Our flight out was at 5:20p so we had plenty of time to do something in the morning but it took a bit planning to figure out what. Our hotel really was in the middle of nowhere and we discovered one issue with our E-Sim which is an alternative to using your regular phone plan for travel. It essentially turns your phone into a different phone where it can receive data but it doesn't have a phone number. This is great for cheap data but it limits our ability to receive text messages. This made it impossible for us to sign up for the local taxi app and as well as anything else that sent you a confirmation code. I'm sure there was a way around and we could have asked the front desk but we had another option to try.
Our hotel included a regular shuttle to the airport and from the airport there was an old-timey area in Narita that we could go to to do some shopping and check out some more temples. We had no idea what to expect because we hadn't done a ton of research but in the end it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Once we got off the train it was a 10 minute walk to a street that curved down towards a series of temples. The interesting thing was that unlike some of the other areas we had gone to, this area had virtually no english signage. It felt like we had happened upon something not meant for regular tourists.
With few english signs we had to do our research afterwards to find out that at the top of the hill after the fourth or fifth set of pagoda's was the 'Great Pagoda of Peace'. Along the way there were what we are assuming were grave stones but they were often carved into rock so we're not exactly sure what they symbolized. Everything was well maintained and most stones were solid granite. The pagoda itself had several gardens surrounding it that offered symmetric views of the temple. Up to this point, this was very similar to some of the other areas we had gone to.
Things got really good when we took some of the paths away from the pagoda into the surrounding forests. There were creeks and ponds that included fish and apparently cats. You were allowed to feed the fish but not the cats. There must be some engineering somewhere that feeds water to the whole area because there seemed to be the 'perfect' amount of water in every stream. Just enough to keep things moving but not overwhelm the stepping stones that you used as bridges to cross the creeks.
I was already amazed by the creeks and ponds but the highlight was a hidden waterfall. You entered from below through a trail that seemed like it wouldn't lead anywhere. You could also access it from above but I enjoyed the discovery from the lower access point. Again, the perfect amount of water was cascading onto mossy rocks with well placed boulders that you could use to navigate the site. There was an original home just up the path that was long since vacated. I think if you somehow ended up with that as your home, you would quite possibly never leave.
Considering all of this was just unexpected I'm now glad we didn't end up at a hotel in Tokyo. That would have been more of the same and we would have missed all of this. It was time to leave and we walked back trough the city street and did some last minute souvenir shopping. We finally happened upon some shops and vendors that preferred cash. For the most part we had found people took card and I think some of these places might but they preferred cash. Japan was an amazing experience and definitely a destination I would love to explore more in the future.
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