Nikko Lakeside Hotel

... as I'd never have found the place otherwise. Got settled in, and donning my yukata, headed for the bath. Ahhh, I could get used to this.

But, I was going to talk about Toilets. For those of you who have never experienced a Japanese toilet, think lots of buttons. There's a button to warm the seat. There's a button to spray a bit of water on your backside (and another button to turn ...

... gestern aufgemacht, einen der ach so beruehmten Tempel und Schreine Nikkos zu besuchen. War ja auch sehr schoen... aber sonst gibt`s kaum etwas, dass junge Leute wie unser eins sehr ins Staunen versetzen koennte... (mal abgesehen von der schoenen Natur... wenn wir halt nur mehr Freude am Wandern haetten... ;)

Unser Jugendhostel war eher... naja. Ich wuerde sagen, das beste daran war das Japanische Bad. Das ist schon was feines, so eine ...

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 ...

... Dorf (95 000 EW) an.
Unser Youth Hostel war nicht allzu schwer zu finden, ist aber im Vergleich zum Khaosan in Tokyo, ein RICHTIGES Youthhostel, wie mans sich schon eher vorstellt... ein bisl abge****t halt XD aber die Hosts sind echt nett, ein altes Ehepaar. Und wir haben seit gestern abend schon mehr Japanisch gesprochen als die letzten 10 Tage in Tokyo ;D

Heute gehts mal auf Tempeljagt. Hier solls echt schoene Exemplare geben. Also ist fuer ...

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 ...

... It is a part of decoration of the sacred horse stable and the carvings showing the life of monkeys are displayed around the stable. On the opposite side, the most impressive architecture of Nikko, Yomeimon gate stood there. But I remembered that I should see another thing before going through the gate, which was listening to Roaring Dragon in the next hall. Honestly, I didn't know ...

... we got a combined ticket for 1000Y otherwise most temples would have cost 1300Y each. The area has been designated a World Heritage Site. The most important and famous is the Toshogu Shrine, inside the gate is a horse stable with the three wise monkeys carved, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. All the temples were very nice and not very crowded and they were surrounded by moss covered stone walls and fences.

... y le asaltan por el camino. Al final acaba matandolos a todos. Habia bastantes saltos desde las alturas, luchas con espadas y patadas al aire. Como las peliculas.


En la entrada nos dieron un cuadrado de papel, que no sabiamos para que era, hasta que descubrimos que la gente ponia dinero en el centro, lo enrollaba y se lo tiraba a los actores cuando terminaban la actuacion, como a modo de propina. Con el dinero que nos costo la entrada, yo acabe tirandoles el ...

... in un parco nazionale: dopo cinque ore di templi ne ho abbastanza, cosi' prendo un autobus per Chizenji-ko, un lago di montagna ad una mezz'ora da qui. I giapponesi hanno addirittura costruito due strade per arrivarci, tutte e due a senso unico: una per la salita e una per la discesa. La cosa non mi sorprende affatto, visto che non e' certo la piu' strana che ho visto finora in questo Paese. Appena arrivato scopro con disappunto che sia il lago, sia la vicina ...

... a large sacred pond, statues in the dark. Cool stuff. We found a person walking along whom Nick asked for directions from. Off we went on what we thought to be the way home. Well, we overshot our designated exit by quite a bit and ended up in the opposite direction once more. We found some more cool stuff...but by this time...2 hours of walking about lost in the rain was NOT fun. We FINALLY managed to find the right road and were extremely relieved when we came upon our hotel.