Japan Pilgrimage I Day 6 - Guest Blogged by 浪迹天涯小狗

At Lake Chuzenji

Firstly, Happy Birthday Mistress!

Breaking records. We woke up today at 5.10am. N the sky is STILL dark. Yay!

We checked out of House of Ikebukuro and travelled, luggage and all, to New Izu Hotel at Ueno. This trip is totally unnecessary if House of Ikebukuro could let us extend one more nite, but too bad, they're full.

Took a while to locate the hotel and do the check-ins. It's actually ok for 2 people but they forced the 3rd bed in, thats y it looks a bit cramped.

So after the early morning "workout", we took the Shinkansen to 宇都宮, where we changed to the Nikko Internal Line. The whole trip tooked abt 2 hours before we reached Nikko Station.


Outside Nikko Station

Bcos we did not do much research beforehand, we were surprised that Nikko is actually located in a mountainous area, which means... COLD!! N guess wat? Mistress went clad only in her Esprit jacket which doesnt trap heat at all. Luckily she still had her scarf in her bag, which she use to wrap it ard her neck and stuff the rest inside her jacket. Better than none.


We're 533m above sea level.

The main attraction that brought us to Nikko was the 1,000 Samurai Autumn Procession (Togyosai). So we took the town bus to Toshogu (東照宮), where the parade was being held. Mistook the time of the procession to be 10am so we were an hour early.


Shinkyo (神橋). Outside Toshogu.


Gushing River






Under Renovation [=.="]

Mistress initially had quite a good location at the Kuromon, althou unable to see the full stretch of road but at least wasnt blocked by heads or caps. She shifted to the end of the road where the media gathers but was too short to take pictures properly.


I spied the participants getting ready.


The long stretch of road.




















Joining the crowd.


Ishidorii.

Oh, I just realised this is the Ishidorii! One of the only 3 stone made torii. And I believe we did climb the 1,000 steps (Sennin-masugata). Wow, we did these without knowing wat we did..


Five Storied Pagoda


Probably a must-take photo. Saw many of the same view ard the web also.


The roofs are actually gold in color. Real gold or not, not sure. Cant find the name of this architecture.


"Cosplayers" taking a break.






The participants of the parade.

After lunch near the Sannai area, we took the bus to Kegon Falls at Chuzenji.


Autumn Colors.


Kegon Falls



This elevator was built in 1930 and descends 100 stories in a min.


A lot of mist



Walked back to the bus station to Lake Chuzenji, which is at the other side.




Abt 3 in the afternoon. Sun's glaring, but not setting.



Took the bus down to Nikko station and all the way back to Tokyo after all these beautiful sceneries.


Bus Fare System


Shinkansen


Mistress's bday cake (The one with the candle, thou she's not dat much into cakes).

The candle is amazing. It DOESNT DRIP WAX ON UR CAKE! Damn cool.

Ok now for a tour of the hotel that we'll only be staying one night.


Cramped toilet & shower.


Mistress's bed, taken from the added-on bed.


The added-on bed, taken from Mistress's bed.

That's how small it is, cos there's ANOTHER bed beside Mistress's bed. Blind spot.

Ok thats a long post. Sleep early, going Osaka tmr. Another day of luggage dragging.

Japan Pilgrimage I Day 7