+==== Afternoon: travel to Nikko ====
+
+Nikko is in an adjacent valley east of Nagano on the Japanese alps. Unfortunately, no train lines
+and busses connect them directly, so we had to take an expensive -- yet very fast -- Shinkansen
+detour all the way down to Saitama and then up again.
+
+Once at the station, we immediately realized it was a good deal, after all.
+This mountain town overflows with temples, world heritage sites and statues of Buddah
+spread in an extremely beautiful natural environment with many great falls, ancient woods
+and hot springs where even wild monkeys take an onsen.
+
+Our [[http://www.nikkoparklodge.com/|hostel]] is ran by Zen monks and serves an unforgettable
+vegan dinner with seit. In the evening, we exchanged excited stories with a family of Italian tourists from Milan who had
+chosen to travel by car rather than by train to save money and gather access to places unreachable
+by public transport. Quite a smart idea for groups of 3-4 people who aren't afraid of driving
+on the left.
+
+Surprisingly, one of the monks speaks perfect English. He told us that he lived in California
+for some time. An explanation worthy of the plot of a very bad 007 movie, where locals
+always happen to speak English somehow, saving James from the embarrassing need of resorting
+to silly gestures in order to get his stupid Vodka Martini the way he likes it.
+
+Tomorrow, of course after our morning yoga and vegan breakfast, we're going on a day long
+guided hiking tour with the monks, which sounds really cool.
+
+