Japan Day 16: Nikko, Yuba, Chieko's for Diner

We had a leisurely start to the day despite having to wake up for 8am breakfast downstairs in the hotel.  The hotel served a traditional japanese breakfast mostly consisting of a big piece of salmon with rice and other small stuff.  It was probably the biggest breakfast we'd had on the trip since we were used to having a piece of pastry on the go.

that building is the ryoken

After breakfast we got ready and checked out of the ryoken and headed back to the main city of Nikko.  Nikko is a small town known for its beautiful natural forests and old temples.  We left our bags in a coin locker at the train station and took a bus to the temple area.

There are a handful of different temple areas all within walking distance, and each requires a fee to get in.  They are expensive if you go into each and pay separately so you can buy a "combo pass" that lets you get into almost everywhere for only 1000 yen (~$12).  We opted for this route and started checking out the temples.

It must have been another school field trip day because the little coloured hats were invading the space again.  It wasn't so bad in some temples, but in others it made it quite busy!  Eliza and I started to wonder if the kids in Japan actually go to class or if they just tour around the country :P

photographer grimace filling in

I didn't do any research on the area prior so I don't really know too much about the specifics of each temple so I'll let the pictures describe what it looked like:

After seeing the temples we were getting hungry and headed into the restaurant area for some Yuba, a local specialty.  Yuba is the skin on the top of the tofu when you make it.  This skin is then collected and wrapped into a tight roll and soaked in dashi (japanese soup stock base), then the roll is cut into slices like a jelly roll.  The Yuba was delicious and very soft to bite into.  It's a shame that Yuba is a very local thing so it's not easily found anywhere outside Nikko and for sure not found in Canada.

After lunch we started making our way back to the train station.  Along the way we walked past a famous bridge.  It was parked right beside a busy street intersection which took away some of it's magic.  However when you looked at it from a different view across the street, it did look quite beautiful.

Ok, back on the train for our multi-train trip ride back to Chieko's house close to Higashi-Nagasaki on the Seibu-Ikebukuro line.  Chieko wanted to stay home and eat but we insisted to take her out so we went to a great yakitori place (fried chicken on a stick).  Everything on the menu was $3 including large glasses of beer. All the chicken dishes were great and we had a really nice time with Chieko.  She is a really fun person!

After this it was back to her house where she had set up futons for us on the floor.  Eliza and I slept on the floor in her room (she slept downstairs in another room) while my parents stayed in an upstairs tatami room.