A hiccup in our plans. Although I had factored costs associated with going to Fuji-Q amusement park, Dean was getting near broke, and I wasn't far behind. I'd have still loved to go to the amusement park, but it just wasn't to be. We had decided this the night before, so after getting a bit of a sleep in, we sat around blogging and doing some research. We were probably going to do some more shopping as well as go to the Government building in Shinjuku, so we set off after breakfast to go explore.
After getting the Yamanote line to Shinjuku (it was longer than taking other routes, but as nothing opens til at least 10 o'clock it didn't matter), we pottered around Shinjuku for a while. Or that was the plan.
We got out of the train station (busiest in the world), but as we were walking an old lady fell on mum and Whitney. She apologised, before going splat head first into the wall. She must have already been bleeding when she hit Mum, as she got some blood on her jacket, but after she hit the wall the claret started flowing. Whitney quickly went and alerted a couple of policeman standing around, while some by-standers stayed with the lady to make sure she was concious, but after alerting the police, we kept going. Mum was obviously shaken after this and felt sorry and wondered if there was aything they could have done to help the old lady, but without knowing the language or circumstances, there was little we could have done. We walked around some random streets before stopping in at a Yodobashi Camera. I needed some batteries, and Conrad wanted to get some more high spec film, but after this, we headed for the Government building. It was a freezing cold day with a solid wind blowing, so anywhere that was in the shade and wind was absolutely frigid. We walked for about 500m before finding the building. It actually has 2 observatories, one in the north tower, one in the south. But with both of them offering nearly the same view, we just did one, taking plenty of pictures of the view.
We went downstairs next, and I got directions for the nearest MOS burger. I felt like a bit of a pillock, but I didn't want to go home without at least having a chilli cheese burger. We wound our way through the streets, before I realised I'd taken a wrong turn. I headed into a convenience store, got some clarification then headed through a back street. By this time, the tribe were getting irritable, having not eaten since about 8, so I suggested they just stop and eat wherever they thought looked good. The lady in the Lawsons had told me to go over the train tracks, but it was actually a subway, so it was under the road. Once we had made it back to a major street (which still wasn't named) we headed down, trying to find a way to get over the train tracks. Whitney then spotted the MOS Burger across the street from a 7-11, just like the lady at the government building had said.
We headed in and found a seat. I ordered a Double Chilli Cheese burger, with the others ordering there own. After a few hours of solid walking, it was never going to suffice though, so after I finished it, I went and grabbed a chilli hot dog to share with Dean. Now that we had food, we were a little happier, but over Shinjuku (the prices aren't that great, and unless you feel like trekking through endless department stores, there isn't many small shops). The plan now was to head to Nakano, which we had skipped on Tuesday. We got off at the station, and walked through the "Sun Mall" a closed in street with little shops lining the sides. This was a Saturday though and filled with people, so getting around was harder. We had only eaten an hour before, so we didn't feel like anything to eat, but with a cake shop up for grabs, I ordered a Strawberry shortcake with the others ordering what they felt like. One qualm I have about Japan is there are never enough seats/benches to sit on. The people are used to eating standing up, so it mustn't worry them, but when you are trying to eat a soft, creamy cake, you really need to sit down. In the end, I found a telephone I could rest my cake box on (they package it nicely, and put some dry ice in as well), and ate my cake, probably getting a ton of cream and crumbs on my face. Fortunately, I had serviettes as well. Now that I had eaten, we checked in quite a few shops. This mall is called Broadway, which would have to be the biggest misnomer around. It's cramped and narrow. Even though this is where Robot Robot is (a store I mentioned in my last trips blog), Dean just was over it at this time. Mum didn't really care if she went to the material shop or not, so with everyone just getting grumpy from the crowds and sore backs/feet, we headed back to Hasegawa. We tried a few things, but by this stage we just wanted some good food (MOS burger is tasty, but it's fast food). We wandered around briefly, grabbing a beer at Brasserie Lion (I grabbed some beer I have never heard of) before we decided we wanted to find a little hole in the wall type ramen place.
We walked up a couple of streets towards the hotel, before finding one across the road from the Center Hotel (where we've stayed before). It was empty, but had a couple of seats reserved. After being seated straight under the air conditioning unit, we had to move (having hot air coming straight on your head is draining), so they sat us in the reserved seats. We then ate some very tasty ramen. While not the best ramen I've ever had, it was pretty tasty. Following a big bowl, the only thing left to do was head back to the hotel and sleep.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo
Ok, so after the frigid events of Thursday, today we were taking Conrad to the zoo. We had been to Ueno Zoo about 3 years ago, but Conrad had never been. After breakfast at Jonathans, we headed back to the hotel to get ready. It was another cold day in Tokyo. The max temperature for the day was only going to be 7 degrees, but with wind chill it felt a lot less. We had to take the motorbikes back to SCS first, so after suiting up and getting them out of the tiny alley we parked them in, we were soon winding our way through the streets of Tokyo. I only had my normal jacket on, so I was still a little chilly, but not as frostbitten as the day before. We had to fill the bikes up before returning them, so after shooting past the rental place, we did a U-turn before finding a petrol station. It seems fuel prices here vary from station to station, and although I haven't driven here long, it seems that Eneos is the most expensive. Also, some streets are one way from certain times of the day (usually 9-19.00). This meant that we must have rode down the streets the wrong way, but as they were back streets with little traffic , no one seemed to mind.
We dropped the bikes off without much fuss before starting the walk back towards Ueno Zoo. It was Friday, but with some areas of the city receiving very little sunlight due to high buildings on one side and expressway on the other, there was still snow/ice from Monday night on the ground. The wind was blowing as well, so we grabbed a hot can of coffee from a machine to keep ourselves warm while moving to meet the girls at the front of the zoo.
As I may have mentioned a couple of years ago, Ueno is a lower class area, with the black market springing up there after WWII. It's a little more sanitary these days, but with a big park, there is also quite a number of homeless people. Here though, it seems like in return for not being bothered, the homeless have to help with keeping the area clean, as we saw quite a few bums with hi-vis vests on and rubbish bags. Also, there are a large number of feral cats around. They look pretty well fed, and they keep the hobos company. (I actually saw one hobo sleeping in a corner with a cat sleeping on him).
After paying the 600Y entry fee, we noticed that there was a new panda exhibit. When we came a couple of years ago, their panda had died about 8 months before we came, and they hadn't been able to get another one. Now they had 2, with it feeding time. We watched as the keepers put fresh bamboo in the area, as well as hiding carrots as treats. Then they got out of the cages and let the pandas go in. We had to fight through the hoards of prams, school girls, old people and others, but I think Conrad and Dean managed to snap some good photos. Just after this, the batteries in my camera gave up the ghost, so I only had my phone and video camera. We walked towards the birds of prey and I got some nice shots (I think) of some owls, eagles, vultures and stuff.
As you keep on walking, there was the tiger and lions exhibit. I feel sorry for these animals, as they are used to warmer climes, but today it was frigid at best. We got some shots of them, but had to keep moving to keep warm. It was a Friday and there must be quite a few schools nearby, as there were school kids ranging from short grade 1 or 2 kids (with matching hats) to seniors. So they were noisy, but only in the subdued Japanese way... I don't know, maybe it's because I can block them out because they're speaking a different language, but I can ignore them a lot better.
We next saw some gorillas, polar bears, seals, and tapirs, before deciding to get something to eat. It's possibly expensive for here, but for 1200Y or so I got a chicken and chips basket (with a little salad) and a beer... I still love that you can get beer on tap anywhere here, and don't know where else you can get a pint of beer in a zoo for 500Y. Unfortunately for us, it was feeding time at the zoo.... There was a myriad of crying babies, so we needed to leave as we were starting to get crowded our by the pram parade. We quickly saw a bison, some marmosets and spider monkeys and a prairie dog, before we headed across the overpass to the west side of the zoo. We then spent about 3 hours winding our way through the fluffy cute animals (Mum and Whitney had to pat the bunnies) and then small mammals, nocturnal animals, flamingoes, then hippos, rhinos, okapis before we reached the vivarium (reptiles, snakes and lizards). If nothing else, it confirmed for me that the most poisonous/deadly creatures come from Australia. There was a saltwater croc, which is huge compared to other crocodiles, and the look in his eye made him look like he was plotting how to kill you. There were some really annoying american kids with the little girl wearing Minnie Mouse ears, star sunglasses and generally acting like a prima donna. She was also loud, so I wouldn't have minded feeding her to the crocodile (remember, women and children first :P) It was now approximately 4pm, so we headed for the South exit and headed to Ameyokocho(?). It was a street market area (used to be black market) that had bags, clothes, food and more. I grabbed a strawberry skewer, but I didn't really like these markets that much. Maybe it was the crowds, the small claustrophobic shops, or the not so market prices on the items, but I didn't really feel like hanging around.
After I grabbed a kebab pita (nice and spicy) from a Japanese speaking leb, and the others grabbed some sweet thing from a street vendor, we started making our way to the subway station. We wanted to head back to Yaesu, so after grabbing the orange line to Nihombashi we stopped in at Yaesu to try some more stuff from Hasegawa, as well as grab a massage. We stopped in at the massage place only to be told there was a 40 min wait, so we headed for a bar place across the aisle. I didn't feel like having anything to eat just yet, so I just grabbed a beer, while Dean grabbed an antipasto happy hour set. Heineken on tap is good, a massage to your tired bones better, though not as cheap.
After getting pounded and prodded (the person massaging me said I had very tense shoulders), we headed back toward the hotel. Mum and Whitney in the exploring while we were biking had found another gyoza place just down the street from us. It won't replace the one that was in Yaesu mall, but that had a decent go of it. We ordered a few plates of gyoza and a tall glass of beer (Dean reckons gyoza is nearly the perfect beer food). The gyoza was good quality and they had a few different types to try. The problem I had, was that being a whole in the wall type joint, it was all smoking. I could only stand a few people doing it before my lungs gave up. I waited out in the cold while the others finished their gyoza, with the shop attendant beckoning me in, and me in my broken Japanese trying to say that the smoke was making me cough.
After leaving the warmth of the gyoza place, the wind and cold outside was noticable, but it didn't stop us going to Lawson's and getting some ice cream. Once in the safety of our hotel, we had a couple of Chu-hi's, with Conrad nipping downstairs to put some washing on. After what was supposed to be a relaxing day (how can walking heaps be relaxing?), we were all tired and headed for bed.
We dropped the bikes off without much fuss before starting the walk back towards Ueno Zoo. It was Friday, but with some areas of the city receiving very little sunlight due to high buildings on one side and expressway on the other, there was still snow/ice from Monday night on the ground. The wind was blowing as well, so we grabbed a hot can of coffee from a machine to keep ourselves warm while moving to meet the girls at the front of the zoo.
As I may have mentioned a couple of years ago, Ueno is a lower class area, with the black market springing up there after WWII. It's a little more sanitary these days, but with a big park, there is also quite a number of homeless people. Here though, it seems like in return for not being bothered, the homeless have to help with keeping the area clean, as we saw quite a few bums with hi-vis vests on and rubbish bags. Also, there are a large number of feral cats around. They look pretty well fed, and they keep the hobos company. (I actually saw one hobo sleeping in a corner with a cat sleeping on him).
