that this was created so that people can be protected from epidemics and to be able to consolidate the seat of power in the area. this temple is one of the biggest wooden structure in the world.

the Daibutsu is Japan's largest bronze Buddha and is also found inside the temple

the hole in the pillar is said to be the size of the Daibutsu's nostril and whoever can pass through it will have enlightenment in their afterlife. i didn't try this though coz there were so many people lining up and we were in a hurry to leave because we were all so hungry at this time.

Tamon-ten, one of the standing Four Heavenly Kings

my lunch at this famous Italian restaurant (forgot the name, though). yummy!

would you believe that this is inside a train? we actually thought that this was our train and we were so amazed. unfortunately, there were no other people around and this made us doubt that this is a regular train so we left. we were lucky we did because we realized that if we were inside when it left, we would have to pay lotsa lots of yen for the fare! 

this was the right train! so ordinary!

for our last night at kyoto, we just had to visit the Gion district where the Geishas are. we did not see one, though we saw lots of geisha paparazzi. do you know that there are such things as them??? :) they hang around the street hoping to get a picture of a geisha coming out of the "pubs." we went and looked at the "pubs" menu and oh were they so expensive! imagine, steak for 18,000Y?! no way!

lakwatsera me on a Gion street marker. notice the geisha fan.

one of the restaurants with geisha inside 

(we know this because security is so tight, we can't even have a glimpse inside!)

09/28/10