flameraven | Like Tourists on Vacation (Reply)

So, today dawned cool and clear. We could actually see the mountains in the distance, which never happens. Generally they're covered up by the haze. The forecast didn't look too bad, either: about a 30% chance of rain, which was low enough that I felt pretty safe leaving my umbrella behind. My feet were still rather sore, but nowhere near where they'd been the night before. In general, I was feeling pretty good.

We met again at Hakuoh at nine, and again got on the bus. Today's trip was to Nikko, and we had a smaller group; most of the Hakuoh students stayed behind, and Keleih and Brian had their jobs, so it was just me, Chris, the eight Hawaiian girls, and some of their host sisters. I was glad to be going back to Nikko, especially on such a promising day.

Well, of course it didn't turn out to be nearly as exciting as that, but at least it wasn't near the misery that was Sunday, either. The thing was, we took the bus to Nikko, which took a good two hours or more, including various breaks. The train only takes an hour, though. So why we took the bus, I'm still not sure. In any case, we didn't get to Nikko until almost twelve, and then we stopped and had lunch. It was a good lunch, but by the time we got to the actual shrines, it was around one, and there was a flood of elementary school students there on a field trip. There also seemed to be a lot more tourists there than when Keleih and I visited-- maybe because it's officially summer now, I'm not sure.

In any case there were swarms of people, and because we were with the group, we skipped right to the most famous temple (Toshogu) instead of meandering around. Here things got wobbly once again; Usui-san said we'd go to Toshogu, stop and get a brief history lesson, and then we'd be free to wander the grounds until meeting up again. What actually happened was that we followed Usui to the temple, and then everybody scattered and got lost in the crowds. This meant that nobody was sure what we were supposed to be doing. Was it okay for us to go look at the other temples? Should we stick around and try to find the group? Who knew?

Did I mention also that it was raining by the time we got to Nikko? It was. It seems that after a week and a half of unseasonably nice weather, the rainy season was determined to finally catch up with us; in Oyama and Utsunomiya it didn't rain at all, but in Nikko, it rained all day. Not the pouring rain of yesterday, thankfully, but it was definitely a steady drizzle.

I didn't actually mind the rain too much-- the rushing water and the wet smell of the cedar forests was actually pretty nice, and it was cool to get a different view of the place than I did last time. The crowds were a bigger problem. With little children flocking and posing for pictures everywhere, I couldn't get in many good shots of my own. The crowds also made it harder to simply wander around and enjoy the temples, and with the general confusion surrounding our schedule I didn't want to wander too far. So the situation was still a little rushed, but with a school trip that seems to be inevitable, and at least Usui-san wasn't freaking out about the time like Miller was.

After a stop in the overpriced tourist shop (where I picked up some little kimono charms to give as gifts), we got back on the bus again. I think originally we were going to head to Utsunomiya, but, maybe because I'd mentioned it earlier, we actually went up the mountain to see the waterfall instead. Usui warned us that it was a really curvy road, but even I didn't believe it until we started going up the curves... we'll just say I learned why the Japan guide book we have suggests you take a taxi instead. Buses are really not meant to go up hairpin curves like that.

About halfway up the mountain, it started raining again, and we basically ended up driving through a cloud. Everything was hidden in a thick fog, although a few people managed to glimpse some of the mountain monkeys along the road. I was more interested in the quick look I got at Lake Chuzonji, not far from the waterfall.

Our stop at the top was brief, a little less than a half an hour. But I went and saw the waterfall anyway. The fog was incredibly thick, so the waterfall looked mostly like a patch of brighter white within grey, but it was there. Even more interesting was the trees and the tops of the mountain, which you could just see now and then, faintly outlined in the mist. If you've ever seen the old Chinese or Japanese ink paintings with mountains barely drawn above the clouds, this looked exactly like that. It was amazing. Honestly, I was pretty happy just running around taking pictures in the fog. Then it started raining rather harder, and I had to go take shelter in the gift shops.

(the waterfall)

(more fog pictures)

The trip back down the mountain was slightly better than the trip up, and I actually dozed through most of it after my DS died. Woke up in time to get snacks at the rest stop, and then we continued on. The trip both ways was a lot more subdued today, actually; I think everyone was tired. I know I was. But my feet at least had basically stopped hurting (probably because today I wore proper shoes instead of sandals), so that was a plus.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the weekend; it was good to get out of the city, and it was great to talk to the Hawaiian students. They all seem like really cool people, and I'm actually a little disappointed that I only got to really talk to a few of them-- mostly Maddie, Katrina, and April. I learned any number of things about Hawaii, and I'm definitely going to have to go there in the future. I am upset that we only got very brief glimpses of each place; everywhere we went (with the exception maybe of Harajuku) was really interesting, but we weren't able to give it proper attention or really explore, and that's unfortunate.