After paying the 600Y entry fee, we noticed that there was a new panda exhibit. When we came a couple of years ago, their panda had died about 8 months before we came, and they hadn't been able to get another one. Now they had 2, with it feeding time. We watched as the keepers put fresh bamboo in the area, as well as hiding carrots as treats. Then they got out of the cages and let the pandas go in. We had to fight through the hoards of prams, school girls, old people and others, but I think Conrad and Dean managed to snap some good photos. Just after this, the batteries in my camera gave up the ghost, so I only had my phone and video camera. We walked towards the birds of prey and I got some nice shots (I think) of some owls, eagles, vultures and stuff.
As you keep on walking, there was the tiger and lions exhibit. I feel sorry for these animals, as they are used to warmer climes, but today it was frigid at best. We got some shots of them, but had to keep moving to keep warm. It was a Friday and there must be quite a few schools nearby, as there were school kids ranging from short grade 1 or 2 kids (with matching hats) to seniors. So they were noisy, but only in the subdued Japanese way... I don't know, maybe it's because I can block them out because they're speaking a different language, but I can ignore them a lot better.
We next saw some gorillas, polar bears, seals, and tapirs, before deciding to get something to eat. It's possibly expensive for here, but for 1200Y or so I got a chicken and chips basket (with a little salad) and a beer... I still love that you can get beer on tap anywhere here, and don't know where else you can get a pint of beer in a zoo for 500Y. Unfortunately for us, it was feeding time at the zoo.... There was a myriad of crying babies, so we needed to leave as we were starting to get crowded our by the pram parade. We quickly saw a bison, some marmosets and spider monkeys and a prairie dog, before we headed across the overpass to the west side of the zoo. We then spent about 3 hours winding our way through the fluffy cute animals (Mum and Whitney had to pat the bunnies) and then small mammals, nocturnal animals, flamingoes, then hippos, rhinos, okapis before we reached the vivarium (reptiles, snakes and lizards). If nothing else, it confirmed for me that the most poisonous/deadly creatures come from Australia. There was a saltwater croc, which is huge compared to other crocodiles, and the look in his eye made him look like he was plotting how to kill you. There were some really annoying american kids with the little girl wearing Minnie Mouse ears, star sunglasses and generally acting like a prima donna. She was also loud, so I wouldn't have minded feeding her to the crocodile (remember, women and children first :P) It was now approximately 4pm, so we headed for the South exit and headed to Ameyokocho(?). It was a street market area (used to be black market) that had bags, clothes, food and more. I grabbed a strawberry skewer, but I didn't really like these markets that much. Maybe it was the crowds, the small claustrophobic shops, or the not so market prices on the items, but I didn't really feel like hanging around.
After I grabbed a kebab pita (nice and spicy) from a Japanese speaking leb, and the others grabbed some sweet thing from a street vendor, we started making our way to the subway station. We wanted to head back to Yaesu, so after grabbing the orange line to Nihombashi we stopped in at Yaesu to try some more stuff from Hasegawa, as well as grab a massage. We stopped in at the massage place only to be told there was a 40 min wait, so we headed for a bar place across the aisle. I didn't feel like having anything to eat just yet, so I just grabbed a beer, while Dean grabbed an antipasto happy hour set. Heineken on tap is good, a massage to your tired bones better, though not as cheap.
After getting pounded and prodded (the person massaging me said I had very tense shoulders), we headed back toward the hotel. Mum and Whitney in the exploring while we were biking had found another gyoza place just down the street from us. It won't replace the one that was in Yaesu mall, but that had a decent go of it. We ordered a few plates of gyoza and a tall glass of beer (Dean reckons gyoza is nearly the perfect beer food). The gyoza was good quality and they had a few different types to try. The problem I had, was that being a whole in the wall type joint, it was all smoking. I could only stand a few people doing it before my lungs gave up. I waited out in the cold while the others finished their gyoza, with the shop attendant beckoning me in, and me in my broken Japanese trying to say that the smoke was making me cough.
After leaving the warmth of the gyoza place, the wind and cold outside was noticable, but it didn't stop us going to Lawson's and getting some ice cream. Once in the safety of our hotel, we had a couple of Chu-hi's, with Conrad nipping downstairs to put some washing on. After what was supposed to be a relaxing day (how can walking heaps be relaxing?), we were all tired and headed for bed.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
*BEep Flippin *beep *beep cold
Sorry for the triple post, but I have to catch up...
Today was sort of a Conrad day. He requested we go motorbike riding whilst in Japan, so after a bit of back and forward, I managed to hire some bikes from SCS Ueno (I'd recommend them if you want to hire bikes. Friendly to deal with). After a breakfast at Denny's we went back to the hotel to get suited up. In another brainspasm, I think Jonathans is better than Denny's. Better value, better prices and more range. Anywho, after saying our farewells to the girls, I left my phone with Mum and we headed for Ueno. Fortunately, the subway station near the foot of our hotel is on a line that goes straight to Ueno, so after hopping on, 10 mins later we were there.
As I may have mentioned before, I don't really deal in particulars or details. After briefly getting spun around, I pointed us in the right direction. From my google street viewing, I knew that it was basically on the main road north of Ueno station, but do you think I could remember the exact address? So after asking a friendly bike shop owner, he pointed us in the right direction, 3 blocks up and across the road. We soon found the shop, and were cordially invited in and sat down. We must have spent about 30 mins getting all the paperwork (international licences, insurance policies and other stuff) sorted. Then after rolling the bikes onto the street, and running through the controls and stuff with us, we were off. Albeit very briefly.....
After setting off from the store, we headed down Showa-dori. Being Tokyo, there was actually an entrance for the Expressway in the middle of the road, rather than to the left. I turned, then Dean turned, but Conrad missed the turn off. ARggh.. We hadn't even gone 5km and we had already lost Conrad. After riding down the expressway for about a kilometre, Dean and I stopped on the side of the road and waited for Conrad. He had seen us turn off, so all he had to do was loop around and return to where he had lost us, and he'd be fine.. except that Conrad is directionally challenged. After waiting on the expressway for about 10 minutes, he finally found us and we were off again. Straight down the C1 loop. I had raced this plenty of times before on Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero (PS2 game), so at least the turns and stuff were semi-familiar. We looped around Meguro, before turning off onto the Tomei expressway near Shibuya. Our first stop was meant to be Riders (Up Garage for bikes) at Minami Machide, but it seems the winds were against us... For one thing, it was so cold, I thought I'd get frostbite in my fingers. Usually, I'm fairly insulated and fine when it comes to the cold, but this is the middle of winter in a country that gets a proper winter. It was about 3 degrees, but with windchill, it must have been in the negatives. My fingers were frozen, but I'd just have to grin and bare it. After getting off the Tomei Expressway at the correct exit, there was a bit of a mix up with the Tolls. The roads and exits can be pretty confusing especially if you don't have any sat nav with you...
It seems that you have to pay to get on, then after about 20km, you have to pay again. I had gotten a ticket from the gate, but Dean and Conrad had driven right through. So after paying 3x over (I was designated spokesperson) we stopped on the side of the road again. We headed left, but in reality to get to Up Garage, we had to go right.... After stopping a kilometre up the road, I scrapped that idea, as it would have required us to try and navigate back the other way and then get off at the correct exit.
We continued down the road for a while before I saw a familiar name. Fortunately I have a photographic sort of memory, and from the google mapping and also seeing the road sign from the Shinkansen on Monday, I remembered that Odawara was near Hakone our destination. So after doing a couple of ramps, we pointed our bikes in the right direction. By this stage it was after 12.30, and as we were getting a little hungry, we stopped at the Family Mart located on the expressway at Totsuka. We had a couple of pork bun things, before I got some clarified instructions from the shop assistant. We just had to keep heading the way we were going.
We started off (after paying another toll) down the road, before it connected with Route 1. This was the road we had to stay on to reach Odawara and then Hakone. The problem with it is, that it goes through all the towns and suburbs between there, so every traffic light and slow turning vehicle held us up, not to mention the 40 and 50km/h speed limits. We could have got there much quicker by getting back on an expressway, but the guys would rather have spent more time riding, than pay for tolls. By the time we reached Odawara, it was close to 3pm! We had been riding for nearly 4 hours, but according to the signs we were only 85km from Tokyo... Now I'm not sure if they measure their distances as the crow flies, but it sure felt a lot more than that, especially with the wind off the Pacific Ocean feeling like it was coming from the north, rather than the south.
We stopped off for a feed and relieve at KFC then made our way towards Hakone. Unfortunately we missed the turn off for the Hakone Turnpike (sponsored by Toyo) so we had to loop back til we found it. Then after going through the little toll road booth (It's classified as a private road), we were on our way... Up the Hakone I had read about in those old Street Drifting articles and such. Brrrr... It was even more frigid. I only had the motorcycle jacket, jumper and T-shirt on, with Jeans and boardies underneath. Dean didn't realise this, and was surprised later to find out, as he and Conrad both had thermals and underlayers on as well, and they were still cold. We were warned by the the toll booth attendant that it was slippery on the road, so take it easy and as we got back on the bikes (we stopped to take pictures) we could see why. There was a heap of snow and ice on the ground, with black ice everywhere. We took it cautiously and got up the hill before sundown. We were treated with a magnificent view of Mt Fuji at sunset, the townships and the lakes, as well as looking down the coast towards Izu Peninsula.
We had intended to go down the Izu Skyline, but with the light dying and all of us feeling like we were arctic explorers already, we decided to make our way home. After heading back, we decided to grab a cheap feed at Yoshinoya on the outskirts of Odawara. For the exorbitant sum of 480Y, we had a big bowl of Gyuudon, coleslaw or kimchi, and some Miso soup. This kept us fuelled a little longer (you use more energy trying to keep warm), so we headed off towards home. It didn't feel half as long this time, with much less traffic on the roads, so it didn't take us half as long to get back towards Totsuka. This time though, I wanted to head to Daikoku-futo, a big parking area on Yokohama bay where there was supposed to be car meets on Thursday nights. After getting better directions from a service station attendant, we headed in the right direction. If the wind was cold at Hakone at 3pm, then it was positively icy on Yokohama Bay. We crossed the Yokohama Bay Bridge before pitting in at Daikoku. We would have had to come this way to get back to the hotel, but I was in need of a pee break (my kidneys were freezing, so I had been busting for a couple of hours) and Dean and Conrad needed to warm up a bit. We sat around having a vending machine break, but except for a couple of 370Z's and an R32 Gtst, there wasn't much to be seen. Conrad and Dean took some pictures before we headed off home. I was a little disappointed as I would have loved to see all the modified cars, but I suppose it was brass monkey weather, so given the option of standing around on Yokohama bay freezing and talking about cars, or being at home, I could understand their choice. Back up the corkscrew that brings you down to Daikoku and we were on the Wangan (Bayshore Route), a road famous for the original Midnight Club and other illegal street races. As it was nearly 10, we just wanted to get back to the hotel, but at least with the Tunnels underneath Haneda and other bits of water, it was actually warmer than during the day in the wind.
