Nikko
I got my rail pass and hopped on the next shinkansen (high speed train) out of Tokyo. Very nice train, inside and out. I was only on it for 45 minutes before I had to get off to change to a local train for Nikko but it was going pretty fast once it got out of Tokyo. I need to look up the train speeds here, it’s confusing because they have 8 or so different high speed trains all with different names.
Arrived in Nikko, found my hostel and it was off to see the temples, which is what everyone (including me) comes here for. To get from todays Nikko to the temples you cross the river, next to and parallel with a cool old red wooden bridge, then walk up stone stairs through a cedar forest which actually surrounds most of the temples. 
The setting for these temples is really cool, in amongst these really old and big cedar trees, moss growing on everything with stone walkways everywhere. I now see why they tell you to bring slip on shoes when you come to Japan, after taking my shoes off before entering every temple, tying your shoes gets old. Especially since you aren’t in the temples for long at all, they don’t allow photography inside and usually most of the temple is off limits to tourists, you just walk in the entrance and see the main area with the buddhas etc. 
So I covered the “temple loop” through the forests, love the atmosphere of the old forest with ancient temples poking out of it… Apparently this is one of Japans top destinations, and there were a fair few tourists here, but nothing compared to major european destinations I’ve been to. Very few of them here are speaking english, the ones who aren’t asian are speaking other european languages, french and german seem to be most common.
Another note to add, so far I’m easily fitting within my $100USD a day budget, and that includes the cost of my rail pass. A light meal costs under $10, and when I’ve had larger meals the highest I’ve paid was $18, which is similar to the US and there’s no tipping here. The sake’s not even expensive! The rail pass I bought cost me $420 for unlimited train travel, including all their bullet trains, for 2 weeks and that’s a good deal, so in general the “you can’t afford Japan” mindset is wrong as far as I can see.
Tags: Japan, Travel
Adam
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