Anyway, last time we blogged, we’d got as far as the train to Nikko. As soon as we stepped off the train, we were greeted by snow-covered mountains and sun – it was a bit like a sleepy alpine ski-resort. We’d elected to walk to the hostel (save, save, save); what we didn’t realise was that there’s only one way in Nikko – and that’s up.
(Excuse us – Loz just had an urge to shove 2 pocky up her nose – I’ve wrestled her to the floor, and it’s ok. How embarrassing.)
We trekked up to the lodge we were staying at, which was lovely. The people were friendly, they had a real log fire, and they did breakfast (day off fruit buns for us – whoop). The owner, Ken, talked us through the sights and told us what was worth seeing and what was a tourist trap, and we headed off to some temples and shrines. We walked miles and miles and miles – mostly upwards, but it was worth the effort. The temples were stunning, and the grounds they were set in even more so.
We decided to pay to take a tour from the hostel the next day to see the lakes and waterfalls in the National Park area about half an hour away. In the end, it was just Cat and I and a girl from the hostel who came with us and the guide in the hostel’s little car. I have to say, I think Cat and I both thought we were going to die in the car as we tore round 40km bends on a mountain road at 60km – something must have shown on our/Eilena’s faces as he assured us the road was one way up and one way down – we just hoped the down wasn’t off the side of the mountain.
Despite the scary driving (sorry, Cat just interrupted to tell me she’s found a combined sooty and sweep puppet on the tv – she’s very excited by this) we got to the first waterfall and it was, as promised, amazing. There were icicles and snow and even monkeys (one of whom stole a sign off the gate and proceeded to try and eat it – mental monkey we’ll call him). The next stop was a shrine where we were taken inside to listen to part of a ritual that was going on at the time (and where we bought our first souvenirs – a lucky charm each for our birthday years). After this we went to a second waterfall and walked up alongside the river past several smaller waterfalls to meet our guide at the road up at the top. Being completely unprepared for snow (we were expecting Japan to be positively tropical compared to England) our jeans/combats and trainers combo was not the warmest of attire and me being the klutz that I am fell over on literally the first step of the trail. We proceeded to haul our asses up the slippery (srippery) slope and stairs (practically slopes due to the ice) and eventually made it to the top where we dashed the car to get warm before the next venture into the snow. The third waterfall was definitely our favourite and we enjoyed watching some people sledging before venturing up to the lake at the top of the waterfall where we were practically bowled over by the horrendous wind/snow storm that had started. Our crazy guide started wandering out into the middle of the lake (frozen he assured us) to have his picture taken. We decided to stay firmly on snowy land (though we were still sinking up to our knees so perhaps not that safe either). We stopped off at the nearby onsen hot springs bath (for such a reserved culture they seem to be completely unabashed about bathing naked) and the beautiful lake Chuzenji before heading back down the mountain and stopping off for traditional tempura and soba noodles for lunch. We hadn’t managed to see Nikko’s famous statues yet so our guide kindly stopped off to finish the tour with these and we were so glad he did as they were absolutely fabulous. Ken had told us about the legend of the ghost statues as apparently if you count them starting at one end you get a different number to if you started at the other. Sadly we didn’t have time to try (Cat started but got bored very quickly when she realised how many there were). After that we headed back up to Tokyo and our new hostel in Asakusa where we crashed out for the night and tried to get warm after all that snow walking.
The next day we had decided to try and see some Sumo wrestling but (like Wimbledon) you have to get there really early and queue up for the day tickets unless you want to pay triple the price (no thank you – save, save, save). So instead we headed to the Old Yasuda Garden (beautiful) and the Edo Tokyo Museum (some fab sculptures/artwork and fantastic musicians demonstrating traditional instruments). After this we got completely lost in Shinjuku trying to find the tourist office so we gave up and went to see the Meiji Jingu shrine which turned out to have some very exciting ice sculptures going on as well. We stopped off in Harajuku for tea in an Italian (don’t laugh – we needed a break from noodles). A couple next to us in the restaurant had tried to sneak their dog into the restaurant with them by hiding him in a bag. We don’t think he liked it very much as he kept trying to escape and make a run for it.
On Monday we did finally make it to the sumo. We had a very early start and stayed at the tournament from when it started at about 8.30 until 6pm. I’ve never seen so many bums in my life! We eventually understood what was going on but the whole thing is so very ceremonial that often the ceremony took longer than the match (very, very quick most of the time and it seemed to only be one round so you could be in the ring for 10 seconds and then that’s it you’re going home). Part of the ceremony involved some singing and the first guy we heard was definitely our favourite. They got progressively worse throughout the day and by the end we were sure we could have done a better job than some of them. I’m trying to convince Cat to use the tune in a composition. That evening we decided to take advantage of the free Saki voucher the hostel had given us and went to the local bar to try some.