We crossed Rainbow Bridge (actually, me and some guy in an JZA70 Supra were mucking around), before we went up the guts of C1 inner again. We kept rolling before turning off to go to Nihombashi, near where it splits off from C1 and Wangan. We parked the bikes down a tiny alley to the side of the hotel, before we got all the gear off for the night. An enjoyable ride, thoroughly freezing, with us missing some bits I wanted to do/show the other 2, but it didn't matter. If the shots from Hakone turn out, as well as the experience of riding some of the most famous street racing roads in the world, it was all worth the planning.
Today was sort of a Conrad day. He requested we go motorbike riding whilst in Japan, so after a bit of back and forward, I managed to hire some bikes from SCS Ueno (I'd recommend them if you want to hire bikes. Friendly to deal with). After a breakfast at Denny's we went back to the hotel to get suited up. In another brainspasm, I think Jonathans is better than Denny's. Better value, better prices and more range. Anywho, after saying our farewells to the girls, I left my phone with Mum and we headed for Ueno. Fortunately, the subway station near the foot of our hotel is on a line that goes straight to Ueno, so after hopping on, 10 mins later we were there.
As I may have mentioned before, I don't really deal in particulars or details. After briefly getting spun around, I pointed us in the right direction. From my google street viewing, I knew that it was basically on the main road north of Ueno station, but do you think I could remember the exact address? So after asking a friendly bike shop owner, he pointed us in the right direction, 3 blocks up and across the road. We soon found the shop, and were cordially invited in and sat down. We must have spent about 30 mins getting all the paperwork (international licences, insurance policies and other stuff) sorted. Then after rolling the bikes onto the street, and running through the controls and stuff with us, we were off. Albeit very briefly.....
After setting off from the store, we headed down Showa-dori. Being Tokyo, there was actually an entrance for the Expressway in the middle of the road, rather than to the left. I turned, then Dean turned, but Conrad missed the turn off. ARggh.. We hadn't even gone 5km and we had already lost Conrad. After riding down the expressway for about a kilometre, Dean and I stopped on the side of the road and waited for Conrad. He had seen us turn off, so all he had to do was loop around and return to where he had lost us, and he'd be fine.. except that Conrad is directionally challenged. After waiting on the expressway for about 10 minutes, he finally found us and we were off again. Straight down the C1 loop. I had raced this plenty of times before on Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero (PS2 game), so at least the turns and stuff were semi-familiar. We looped around Meguro, before turning off onto the Tomei expressway near Shibuya. Our first stop was meant to be Riders (Up Garage for bikes) at Minami Machide, but it seems the winds were against us... For one thing, it was so cold, I thought I'd get frostbite in my fingers. Usually, I'm fairly insulated and fine when it comes to the cold, but this is the middle of winter in a country that gets a proper winter. It was about 3 degrees, but with windchill, it must have been in the negatives. My fingers were frozen, but I'd just have to grin and bare it. After getting off the Tomei Expressway at the correct exit, there was a bit of a mix up with the Tolls. The roads and exits can be pretty confusing especially if you don't have any sat nav with you...
It seems that you have to pay to get on, then after about 20km, you have to pay again. I had gotten a ticket from the gate, but Dean and Conrad had driven right through. So after paying 3x over (I was designated spokesperson) we stopped on the side of the road again. We headed left, but in reality to get to Up Garage, we had to go right.... After stopping a kilometre up the road, I scrapped that idea, as it would have required us to try and navigate back the other way and then get off at the correct exit.
We continued down the road for a while before I saw a familiar name. Fortunately I have a photographic sort of memory, and from the google mapping and also seeing the road sign from the Shinkansen on Monday, I remembered that Odawara was near Hakone our destination. So after doing a couple of ramps, we pointed our bikes in the right direction. By this stage it was after 12.30, and as we were getting a little hungry, we stopped at the Family Mart located on the expressway at Totsuka. We had a couple of pork bun things, before I got some clarified instructions from the shop assistant. We just had to keep heading the way we were going.
We started off (after paying another toll) down the road, before it connected with Route 1. This was the road we had to stay on to reach Odawara and then Hakone. The problem with it is, that it goes through all the towns and suburbs between there, so every traffic light and slow turning vehicle held us up, not to mention the 40 and 50km/h speed limits. We could have got there much quicker by getting back on an expressway, but the guys would rather have spent more time riding, than pay for tolls. By the time we reached Odawara, it was close to 3pm! We had been riding for nearly 4 hours, but according to the signs we were only 85km from Tokyo... Now I'm not sure if they measure their distances as the crow flies, but it sure felt a lot more than that, especially with the wind off the Pacific Ocean feeling like it was coming from the north, rather than the south.
We stopped off for a feed and relieve at KFC then made our way towards Hakone. Unfortunately we missed the turn off for the Hakone Turnpike (sponsored by Toyo) so we had to loop back til we found it. Then after going through the little toll road booth (It's classified as a private road), we were on our way... Up the Hakone I had read about in those old Street Drifting articles and such. Brrrr... It was even more frigid. I only had the motorcycle jacket, jumper and T-shirt on, with Jeans and boardies underneath. Dean didn't realise this, and was surprised later to find out, as he and Conrad both had thermals and underlayers on as well, and they were still cold. We were warned by the the toll booth attendant that it was slippery on the road, so take it easy and as we got back on the bikes (we stopped to take pictures) we could see why. There was a heap of snow and ice on the ground, with black ice everywhere. We took it cautiously and got up the hill before sundown. We were treated with a magnificent view of Mt Fuji at sunset, the townships and the lakes, as well as looking down the coast towards Izu Peninsula.
We had intended to go down the Izu Skyline, but with the light dying and all of us feeling like we were arctic explorers already, we decided to make our way home. After heading back, we decided to grab a cheap feed at Yoshinoya on the outskirts of Odawara. For the exorbitant sum of 480Y, we had a big bowl of Gyuudon, coleslaw or kimchi, and some Miso soup. This kept us fuelled a little longer (you use more energy trying to keep warm), so we headed off towards home. It didn't feel half as long this time, with much less traffic on the roads, so it didn't take us half as long to get back towards Totsuka. This time though, I wanted to head to Daikoku-futo, a big parking area on Yokohama bay where there was supposed to be car meets on Thursday nights. After getting better directions from a service station attendant, we headed in the right direction. If the wind was cold at Hakone at 3pm, then it was positively icy on Yokohama Bay. We crossed the Yokohama Bay Bridge before pitting in at Daikoku. We would have had to come this way to get back to the hotel, but I was in need of a pee break (my kidneys were freezing, so I had been busting for a couple of hours) and Dean and Conrad needed to warm up a bit. We sat around having a vending machine break, but except for a couple of 370Z's and an R32 Gtst, there wasn't much to be seen. Conrad and Dean took some pictures before we headed off home. I was a little disappointed as I would have loved to see all the modified cars, but I suppose it was brass monkey weather, so given the option of standing around on Yokohama bay freezing and talking about cars, or being at home, I could understand their choice. Back up the corkscrew that brings you down to Daikoku and we were on the Wangan (Bayshore Route), a road famous for the original Midnight Club and other illegal street races. As it was nearly 10, we just wanted to get back to the hotel, but at least with the Tunnels underneath Haneda and other bits of water, it was actually warmer than during the day in the wind.
We crossed Rainbow Bridge (actually, me and some guy in an JZA70 Supra were mucking around), before we went up the guts of C1 inner again. We kept rolling before turning off to go to Nihombashi, near where it splits off from C1 and Wangan. We parked the bikes down a tiny alley to the side of the hotel, before we got all the gear off for the night. An enjoyable ride, thoroughly freezing, with us missing some bits I wanted to do/show the other 2, but it didn't matter. If the shots from Hakone turn out, as well as the experience of riding some of the most famous street racing roads in the world, it was all worth the planning.
Too much shopping, not enough buying.
Wednesday was originally planned as being the day we went to Fuji-Q Highlands, a wicked looking amusement park at the foot hills of Mt Fuji. But with Whitney out of action (probably wouldn't be nice have your feet whacked around in a rollercoaster carriage), we decided to postpone it. Whit's foot was feeling a little better, so people decided they wanted to do some shopping instead. (How this could be worse than a rollercoaster I don't know)
We decided to make our way down to Johnathan's, a cheap family restaurant chain just down the street. We mustn't have been feeling very adventurous, because Dean, Bubz and I all ordered toasted bacon and cheese sandwiches, while Mum and Conrad got the bacon and egg set meal. Was pretty cheap, and with the drinks bar included in our meals, unlimited coffee and softdrink for 514Y. This meant I got to press my own buttons, so a triple-shot espresso it was. There was a girl to the left doing what looked to be a logic puzzle, but with the x and o or whatever, it ended up producing a picture of a girl. In the time that we were there, she finished one and got started on a second one. With lots of caffeine coursing through my veins, it wasn't long before I was super-energetic and had to get moving.
We headed back to the hotel to grab some stuff, before heading down to Kayabacho station. There after getting on, we got off at Otemachi to change trains. Maybe it's me, but Otemachi seems like the anti-thesis of Japanese efficiency. Yes, you have the most of subway lines going into your station, but the walking distance actually covers several large city blocks on the surface. Anyhow, we changed trains for the Chiyoda line heading towards Meiji-Jingumae, the closest stop to Harajuku. Dean, Conrad and I were wanting to head to UT (the shirts in a can place), but as they and most of the shops around them didn't open til 11 (it was only 10.20) we had to wait around and find a loo for the time being. We went into the Starbucks that was close by, but with no decent coffee, and a false toilet code, we didn't hang around there long.
Back up the street to UT and it had opened it's doors by now. While Dean, Conrad and I perused the selection of T-shirts, Mum made use of their facilities. I like UT and Uniqlo, as they tend to use a lot more natural fibres, so 2 pairs of jeans and 3 or 4 shirts, and my wallet felt lighter. It was a pity they didn't stock more M and L sized shirts, as all that was left seemed to be XS, but judging by the amount left on the shelf, even the Japanese aren't that size. If they had them, my wallet would have felt lighter still.
We now decided to head around the corner and down Omote Sando-dori to the Oriental Bazaar. We hadn't been here for a few years, and Conrad had never been here at all, so while he looked around, I sat down, taking the weight off my already tired feet. We then headed back up the street, but at the place where Kiddy Land was meant to be, there was now a construction site... Oh noes!!! Don't tell us that Kiddy Land has gone the way of our favourite Gyoza place and the Mos Burger near our hotel!! But as we got up the street, we noticed a sign saying it was around the corner while it was being rebuilt. Down the side street, we stopped via a handmade candy kitchen, the Burton flagship store and a grocers until we found the illustrious Kiddy Land. The layout was slightly different, but it was still full to the brim with so much cuteness and sweetness, that you though you were going to have a toothache afterwards. We looked around there a bit, lamenting the fact that we don't have room in our house for a model trainset, as well as seeing all the cool toys we'll probably never get over in Australia (I'll have to see if they have a Rakuten shop). When we felt like all our teeth had rotted, we left, heading towards Takeshita-dori, where a whole heap of subcultures started. We looked, walked, didn't make eye contact with the Nigerians trying to lure you to their hip-hop gear shop, and generally just window shopped. There was plenty to buy, but with funds and room limited, only the most discerning products get bought...
