3 days in Nikko - no, make it 2.5 days as we had to leave after luncthtime, was just too short to enjoy whatever this charming place has to offer. It was like we were served with a very enticing Paella but were given 3 minutes to finish everything off… taking away the delight of savoring the saffron’s aroma and delicately peeling off each clam’s, oyster’s and shrimp’s shells .
On short trips like this, we are just bound to become more of a tourist than a traveller. Not that I’d be snotty and claim I prefer one over the other. Au contraire, I always intend to be a balance of both.
A tourist, as they say, goes around with a guide book at hand and visits spots that a country, city or province is most famous for… say, eiffel tower for paris or the pyramids for egypt. They most likely spend their time having their photos taken on the “must-sees” and might forget that there’s so much more a place can offer. A traveller, however, breathes in the experience of being truly in wherever he or she is visiting -culture, tradition, language and all that jazz. A traveller wants to remember the trip for whatever experience gained and not through postcard souvenirs. As for myself, I both want the experience and pictures. 
Bin and I know, in the years we’re here in Japan, we have seen enough of shrines and temples. They have all long been looking like the same to us. But because Nikko is home to World Heritage infrastructures, they are then promoted to must-sees. To compromise, we moved our visit to Toshogu shrine on the last day – should we wake up later than planned, we can sort of skim through it. And skim it, we did. hehehe
We woke up a little late than planned, as usual, on the 3rd day to pack our bags. They were expectedly lighter as we already consumed our generous supply of food. After taking a long bath (sulitin ang bayad hehe) and settling our payments, we left the ryoukan and went our way to Nikko eki to leave our porma-bags in lockers. We then rode a bus marked with “World Heritage” without knowing where exactly is the shrine. We just played by ear and luckily got off at the right station.
There were sooo many people going to the shrine. It reminded me of my semana santa trips to grotto when I was kid, where you would see ”pilgrims” quietly walking up the hill to pay respect to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes. Some parts of the temple were under construction so we just took a few shots and went our way.
This trip culminated our lakwatsa days in Japan for the year 2007. Bin and I were never hooked on ski trips, so by December we decided to save whatever we had and prepare for the much awaited return to Philippines.
