Hotel Shikisai Nikko

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Am naechsten Tag haben wir einen Ausflug zum Chuzenji-Onsen/-See, Kengon Wasserfall und Mt. Nantai (ruhender Vulkan) gemacht. Wir hatten glueck mit dem Wetter und konnten eine schoene Wanderung unternehmen. Zurueck ging es wieder mit dem Bus.

Weiter geht die Reise nach Kamakura (am Meer) nicht weit von Tokyo. Viele Japaner die in Tokyo arbeiten haben hier ihr Wochend-Haus. Doch dazu spaeter mehr...

Gruss Barbara und Ulf

... trees in their autumn goodness. Right behind the bridge was the entrance to the Nikko national park. Up some steps and through some sacred gates, we made ourselves to the first temple - Rinno-ji. The meat of the sightseeing took place at Tosho-su. This was a complex with many shrines and a big temple. There was a sacred stable that housed a white horse. Decorated at the top of the stable were wood carvings of the infamous "See no ...

Toured the temples at Nikko today. Very impressive, but the fact that everything was in Japanese (no English) and I don't know much about Buddism, it was really a matter of walking around and admiring these cool buildings. I bought a picture book rather than trying to take a bunch of amateurish photos - maybe I can get my daughter to translate?

Because of this, touring the site only ...

... Dort sollten wir einen Anschlusszug nach Aomori erwischen und wenn alles nach Plan verlaeuft (haha. der war gut) dann kommen wir vor Einbruch der Dunkelheit da oben an. Hui, da sind wir mal gespannt. Es kann nur besser sein als Nikko XD

Im naechsten Hostel soll`s angeblich wieder Internet geben, also duerfte mein naechster Eintrag nicht lange auf sich warten lassen XD

Bis bald also... じゃあまた ;。

Note to self: Don't create passwords with strange characters when you're going to have to use a foreign keyboard...

Returned to the ryokan for dinner and met some of the other guests. Two couples from Australia and one from Germany. Had (an amazing) dinner with the Ozzies. Eventually I'll get photos up, but think fish, rice, sashimi ...

... an Schlaf meinerseits... hab eine etwas schlaflose Nacht hinter mir. Gleich zu unsrem Fenster raus ist ein riesen Fluss, der ordentlich laermen kann, wenn man nachts versucht, ne ruhige Minute zu finden. Aber hee, schlafen kann ich auch noch im Flugzeug XD

So. Ich sag mal, bis bald! Internet hat sich bis jetzt immer relativ einfach finden lassen. Hier in Nikko im Informationscenter, in Tokyo wars ja quasi im Hostel inkludiert.

Jaa mata.

Today I went on my first outing on my lonesomen (without the aid of my guide Toshimi). I decided to go Nikko, a town north of Tokyo which features an interesting temple, a beautiful lake, and a fresh mountain air experience. After a little confusion at the train station I finally got on the right train which would take me north of Tokyo and toward my destination. Half of the fun of using the train as transportation is you get to see a ...

As the proverb goes, Don't say, "fine" until you visit Nikko." Was it so fine? That was the question bringing me to Nikko. Nikko is far from Tokyo and it takes more than 2 hours to get there. I took a long distance night bus from Nagoya, arriving at Tokyo at 6 in the morning and it was enogh to make it to the Tobu train from Asakusa at 7:10, arriving at Nikko 9:20 by rapid-transit train ...

... a ton of strip theaters, cheap eats (it smells so delicious there) and karaoke clubs. Beside tons of shoppers, there's 20 something, blond or brown/orange dyed haired, ripped jeans/leather trouser/rocker chic men on every corner advertising for clubs. It was strange to see people dressed up the nines for what is essentially street advertising, but it kinda fits into Tokyo hipster culture. As the sun set and the neon of Kabukicho took over, I headed over ...

Nikko, considered a holy place for centuries, is where you go if you want to see spectacularly-coloured temples and shrines near Tokyo. It's an easy two-hour train ride -- Tobu line, from the second floor of the Asakusa Matsuya department store, near where I live -- away, and while you can book ahead to get fancier seats, the cheapest option is by no means uncomfortable. Just make sure you get into a car that says "Nikko", because the train ...