Blogs from Nikko, Tochigi, Japan, Asia - page 5

przepraszam tych co odwiedzaja bloga (glownie rodzine) za lekkie opoznienia, no ale coz... zycie! wyjechalam z tokio. choc bylam bardzo krotko, to juz zdarzylam sie przyzwyczaic i polubic ten tlok i ten halas. tak jak sie spodziewalam , tokio to milosc od pierwszego wejrzenia. choc troche meczaca, to bardzo ekscytujaca. a wyjechalam do nikko! male miasteczko, poloznone w gorach, gdzie znajduja sie jedne z ciekwaszych swiatyn. jednak caly czas tu leje, wiec nie moge w pelni czerpac radosci z tego miejsca, niemniej jest cudnie. swiatynie zwiedzalam rano, i choc nie bylo ladnej pogody do robienia zdjec, ale swiatynie zanuzone w mgle wyglodaly magicznie i pozwolily na chwile zapomnienia i ciszy, dos poterzebnej po tokio. mimo tak zlej pogody, dalo rado cos porobic. razem z Christophe ( Belg poznany w internet cafe, ktory po 3 latach pracy ... read more

The train ride from Tokyo to Nikko was around 2 hours and involved 2 different trains so we arrived around 2:30 or 3 and started walking to our lodge. The place we are staying is run by 2 Buddhist monks, even though we only saw one, were sure the other was around somewhere. A soon as we stepped off the train things were different, the weather was actually very nice. Nikko is about 1500 ft. above sea level so the humidity was only in the 70% range and the temp was about 75 F. A very welcome change from the miserable 90% humidity we have been in the last few weeks. We started on the uphill walk to our hostel and after about 15 minutes of sweating we finally arrived. We checked in and got to ... read more

Went to Nikko this weekend with Haley, Chelsea, Amy, and Chris (almost everyone else went too but left later); left at 6:45 am on Sat. morning and took the subway to Asakusa (had to switch 1x to get there) - took 45 min. Then bought a World Heritage Pass for $36 which included the train to Nikko and back and buses and entrance to all shrines. Took the train to Nikko which took 2 hours. We packed lots of jelly sandwiches on left over hot dog buns from the BBQ and some left over hot dogs for lunch so we didn't have to spend a lot. Walked to our Japanese hotel and dropped off our bags but couldn't check in until 3 and it was 10. Saw a sacred bridge which was really pretty then we ... read more

I love Japan, and always will. It's a perfect marriage of past, present, and future. There're meikos, geikos and geishas entertaining tired businessmen in tiekwood teahouses, shinto shrines rising up between office buildings, women walking down the street in traditional kimonos and dolce and gabbana bags, and well-dressed school-children checking out the futuristic sony inventions. The best part of all is that it's all genuine. The Japanese don't put on a show because the tourists are there to watch. Sumo doesn't exist as an over done attraction, along with teiko drumming, pachinko, flower arranging, and tea ceremonies. Japan would still hold onto it's history and identity, even if the rest of the world stopped watching. I hopped on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Nikko within an hour of arriving in Japan. Nikko is home to the ... read more

Up very early this morning and leaving the ladies behind to head out to the ancient capital of Nikko which has something like 9 world heritage sights. Sadly the weather had regressed from merely overcast to full on heavy rain and by the time I had taken my first shikansen train out to the mountains it was really starting to dump down. From the train station it was about a half an hour walk up into the hills before the first temple came into view, well to be strictly correct a famous red bridge and then a temple. Their was apparetly lots of mythical significance to the bridge but it didn't translate into much of a view on a rainy morning. The temples were a different story as set into the hills with the rain they ... read more