Nikko (Finally!)

It's Katie again! I promised to get back to date with the blog, and now that we have some down time in Kyoto, I can finally get back to it.

So, on Thursday morning, we got up bright and early to catch the Shinkansen (The bullet train) to Nikko. The ride was about two hours, so I had plenty of time to eat my breakfast (bread bought from a Japanese bakery...The bakeries here are very good! The bread is cheap, delicious, and ostensibly unique to Japan. They have curry-stuffed naan, yummy melon bread, french bread with bacon inside, etc.) and look out the window at my first view of the Japanese countryside (Katya, sitting beside me, played her DS). The Shinkansen was, true to its name, very fast; at times I could feel my ears popping.

So, we arrived at Nikko on a misty morning, and took a cab (My first time in a taxi! It was fun) to our ryokan (traditional Japanese Inn), called Turtle Inn. After checking in our luggage, we decided to go out and explore the town, and see a nice collection of temples up on the mountain.

As we walked around town, all the townspeople would bow and call out "Ohayo gozaimasu" ("Good morning). It was a very pleasant walk, since the weather was so cool (I'm really missing that mist now that we're in hot and humid Kyoto), and we soon arrived at our destination. We bought a pack of tickets good for all the temples, and set off to go look at them all.

Japanese people tie "bad" fortunes onto these wooden frames.

This collection of temples was the site for one of my most memorable experiences in Japan. While we were standing in line for a pagoda, I saw a group of schoolboys (there were a lot of schools there on field trips) all looking at me, so I smiled back. I could hear them all practicing their English "Can you speak Japanese?"), and I kept smiling and waving at them until they pushed a little boy forward, and he asked me "Where you from?" I told him California, and then said (in Japanese) "But, I can speak a little Japanese." His eyes grew wide, and he nodded, mumbled something, and ran off. Later on, as I was ascending some steps to go to another temple, and I saw the same group, so I waved at them. They all stood up and grinned, and waved back while shouting "Bye bye!"

Oyako Donburi and Cream Soda

After our temple tour, we headed back into town to find some lunch. I spotted a restaurant down the road, so, after browsing the menu, we went inside. Here, Katya and I ordered "Cream sodas" (Melon soda with ice cream on the top- very delicious. Our Japanese teacher loves them, and laments that you can't find them in America. We got them here for 400 Yen, but I've seen them in Kyoto for up to 800!), and for my meal, I chose "Oyako donburi." Our Japanese class this past year had quite a fixation on Oyako donburi ("Parent and Child" donburi- chicken and egg cooked over rice) ever since our teacher taught us a song about it, so I figured that I had to try it. It was really good, surprisingly sweet and flavorful.

Next, we decided to go up to lake Chuzenji, and left the restaurant for our bus stop. Once there, we met a crowd of old Japanese men and women, who engaged us in a conversation right off the bat, and assured us that this was indeed the right bus stop. They asked, in English, how old we were, and where we came from, etc. Then one woman (who did most of the talking) said that she was from the post office, and that we were friends. After that, we started up a long conversation, them asking questions in English, and me replying in Japanese. They asked if I liked any Japanese baseball players, and I said that I liked Matsui. They were fans of Ichiro, so I said that I liked him as well. We continued chatting about things like that until a bus came, and the tourists started to get on, until (and Katya and I still laugh at how cute this was) an old woman poked her head out of the door and yelled "Chigaimasu!" or "Wrong (bus)!" This happened a few more times, to everyone's amusement. Just goes to show that some humor doesn't necessarily have a language barrier.

Lake Chuzenji

Lake Chuzenji was beautiful, and the surrounding areas were lush and green, full of plants right up to the water. As we walked around the lake, we heard a voice calling out "Oiiiii!" we looked up, and saw our friends from the bus stop!They were staying at a lakeside hotel with onsen (hot springs), and saw us strolling along the shore.

The lake itself had many docks, and swan boats painted all kinds of crazy colors. I snapped up a few pictures of the boat ramps and docks for my dad to look at when I get home.

Our room in Turtle Inn

Later, back in town, we went to 7-11 (again. We go there at least once a day), and secured some dinner (in the form of heated lunch boxes) to eat in our hotel room.  After dinner, we decided to check out the onsen. We all went down to reconnaissance the baths, and found that there was one small one, and one large tub. Katya and I shared the larger one, while Sherri used the private bath.

I had looked up the "rules of etiquette" for bathing in an onsen before, so I was somewhat prepared for the experience. First, you have to take a shower beforehand (it is a communal bath tub, after all), and then, when you get in the tub, you can't let the towel you bring in touch the water. Of course, Katya and I both dropped ours in the water, but it was alright, since we hadn't actually used it for anything yet. Overall, the onsen was very relaxing, and an experience I would love to have again (I did take another bath in Kanazawa, though).

Well, I meant to put both Kanazawa and Nikko into this one blog entry, but I just couldn't stop writing, and subsequently, the post got too large for both cities. Oops!