I woke up early this morning to catch a train to Kita-Senju where Linus and I have agreed to meet at. We’ve planned to go to Nikko National Park together to hike and do a little bit of sightseeing. According to his plan our train to Nikko leaves at 7:42. So we were meeting at Kita-Senju at 7:30.
Grave mistake. I was there at 7:30 but I was so disoriented because Linus said “I’m at the blue line limited express!” , but I couldn’t find anything blue when I alighted from my train in Kita-Senju! I see grey, orange, green, red, ANYTHING but blue.
Anyways while we were frantically chatting on FB messenger, the train pulled up at his side. Linus called me trying to get me there through the phone, but there just wasn’t any blue’s clues.
I decided to just take one direction to walk into. After some arbitrary turns, I felt a tap on my back; Linus found me instead. It was 7:49 and our train was far gone. With the next train only coming in another hour, I profusely apologized to him for being a lost duck… I thought he was going to be upset about it, but he was actually more worried that I boarded that train without him. A nice comrade he is.
So I was looking for an alternative way to get there and found out that there is another train coming at 8:12, a limited express train, one term I have not familiarized myself with. We waited at the platform where we thought the train would stop at, and at 8:09 a train pulled up. I went to check its destination, but nope it wasn’t the right train that will bring us to Nikko. Linus still insisted that we should ask someone if it was the right train, so I went to find a man in blue uniform and a peaked hat to ask him about it.
My encounter went a little like this: “Sumimase!” and pointing to the train saying “Nikko??” ; While summoning the most puzzled look I could muster. Then he pointed towards the ticketing machine and said we had to buy “Limited Express” tickets. Those tickets costed 1340 each. Then he ushered us to the train that was leaving that very minute. We got in and was wondering why we had to buy another ticket INSIDE the train station that we tapped in with the PASMO card.
It was a quick ~1 hour 47 minutes to our destination. We comfortably sat in the train munching on some snacks we brought while savoring in topics regarding arts and philosophies. When we exited the station later, our PASMO card was charged another 1385 yen.
Our arrival was ushered by vast paddy fields and ranks of green pines, and of course the many towering misty peaks in the background. Japan being geologically a volcanic island, boasts a myriad of mountain ranges complete with lustrous peaks. That is one thing beautiful about Japan. For me, being in the midst of colossal mountains and lushes of greens gave me a sense of peace, one that I could not otherwise have obtained in the concrete jungle I grew up in.
-I did not know why I didn’t take any picture when we were on the way here…
-My apologies for the image quality, Linus took this I do not know why his camera is crazy. I just have to make it smaller 😛
The first part of the hike was really steep. It was just up and up for the first hour. It was quite a sprint for me because Linus was really fast and nimble. It was a hike through a steep misty forest due to the weather. The fog in this case added an aesthetic value to the scenery because it makes it look mysterious. I entertained myself by pretending i was scaling a magical mountain through an enchanted forest.
-Us at the peak @1103m
Heres the peak! The sound of nature was very distinct in this hike. As I move closer to the peak, the cacophany of crickets and cicadas grew in a crescendo. It was nice hearing those nature sounds. They actually remind me of the night sound back in my old house in Jakarta, as I used to live just beside a less developed rural countryside. Nostalgic!
We had a little picnic break at the peak before continuing down. I took out my bag of RayMonds and chocolates. What’s a bag of RayMond you might ask? Well it’s my favorite trail snack! Basically a bag of RayMond consists of Raisins and Almonds in rough ratio of 1:2. For the raisin, you can use either red/green/sultana. For the Almond, you can have it raw or roasted. Roasted almonds are generally better as it lasts longer, but it is not as nutritious as raw almonds. The reason for the given ratio is that: I love almonds on its own but it gets bland after awhile, so the added raisin gave it the tangy sweetness. At the same time, I love raisins, but it gets too sweet and boring to eat. With RayMond, I get to counter the blandness of almond with sweetness of raisin, and also counter the boredom of raisin with the crunch of almonds!
