Nikko, Japan

Today was interesting and unexpected to say the least. I was out the door before 6 am to catch a 6:20 am train to Nikko, Japan, a 90-minute train ride north of Tokyo. The train ride there and back is the highlight of my trip. Watching the landscape change from high-rise buildings, electrical towers, and concrete to luscious green mountains and rice fields is something to experience. I left from Askuska, the last major station in NE Tokyo, and it took over a half hour just to notice a difference between urban and more rural life. There is less concrete, more greenery and foliage, and development is less compact. A HALF-HOUR traveling on a fast train heading north from a major station in NE Tokyo. Words do not and will never accurately describe how expansive the city truly is.

Because this is now the second time I'm typing everything, long story short, somehow I ended up an hour away from where I should have initially started taking pictures. Ok, so I do know how. After arriving in Nikko and trying understand the Japanese bus schedule, I hopped on what I thought was the correct bus line. I'm pretty positive they all go where I wanted, but it's how far you want to go that differentiates them, much like any other bus system. I committed an expensive mistake. What should have cost me 130 yen was actually a 1,350 yen bus ride! That's about $15! And let me add that I was in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere!! Well, there was a campground and small store that sold ice cream, but I was stranded. I was up on a mountain and there was no pathway to walk alongside the road. I walked into the store, said my hello, laid my map on the table, and threw up my hands to signal I had no idea where I was. The kid working grabbed a woman from the kitchen, and she spoke and understood English. She was extremely helpful and told me I had to wait about 45 minute until a return bus would arrive. I sat down to ponder how this could have happen.

I sat there reflecting. Got it! It made sense now. I was the only non-Asian person on the bus, everyone was at least 30 years older than me, and they wore hiking attire. These weren't tourists. They were hikers!! To pass the time, I meandered to a hiking trail and did some quasi hiking in my razorback top, cotton skirt, and across the shoulder purse. I'm sure I amused the hikers I passed along the trail; I fit in.

Now, I'm back on the bus--charter bus-- and we begin our descent down the mountain. The animated voices comes over the speakers, "Please secure your seat belt. Make sure all items are securely situated. Items tend to shift as the bus sways back and forth." Imagine a charter bus weaving back and forth sharply around cones. This is exactly what we we would have appeared to be doing. As soon as we cleared one corner we were heading straight for another one. The bus driver would get as close as possible to the guard rail so the back-end of the bus would clear the turn. I swear it was a game to see how close he could get to the guardrail without scraping against it. I could tell quite a few other drivers had been unsuccessful at missing it. This continued from 1,100m above sea level until we were back at the base, and I was at the stop where I should have gotten off.

Shrines and temples. Temples and shrines. I thought the most beautiful one was partially due to its location . Climbing several steep sections of stairways, once you're at the top you can overlook the garden area and other smaller buildings below. This is when my camera died, and I do not have a picture unfortunately. Awesome!

Buying my ticket with 5 minutes left to spare before its departure, the cars were pretty full and I sat next to an older man, and across from us was who I thought either his daughter or extremely young wife. Though she was wearing a wedding band, he was not, and they were friends visiting a spa in Nikko. Hmmm. But anyways. As I was getting my iPod out of my purse, I noticed a chocolate chip had escaped from my bag of trail mix and melted in my purse. I dampened a couple tissues I brought with me and began wiping everything down. The gentleman took a bag down from the shelf above us, took something out, and proceeded to offer it to me. It was a damp cloth....wet toilette? I wasn't expecting this generous act. I thank him and continued cleaning the chocolate. Afterwards, he asked where I was from and we proceeded to converse for an hour! Though the three of us exchanged names, I can't remember, nor would I know how to spell them. He spoke little English, but enough to understand what I was saying, and he would translate for his companion. She did ask me if we grow potatoes in Iowa. Is the Idaho/corn and Iowa/potatoes an international joke I didn't know about! We had a good laugh over this. They also helped me with my Japanese. I took out my LP book, which has English and Japanese translations, and went through the very basics, such as introductions, numbers, etiquette terminology, and questions. I loved the amount of eagerness to learn more about me as I did them. This is why I love traveling in general. I enjoy getting to know other people. Where do they live? What do they do? What brings us together at that specific moment?

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After the train ride, I went back to Askuska to purchase one last gift and ate sushi at a different sushi bar than the other two. It was cheaper sushi and you got what you paid for. I had a few plates before deciding I was full enough to be done and went back to Ueno.

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My flight leaves around 3:30 pm and I can't wait to share this trip with my family! There's so much more to write about... fashion, food, camaraderie, bathrooms, recycling.....I'm hopefully going to include an FYI post to highlight the lifestyle.