Nikko

Hi all!

I’m finally down to my last post from my Japan trip in Mar/Apr. My last full day in Japan was spent at Nikko. If you do not have a JR pass, you can get a day pass from the tourist information centre located right outside Asakusa station. However, my JR pass did cover the JR ride down to JR Nikko, so I bought the chuzenjiko onsen pass (2000 yen) from the local Nikko train station (right beside the JR station) instead. This made it cheaper and I could enjoy unlimited bus rides to/fro to the places I wanted to visit. Side track, my first and only picture with the Shinkansen, just for memory sake 🙂

I actually dropped off at the wrong stop and ended up at taking the ropeway (600 yen/adult) to a viewing platform. It is actually quite pretty to see the water flowing from Lake Chuzenji to form the Kegon waterfall. This was not in my initial plan because it was slightly pricey and my money was stretching slightly thin by then. But as I mentioned, I blindly followed the majority of locals who got off the bus, wrongly assuming it would lead to the observation deck to see the waterfall up close. It turned out to be an unorthodox hiking point of sorts for the locals as they started climbing up an unmarked path with warnings of bears into the forest. I was slightly befuddled and lost at this point and headed back down to the carpark to await for the bus. Spent some time looking at the bus stops led me to realise I got off 1 stop early. Silly me!

Finally at the correct place! The elevator ride (return) costs 550 yen and it gives you the opportunity to witness the falls up close. In my opinion, this is truly the best way to enjoy and capture the beauty of the falls.

Had suiton (vegetarian dumpling soup) at this store below – located right outside the Kegon falls elevator. It totally hit the spot in this cold weather. Topped it up with a yuba croquette (fried tofu skin) and a cup of amazake.

From here, headed down to Toshogu shrine (1380 yen/adult) which I was hesitant to visit because of mixed reviews about how overrated it was. But I genuinely enjoyed my time here even though part of the main shrine building was under construction.

The “hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil” monkeys are located here and they are honestly quite small (though not the smallest of the iconic wood carvings).

Right opposite the monkeys are the Sonozono elephants.

The tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The super small wood carving of the sleeping cat (nemurineko) of the Sakashitamon gate that leads to a flight of stairs to the tomb. 

Beautiful paintings of the dragon on the ceiling.

Aside from that, there’s the Honjido hall that house the “crying dragon”. This is due to the acoustics of the ceiling (where a dragon is painted). Only when one stands under the dragon’s head, can a ringing sound be heard when 2 blocks of wood are clapped together. This is performed by a priest and it is pretty cool to witness it. Unfortunately, no photography/videography was allowed in the hall.

Ended the day by popping by Shinkyo bridge which was located in the middle of the road. You can pay a fee to get on the bridge, but I think it is best seen at a distance (and free). Nikko can be fairly expensive to visit as a day trip, but it was worth it. Till the next post, bye!

Taipei

Hi all!

After Tainan, we headed to Taipei, where I had my first visit to Shifen – a very delayed visit, given the number of times I’ve been to Taiwan. It’s quite far out and if you wish to visit Jiufen and Shifen at the same time, I would highly advise you to start your day early. 

We were fortunate enough to witness the train travelling along the tracks where we would release the lanterns. It’s so interesting how everyone starts shouting “train is coming” and there’s this scramble to get out of the way and whip out our cameras/phones to capture this interesting event.

 

Shifen waterfall is pretty small, but the walk up there from the train station is beautiful. We had lunch at a restaurant on our way up and this friendly auntie serves delicious and affordable home cook dishes that warmed our souls.

 

Literally translated into black mountain pork sausage (黑山猪香肠) – don’t forget to have it with the raw garlic they provide on the side. The garlic cuts through the grease and makes each bite crunchy, flavourful and refreshing.

The next day was a visit to Taipei Zoo, which was pretty warm before we headed down to Shenkeng Old Street. The old street had changed so much that it’s no longer worth the effort to go there.

We also made our way down to Yangmingshan (阳明山) – albeit pretty late so we couldn’t visit the calla lily farms at zhu zi hu (竹子湖). Instead we headed to xiao you keng (小油坑), qing tian gang (擎天岗) and leng shui keng (冷水坑).

Xiao you keng is the foot of the volcanic Mt. Qixing. If time permits, I would have love to hike up to the peak. But alas, we walked about the area until the next bus comes to brings us to qing tian gang.

Qing tiang gang is a lava terrace that has a flat terrain. There are quite a number of stray dogs when you first walk towards the grassland. There are also a few cows and their huge poop along the pathway so be careful on where you step. From here, we “hike” down towards leng shui keng – a hot springs area. But it was near 5 pm, so we had to hurry to catch the last few buses out of the mountain. Plus, bus timings towards the end of the day become less frequent and erratic due to mountain weather. So, it’s best to have some leeway when planning your departure from the area.

Till the next post, bye!