Now back to the trail… We begun our descent, and it was almost as steep as our ascent. I was either clutching to my hiking pole or the tree roots that line the trail. The dampness of the weather also made the ground especially muddy and slippery, requiring extra effort to traverse them safely. Along the descent we found a mini stone structure that we figured was a shrine, housing a basket brimming full of coins within. I was really wondering; if this was in Indonesia, the basket would never be full. And that is not because Indonesians are not generous people… I will let you figure out why yourself! After tripping over few more roots and sliding across muddy slopes we managed to safely reach the end of the trail.
-Linus and I at the end of the trail
We found our way back to civilization and discovered that on Monday, most of the touristy places are closed. That includes eateries. So we decided to stalk some Japanese locals and see where they would go for food. In the next hour we find our rest in a Chinese restaurant that fed us with great food and superb tea.
-Our meal complete with soup and dessert
We spent the rest of the day walking around Japanese shrines and the traditional styled. The shrines are heavily commercialized, requiring an entrance fee of at least 500 yen per visitor. Thinking that I had paid about 3000 yen to come all the way here, I thought: “Why not?”. I didn’t want to miss out what Nikko has to offer and if this shrine wants me to pay for entry, there must be something good to see inside!
Boy I was never so wrong. The moment we entered the first arching gate, we saw that the very grand golden shiny inner gate that was supposed to be the highlight of the shrine… WAS UNDER RENOVATION. Unfazed, we trotted past it and found the main shrine. There was a sign prohibiting tourists from taking pictures, and then there was a tourist who was taking picture of the sign that says do not take pictures. Some people just love to watch the whole world burn.
-Under renovation…
We had to take out our heavily soiled boots to enter the shrine. Inside, we found several bronze statues of a swan holding a candle, and highly detailed realistic bronze palm bushes! Too bad I was a goodie shoed tourist, so I do not have any picture of them. One interesting thing that I saw was a golden arrow encased in a glass exhibition cabinet. While everything was in Japanese, this golden arrow had an English translation. A special artifact from ancient era it must be! So I read the translation “This is the golden dragon arrow only available in Japan. When one brings this home it gives good luck and grants wishes. Only for 500 yen each”. ONLY FOR 500 YEN EACH?!? That was the moment I realized that it is nowhere near ancient or historical. It looked like a cupid arrows by the way.
-Some nice photos from the shrines
After we were done with that shrine, we visited a few others but did not venture within since we didn’t think that they were a value to our money. The outside of the shrines were already endearing on their own, with seemingly mythical pines surrounding the sacred shrines. So we reveled in walking past them and just appreciating them from outside.
-The tallest one we saw
Apart from the shrines we also met some pretty bridges. The river below the bridges are again enchanted by the mystical fog. It gave the river an otherworldly look due to the slivers of mist clamoring over its surface; captivating.
-There were fishes in the river down below too!
On our walk back to the station to head back home, I found a street vendor selling baked sweet potato! A perfect snack after a day of hiking and sightseeing. As its golden flesh and violet skin enters my mouth, sweetness and euphoria floods into my tired nerves. Linus found a store selling “The best soft ice cream” just beside the station, and vouched for its name! He did not let me taste any though…
-Yummy~
Nikko is so rural, that the train service only comes once every hour or two. We waited an hour for our train, and took 3 hours to get back to Tokyo. Now we understood why the 1 hour 47 mins Limited Express charges an extra 1340 yen! Our trip back only costed us the 1385 yen, which we found acceptable since we were not rushing to go back home.
The train back was pretty interesting! This time we talked about unbelievable medical cases and natural phenomenons. I was telling him of a man who drove into a hollow post and had the post impale his lower jaw through the back of his neck and lived. Linus then told me of a girl who had a tumor removed from her her tongue , which now freed her lower jaw. I was saying that she must have been so overjawed to have that tumor removed! Speaking of puns, we soiled the train and we felt bad about it.
And the trip ends with us riding into the sunset.
Dashing Heights 