shikisai ryokan room

wife booked shikisai ryokan 12-14oct2016.

nice ryokan. room was big. n0t much view, and matters not whether lakeview or mountain view, since it was a short distance upon the slope & everywhere blocked by trees.

shikisai quite a popular ryokan. this period fully booked. there is a bus stop outside named shikisai & there is big signage at the lake chuzenji stop directing traffic at the road T junction turning left towards lake chizenji.

shikisai lobby – checking in

shikisai picked us up at tobu nikko station.

there is free coffee, tea & water at the lobby area.

view from shikisai lobby

the lobby had glass all round.

view from shikisai lobby

looking at the trees outside.

unfortunately autumn came late this year, so not yet seeing the koyo colours & momiji.

view from shikisai ryokan room

same for view from the ryokan room.

shikisai ryokan room

mochi green tea @ shikisai ryokan room

there was the standard welcome tea at the ryokan room, with a nice mochi & plum sweet & green/red tea we make ourselves.

service was very poor for this price of ryokan!

in many ryokan of this price range or lower, the service staff bringing us to the room would make the tea ready for us, and several even provided macha抹茶 instead of just cheap green tea in bags.

on the next night 13.10.2016, we had to move to a different room as ryokan was fully booked & we could only get a substantially more expensive room with an outdoor jacuzzi (a completely waste of time & money!). i asked the service staff if he wanted to show us how to use the outdoor jacuzzi, he basically just waived me off. we didn’t bother as the jacuzzi looked miserable & useless.

shikisai dining hall – dinner

shikisai has a nice dining hall at the basement near to the onsen.

shikisai dining hall – breakfast

looked even better in the morning for breakfast dining.

shikisai ryokan room

as is the practice for ryokan, they will make the bed for you when you have dinner. nice & warm. 🙂

& they will keep them for you while you having breakfast.

one comment on the onsen. couldn’t/didn’t bring phone to take pictures, but the onsen at shikisai really poor by japanese standards for this price of ryokan – plain, rundown, no rock deco etc. many ryokan onsen are just beautiful!

they do have sulphur or natural occurring onsen. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

kanman abyss + nikko historical walk

we were hoping to catch the autumn colours koyo (red leaves) & see momiji (maple leaves) on this hiking trip at nikko 12-17.10.2016. ^^

our ANA flight arrived early at haneda (6.05am instead of 6.30am). we travelled very light, just a haversack for me & cabin bag for wife, no checked in luggage, so we were out at arrivals at 6.30am. 🙂

we took the direct keikyu train from haneda to asakusa in 40mins at 620yen which we researched earlier.

from asakusa, it was another direct train to nikko.

we were spending 4nights 5days at nikko so not fully covered by the all nikko pass. at the tobu asakusa station information counter, we were advised to purchase the all nikko pass for 4520yen in any case + buy the onward one way ticket by rapid trains 1360yen. it was good advise! 🙂

we took the 8.10am rapid & arrived tobu nikko station at 10.19am on 12.10.2016, train timetable here. ^^

taking from tobu asakusa station end station was ok, but the rapid train filled up quickly so some had to stand the whole 2 hrs journey.

farmlands

country blue sky 

train took us through the country side.

tobu nikko station 

arriving at tobu nikko station, we left our bags at the station lockers (cost 700yen).

shinkyo神桥 in nikko 

and took the tobu bus to shinkyo神桥 costing 200yen.

kanmangafuchi abyss 

& started our walks to the kanmangafuchi abyss & the toshogu shrine heritage sites historic walking tour.

jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽

jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽

first came to the jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽.

jizo (buddhist guardian deity) at jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽 

saw the jizo (buddhist guardian deity) at jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽.

jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽 

jizo (buddhist guardian deity) 

more jizo (buddhist guardian deity) at jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽.

bonsho temple bell-1450, oldest in nikko  

bonsho temple bell-1450, oldest in nikko, at jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽.

jokoji temple 浄光寺 閼伽  

nice small temple.

kanman path 

a pleasant stroll along kanman path.

jizo along kanman path

kanman path 

more jizo (buddhist guardian deity)along kanman path.

kanman abyss

kanmangafuchi formed by lava eruption of mt nantai

kanmangafuchi formed by lava eruption of mt nantai

kanmangafuchi formed by lava eruption of mt nantai

kanmangafuchi formed by lava eruption of mt nantai 

the kanman abyss was formed by lava eruption of mt nantai.

kanman path

nice walking walk along kanman path.

daiya river 

alongside the daiya river.

rinnoji轮王寺 

after kanman, we proceeded with the historic walk.

first the rinnoji轮王寺.

not so much to see, as the place is likely permanently under restoration.

towards toshogu shrine东照宫 

walking towards toshogu shrine东照宫.

torii gate @ toshogu shrine东照宫 

torii gate @ toshogu shrine东照宫 at the entrance.

pagoda toshogu shrine

pagoda toshogu shrine

pagoda toshogu shrine 

& 5 storey pagoda.

nikko-futarasan 

towards futarasan 

walking from toshogu shrine东照宫 to nikko-futarasan

sake drums futarasan 

sake drums.

according to endomondo (top photo), we walked 6km in 2hrs, with all the stops & photo taking. 🙂

crispy red bean dessert 

we were back to tobu nikko station just past 2pm.

our ryokan, shikisai, was fetching us from the station at 2.40pm (checking in time is 3pm), so we picked up our luggage, and walked around the shops a bit.

took the popular, very nice, crispy, fluffy red bean dessert. very nice, warm & shiok!

quite similar to the one i took at takao san. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy