X-Git-Url: https://codewiz.org/gitweb?p=wiki.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=blog%2F2009%2FApril;h=18c5aa941acc453b274b33b4eb341711ee04c972;hp=4d8597f737e858b51e016f7fdf78f7fcd0fb1599;hb=1d23cdea40464702e7995953d4ff1dd73ce74a6c;hpb=c425c34aeb833f92351c4316dccc34dfff38fb81 diff --git a/blog/2009/April b/blog/2009/April index 4d8597f..18c5aa9 100644 --- a/blog/2009/April +++ b/blog/2009/April @@ -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, 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. + + ==== Morning: Zenko-ji ==== In the morning, we tried again to visit the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji]]. @@ -21,23 +47,7 @@ pictures inside was strictly forbidden. A monk yelled at me just for fiddling t 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. - +{{Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Nagano/Zenko-ji/00186.jpg|The sacred inscription we can't read, let alone understand|maxwidth=800}} === April 26th: Matsumoto again === @@ -68,6 +78,7 @@ with some dumb [[Pictures/vacation/japan_2009/Matsumoto/Shopping|shopping]]. In the evening, we headed to [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Nagano]], a city famous for the 1998 winter olimpics and for an ancient [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenk%C5%8D-ji|buddhist temple]]. +{{Nagano/Shimizuya_Ryokan/00053.jpg|All sorts of accommodations come with good wi-fi, including traditional ryokans|maxwidth=800}} **UPDATE**: the report for [[blog/2009/April#kyoto-higashiyama|April 21st]] is now available!