Today on my far less eventful day in Nikko, Amanda and I rode swan boats, ate local food and spent a loooooong time on a bus.
Our original plan for the day was to ride the boats, rent kimonos and walk around the temple area, however the buses were filled with tourists and a 40 minute bus ride turned into an almost 3 hour stop and go traffic jam.
We decided to just stay in the boating area instead of taking the bus again, and we travelled around a small area with a bunch of souvenir shops and restaurants. By the time we hopped off the bus we were starving, so we headed to a local shop and I got some more yuba ramen. I have to say, I'm becoming a huge yuba fanatic.
After we ate, we got some matcha ice cream from a shop around the corner, and headed to the place where the boats were docked. There was an incredible view of the mountains from the pier.
You can see the swan boats in the distance. We rented one for 30 minutes, and it cost us about $30 for the two of us together. Honestly, I felt it was super overpriced and because their were so many tourists the guy who ran the boats really didn't care and just tried to assembly line people on and off as soon as he could. Even so, we took some cute photos on the water.
The funniest part of the boat ride was when a little girl saw us going faster than her and her dad. She immediately told him to speed up so she could pass us, but I heard this and started pedaling faster. She was absolutely HOWLING at this point, and it was clear we entered some sort of swan race. Her parents found this whole thing super funny, and we ended up leaving her in the dust.
We finished the boat ride around 4:30, and took the bus back to the train station. This bus also took a reasonable amount of time, so while we waited for our hostel owner to come pick us up, we ate some dinner and got some local street food: fried yuba with red bean inside. I wish I took a photo, but it was so delicious I ate 3 of them within the first minute I got them.
We are planning to do kimonos tomorrow, so stay tuned for that pic heavy post!
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