By now it was after 3pm, and with all of us getting tired, we decided to head back to Yaesu mall. It was a good afternoon, with me trying various different cognacs, whiskeys, and expensive stuff that I'll never get to have again. It's funny, but I can easily go through 1000 or 1500Y there buying tastes of various things, but I never seem to walk sideways. Just as well, because I don't really want to fit in with the business men after a Japanese business meeting. It was now getting later, and with a big day planned for tomorrow, we decided to quickly look around for somewhere to eat. After poohpoohing all ideas around Yaesu, we stuck Whitney (who still had a sore foot, but by now the painkillers had worn off) into the back of a taxi along with Mum and Dean, while Conrad and I walked back. We eventually decided just to head downstairs to the restaurant under the hotel, as Dean wanted a steak. I ordered a 5 types Cheese pizza, which from what I could taste/read was Mozarella, Gorgonzola, cream cheese, and a couple of others. It was nice enough, but the service at the restaurant wasn't that good, and the rest of the food was a little greasy. There are plenty of other places around here we could have gotten better food at a cheaper price. Afterwards, we headed outside to Lawson's Station, before heading back upstairs for some beer/drinks and tele. We had to get an early night though, as tomorrow was going to be a big day.
We decided to make our way down to Johnathan's, a cheap family restaurant chain just down the street. We mustn't have been feeling very adventurous, because Dean, Bubz and I all ordered toasted bacon and cheese sandwiches, while Mum and Conrad got the bacon and egg set meal. Was pretty cheap, and with the drinks bar included in our meals, unlimited coffee and softdrink for 514Y. This meant I got to press my own buttons, so a triple-shot espresso it was. There was a girl to the left doing what looked to be a logic puzzle, but with the x and o or whatever, it ended up producing a picture of a girl. In the time that we were there, she finished one and got started on a second one. With lots of caffeine coursing through my veins, it wasn't long before I was super-energetic and had to get moving.
We headed back to the hotel to grab some stuff, before heading down to Kayabacho station. There after getting on, we got off at Otemachi to change trains. Maybe it's me, but Otemachi seems like the anti-thesis of Japanese efficiency. Yes, you have the most of subway lines going into your station, but the walking distance actually covers several large city blocks on the surface. Anyhow, we changed trains for the Chiyoda line heading towards Meiji-Jingumae, the closest stop to Harajuku. Dean, Conrad and I were wanting to head to UT (the shirts in a can place), but as they and most of the shops around them didn't open til 11 (it was only 10.20) we had to wait around and find a loo for the time being. We went into the Starbucks that was close by, but with no decent coffee, and a false toilet code, we didn't hang around there long.
Back up the street to UT and it had opened it's doors by now. While Dean, Conrad and I perused the selection of T-shirts, Mum made use of their facilities. I like UT and Uniqlo, as they tend to use a lot more natural fibres, so 2 pairs of jeans and 3 or 4 shirts, and my wallet felt lighter. It was a pity they didn't stock more M and L sized shirts, as all that was left seemed to be XS, but judging by the amount left on the shelf, even the Japanese aren't that size. If they had them, my wallet would have felt lighter still.
We now decided to head around the corner and down Omote Sando-dori to the Oriental Bazaar. We hadn't been here for a few years, and Conrad had never been here at all, so while he looked around, I sat down, taking the weight off my already tired feet. We then headed back up the street, but at the place where Kiddy Land was meant to be, there was now a construction site... Oh noes!!! Don't tell us that Kiddy Land has gone the way of our favourite Gyoza place and the Mos Burger near our hotel!! But as we got up the street, we noticed a sign saying it was around the corner while it was being rebuilt. Down the side street, we stopped via a handmade candy kitchen, the Burton flagship store and a grocers until we found the illustrious Kiddy Land. The layout was slightly different, but it was still full to the brim with so much cuteness and sweetness, that you though you were going to have a toothache afterwards. We looked around there a bit, lamenting the fact that we don't have room in our house for a model trainset, as well as seeing all the cool toys we'll probably never get over in Australia (I'll have to see if they have a Rakuten shop). When we felt like all our teeth had rotted, we left, heading towards Takeshita-dori, where a whole heap of subcultures started. We looked, walked, didn't make eye contact with the Nigerians trying to lure you to their hip-hop gear shop, and generally just window shopped. There was plenty to buy, but with funds and room limited, only the most discerning products get bought...
By now it was after 3pm, and with all of us getting tired, we decided to head back to Yaesu mall. It was a good afternoon, with me trying various different cognacs, whiskeys, and expensive stuff that I'll never get to have again. It's funny, but I can easily go through 1000 or 1500Y there buying tastes of various things, but I never seem to walk sideways. Just as well, because I don't really want to fit in with the business men after a Japanese business meeting. It was now getting later, and with a big day planned for tomorrow, we decided to quickly look around for somewhere to eat. After poohpoohing all ideas around Yaesu, we stuck Whitney (who still had a sore foot, but by now the painkillers had worn off) into the back of a taxi along with Mum and Dean, while Conrad and I walked back. We eventually decided just to head downstairs to the restaurant under the hotel, as Dean wanted a steak. I ordered a 5 types Cheese pizza, which from what I could taste/read was Mozarella, Gorgonzola, cream cheese, and a couple of others. It was nice enough, but the service at the restaurant wasn't that good, and the rest of the food was a little greasy. There are plenty of other places around here we could have gotten better food at a cheaper price. Afterwards, we headed outside to Lawson's Station, before heading back upstairs for some beer/drinks and tele. We had to get an early night though, as tomorrow was going to be a big day.
Hobble, Hobble, Toe and trouble
We had all decided to have a little sleep in. After a week of snowboarding then a couple of days of tearing around like mad men, we need that little bit of extra sleep that can sometimes seem like a luxury. After waking up and getting decent, we knocked on Mum and Whitney's door to find that Whitney's foot had swelled up even more, and that she could barely walk. Tragedy!?!? In a city like Tokyo where everything is geared around you walking/riding the subway, not being able to walk can be a major headache.
Yoshi had the day off, and was happy to just tag along with what we were doing. So after meeting up with us just after 9am, we walked down the corner to Cafe Pronto, one of the many coffee chains here. Usually at the coffee shops here, you can get a cheap but tasty feed, so for the princely sum of 328Y, I got a muffin with Bacon and cream cheese (toasted) and a coffee. As I've said before, with Japan being invaded by the US post-WWII, it is hard to get a decent coffee. I have noticed though that it is becoming easier. Sure, there is still a lot of places serving horrible blend coffee, but more and more, you are starting to see machines take the place of drip filters. With some food and coffee in us, we were ready to start exploring. Today had been planned as a go-easy day, but it was especially so as Whitney was all but crippled. After getting the subway from Kayabacho to Nihombashi, we got out and up the guts of Takashimaya. This may have sounded easy, but with lots of stairs, (not that many escalators or elevators in the subway) and a sister that could walk, it required a bit of time and patience. More than a few times, Dean and I had to piggy-back her, or fireman chair her just to speed up the process.
To make matter worse, it was a very frigid day in Tokyo. After the night before's rain then snow, there was a lot of ice around. Throughout the morning we had regularly seen workers shovelling snow and ice off the foot path and road, and had also seen some near falls and people going splat. Surprisingly, there were no "steven moments", despite me wearing my trusty skate shoes.
Anyhow, after much grunting, whimpering and lifting, we finally made it to the Bridgestone Museum of Art, which also had wheel chair Whitney could use. Bridgestone was founded by a fellow whose last name was Ishibashi (stone bridge), and he was also quite a collector of art. The display this time was one he had shown in Paris in 1962, as well as a few newer works. We got to see paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Gaugin, Monet and other famous people, as well as other Japanese painters who don't have the same pull as the big names. I have to admit, when it comes to art, I'm a bit uneducated. I like what I like, for whatever reasons, but have no qualms about calling a painting crap if I don't see the art in it. (Pollock and Picasso come to mind). This ate up a bit of our time but by 12.30, we had seen pretty much everything in the small gallery. So we made our way across the street and downstairs to Yaesu Mall. Everyone else wanted sushi, so we headed to the nearest one, which was also very cheap. With fish, fish and more fish on the menu, my choice was limited. I can't eat cooked fish, and can only stomach a little bit of sushi/sashimi, before my stomach turns into a pyroclastic display. I've tried to eat fish a number of times when we've been here, just to see if I can get over it, but every time, the same result. :-(## I stuck with a couple of aburi hotate (seared scallop), and a beer. Everyone else ate well, getting this and that, but when they had finished, I went around and grabbed some Whack Arnolds (google Dave Chappell). In my defense, it was a teriyaki mac (only available in Japan) and a Blueberry Cheesecake pie (more likely cream cheese). By this time, Whitney now had some cabbage wrapping her foot (best thing for bruising I've found) as well as pain killers.
After we were all fed and watered, we were off to our next destination. It was originally inteded to be Nakano, with it's street mall, but even with Whitney dosed up on ibuprofen, we decided to give it a miss and head to Sunshine City Mall in Ikebukuro. After a short (but slow) walk from the station to the mall, we grabbed another wheel chair and set off. Our destination in Sunshine City wasn't the many designer shops, but the Aquarium on the rooftop. I have to admit, I didn't really care about seeing fish. It was included on our itinerary as others wanted to do it, and it was supposed to be a relaxing day. However, for an aquarium built on top of a shopping mall, it wasn't too bad. Not quite the size of Underwater World, but they had a lot of variety, including seals and penguins (which stink terribly of fish). We spent the next 3 or so hours walking around the different levels here, with Conrad shooting his way through the thick perspex. Fish are hard to photograph, as just as you get the focus right, they can then change direction, so rather than getting a broadside, you get a front or rear side shot of them. For a place not ventured to by that many foreigners, there was a japanese-american mother and her incredibly annoying children. After being around the fairly subdued Japanese (even excited school girls are easy enough to block out), a loud, nasally american accent can be heard of the top of everything. The kids weren't even well behaved, so compared to the fairly quiet, disciplined locals (there are some brats, but on average disciplined) they stood out like a sore thumb. Nevermind.
As the sun was setting, it started getting really cold. There was ice still to be found everywhere, and with the wind like a blast from an eskimos backside, we tried to keep warm, before heading downstairs to find something to eat. We were nearly at the stage where you get so hungry that you don't know what you feel like, or can't make a decision. So after quickly checking around some of the restaurants in their restaurant court, we just chose one that had stuff that looked nice. I can't remember what I ate, but it was filling, and along with a beer, it only cost about 1200Y. The one problem I still have with Japan is the smoking. Although some places are getting better (and have been progressively getting better since we first came), smoking is still allowed in a lot of places and a lot of places still don't have a no smoking section. There was a japanese business meeting going on behind, and just one person at the table was smoking, but he seemed to be nearly chain smoking. It was getting to the stage where I couldn't breathe properly (I seem to be having more difficulty coping with smoke this time) I left my money for someone else to pay and beat a hasty retreat back into the mall area.
