Nikko

Nikko rocks. This place is fabulous. Surrounded by hills and cascading water, it is a cutesy little tourist town perched beside the world heritage area for which it is famed, packed with shrines and temples. I spent the morning taking in many of these, then walked to Gamman-Ga-Fuchi abyss where a hundred or more jizu statues line a path through the wood beside a fabulous creek full of gushing rapids and more clear, cold-looking water. Back in town I stopped at a lovely, tiny cafe for some excellent yaki-udon (and shared a table with two french ladies who carefully unwrapped bundles from their handbags to produce their own knives and forks!). If you're ever in Nikko, I can't recommend this place enough - it's called Hippari Dako and everything everyone was eating looked and smelled as good as mine. And the sweet little lady who served me put on a very good show of being delighted with my attempts at Japanese, e.g. that was delicious... the bill please. Well, at least I tried!
This afternoon I took a bus up to Chuzenji-ko where I visited the impressive waterfall, Kegon-no-taki. As well as enjoying the stunning views from the top of the falls, I took the lift to the bottom. An elevator shaft has been bored 100m down through the rock and on stepping out at the bottom I found myself in a decidedly chilly tunnel - the waterfall obviously makes a very good air-conditioner. Along the tunnel, down a couple of flights of steps, and suddenly there you are enjoying a misty spray of water surrounded by the thunder of the falls. Back at the top, I had a stroll by the lake and a very good ice-cream before catching a bus back down the perilous pass to Nikko. The bus ride had fabulous views, hairpin bends numbered up to forty-something (about 25 of them on the down route) and was the sort of journey that had me very glad to be, for once, in a country where driving seems to depend more on care, skill and mechanically sound vehicles than a faith in god and a willingness to meet him sooner rather than later.
The scenery in this area is stunningly beautiful. Getting around on buses is easy peasy with a 'free pass' (nothing free about it, but it gives unlimited travel) and buses with electronic displays in English as well as Japanese telling you which stop is next. I got back to town with a definite spring in my step, stocked up on hiking supplies for tomorrow and managed to get a mountain of food for my dinner by pointing at a picture menu. Spurred on by my lunchtime success, I decided to try another Japanese phrase. However, my attempt to say, 'I'd like this please,' added a degree of confusion to what had been a straightforward transaction - I had to sign-language 'forget that' and settle for a basic point and smile.