Journal lingqi's Journal: June 27th, 2003 2
June 27th, 2003 (5:27pm)
I should mention that I finally got to see kegon-no-taki (èåZã®æ) this time around to Nikko, which means that I probably have absolutely no reason to go back up there for quite some time.
The thing about Nikko, though, is that I did not find any restaurants that did not serve some form of yuba-soba (æè'ãã). Everybody I am sure knows what soba is - but yuba is, literally, tofu-skin. When you boil milk, a "skin" would form on the surface of it - and similarly soymilk (where tofu comes from) the same thing happens. I believe the method of making yuba in Japan is to collect a LOT of this soymilk "skin" and making it into a roll.
I say in Japan because I cannot imagine this being the most efficient method of doing the tofu-skin thing. Yuba is actually considered quite a delicacy here (yuba-soba would cost nearly the same, or more, than shrimp-tempura soba in the same store!) - but the fact is in china you have tofu-skin as well (in the US, most chinese supermarkets sell dried tofu-skin), and they are dirt cheap. Well, at least cheaper than shrimp.
I cannot say that I was impressed with the said dish. The sad thing is that while the Nikko area has tons of hotels, something like a tonden (pretty much the same idea as "Denny's" or "Applebee's" in the US), or heck even a KFC, is extremely hard to find despite my sincerest efforts.
Moral of the story? if you don't like hot soba enough to eat it for every meal and are not staying in a hotel there, bringing your own food may be something worth considering.
Nikko do have tons of onsen, though. I did not have time to visit a real one, but was able to go to a day bath, yashio-yu (ãã--ãSæ), which is located near the last exit, kyotaki(æ...æ) , of the nikko-utunomiya expressway (æ--¥å...å®éf½å®®é"è). The english subtitle is actually "municipal spa in nikko national park," so I guess it's city-run?
It's a fairly average onsen (i am not sure if it's a "natural" onsen or uses municipal water supply), and the price is at maximum 500 yen. Not quite bad at all - which may explain the hordes of people there. Out of all those people, I spotted at least two gaijins (read: caucasians) during my 20 minutes stay. I thought it was quite a lot, inaka (countryside) and all.
In the dressing room, you strip and get naked alongside with your fellow bathers. I have had sufficent public-bath experience in China that it isn't much of a problem (Europeans might be the same) - but when I was undressing, there was a cleaning LADY mowing through all the people (I was tempted to say "through all the exposed penises"), oblivious to everything around her. I mean, it was certainly an obasan, or possibly even oba-a-san, so no nosebleeds (*) occured - and she certainly seemed to have done this enough times to not care, but something about that just didn't sit well with me; must be the stupid american culture's residual effects.
(*) nosebleeds is associated with arousal in japan, at least portrayed by the movie / manga industry. If the reader didn't know that already.
The actual bathing area had a roll of sit-down showers, a long rectangular and a small round bath indoors, and a oblong rock-decorated outdoor bath. Outdoor, being where it is, loses a lot of heat due to evaporation and radiation, so the water temperature is probably a good five degrees celcius lower than the main bath - in which, combined with the fact that the air inside is hot and humid and stuffy, already takes quite some effort to stay in for a long time.
Something about japanese baths is that one NEEDS to notice the age of the person sitting in the bath. Take the small round bath to the far end, for example. All of the people inside was wrinkled up old guys with silver hair - and that is a big hint that you should, under no circumstances, approach within seven meters. Japanese old men can tolerate inhuman bath temperatures, and seem to enjoy it quite a lot (my theory is that they slowly becomes reptilian during the latter parts of life and requires such a significant temperature to warm their bodies), which should be considered skin-peeling to everybody els. I had enough problems getting into the average (main) bath, so I stayed way clear of the boiling area.
They way they become so tolerant (besides different genes, which I am convinced of), apparently, is because they start early. Something one should do before entering a bath is to rince their feet with bath water (small bucket thingys are provided). A father brought his very young son (maybe two years old, if not younger) with him - and despite the grotesque facial expressions on the kid's face indicating intolerable pain, he continued with no regard to it. I can barely handle splashing water onto my feet, desensitized for the past quarter or so decade, in the same way. I can only imagine how tough the kid was, to have not broken out a teary tantrum.
Unfortunately, the fact that I did not plan for the bathing excursion and had to wear my sweat-soaked undergarments, added to the inability to find any real food (with meat, dammit) attenuated the good feeling I got after the bath. Driving home for 3 hours went in and made the final kill. Despite the priciness of onsen-associated hotels, I think the best way to enjoy onsen is still to stay in one, where one could proceed directly to beer or bed after the bath. I wonder if the hole in the wallet would cause concern, though - but I guess grass is always greener on the other side.
Last note: driving back from Nikko involves taking the utunomiya expressway - which is a haven for bugs, apparently. The sould experienced while driving through is much like the sound of driving in rain, which the pit-pat of stuff hitting your windshield is incessant. Topping off the wiper-fluid may be a very wise idea.
Baths/Spas/Whatever you want to call them (Score:1)
Re:Baths/Spas/Whatever you want to call them (Score:1)
but erm. yeah. I don't think it is physically POSSIBLE for people to continue regulating their body temperature toward the 37 degree mark if the water is 50 degrees and only their head is above the water and the surrounding air is also at about 45 degrees and has 185% humidity.
it.doesn't.make.SENSE! (and therefore you must aquit)
*ps* using celcius.