Mini Road Trip to Nikko

Hey guys,

I’m back with another post. Recently I’ve been busy with work (and travel). I went to Nagasaki for the first time. But let’s save that talk for later.

Rainy season in Japan is not so good. Sometimes it can be very hot and sometimes the temperature can drop. It’s really not good for your health. I also struggled with some health problem recently. My allergic reaction to the sudden climate change acts up again and I need to go to the dermatologist several times *sigh*

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Anyway. I went to Niko with my bestest friends (IDK, if that word even exist) last October. I know it was long time ago. Lemme introduce you guys to these two awesome girls

Punne and…

Yolanda!!!

Seriously, without them, I don’t know how I’m going to stay sane in Japan with all those works. <3

We went to Niko again after 2 years. And this time, Punne is our personal chauffeur.

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The journey to Niko by car supposed to be around 2-2.5 hours. But we kept passing the toll gate which we were supposed to go out and we ended up driving around the highway just to find the correct exit gate. I think it took us around 3 hours to Niko HAHAHA.

I was so happy the moment I got out from the car lol

The pros when you drive is.. you can always stop wherever you want. We went to Chuuzenji Lake and we had to pass this hairpin called いろは坂. On fall, this hairpin will be full of red and yellow autumn leaves. We stopped several times here just to take several photos (including the one taken in the middle of the road LOL)

I’m not sure if we were pretty early or quite late already for the autumn leaves. I think it was the end of October. It was long time ago and I completely forgot about it.

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Unluckily, we were not the only one who think that going by car is a good idea. The traffic to the lake was quite bad. Hahahaha. But once you arrived at the lake, the scenery is pretty.

The cons of driving is… parking lot! We went there during the weekend and of course for working people weekend is the sweet escape. And Niko, esp during that season is one of their destination. It was kinda hard to find parking spot and usually it’s not free.

Near the lake, there’s a temple and we found a free, spacious parking lot around that temple.

If I’m not mistaken, the name of the temple is Chuuzenji Temple

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Autumn is one of my fave season. I don’t really like summer because it’s really hot and humid. I don’t mind getting tanned tho, but I just can’t bear the sunlight.  Autumn temperature is the perfect temperature. And the falling leaves are pretty!

We did not get to a lot of places this time. We’ve been to Niko before and we went to pretty much the temples and famous places. So this time we just strolled around, drove around, and appreciated the beauty of the nature.

We went to Kegon Waterfall. We did not have the chance to visit this waterfall before. This waterfall is one of the famous waterfall in Niko and ranked as one of the most beautiful waterfall in Japan.

The waterfall is around 100-m height. You can see it from the top, or you can go to the base. However, the base observatory platform require additional fee.

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There’s this pretty girl

And this popular girl

And I look like a potato. HAHAHA

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We went straight back home after the waterfall. We managed to stop by the irohazaka again to take picture. But Yolanda was not feeling that well, so she stayed inside the car.

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I’m really thankful for these girls.. Both of them are my fave travel buddies and my fave in everything hahaha. I hope we can travel together more often.

In short, let me summarise this post. The pro and cons travelling with car in Japan:

Pro:

• It’s comfy, you can leave your bags and stuffs in the car.
• You don’t need to worry about the transport schedule.
• It’s cheaper if you can fit 5 people in the car hehe

Cons:

• Parking Fee! and It’s hard to find a parking spot.
• Traffic! (Esp during the holiday).

Ah, FYI, you’ll need an international driving license. The rental place will ask you to show your license. Japanese drives on the right side (it’s the same as Indonesia). If I had to drive probably I won’t have trouble to adjust.

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That’s all for this post, and I promise I’ll post more often.

Have a good day!