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Published: March 27th 2008
Nikko
Right outside the station. Very different from Tokyo!Ok so I didn't actually spend the entire week in Tokyo. I was lucky enough to get to visit a little town called Nikko for a couple of days. Nikko is a little bit north of Tokyo, and it took us 3 hours to get there by train. But the long train ride was definitely worth it...Nikko is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Remember how I said that all temples seem to be the same? Well that's not true for the temples in Nikko. These were some of the most beautiful structures I've ever seen. It was more amazing than I could have ever imagined. I guess that's why Nikko is a World Heritage Site, and one of the temples there is even considered a National Treasure! It was actually Ryan's idea to visit Nikko. Me and Michael just kind of tagged along but didn't really know what to expect there...
So from Asukasa station we got on a train for 3 hours to take us to Nikko. It was such a long train ride, and the seats weren't very comfortable at all, but I managed to sleep for a good portion or listen to my
Central Nikko
This was the center of the town, right beside the station music. When we finally reached Nikko we got out at a small station that had a little convenience store and a tourist information center. Of course we stopped in the tourist center first to get directions to our hotel, and the lady told us which bus to take. We had bought a whole package when we bought our train ticket, so all the bus rides were free. It was a really good deal!
When we finally walked out of the station, I was absolutely shocked by what I saw, which was basically
NOTHING! Just a few hours ago I was in one of the biggest cities in the world, surrounded everywhere by huge skyscrapers and streets crowded with people. And now all I saw were mountains. Other than the area right outside the staion, there weren't many buildings and of those few buidings none were more than a couple of stories tall. It was just a small, rural town. It was just strange going from Tokyo to somewhere like Nikko. It definitely took me by surprise! But even though it wasn't Tokyo, Nikko was a very beautiful place. It was actually nice to be away from all the
Streets
Where's all the people? I was still in Tokyo-mode craziness of the big city and be in such a quiet, peaceful place. So I was glad to be there, I needed to get away from all those people!
We got on our bus finally arrived we got on and rode for about 10 minutes before we started wondering where we were actually supposed to get off. We had no idea where we were, so we just decided to get off at the next stop. Once we were off the bus and had a chance to look at the map and orient ourselves, we realized we had actually passed our stop, so we started walking back the other way. Since Ryan became the "leader" of our group, meaning he was our guide and was responsible for knowing where to go and how to get there, we just followed him down some little side roads. I didnt think he knew where he was going, but Michael had faith in him, so we kept walking. And eventually we did come to the right road, so I guess I should give the guy a little more credit. Then we came to this beautiful bridge crossing over a huge stream. It was beautiful
Stream
The stream we saw on our way to find the hotel to look at the water flowing over the rocks in the stream and the mountains in the background made it even more amazing! After crossing the bridge we saw a sign with a turtle on it, so we assumed that had to be the Turtle Inn, which is where we were to stay. But unfortunately, it wasn't the right one. There were 2 different Turtle Inn buidings and ours was the other one. So we had to go back the way we came once again! I definitely made fun of Ryan for that mistake lol. At this point we were wondering if we would ever find our hotel. Ryan and Michael started talking about how they wouldn't mind going up into the mountains and just camping out there and catching fish in the stream. But there was no way I was going to do any of that, so I made sure we kept walking and eventually found the hotel! The hotel was fairly nice...at least it wasn't another hostel. We actually had our own private 3-person Japanese-style room and it was a very quiet place. The room also had a nice view of the mountains.
