Day in Nikko

Today's trip was to Nikko, the site of many world heritage listed Buddhist / Shinto shrines and temples.

We took a shinkansen from Ueno after having bought breakfast on the platform, of which the salmon(?) roe sushi was definitely the highlight; it was soooo tasty! Getting off at Utsunomiya, we then changed to the JR Nikko line to head to Nikko. The scenery on the way on the Nikko line was quite cute; Japanese countryside, mountains and autumn leaves area a good mix.

First impressions of Nikko from the JR station - it's a dump. The place was so run down! However, there was plenty of things to see walking up to the shrines from the station (don't take a bus if you're thinking of going; walking only takes 1/2 hr and it's an easy walk). The shrines themselves and the surrounding area was absolutely gorgeous. My sister was going nuts being so happy about the red autumn leaves and the beauty of the area. We also got to do the whole ritual in front of the Shinto shrine with 2 bows, 2 claps and a final bow, and also the wash hands and wash mouth thing at the fountain. In one of the shrines, the priest was demonstrating the bowing and clapping ritual, and in another, the acoustics of the room with some wooden blocks and how when he was hitting them right under the image of the dragon's head on the ceiling that it would echo and produce a noticeably louder sound. The walk up to Tokugawa Ieyasu's tomb was a trek though; everyone was panting by the end of it.

We then found a place for lunch, which was kinda pricey (everything in Nikko is) but the upshot was that it was pretty fine soba noodle that was served - thin bits and thick bits and all yum. I ordered the udon though... man, what a waste.

After that, we went up to Chuzenji to look at the waterfall and have a soak in an onsen. However, we didn't exactly realise what we were getting ourselves into. Tokyo is very temperate and still feels like summer, so I wore shorts not thinking that Nikko and its surround would be much different. How wrong I was. Chuzenji is up on a mountain, and it was cold, foggy and felt like 10 degrees max not counting wind chill. I was absolutely freezing, and so was my sister. However, it costed about 1000 yen per person to get a bus up there, so we weren't about to give up just yet, even though the fog meant that going to the Kegon waterfall was pretty pointless. Even though not being able to see the waterfall and paying the exhorbitant price for the bus was disappointing, the onsen there was very nice, with excellent facilities (but again was expensive... 900 yen is pricey for an onsen). The water was so hot - I read a sign that said that the water was somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees, and I wouldn't have for one moment doubt that claim. I'd last for something like 2 minutes before I had to get out and either douse myself in cold water or sit where the window was open. We also goofed about when nobody was about, doing underwater laps of the onsen pool, doing bombs and playing frisbee with the washing basins. Good times.

We then went back to Utsunomiya and had gyoza at a place across the road from the JR station. Not much to really report on here other than we all were so fully buggered from the whole trip today, and it really showed both at dinner and on the way back.

Anyhow, I'm pretty tired, and as you can probably tell, more than a bit incoherent because of that. Hopefully my sentence construction will be better tomorrow; however, we're heading to Tsukiji Fish Market early, so I doubt that I'd be any more awake for the next post. Ah well.

Signing out,

Lawrence