By this time it was only around 6pm, with a lot of the shops still open, so we had a look around, before heading off. We farewelled Yoshi, (we wear him out with all our walking) and got on a train back to Kayabacho. We had intended to drop by Liquors Hasegawa, but it was already nearly 7.30 by the time we got near Nihombashi, and with our speed reduced because of Bubz, we gave it a miss (it closes at 8pm).
Back to the hotel via the Lawson's downstairs where we grabbed an ice cream and watched some TV, before we retired for the night.... And this was supposed to be a relaxing day.
Yoshi had the day off, and was happy to just tag along with what we were doing. So after meeting up with us just after 9am, we walked down the corner to Cafe Pronto, one of the many coffee chains here. Usually at the coffee shops here, you can get a cheap but tasty feed, so for the princely sum of 328Y, I got a muffin with Bacon and cream cheese (toasted) and a coffee. As I've said before, with Japan being invaded by the US post-WWII, it is hard to get a decent coffee. I have noticed though that it is becoming easier. Sure, there is still a lot of places serving horrible blend coffee, but more and more, you are starting to see machines take the place of drip filters. With some food and coffee in us, we were ready to start exploring. Today had been planned as a go-easy day, but it was especially so as Whitney was all but crippled. After getting the subway from Kayabacho to Nihombashi, we got out and up the guts of Takashimaya. This may have sounded easy, but with lots of stairs, (not that many escalators or elevators in the subway) and a sister that could walk, it required a bit of time and patience. More than a few times, Dean and I had to piggy-back her, or fireman chair her just to speed up the process.
To make matter worse, it was a very frigid day in Tokyo. After the night before's rain then snow, there was a lot of ice around. Throughout the morning we had regularly seen workers shovelling snow and ice off the foot path and road, and had also seen some near falls and people going splat. Surprisingly, there were no "steven moments", despite me wearing my trusty skate shoes.
Anyhow, after much grunting, whimpering and lifting, we finally made it to the Bridgestone Museum of Art, which also had wheel chair Whitney could use. Bridgestone was founded by a fellow whose last name was Ishibashi (stone bridge), and he was also quite a collector of art. The display this time was one he had shown in Paris in 1962, as well as a few newer works. We got to see paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Gaugin, Monet and other famous people, as well as other Japanese painters who don't have the same pull as the big names. I have to admit, when it comes to art, I'm a bit uneducated. I like what I like, for whatever reasons, but have no qualms about calling a painting crap if I don't see the art in it. (Pollock and Picasso come to mind). This ate up a bit of our time but by 12.30, we had seen pretty much everything in the small gallery. So we made our way across the street and downstairs to Yaesu Mall. Everyone else wanted sushi, so we headed to the nearest one, which was also very cheap. With fish, fish and more fish on the menu, my choice was limited. I can't eat cooked fish, and can only stomach a little bit of sushi/sashimi, before my stomach turns into a pyroclastic display. I've tried to eat fish a number of times when we've been here, just to see if I can get over it, but every time, the same result. :-(## I stuck with a couple of aburi hotate (seared scallop), and a beer. Everyone else ate well, getting this and that, but when they had finished, I went around and grabbed some Whack Arnolds (google Dave Chappell). In my defense, it was a teriyaki mac (only available in Japan) and a Blueberry Cheesecake pie (more likely cream cheese). By this time, Whitney now had some cabbage wrapping her foot (best thing for bruising I've found) as well as pain killers.
After we were all fed and watered, we were off to our next destination. It was originally inteded to be Nakano, with it's street mall, but even with Whitney dosed up on ibuprofen, we decided to give it a miss and head to Sunshine City Mall in Ikebukuro. After a short (but slow) walk from the station to the mall, we grabbed another wheel chair and set off. Our destination in Sunshine City wasn't the many designer shops, but the Aquarium on the rooftop. I have to admit, I didn't really care about seeing fish. It was included on our itinerary as others wanted to do it, and it was supposed to be a relaxing day. However, for an aquarium built on top of a shopping mall, it wasn't too bad. Not quite the size of Underwater World, but they had a lot of variety, including seals and penguins (which stink terribly of fish). We spent the next 3 or so hours walking around the different levels here, with Conrad shooting his way through the thick perspex. Fish are hard to photograph, as just as you get the focus right, they can then change direction, so rather than getting a broadside, you get a front or rear side shot of them. For a place not ventured to by that many foreigners, there was a japanese-american mother and her incredibly annoying children. After being around the fairly subdued Japanese (even excited school girls are easy enough to block out), a loud, nasally american accent can be heard of the top of everything. The kids weren't even well behaved, so compared to the fairly quiet, disciplined locals (there are some brats, but on average disciplined) they stood out like a sore thumb. Nevermind.
As the sun was setting, it started getting really cold. There was ice still to be found everywhere, and with the wind like a blast from an eskimos backside, we tried to keep warm, before heading downstairs to find something to eat. We were nearly at the stage where you get so hungry that you don't know what you feel like, or can't make a decision. So after quickly checking around some of the restaurants in their restaurant court, we just chose one that had stuff that looked nice. I can't remember what I ate, but it was filling, and along with a beer, it only cost about 1200Y. The one problem I still have with Japan is the smoking. Although some places are getting better (and have been progressively getting better since we first came), smoking is still allowed in a lot of places and a lot of places still don't have a no smoking section. There was a japanese business meeting going on behind, and just one person at the table was smoking, but he seemed to be nearly chain smoking. It was getting to the stage where I couldn't breathe properly (I seem to be having more difficulty coping with smoke this time) I left my money for someone else to pay and beat a hasty retreat back into the mall area.
By this time it was only around 6pm, with a lot of the shops still open, so we had a look around, before heading off. We farewelled Yoshi, (we wear him out with all our walking) and got on a train back to Kayabacho. We had intended to drop by Liquors Hasegawa, but it was already nearly 7.30 by the time we got near Nihombashi, and with our speed reduced because of Bubz, we gave it a miss (it closes at 8pm).
Back to the hotel via the Lawson's downstairs where we grabbed an ice cream and watched some TV, before we retired for the night.... And this was supposed to be a relaxing day.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sort of another manic Monday
We only had a limited time in Kyoto, so we were determined to use it to the full. After getting to bed reasonably early, Dean, Conrad and myself decided to get up early (6.30 is way before anything opens here) and started cycling to and around Gion, the older section of Kyoto where we had been last night. The previous night it had taken about 1 hour to walk back from here to the hotel, but even with snapping photos every couple of metres and taking slight detours (just to see something cool we caught a glimpse of) it only took us an hour to get here and back. We returned just before 8 to meet up with the girls for breakfast downstairs. Breakfast was nothing of note, although they had some nice fresh bread which I whacked some egg on, and got a decent espresso for 250Y. If you are ever in Kyoto, I can recommend K's House. It's only classified as a backpackers/hostel, but with families staying there it's quiet and clean.
We wanted to do something cultural, but with most of Kyoto's sites being either Shinto or Buddhist shrines and temples, it actually doesn't leave that much to do in my opinion. I pulled out the map, and saw Nijo Castle and Gardens, so after checking out and storing our luggage, we decided to cycle there. Now Mum hasn't ridden a bicycle in 37 years, but after quite a few wobbly moments, she's riding with some decorum, and Whitney is doing about the same, so after about 45 mins we've cycled the 4 kms or so to the castle.
Unfortunately, a lot of Kyoto's sites attract tourists, so they like to get some tourist dollars... It was 200Y to park our bikes, and 600Y to get in, though after we were in, I'd gladly pay 800Y for the experience. Here there are actually, 2 castles within the walls, Hamamaki? and Nijomaki castles, as well as gardens surrounding them. Considering you'd pay $10 for Bli Bli Castle, which is just a cheap, gaudy imitation of an English castle, the amount of time you can spend here vs the cost of entry makes it good value for money. We walked around, in and out, up and down as well as went inside one of the castles. I felt like a taskmaster, because I had to keep everyone moving. We were expecting to get the shinkansen at around 2pm, so I didn't want to miss that and have more stress. We also got to see everything, and take plenty of photos/video, so we'll probably bore you with these when we get back.
Just as we got out of the castle, it started spitting, though this didn't hang around, so we took the most direct path back to the hotel. I'd like to say it was uneventful, but it wasn't. Because Dean and Conrad were still stopping to take pictures, and Mum wasn't cycling as fast as the rest of us, we kept getting seperated by sets of light. Anyhow, at one section where Mum, Dean and Conrad had fallen behind, I am cycling when I hear a crash behind me.... Whitney had dropped her bike (thin skinny tires and water in the gutter don't mix) and it had landed on her foot, sandwiching her between the bike and the pavement. Now I must tell you that these bikes, although newish, are built old-school, with a lot of thick steel and weight a ton. I could barely bunny hop these things, while I could hop/mono my MTB at home with ease. And all this weight came down on the Bubz's foot. Damn... She said she was alright and and we got back to the hotel quickly after that. About this time, she started complaining that her foot was sore, but it's not that far to the station, so we walked it in about 10 mins.
After studying the boards, we decided to get the 14.29pm Hikari Shinkansen. This gave us about 1.25hrs before we had to get to the platform, so we booked the tickets then went in search of food. Dean didn't want to stress about getting to the right platform and having enough time, so after a brief look around, we grabbed some stuff from a place called Vie de France. It sold baked goods, similar to Bread Top in Brisbane, so the others picked out a few things, then I went and grabbed my. I think I had a big eyes, little belly, because I grabbed a few different things and it came to nearly 1700Y. I did want some stuff for the journey though, as the Hikari Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo takes nearly 2.75hrs, so I didn't want to be hungry. Anyhow, one of the things I grabbed was a Calzone (tasty) as well as a Curry Donut. I was expecting it just to be a bun, as the japanese it used was for bread, rather than donut, but after eating, I'd say the English is more correct. The dough was sort of sweetish, and it actually went really well with the curry. I ate a couple of things before we headed upstairs and through the rabbit warren that is a japanese train station, before we found the right track and went there.
It was actually really cool in Kyoto, with the temperature staying about 2 degrees C, and a chilly wind blowing. It meant that standing on the platform was a little cold, as we'd all worked up a sweat carrying bags around with our jackets on. But it didn't matter too much, as the train soon arrived, and we hopped on. The rest of the journey was uneventful. I blogged, Dean did a little, as well as snoozed and Conrad read his book on Steve Jobs on his iPad. We arrived in Tokyo about 4.45pm, but with the sun setting early here, it was dusk before we got out of the station.