After we had settled
Ryan and Michael
My traveling buddies, Ryan and Michael. into the hotel it was already getting pretty late, so we decided to head back down into the town and find some place to eat dinner. We also wanted to visit the Shinkyo bridge because it was supposed to look really pretty at night. So we took the bus down to the station where all the stores and restaurants were. We found this nice little diner that served ramen and udon and stuff like that...you know, the usual Japanese stuff. It was a small place, and there was only one lady serving and one cook, but he was really fast and also really good! We were sitting at the bar so we were able to watch him prepare the meals. I had the fried chicken and some rice (guess I was craving Southern food lol) and it was honma oishii! After dinner, we started walking back up the street towards the Shinkyo. After about 15 minutes we finally reached it. And it was such a beautiful sight. It was an orange bridge crossing over a stream and it was lighted during the nighttime. The glowing orange really made it stand out against the trees and the dark night! Unfortunately, the
Where's Our Hotel?
We walked along these little streets trying to find the hotel bridge was closed off so we couldn't actually walk on it, but it was still really neat to see. After that we walked down the lonely street back to our hotel. It was really nice because we were the only ones out on the street, and we were walking along the river. It was very relaxing and so much more peaceful than being in Tokyo!
The next day was our big temple sight-seeing day. I had no idea how many temples were actually in Nikko, and how much walking would be required to see them all, so I was definitely a little surprised by how much we actually did that day! Unfortunately, the weather had turned really cold that day. It had been such nice weather the whole trip, but now it got cold and it was even supposed to rain. But that didn't stop us. We set out at about 10 in the morning and walked to where the temples were. The first temple we visited was the Rinnoji Temple. This temple was absolutely gorgeous! There was also a garden beside it, but we didn't get to go there. After that we wandered on over to the Futurasan
Turtle
We were excited to see a sign with a turtle. Unfortunately that wasn't the right one... Shrine, which was also very interesting. Then we walked to the to the famous Toshogu, a huge temple complex that took 2 years to construct. Within the Toshogu we saw the 3 Wise Monkeys carving. This is where the "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" line comes from. There were also plenty of beautifully crafted gates. The architecture of all these structures were absolutely incredible to see. They were so intricate and extremely ornate, not like the usual Japanese temples. Of course, these temples show more of a Chinese influence, which is why they are so colorful and ornate.
We visited so many temples that day and they were all so beautiful that I can't actually recall the names of them all. I have a massive collection of pictures of the temples and everything at the temples, but as far as the names of them and which temples they are a part of, I honestly don't know! I don't even know for sure all the temples we visited...there were just so many! So I wish I could be more specific about the pictures, but I'm not sure what they all are of lol. Even so, I
Power Plant
Ryan said this was the oldest power plant in the Japan, but I couldn't tell if he was trying to trick me or if he was actually being serious... think they can be appreciated just for their beauty...
After we visited all the temples we stopped at a small traditional Japanese place for lunch. I had tempura soba. I don't think it's possible for Japanese food to be bad. Everything I've tried has always been really good! It's just that sometimes it gets boring having to eat the same kinds of foods every time. Anyway, after lunch we took the bus back down to the station area. Our train didn't leave for a couple of hours, so we spent the time looking around the little souvenir shops. They even had a Hello Kitty store in Nikko! Hello Kitty is everywhere! So I definitely got a few souvenirs from there, and I also bought some strawberry cookies for the ride home. The wrapper for the cookie was really funny because it had some horrible English. It said something like, "It is the cookie whose smell is good." And Michael found these chocolate-covered peanuts that were supposed to look like monkeyp poop. I thought it was really gross and couldn't eat more than one, but the guys seemed to like them...go figure! The packaging was the best part though, because
Turtle Inn
Finally we found our hotel...it's the orange one lol it actually showed a monkey, and well...just look at the picture lol.
Finally it was time to catch our train! But only me and Michael were leaving Nikko that evening. Ryan was going to stay there another night. He still wanted to do some more sightseeing on Thursday and was then going back to Osaka that night. But we had wanted to stay in Tokyo longer, so we headed back there to meet up with another group of friends from Kansai Gaidai.
And that was the end of our little retreat to Nikko 😊
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imcrazy8
Geoff D
yum!
your pics never cease to amaze me. how was the banana kit kats? whats a sakura kit kat taste like? nice monkey poop.. LOL!