Day 13, Chusen-ji

Nikko itself lies at about 600 meter above sea level (at home, I live around -2 meters, by the way). Within the Nikko National Park lies the Chusen-ji Lake, at an altitude of roughly 1300 meter. The perimeter of the lake is 24 kilometer, and it is 170 meter at its deepest point. It is surrounded by even higher mountains that are forested, and around this time of year display beautiful autumn colors. From the lake, a stunning waterfall thunders down 50 meters. The lake itself is very clear and it is only a 45 minute bus ride from Nikko.

So that’s where I’ve been today. There was only one tiny problem: the clouds already started at 1200 meters. So with a maximum view distance of about 20 to 30 meters (depending on whether an extra thick piece of cloud drifted by), I have only heard the waterfall (but still got a photo), and I have only seen the autumn colors from the bus on the way to and from the lake. Furthermore, it was cold, humid and nasty weather. I did visit a shrine (see last photo), but the trip to the lake could be called quite a disappointment.

I have spent the rest of the day buying and writing postcards. Sending them from Japan is not very expensive, 70 Yen (about 50 eurocent) per card to anywhere in the world. For dinner, I tried out a funky home-atmosphere restaurant. It was very small, and you had to share a table with other people (three Taiwanese tourists, in my case), but the food was good. I think it was called the Hippari Dako and it was close to the Korean I had been to two days ago. When I left, I got a little gift. You get these a lot, by the way, also at some of the hotels. Of course, I also bring my own gifts, so check-out often turns into a little gift exchange.