In previous years, we have either sent backpacks with Mum and Whitney in a taxi, and dragged luggage to the hotel ourselves or just walked it, but we're either getting softer or smarter. We had sent our main luggage to the hotel via Takkyubin, so all we had was our backpacks. But this time, Dean, Mum and Whitney jumped in a taxi, while Conrad and I jumped in another. Most of the Taxis in Tokyo are either new (old) Toyota Crowns, new (old) Nissan Cedrics, or a mix of Prius and other modern 5 seaters. With 5 of us in the travelling party and no maxi-taxis, we had to split it 3 and 2. We must have got the dumb one, because Dean said they showed theirs the address, and he went straight there. I showed our one the address and he couldn't understand it, so he actually asked us for the hotels phone number and rang them for directions. Anyhow, I got Conrad to get this one, as I didn't have any schrapnel on me. But at 710Y, it was probably worth it not to have to walk the 2 kms or whatever to the hotel.
By this time we were starting to get a little hungry, but we checked in and headed upstairs. The Smile Hotel was only refurbished January last year, so a lot of the decor is clean and new. The beds are king singles and there's a good amount of amenities in the room. As were were getting ourselves freshened up, we get a phone call from the front desk. Yoshi, a brother we know here (used to live in Brisbane) was ringing us, and said he'd come over. So about 25mins later we were downstairs and looking for somewhere to eat. We decided to just go to the restaurant (Cherbourg) downstairs in the BF floor of our hotel. The prices are actually quite reasonable. I got the sirloin steak for 1300Y, and we shared pitchers of beer. Yoshi also invited another brother that works with him, so we got to meet someone new as well. We were sitting around eating and talking, when Yoshi disappears for a few moments. He comes back with a receipt! The sneaky little fellow had paid the bill for us! We'll pay him back sometime, but he must have really like the pizza when he came over in September.
After going to Lawsons (convenience store), which is next door to our hotel, we headed back upstairs. Whitney was already reclining on her bed. During the train trip, her foot had swelled up something fierce and was now really aching. But as we weren't doing any more walking, we just sat around and had a couple of drinks, before retiring for the night around 9pm.
We wanted to do something cultural, but with most of Kyoto's sites being either Shinto or Buddhist shrines and temples, it actually doesn't leave that much to do in my opinion. I pulled out the map, and saw Nijo Castle and Gardens, so after checking out and storing our luggage, we decided to cycle there. Now Mum hasn't ridden a bicycle in 37 years, but after quite a few wobbly moments, she's riding with some decorum, and Whitney is doing about the same, so after about 45 mins we've cycled the 4 kms or so to the castle.
Unfortunately, a lot of Kyoto's sites attract tourists, so they like to get some tourist dollars... It was 200Y to park our bikes, and 600Y to get in, though after we were in, I'd gladly pay 800Y for the experience. Here there are actually, 2 castles within the walls, Hamamaki? and Nijomaki castles, as well as gardens surrounding them. Considering you'd pay $10 for Bli Bli Castle, which is just a cheap, gaudy imitation of an English castle, the amount of time you can spend here vs the cost of entry makes it good value for money. We walked around, in and out, up and down as well as went inside one of the castles. I felt like a taskmaster, because I had to keep everyone moving. We were expecting to get the shinkansen at around 2pm, so I didn't want to miss that and have more stress. We also got to see everything, and take plenty of photos/video, so we'll probably bore you with these when we get back.
Just as we got out of the castle, it started spitting, though this didn't hang around, so we took the most direct path back to the hotel. I'd like to say it was uneventful, but it wasn't. Because Dean and Conrad were still stopping to take pictures, and Mum wasn't cycling as fast as the rest of us, we kept getting seperated by sets of light. Anyhow, at one section where Mum, Dean and Conrad had fallen behind, I am cycling when I hear a crash behind me.... Whitney had dropped her bike (thin skinny tires and water in the gutter don't mix) and it had landed on her foot, sandwiching her between the bike and the pavement. Now I must tell you that these bikes, although newish, are built old-school, with a lot of thick steel and weight a ton. I could barely bunny hop these things, while I could hop/mono my MTB at home with ease. And all this weight came down on the Bubz's foot. Damn... She said she was alright and and we got back to the hotel quickly after that. About this time, she started complaining that her foot was sore, but it's not that far to the station, so we walked it in about 10 mins.
After studying the boards, we decided to get the 14.29pm Hikari Shinkansen. This gave us about 1.25hrs before we had to get to the platform, so we booked the tickets then went in search of food. Dean didn't want to stress about getting to the right platform and having enough time, so after a brief look around, we grabbed some stuff from a place called Vie de France. It sold baked goods, similar to Bread Top in Brisbane, so the others picked out a few things, then I went and grabbed my. I think I had a big eyes, little belly, because I grabbed a few different things and it came to nearly 1700Y. I did want some stuff for the journey though, as the Hikari Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo takes nearly 2.75hrs, so I didn't want to be hungry. Anyhow, one of the things I grabbed was a Calzone (tasty) as well as a Curry Donut. I was expecting it just to be a bun, as the japanese it used was for bread, rather than donut, but after eating, I'd say the English is more correct. The dough was sort of sweetish, and it actually went really well with the curry. I ate a couple of things before we headed upstairs and through the rabbit warren that is a japanese train station, before we found the right track and went there.
It was actually really cool in Kyoto, with the temperature staying about 2 degrees C, and a chilly wind blowing. It meant that standing on the platform was a little cold, as we'd all worked up a sweat carrying bags around with our jackets on. But it didn't matter too much, as the train soon arrived, and we hopped on. The rest of the journey was uneventful. I blogged, Dean did a little, as well as snoozed and Conrad read his book on Steve Jobs on his iPad. We arrived in Tokyo about 4.45pm, but with the sun setting early here, it was dusk before we got out of the station.
In previous years, we have either sent backpacks with Mum and Whitney in a taxi, and dragged luggage to the hotel ourselves or just walked it, but we're either getting softer or smarter. We had sent our main luggage to the hotel via Takkyubin, so all we had was our backpacks. But this time, Dean, Mum and Whitney jumped in a taxi, while Conrad and I jumped in another. Most of the Taxis in Tokyo are either new (old) Toyota Crowns, new (old) Nissan Cedrics, or a mix of Prius and other modern 5 seaters. With 5 of us in the travelling party and no maxi-taxis, we had to split it 3 and 2. We must have got the dumb one, because Dean said they showed theirs the address, and he went straight there. I showed our one the address and he couldn't understand it, so he actually asked us for the hotels phone number and rang them for directions. Anyhow, I got Conrad to get this one, as I didn't have any schrapnel on me. But at 710Y, it was probably worth it not to have to walk the 2 kms or whatever to the hotel.
By this time we were starting to get a little hungry, but we checked in and headed upstairs. The Smile Hotel was only refurbished January last year, so a lot of the decor is clean and new. The beds are king singles and there's a good amount of amenities in the room. As were were getting ourselves freshened up, we get a phone call from the front desk. Yoshi, a brother we know here (used to live in Brisbane) was ringing us, and said he'd come over. So about 25mins later we were downstairs and looking for somewhere to eat. We decided to just go to the restaurant (Cherbourg) downstairs in the BF floor of our hotel. The prices are actually quite reasonable. I got the sirloin steak for 1300Y, and we shared pitchers of beer. Yoshi also invited another brother that works with him, so we got to meet someone new as well. We were sitting around eating and talking, when Yoshi disappears for a few moments. He comes back with a receipt! The sneaky little fellow had paid the bill for us! We'll pay him back sometime, but he must have really like the pizza when he came over in September.
After going to Lawsons (convenience store), which is next door to our hotel, we headed back upstairs. Whitney was already reclining on her bed. During the train trip, her foot had swelled up something fierce and was now really aching. But as we weren't doing any more walking, we just sat around and had a couple of drinks, before retiring for the night around 9pm.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday is not a fun day, Bangles
After packing the night before, Sunday started with the same apprehension I get everytime I leave Shiga Kogen. I was awake early, so I started making sure the room was all clear of our stuff.
The designated route planner (Me) had to find the best way to get to Kyoto, while giving us enough times to make transfers and eat and explore Kyoto. Unfortunately this meant we had to get the 8:17 bus, so everyone, whether they liked it or not had to be up at an early hour. Mum was up early, and Dean needed a prod but was moving quickly, but our travelling companion was dragging the chain as usual. Considering he hadn't fully packed up, this was not good, but quickly got up to speed as he realised time goes quickly when there's a bus to catch. Before breakfast at 7.30, we organised for our luggage to be takkyubin'd to our hotel in Tokyo. We checked out early, and received little okojo Shiga Kogen pins from the day manager. We then headed downstairs to grab some breakfast. I ate a little less than I did the day before as we weren't going to be snowboarding, but I wished we had later.
After breakfast, we quickly went upstairs to say goodbye and thank you to the staff. Kim, the korean porter wished us well and thanked us for making him laugh, and the other manager who spoke english said thanks to us, while we told him to pass on our thanks for their hospitality to the rest of the staff. We then quickly headed downstairs and went to the toilet, before heading outside to the bus stop (It's virtually out the front of the hotel). After about 10 mins waiting, with a couple of pictures and mucking around thrown in for good measure, we got on the bus (which was on-time, just) to Nagano. It wasn't long before we were winding the course down the mountains towards Yamanouchi, Nakano and then Nagano. Judging by the clock, traffic and such, I gathered that rather than arriving at the expected time of 9.50, we'd arrive around 10 mins earlier (I was write, we hopped off the bus at 9.39). This gave us approximately 20mins to make the next train or wait around for an hour before the next train. Dean didn't want to stress, so suggested we get the later train, but I thought there would be more than enough time to get upstairs, buy tickets and get to the correct track. After getting the tickets, we still had about 10 mins to get downstairs to the Wide View Shinano track. The Wide View Shinano is a limited express train that winds its way from Nagano to Nagoya, via the back country. It goes through about 3 or 4 different valleys, with the forestry/scenery changing from the white birch, to conifer forests to bamboo. Only problem is, that it takes about 3hrs to get from Nagano to Nagoya then 37 mins from Nagoya to Kyoto on a shinkansen. It's a problem, because we didn't get time to grab food from Nagano station, either from a cafe or a station kiosk. We didn't really find anything on the little push cart that we felt like (except beer), so we didn't eat on the WVS. We had a very limited time to switch trains in Nagoya, so except for a bento kiosk on the shinkansen platform, there wasn't really any time to grab anything. By this time, no one felt like eating bento, except Conrad, so we let it go. Well, after getting out at Kyoto, our next main task was to find our way to our hotel, so we could shed our backpacks.
My internal compass/GPS was telling me we were on the South side of Kyoto station, but with everyone else not wanting to rely on that, I went to information desk and asked for directions. I was right, we were on the south side, but I grabbed a map while there as well as some directions. After walking all the way down to east side of the station, we headed down to the subway level and walked all the way through this mall/tunnel that went under the road. After successfully directing us to the hotel, we paid for the room, but were told it wasn't ready yet, so we chucked our backpacks into the storage room, before we headed out in search of food. During my intrepid googling of Kyoto, I had read about a food market, so after consulting the map, we started on a trek to it, deciding to stop for food on the way. About 15mins after walking from our hotel, we came across Nakau, a bowl of something restuarant (looked like a chain) that was open 24hrs, but was cheap. I ordered a medium bowl of Gyuu don (beef on rice) for the princely sum of 250Y. Mum got some Katsudon, and I can't remember what everyone else got, but with the dearest thing seeming to be Dean's set for 650Y. I didn't find it too bad, but after not eating for close to 7hrs, a low flying duck would have been a great option.
