During the week, we allocated some time to go see Nikko, an ancient town in the vicinity of Tokyo, where you can find Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex. What the tourist guide forgot to mention is that you should avoid visiting it on a rainy day...

The architecture of the shrine complex was most impressive.

Impressive was also the will power of Achchie and Seeya, helping to carry Nalini and Taj up and down the many, many stairs, and keeping the little ones as dry as possible!

A sea of umbrellas - the heavy rain didn't seem to shy away any of the tourists around.

It was inside this temple that Taj said "Nani" for the first time. Nalini was walking around the temple, and Taj, sitting by us, pointed to her and said, clearly and proudly: "Nani". Seeya was really impressed! He said: "Wow, he just said Nani! In front of the Buddha!"

Taking a break from the heavy rain