We were very fortunate with our timing at the bar, arriving just in time for a traditional Japanese show. This involved 2 lovely but mental guys, and a portable mini-theatre, with cardboard cartoon pictures, which they slid out one at a time, as they narrated a story. It was crazy, we couldn’t stop laughing, in disbelief as much as anything else, as they told us children’s stories in silly voices. Our favourite story being the one about the sriperry eels, which kept srip sripping out of the guys hand. Priceless.
Time to get on the plane...
We’re in China – it’s freezing. Snow is piled everywhere, and it’s currently minus five, due to go down to minus 13 tonight. Brr. Back to Japan for now though...
Tuesday was the last day of our rail passes, and we decided to make the most of this by going out to Kawaguchiko – where we were reliably informed was the best place to see Mount Fuji from in the Winter. In the summer, you can get a bus to a certain point on the mountain, but due to the snow it closes at this time of year – it wasn’t long before we saw why. We met an Australian family on the train, who seemed at least as clueless as us about where they were going. They kindly offered us accommodation when we go to Oz, as they live in Gold Coast, which is on our way up to Bundaberg apparently.
Pretty much as soon as we left Tokyo, it started to snow. By the time we got to Kawaguchiko, it was snowing heavily and fairly obvious that we weren’t going to see much of the mountain. The lady in the tourist office pointed to the white space, and said maybe you’ll see it tomorrow – unfortunately we wouldn’t be there tomorrow. She gave us a map to the lake, which I promptly read wrong, and directed us to an industrial area. It was still snowing, and we were soaking and very cold, so stepped into a cafe to ask directions. I asked one of the waitresses if she spoke English (in English – wet, cold and grumpy doesn’t make for good Japanese) she said a little, so we asked directions to the lake. She spoke to her boss briefly, then managed in broken English to offer us a lift! How lovely is that? Someone we’ve never met before, and can barely communicate with took pity on us walking around in the snow, enough to ask her boss for the time to give us a lift to the lake, and then drove us in her own car and marked on our map where she’d dropped us. I was really blown away by that – which in itself is a little sad I guess. If I met 2 random travellers on a train, would I offer them accommodation at my house, with my family, after a quick chat? No, probably not. If someone wandered into work looking for directions, would I jump in my car and give them a lift – again, probably not. Not because I wouldn’t want to, but it’s just not done at home... we’re always taught to assume strangers are axe murderers until they prove otherwise, just to be safe. Anyway, we were incredibly grateful to the lovely girl, and now firmly believe in travel karma, having given up our seats for 2 old ladies on the metro earlier that morning...
Unfortunately that was about the best thing about the day. We got very cold and very wet, trying to walk round the lake, but ended up giving up, buying some souvenirs (mainly pictures of what Fuji looked like the day before and day after we were there), and then heading back to the train station. We managed to get on a really slow train and had a long time to change trains half way so we found a noodle bar at the station. The self service noodle restaurants are the best invention ever. We should get them – they’re healthy fast food basically. There’s a vending machine in the corner, which you put cash in, press the button for what you want to eat, and it prints out a ticket which you give to the people behind the counter. They serve your food up instantly, and then you take your plates back at the end. Genius. We managed to pick up some tempura soba for about £2 – good considering the hot chocolate we’d had earlier was nearly twice as much.
That evening we looked for some pretty lights in town without a lot of success, before we headed to bed. The final day in Tokyo was spent looking at Tokyo tower (we were told if we went up we might see Fuji – however the weather apparently wasn’t good enough.)
At least they told us this before we spent our last 1000yen going up there on the off chance. Instead, we headed over to Roppongi Hills which is supposed to be the big shopping district, or so we’d read. We couldn’t really find that many shops but we did find an amazing ice-cream parlour called Cold Stone. They basically take your ice-cream and add whatever you want to it to make a sundae that you can have in a waffle cone or a little tub. Cat took a picture of the sign on the door which said ‘ice-cream makers only’ and the wall pictures showing some of the amazing concoctions. There weren’t any seats inside so we headed out onto the balcony with the other customers (bit weird we thought since it was very cold) and they brought out heated cushions and blankets for everyone. Amazing!
After the ice-cream we headed over to Ginza to see the Sony building and some more exciting lights to finish off our trip. This turned out to be a posh bit with all the Gucci, Bvlgari, Swarovski, etc. shops, as well as Cat’s favourite... the apple store! (She lies) Yes we did go in to have a look around but we didn’t buy anything. I think Cat just wanted to see if it was the same as our English ones. We also bumped into the Australian family we met on the train to Lake Kawaguchiko. Cat said she was completely confused when I started saying hello to people and was wondering who I’d managed to find that I knew in the middle of Japan. After that we headed back to the hostel, via a little noodle shop for tea, to pack up all our stuff ready for the transfer to Beijing.
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