Edit page blog/2009/April

[wiki.git] / blog / 2009 / April

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@@ -2,6 +2,32 @@
 
 === April 27th ===
 
+==== 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 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 -- after our morning yoga and vegan breakfast, of course -- we're going on a day long
+guided hiking tour with the monks, which sounds really cool.
+
+
 ==== Morning: Zenko-ji ====
 
 In the morning, we tried again to visit the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji]].
@@ -22,23 +48,6 @@ my camera, which was quite surprising, considering how tolerant Japanese people
 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 ===
 
 ==== Back to Matsumoto ====