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This past weekend I went to Nikko and stayed at place called: Hotel Famitik. What a place it was! It cost 5,000¥ per night, including dinner and breakfast. It had a main hotel, plus cabins and campers. There were tennis courts, a gym, a pool, a very small fishing pond, an outdoor cooking area, etc. Sounds like a great bargain, right? It probably was at one time, but it had its hay day at least a decade ago. The gym was the best thing it offered. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the hotel building for the first time. Some hotels have fountains and statues, this one had a murky fountain and a gigantic iron beetle hanging on the front of the building. That sums it up. Nothing really worked. The cabins, or should I say, shacks, smelled musty and had a whole variety of bugs inside and out. Some of the cabins' toilets had ink water: obviously not used in a while. My cabin had a broken window, bugs, a very dirty "kitchen", a leaky toilet complete with dead bugs, a broken "chandelier" that had only one light bulb and was duct-taped together, and running water that didn't taste very safe. Outside the cabins was a cooking area. Long ago people would barbecue on huge gas grills, then wash their dishes at the communal outdoor sink. But that had gone to waste years ago. Now they are mere rusty grills and chairs. The meeting room we used smelled like a locker room. The only things that were in working order were the card tables. The dining room was an interior designer's nightmare. Funky pumice-like shellacked bricks 2/3 of the way up the walls. Above that, green tree wallpaper. The ceiling was covered with kitchen linoleum and that with lots of bugs. There were two framed... not pictures... maybe couch material is a better word. The floor was a funky red and black design, and was very sticky. The food was all right, though. The pool was OUT OF SERVICE. You had to pay to catch fish, use Famitic's bike, use a towel, etc. The "ofuro" or bathroom was free, but it too had its problems. There used to be 4 showers (it's for all hotel guests by the way). Only 3 had shower hoses, and 2 had hot water. The big bath was too hot to sit in, and the bottom seemed to be covered with rust. Outside of the bathroom were the sinks. My friend found a frog hopping in one of them. I did have a good time at this hotel, but I'd have a very hard time recommending it to another, especially when considering the price. Camping is a lot cheaper even though it would be almost the same experience. Valerie Straayer |