The city of Nikko, its temples and its forests

A good hours' train ride from Tokyo is the city of Nikko, famous for its temple complex open to the public to visit, known as Togoshu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

To get there we took the subway and then a little train. Then we walked around the city after having ensured that we had a train to return to Tokyo. We travelled with our rail pass, which cost us 200 euros for 7 days of unlimited travel. Following that, we walked to the temple complex. I remember that we walked there and returned by bus.

The train from Nikko and the station:

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The site is fantastic! There are all sorts of statues, including the statue of the three monkeys, one who hides his eyes, another his mouth, and the third his ears. There are other statues of dragons; of huge trees, impressive in size, colour, and width (thin and very tall); of course the temples too; with a big imposing staircase; and columns too.

We were permitted to enter certain temples, but not all of them. Before entering, you had to take off your shoes. The silence is deafening but you don't get the feeling you're in a church. Churches can tend to give a sentiment of spirituality but also of coldness and rigour. Buddhist temples, however, Shintoist from Japan themselves, impose these same sentiments but in a much more gentle way. It's difficult to explain. It could be due to the fact that the Japanese are very superstitious.

At Nikko, we tried the local beer, the Nikko Beer. I unfortunately can't really remember how it tasted, but I remember it reminded me of a Belgian beer. But I have kept the label!

Then we planned to take a bus and then a cable car to go to the peak of the city. But we didn't take into account that we weren't able to read the timetable!

I had it beneath my eyes and it's true that it isn't easy to read.... Otherwise we hadn't had too much difficulty with the public transport because a lot is written in English. Anyway we only rarely made mistakes with the underground or the train. But this bus in particular taught us a lesson! In the end, we arrived at the peak of Nikko very late. And alas, the cable car was closed because it was hazy. At the top, there was a large lake which we took photos of. Then it started to rain lightly so we took shelter under the awnings of some local dwellings.

A few minutes later, a real storm began! That was the moment to make a few funny videos, pretending that we were being carried away by the storm, but as it turned out we believed momentarily that we were really being blown away, the wind was that strong. We hid under the roofs, the shops were closed, and so were the bars, we tried to seek shelter anywhere!

In the end we ran to the hotel where we had planned to rest in an onsen. An onsen is the equivalent of a bath/spa. Firstly we paid the entrance of one thousand yen and we received a white bath towel. Then we were separated from the guys, there were two onsens, one for women and one for men. Sometimes there are also mixed onsens. Then we got changed in the changing room. Anyway, it would be better to say undressed because you have to go nude in the onsens. Then we arrived in the room which I really want to talk about. On the edges, there are taps with hot and cold water (there's a little thermostat with which you can regulate the temperature) with a central pool, which was quite small (I would say it was about the equivalent of four large baths opposite a patio door which looked out at the nature outdoors and at... the famous storm. It was quite strange to have such a relaxing atmosphere inside and seeing the storm on the outside, the wind, the rain and the cold ravaging on the outside. The walls are made of wood and of certain types of bamboo. They are natural, beautiful and refined materials.

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The bath was burning. I had a hard time to stay there for more than 5-10 minutes. My skin was completely red. It's pleasant to have the small towel, in the beginning it served to hide us as, being reserved Westerners, we were a little bit embarrassed with my friend. But then we came out of our timidity, and people used their towels to wash themselves and to hold back their hair. Very hot, we made the mistake of putting our heads under in the cold water. It was very calm and relaxing, however I personally get bored very quickly in such relaxing places. After an hour I left.

Then we took a bus to return to the station and took the train back to Tokyo. Needless to say that we were exhausted and we all shut our eyes on the public transport. Just like the Japanese at the end of the day, because they all sleep on the public transport!

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