Feeding The Deer In Nara

What an experience we had! I never once in my wildest dreams would have expected to enjoy our trip there so much. We created memories there that will stick with us forever, and the best one is when Eric was running from the deer trying to bite his butt! I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time and I will never get that picture out of my mind! We met up with Eiichi, the Japanese man who showed us around Kiyomizudera (a friend of the Stuart's) and his son Hokuto. The ironic thing was that the weather was sunny the entire week before and has been sunny since then, but on that day I think they must have set a record with the amount of rain that fell. We were hardy Washingtonians and continued on. There are little stands that sell these packets of crackers that are especially made for the deer to eat. The minute we bought some, the deer converged on us (or rather, Eric). While he was trying to feed the deer in front of him the one behind him took a bite out of his butt! We all couldn't stop laughing, meanwhile Eric is doing this dance to avoid another bite. He didn't, they must have gotten him about 8 times I think throughout the whole time we were there! I asked Eiichi how the deer could possibly stay so thin with so many people always feeding them these crackers. His response about killed me, "They are Japanese!" The other completely remarkable thing these deer do is they bow, yes, I said they actually bow to you before taking the cracker! Again I asked in wonder, "How did they learn this?" To which Eiichi answered once again, "They are Japanese deer." So true. I think I'll be bowing to everyone for a long time when we return to the U.S.! I have promised myself I am going to submit a video of this bowing to America's Funniest Home Videos and Animal Planet!