Off to Nikko - home of the 3 famous monkeys

Trip Start Jul 13, 2006

Trip End Jul 30, 2006

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Where I stayed

Nikko Park Lodge

(Nikko hotels)

Flag of Japan Nikko, Japan
Saturday, July 22, 2006

Nick had told me prior to my leaving Brazil that we would be spending a weekend in Nikko. Nikko is one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations because of the history and beautiful shrines/temples there. There are two mausoleums there. They house the first and third Tokugawa shogun Ieyasu respectively Nikko is up in the mounatains and known for having a blend of shinto and buddhist religions. MANY ornate buildings and some beautiful scenery.

So, after our all nighter in Tokyo...Nick and I were in bed by 7 AM. We slept in til 11 AM and then got ready to grab the trains to Nikko. I had to bring all my luggage with me and I would be leaving for straight for Nagoya to spend the second week with my friend Yves. We were tired but we managed to make all our trains. I happened to have my first experience on a *shinkansen* (bullet train) that day. I bought a Japan Rail pass and bullet trains are unlimited on those. Man, are they impressive! Firstly, they just look really awesome and aerodynamic on the outside. The inside of the car is also very roomy and comfortble. I wish planes had that kind of leg room! They pick up speed very quickly, I think that particular train hit some 300 km/hr. Shortly after we left the station this lady with snack cart came along selling stuff. I was just in awe...it was like being on a plane...but way better. LOL.

We took two more trains in order to make it to Nikko (that was the only bullet train). Managed to make it there for 5 PM. We found a travel/tourism station and managed to get a hotel room from there. A nice man from the hotel even came to pick us up there! We stayed at the Park Lodge. The owner's name was Ken and he had lived in California for the past 20 years and spoke great English. That was super helpful. The place was simply gorgeous. Nestled in the woods and quiet. Our room was very simple...Nick and I kept hitting our heads on this one doorway...we're rather tall. LOL. We decided to go find a place to eat dinner at and walk around a bit in order to localize the shrines/temples and to know exactly where to go the next day.

We found a nice ramen restaurant on the mai on road. The food was rather delicious. The only part of ramen I don't like is the fish sausage they put in it. I gave mine away to Nick :p. We walked around for a bit and found the sacred bridge as well as the main temples/shrines park. It was around 8 PM or so and Nick and I decided it was time to get back to the hotel so we could get to bed early and sleep as much as possible. Well, Nick thought it would be a good idea to take a different route back to the hote. I mean, after all...we had at least 2 tourist maps of Nikko with us...we would be fine, right? No. We took some wrong turns and ended up quite opposite to where we wanted to go. We DID get to find some pretty cool stuff though. A bunch of mini shrines and 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.