Big Mistake in Nikko Winter Holidays Part 3 (2004)

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Jan 3 - We woke up later than we planned and so we had to rush to go to Nikko. Nikko is this small country side town on the north or Tokyo. It is very famous for its beautiful temples and a waterfall that looks like a dragon. We took a train and it took us 2 hours to get to Nikko.


We were planning to go to the falls first so theres still light and then do the temples. But when we got there (at around 2 pm) they told us that the temples will close at 330. so we did the temples first. We went to a famous one with the 3 monkeys ('the see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil) the temples and shrines were really pretty but after a while they all look the same. We finished at around 4 and we decided to still go to the waterfalls and hope that there will be some electric lighting in there.


The only way to go there is by bus so we took one. We expected it to be 500 yen at the most, but it turned out that the falls are way up on this mountain and its a very steep climb so it costs more. We had to pay 1000 yen one way to get up there and when we got there, it was so dark we could only hear the falls and not see it. it was really pathetic.


But good thing is we met these people on the bus, they are nurses in the american base and one of them is a filipino, he's kuya mar and hes from san pablo. he was really nice and he told me which places in tokyo had the most filipino communities. the other nurse looks really cute and has a striking resemblance to Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love)


So I told Viviane that we spent 2000 yen to meet Joseph Fiennes. She laughed about this but later on we agreed: God works in mysterious ways (Apparently, this is the mantra to keep us from losing our minds.)

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Photos

lovely tree lined path
I loved this path, it's really beautiful and sooo peaceful

gold-trimmed pagoda
The shrines of temples of Nikko are distinctive from other temples in Japan, primarily because Nikko temples are too ornately decorated, almost like Korean temples

syashinnnn
me and vivi fooling around

sea no evil, hear no evil
The famous monkeys of Nikko

Joseph Fiennes, is that you?
folks we met on the wayward bus to Nikko waterfalls