We then continued on our expediton to the food market, passing through the ritzy? downtown area of Kyoto. In about 4 blocks, it houses Takashimaya, Daimaru and Marui city (department stores) as well as a lot of flagship stores. We weaseled our way through the crowds (it was awfully crowded for a Sunday afternoon, but learnt it was because a lot of places were having sales), til we found the food market street. This tine lane stretches for abotu 5 blocks, but there are various alleys coming off it. As the video ref will prove, there was a lot of places selling fish, quite a few selling knick-knacks, fruit and veges and various home grown goods. Between the crowds and all of us stopping to look at various times, it took us ages to get through from one end to the other. Some of the smells were divine (Tofu doughnuts, who knew?) while others were horrid (fish/seafood). There were places to buy freshly shucked oysters with lemon for 680Y, others selling dried fish and more. We walked around the food basement level of Daimaru before deciding that it was too expensive, so we walked back onto the street and stopped at a coffee shop selling cake that we'd spotted earlier. Dean, Conrad and I ordered a cake set, while Mum finally got some tea (she's been bereft of a good ceylon tea since Australia) and Whitney got some chocolate cake and iced cocoa. We hung around eating for a little while, before venturing out onto the street.
I probably failed to mention, but I had after walking from the station, I was sweating in the 10 degree "heat", so I decided to leave my coat at the hotel with my backpack, walking around in a pair of Jeans, t-shirt, gloves and beanie. Except when the wind blew, I was fine, but I attracted a few strange looks from the locals (probably thinking baka gaijin). Dean though attracted more than a strange look. A couple of local university students interviewed him, supposedly about "foreigners sightseeing in Kyoto", but I think it was just an excuse to take a few pictures and talk talk with the only blonde hair, blue eyed person for miles.
We kept on going down the alleys, checking out various shoe and clothing stores. There were quite a few coats, but I'm more scottish than I am cold, so I didn't buy any. By this time, Dean and Conrad were wanting to see somewhere a little more traditional/old, so after directing us out of the rabbit warren of the shopping area, I pointed us over towards Gion, an area famous for it's old buildings and geisha (geisha aren't prostitutes as is often incorrectly insinuated, they are entertainers/hostesses). We found some cool old streets with traditional buildings, but weren't willing to pay the exorbitant prices for food just to see geisha. By this time we were getting a little tired, and being after dark, there was only so much detail you could have in pictures before getting too much noise from high ISO shots, so we headed back to the hotel, as we had sort of read that there was cheap beer and food there. It was quite a walk, and if there is an opportunity, I'll check it in Google Maps, because all up, I think we would have walked for about 8kms.
We made it back to the hotel at about 8.15, and sat down at the back of the bar/cafe. Dean ordered a jug of beer for us to share (Sapporo draft for 1150Y), while Mum got a little wine and Conrad got a mega sniff of shochu for very little. Food was quite simple and not really what we had in mind, but I had cornchips and salsa, Dean, Conrad and Mum got mixed pizzas (nothing really wierd on these ones), while Whitney got Takoyaki and potato wedges. By the time we ate and drank, we were all bushed so we went to bed, ready to explore the next morning.
The designated route planner (Me) had to find the best way to get to Kyoto, while giving us enough times to make transfers and eat and explore Kyoto. Unfortunately this meant we had to get the 8:17 bus, so everyone, whether they liked it or not had to be up at an early hour. Mum was up early, and Dean needed a prod but was moving quickly, but our travelling companion was dragging the chain as usual. Considering he hadn't fully packed up, this was not good, but quickly got up to speed as he realised time goes quickly when there's a bus to catch. Before breakfast at 7.30, we organised for our luggage to be takkyubin'd to our hotel in Tokyo. We checked out early, and received little okojo Shiga Kogen pins from the day manager. We then headed downstairs to grab some breakfast. I ate a little less than I did the day before as we weren't going to be snowboarding, but I wished we had later.
After breakfast, we quickly went upstairs to say goodbye and thank you to the staff. Kim, the korean porter wished us well and thanked us for making him laugh, and the other manager who spoke english said thanks to us, while we told him to pass on our thanks for their hospitality to the rest of the staff. We then quickly headed downstairs and went to the toilet, before heading outside to the bus stop (It's virtually out the front of the hotel). After about 10 mins waiting, with a couple of pictures and mucking around thrown in for good measure, we got on the bus (which was on-time, just) to Nagano. It wasn't long before we were winding the course down the mountains towards Yamanouchi, Nakano and then Nagano. Judging by the clock, traffic and such, I gathered that rather than arriving at the expected time of 9.50, we'd arrive around 10 mins earlier (I was write, we hopped off the bus at 9.39). This gave us approximately 20mins to make the next train or wait around for an hour before the next train. Dean didn't want to stress, so suggested we get the later train, but I thought there would be more than enough time to get upstairs, buy tickets and get to the correct track. After getting the tickets, we still had about 10 mins to get downstairs to the Wide View Shinano track. The Wide View Shinano is a limited express train that winds its way from Nagano to Nagoya, via the back country. It goes through about 3 or 4 different valleys, with the forestry/scenery changing from the white birch, to conifer forests to bamboo. Only problem is, that it takes about 3hrs to get from Nagano to Nagoya then 37 mins from Nagoya to Kyoto on a shinkansen. It's a problem, because we didn't get time to grab food from Nagano station, either from a cafe or a station kiosk. We didn't really find anything on the little push cart that we felt like (except beer), so we didn't eat on the WVS. We had a very limited time to switch trains in Nagoya, so except for a bento kiosk on the shinkansen platform, there wasn't really any time to grab anything. By this time, no one felt like eating bento, except Conrad, so we let it go. Well, after getting out at Kyoto, our next main task was to find our way to our hotel, so we could shed our backpacks.
My internal compass/GPS was telling me we were on the South side of Kyoto station, but with everyone else not wanting to rely on that, I went to information desk and asked for directions. I was right, we were on the south side, but I grabbed a map while there as well as some directions. After walking all the way down to east side of the station, we headed down to the subway level and walked all the way through this mall/tunnel that went under the road. After successfully directing us to the hotel, we paid for the room, but were told it wasn't ready yet, so we chucked our backpacks into the storage room, before we headed out in search of food. During my intrepid googling of Kyoto, I had read about a food market, so after consulting the map, we started on a trek to it, deciding to stop for food on the way. About 15mins after walking from our hotel, we came across Nakau, a bowl of something restuarant (looked like a chain) that was open 24hrs, but was cheap. I ordered a medium bowl of Gyuu don (beef on rice) for the princely sum of 250Y. Mum got some Katsudon, and I can't remember what everyone else got, but with the dearest thing seeming to be Dean's set for 650Y. I didn't find it too bad, but after not eating for close to 7hrs, a low flying duck would have been a great option.
We then continued on our expediton to the food market, passing through the ritzy? downtown area of Kyoto. In about 4 blocks, it houses Takashimaya, Daimaru and Marui city (department stores) as well as a lot of flagship stores. We weaseled our way through the crowds (it was awfully crowded for a Sunday afternoon, but learnt it was because a lot of places were having sales), til we found the food market street. This tine lane stretches for abotu 5 blocks, but there are various alleys coming off it. As the video ref will prove, there was a lot of places selling fish, quite a few selling knick-knacks, fruit and veges and various home grown goods. Between the crowds and all of us stopping to look at various times, it took us ages to get through from one end to the other. Some of the smells were divine (Tofu doughnuts, who knew?) while others were horrid (fish/seafood). There were places to buy freshly shucked oysters with lemon for 680Y, others selling dried fish and more. We walked around the food basement level of Daimaru before deciding that it was too expensive, so we walked back onto the street and stopped at a coffee shop selling cake that we'd spotted earlier. Dean, Conrad and I ordered a cake set, while Mum finally got some tea (she's been bereft of a good ceylon tea since Australia) and Whitney got some chocolate cake and iced cocoa. We hung around eating for a little while, before venturing out onto the street.
I probably failed to mention, but I had after walking from the station, I was sweating in the 10 degree "heat", so I decided to leave my coat at the hotel with my backpack, walking around in a pair of Jeans, t-shirt, gloves and beanie. Except when the wind blew, I was fine, but I attracted a few strange looks from the locals (probably thinking baka gaijin). Dean though attracted more than a strange look. A couple of local university students interviewed him, supposedly about "foreigners sightseeing in Kyoto", but I think it was just an excuse to take a few pictures and talk talk with the only blonde hair, blue eyed person for miles.
We kept on going down the alleys, checking out various shoe and clothing stores. There were quite a few coats, but I'm more scottish than I am cold, so I didn't buy any. By this time, Dean and Conrad were wanting to see somewhere a little more traditional/old, so after directing us out of the rabbit warren of the shopping area, I pointed us over towards Gion, an area famous for it's old buildings and geisha (geisha aren't prostitutes as is often incorrectly insinuated, they are entertainers/hostesses). We found some cool old streets with traditional buildings, but weren't willing to pay the exorbitant prices for food just to see geisha. By this time we were getting a little tired, and being after dark, there was only so much detail you could have in pictures before getting too much noise from high ISO shots, so we headed back to the hotel, as we had sort of read that there was cheap beer and food there. It was quite a walk, and if there is an opportunity, I'll check it in Google Maps, because all up, I think we would have walked for about 8kms.
We made it back to the hotel at about 8.15, and sat down at the back of the bar/cafe. Dean ordered a jug of beer for us to share (Sapporo draft for 1150Y), while Mum got a little wine and Conrad got a mega sniff of shochu for very little. Food was quite simple and not really what we had in mind, but I had cornchips and salsa, Dean, Conrad and Mum got mixed pizzas (nothing really wierd on these ones), while Whitney got Takoyaki and potato wedges. By the time we ate and drank, we were all bushed so we went to bed, ready to explore the next morning.
Farewell SK, I will miss you
Today was to be our last day snowboarding. I woke up at 6.00 so I headed downstairs to read build threads. As the sun started to rise, I looked out the window to show a new layer of snow on the cars outside. It was still snowing, though only lightly, but as the light increased, the snow got heavier. That was fine by me.
The others arrived before breakfast, so we watched some early morning TV. Finally, we got to see Quintet, a show we've seen on all of our previous visits. We then went downstairs for breakfast. I stuck to the sausages, buns, miso soup, chicken nuggets, and lettuce again (I didn't want to be ill on my last day of snowboarding). We headed back upstairs to find a lot of the older guests watching Carnation, a 15min drama series. I think it's about a bunch of young widows running a dress/tailor shop in a traditional village, but without being able to understand it, it makes it sort of hard. We didn't want to hang around today, so we got our gear on and headed downstairs.
