Viva Nikko

... 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.<br><br>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 ...

...oder wir zu ihm. <br><br>Tja, jeder, der eines Tages vor hat, Japan zu erkunden, der kann getrost einen grossen Bogen um Nikko machen, ausser man steht auf Pensionistenstadt und absolut totes Nachtleben. Eins muss man dem kleinen Oertchen lassen, es gibt echt schoene, gruene Waelder, Berge und einen sehr netten Fluss. Dort haben wir auch ein schoenes Plaetzchen zum Zeit totschlagen gefunden, weil`s ja sonst nichts gibt.<br><br>Wir haben uns ...

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

Nun, gestern haben wir schweren Herzens mein geliebtes Tokyo hinter uns gelassen und haben unsere erste Shinkansenfahrt gen Nikko angetreten. <br>Es gab ein paar Zeitprobleme, allerdings fahren diese Zuege so ca. alle 20 min, darum war das dann auch nicht wirklich ein Problem. Allerdings kamen wir genau wie vorhergesagt, jedoch nicht wie geplant irgendwann nach 6, also dann, als schon finster war, in der menschenleeren Kleinstadt... naja, im Vergleich zu ...

... was small but charming. The temple could be reached by bus but I just walked to get a better idea of what the town looked like and see some of the shops along the way. Before crossing the street climb the hill up toward the temple I saw a noteworthy red bridge that crossed a beautiful river that flows through the town. I am not sure what the name is but it seems like it is one of the "postcard" type places Nikko is known for. <br><br ...

... 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 left Tokyo on a train, headed North 2 hours to Nikko. We walked the 20 minutes to our hostel, which is in the woods near a river and walking trails. We were going to stay a 3rd night but the lodge was booked up so we decided to plan out the rest of our trip and only stay 2 nights there. <br><br>We have been buying breakfast foods from convience stores to save some money and we walked to the bus station for tourist ...

... vacio... <br><br><br>Luego vimos una comedia. El narrador pidio un voluntario para participar en la obra. Uno de los senores mayores del publico, en vez de ofrecerse voluntario, me senalo a mi con el dedo. Total que el narrador se puso a hablarme, yo me encogi de hombros y ya me pregunto "Where are you from?" (de donde eres?) y yo le dije que England, y ya me dejo tranquila. En el show salia una chica vestida de geisha. El que salio de voluntario al final, un chico ...

... of "Love Hotels" and also that here they get their TV reception using antennaes. Somethings are modern and some stay the same here. We started to notice the smog once we got closer to Tokyo. It:s pretty smoggy here but you don't notice it that much once you are in the city. We arrived at Tokyo station and said our goodbyes to Taiko and her boyfriend. Emi and I then ventured into the large and I mean large Tokyo Station subway station. This place is huge! I think its the largest in the ...

The massive city of Tokyo is CLEAN. No graffitti, no garbage, white glove and mask masking businessmen politely plow through the streets. The 5 level below-ground metro system is packed around rushhour but without shoving or yelling. Traffic yield to lights and there is rarely honking or sirens. Sofisticated and efficient. The new Toyota, Nissan, BMW compacts and sport cars have voice activated GPS, back up cameras, talking ...