Edit page blog/2009/April

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 === April 27th ===
 
-==== Zenko-ji ====
+==== Morning: Zenko-ji ====
 
-In the morning, we went back to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji]]
+In the morning, we tried again to visit the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji]].
+Even on a Monday, the queue was not much shorter.  A nice volunteer guide advised us that
+the pilgrims where queuing just to touch a wooden pole with an inscription on it that was
+right in front of the temple, and we could skip aside if we weren't interested.  So we did.
+
+We still had to queue for half an hour inside the temple to reach the secret chamber where
+we would get the rare opportunity to see the hidden Buddha, visible only once every seven
+years.  Quite a lucky combination!  I was impressed by the devotion of the people around me.
+The spiritual side of Japanese people does not seem to clash at all with their high-tech lifestyle.
+
+TODO: dark corridor
+
+I only have outdoors [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nagano/Zenko-ji|photos]] becuase taking
+pictures inside was strictly forbidden.  A monk yelled at me just for fiddling too much with
+my camera, which was quite surprising, considering how tolerant Japanese people usually are
+towards our ignorance of their culture.
+
+
+==== 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 that our was a good investment, 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 a wonderful vegan dinner.
+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.  Not a bad idea if you're not afraid of driving on the left.
 
 
 === April 26th: Matsumoto again ===