Nikko: World Heritage Site

Sunday morning, we left the hostel at 7 am to head over to Asakusa Station to catch the Tobu Rapid Express to Nikko. I was a bit grumpy as the previous day I had torn my contact... so glasses for now on, which is unfortunate given the humidity. The ride took just over two hours, and we pulled in to Tobu-Nikko station to be greeted by dreary, fogging weather. The weather was actually a great addition to the day because it made the shrines eerie and the crowds slightly less bustling.

We decided to walk along the main street to get to the first shrine, rather than take the bus. We walked across a famous bridge and spotted an even prettier bridge, we were going to cross that until we discovered you couldn't get off at the other side and it cost money... we'll take the less pretty bridge, thanks.

After hiking up a bunch of stairs (preparation for Mt. Fuji) we found the first shrine. We traded in our ticket for a "combo-ticket" that would allow us entry into five shrines (we only ever located four). We started touring the area, and I was fascinated by the old-Japanese style architecture. The first shrine was crowded, but beautiful nonetheless.

Paul was stopped by a family that wanted their little girl to take a picture with him. He happily obliged and crouched down next to the little girl who was very scared and kept burrowing into her father's leg. As the girl crept away from Paul the mother encouraged him to get closer to her... poor kid, weird mother. After the picture was taken, and the girl thoroughly scared, the mother asked for Paul's name and email address. She turned around and spotted me (darn, I was trying to keep a low profile) and asked the same of me. Well at this point, the girl is very unsettled and starts sobbing... the mother insists I pose for the picture anyway and as the girl was trying to get away the mother kept motioning me to get closer... talk about awkward. I didn't know what to say in Japanese so I just crouched there like an idiot next to a crying child so they could take a picture. I felt horrible! I never make kids cry... unless they are Japanese apparently. Don't worry... you can see the pictures.

After this traumatizing experience, we walked on to another shrine. Just our luck, we made it there before the massive crowd and pretty much had it to ourselves. At this point it was starting to drizzle and there was a heavy fog laying. It made the shrine a really authentic experience I think.

We walked through a few more sites and three 8 meter high Budhas covered in gold leaf (no photos allowed). I was quite hungry now, so we decided to set off for a nice affordable lunch, which would be harder than you think! Most of the places were very pricey, so as we walked the main road back to the train station we saw this discreet place that advertise pretty affordable meals (a full meal for less than $10). We then popped in. Hippari Tako apparently has quite the reputation for itself. It is a small restaurant run by a mother and daughter team with about three tables. The walls and ceilings are plastered with pictures, business cards, signed dollar bills, student IDs, train tickets, or anything that the patrons had in their pockets that they didn't mind giving up. It was neat to sit at our table and read all the messages and all of the countries represented. The food was quite delicious as well! We were at a large table, so halfway through our meal we were temporarily seated with two Japanese men (who were later moved to an open table) who were quite excited as they wanted a picture of us (my Indian-celebrity returned in Nikko).

Now that my stomach was full, we kept walking back to the train station and realized we had just missed a train, so now had to wait an hour for the next one. I popped my head into a couple of shops and then decided we would see if we could board the train early as it appeared to be on the tracks. I'm glad we got our seats early! The train filled up and it was awkward as the seats sat facing each other, so you were across from two people with limited leg space (especially for 6'2 Paul). This made for an uncomfortable and long ride (2.5 hours) although I did get an entire book read! It was great to read a book, I love reading but often fall out of habit when I get busy or distracted.

We made it back to Asakusa a little after 5:30 and poked around some shops in search of other items we would need for Mt. Fuji. No luck, but I think I will be able to borrow some things from my classmates. It was an early night after a brief team meeting for a presentation I have Wednesday (my last academic requirement for my MBA!).