With all the fresh snow that had fallen, we were keen to get over the back to Terakoya. A lot of the ski schoolers had left the previous afternoon, however there were still a lot that were signed on with Shiga Kogen Snow School, we thought it best ot avoid the green run for now. Conrad mustn't have heard the plan of catching the lift closest to the hotel, as after strapping on, he went to the far lift. Dean followed me, and after gesturing to Conrad that we'd meet him over the back. Dean and I headed for the top and skated around the back to Terakoya. We waited for a while, before Conrad eventually showed up. He had taken the short lift to the middle of the main Ichinose Family slope, before crossing to the lift that we took. It probably wasn't the quickest way (he could have just taken the other quad and skated around, but I guess he mustn't have felt like doing that). We were bound for Hasuike, as Dean and I had to get money out, so that we had enough for dinner and the bus back to Nagano. This required us to go from Terakoya, down the Higashidate green run, then down Hoppo-Bundaira, then up the Giant twin seater and do a turn off. Unfortunately, after this it requires a bit of walking, as the post office (where the ATM is) is about 300m from any sort of slope area. I think the Shiga Kogen Ropeway might have gone bust, as we haven't seen any ropeway carrages going at all this time. It would have made getting back to where we wanted to be a bit more scenic, but after pulling some money out, we headed back towards the bus station in Hasuike. Fortunately, just as we were getting there, a bus was starting to leave in the direction we wanted to go. We walked briskly to catch it, with me nearly going base over apex on some ice in the carpark. We decided rather than catching the bus all the way back to Ichinose, we'd get off at Hoppo Onsen, the first stop. This allowed us to get straight on the HIgashidate gondola and go for a green run (albeit back to the same gondola).
By now it was getting close to 11am, so we decided to head for an early lunch, So after getting of the gondola, we hooked around back toward Takamagahara Mammoth.We decided it would be pizza and beer again, as we didn't want to run out of energy on our last day. Dean and I shared a salami pizza, while he bought a bottle of Blueberry beer. Chris, you would have loved this, as although it was by Tamamura Honten brewery (the one that does all the Shiga Kogen beers), it was made using their homegrown hops and blueberries. It was very tasty. I'm not usually a dark beer person, and Dean doesn't like beers that have higher alcohol %, but even at 7%, and being a dark ale, it was very good. Not cheap though, it must have been a special reserve, as it was 2000Y for a 750ml bottle.
As we hadn't got any video fo Yakebitai-yama yet, after eating, we caught the single chair half way up Mammoth slope, then traversed through Tanne no Mori to Ichinose. I haven't really explored TnM like I was going to, but as a pass through area, it's hard. You're either toe side or heel side through the whole thing (depending on if you are regular or goofy), and by the time you get to Ichinose, your calves are burning. Straight past the bottom quad lift, and over the bridge towards Ichinose Diamond quad. We had previously gone up and over the back, but as this requires you to keep a lot of speed in order to make the flat sections, we went a different way that was faster. A lift up to the middle of a run, and we were heading down Yakebitai-yama. Really we had only come over here to do the ungroomed section, as for the most part Yakebitai can be a little boring, with little trees to play around in, and the terrain park not being built this year, it wasn't going to hold our attention for long. We got to the bottom, before catching Gondola No.1 to the top. This gondola seems to take ages, so we had an impromptu snowfight, with the snow stuck to our boards. We think they might have told us off, via the radio in the carriage, but without understanding stuff usually, let alone over a muffled radio, we ddidn't worry about it (actually, we had run out of snow to throw).
At the top, I started the camera up again, before we decended down towards the ungroomed section. With all the new snow fall over the last couple of days, when I stopped at the side of the run, Dean and Conrad tried to get me with some rooster tails. We sped down the ungroomed section, but decided we'd rather play around at Terakoya, so that's were we headed.
We made a couple of runs down the different paths at Terakoya, haveing a ball playing in the powder under the lifts, as well as in the trees at the side of the runs. There's some video of this as well, including Dean doing a 4 ft jump from one bank. He actually did it twice, once successfully, which only he caught on camera, and another where he went for a grab, made the landing, but couldn't make it stick. I seemed to be doing my best attempts at becoming a snowman, but when there's lots of fresh powder to play in, it makes it fun, rather than sore.
We decided to do another Terakoya to Higashi run. I know it probably gets stale hearing us do this, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. There were plenty of bails, washouts and such, all caught on camera, but it was getting on to 2.30, so we were starting to get low. We decided to have a drink at the restaurant at the top of the Higashidate-yama gondola station. They have a terrace here, where you can look out over the area, and take photos but with the wind blowing and a lot of cloud and snow, visibility wasn't the best. After grabbing a hot cocoa, we decided to head towards Ichinose. Conrad started off first, but I soon bombed past him. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm actually decent at holding speed (being a little heavy has it's advantages), so I made it all the way through to the top of the Ichinose lifts before I stopped and waited for the other 2. And waited, and waited. The fiends had gone back through Takamagahara and Tanne no Mori, as they didn't want to push. I decided to go down the green run, but took it easy. I love playing around in the trees, but will only do it when someone is with me, so if I have a big stack/hurt myself, I've at least got someone to help me. So I made it down the bottom and waited... And waited, before I get a message from Dean saying to meet him at the top of Ichinose. I ran to the lift (I had unstrapped and took a seat), so I was up the top of the run quickish, and Met Conrad up there. Apparently he had lost Dean as well, but I told him I was going to wait. It was getting rather chilly now, with a snowy wind blowing. Conrad didn't reel like waiting anymore so he headed down. Then Dean eventually made it up, we started off down the green run. There was a lot of playing about on the sides, but it was getting laters, so we tried not crashing. After catching the lift up again, Conrad caught up with us at the top, while we strapping in. We flew down the green run again, before Conrad broke his binding. I have video of him tobogganing down on his board (fortunately he had his leash attached), and it's hilarious, but that ended his afternoon. Dean and I left him and jumped on the next lift. It was now 4.15 with the lifts closing at 4.40pm. By the time we got to the top, both of us were thinking we had only this run left in us. We were tired and starting to make mistakes. On the run with Conrad, I had decent sized bail and whacked my head, and was lacking energy, so we started down the red run. We played a little in the powder and trees, but as we got to the end of the run, Dean headed for the lift again! It was now 4.30, and we were thinking the same thing again. We the amount of snow on the ground, it being our last day, and 10 mins before the lifts closed, it was time for our last, last run of the day (Sort of like Lockyer's farewell games...).
Once at the top we decided it was the green run with a lot of playing around. Around this tree, over that bank.. it didn't matter if we had to walk back up to the hotel, we were going to have as much fun as possible. I caught all this on camera, but as we slowed down near the ticket office, we knew our snowboarding leg had come to an end. It's bittersweet. I love snowboarding, and could just keep on doing it. But I had taken quite a few hits in the last couple of days, which have taken their toll on my body. I'm also looking forward to seeing Kyoto and our adventures in Tokyo.
Dean and I made our way back to the Villa, and just sat around for a while. My snowgear was a little moist from me doing my best Frosty the snow, so we sat around with them on the heater, drinking an Asahi lager that we hadn't tried before. After just mellowing out, we packed up our boards, bindings, boots, and other gear (we borrowed some hair driers to get them dry in a hurry. Given that it was 4.45ish when we finished boarding, and 6pm before we got upstairs, we must have been down there for a while.
We were all tired and had to do packing, so we went down to the Ramen place for dinner again. I grabbed some gyoza and karaage chicken, and while nice, the quality in Tokyo is better, especialy for the karaage. We headed upstairs to continue packing, and as there was only a third of a bottle of Bombay Sapphire left, we finished that off so we didn't have to lug it around with us. I finished doing some washing, so packed as much as I could in the suitcase, as I would only need one change of clothes for the night in Kyoto. We then watched a little television, before turning the lights out at about 9.40.
The others arrived before breakfast, so we watched some early morning TV. Finally, we got to see Quintet, a show we've seen on all of our previous visits. We then went downstairs for breakfast. I stuck to the sausages, buns, miso soup, chicken nuggets, and lettuce again (I didn't want to be ill on my last day of snowboarding). We headed back upstairs to find a lot of the older guests watching Carnation, a 15min drama series. I think it's about a bunch of young widows running a dress/tailor shop in a traditional village, but without being able to understand it, it makes it sort of hard. We didn't want to hang around today, so we got our gear on and headed downstairs.
With all the fresh snow that had fallen, we were keen to get over the back to Terakoya. A lot of the ski schoolers had left the previous afternoon, however there were still a lot that were signed on with Shiga Kogen Snow School, we thought it best ot avoid the green run for now. Conrad mustn't have heard the plan of catching the lift closest to the hotel, as after strapping on, he went to the far lift. Dean followed me, and after gesturing to Conrad that we'd meet him over the back. Dean and I headed for the top and skated around the back to Terakoya. We waited for a while, before Conrad eventually showed up. He had taken the short lift to the middle of the main Ichinose Family slope, before crossing to the lift that we took. It probably wasn't the quickest way (he could have just taken the other quad and skated around, but I guess he mustn't have felt like doing that). We were bound for Hasuike, as Dean and I had to get money out, so that we had enough for dinner and the bus back to Nagano. This required us to go from Terakoya, down the Higashidate green run, then down Hoppo-Bundaira, then up the Giant twin seater and do a turn off. Unfortunately, after this it requires a bit of walking, as the post office (where the ATM is) is about 300m from any sort of slope area. I think the Shiga Kogen Ropeway might have gone bust, as we haven't seen any ropeway carrages going at all this time. It would have made getting back to where we wanted to be a bit more scenic, but after pulling some money out, we headed back towards the bus station in Hasuike. Fortunately, just as we were getting there, a bus was starting to leave in the direction we wanted to go. We walked briskly to catch it, with me nearly going base over apex on some ice in the carpark. We decided rather than catching the bus all the way back to Ichinose, we'd get off at Hoppo Onsen, the first stop. This allowed us to get straight on the HIgashidate gondola and go for a green run (albeit back to the same gondola).
By now it was getting close to 11am, so we decided to head for an early lunch, So after getting of the gondola, we hooked around back toward Takamagahara Mammoth.We decided it would be pizza and beer again, as we didn't want to run out of energy on our last day. Dean and I shared a salami pizza, while he bought a bottle of Blueberry beer. Chris, you would have loved this, as although it was by Tamamura Honten brewery (the one that does all the Shiga Kogen beers), it was made using their homegrown hops and blueberries. It was very tasty. I'm not usually a dark beer person, and Dean doesn't like beers that have higher alcohol %, but even at 7%, and being a dark ale, it was very good. Not cheap though, it must have been a special reserve, as it was 2000Y for a 750ml bottle.
As we hadn't got any video fo Yakebitai-yama yet, after eating, we caught the single chair half way up Mammoth slope, then traversed through Tanne no Mori to Ichinose. I haven't really explored TnM like I was going to, but as a pass through area, it's hard. You're either toe side or heel side through the whole thing (depending on if you are regular or goofy), and by the time you get to Ichinose, your calves are burning. Straight past the bottom quad lift, and over the bridge towards Ichinose Diamond quad. We had previously gone up and over the back, but as this requires you to keep a lot of speed in order to make the flat sections, we went a different way that was faster. A lift up to the middle of a run, and we were heading down Yakebitai-yama. Really we had only come over here to do the ungroomed section, as for the most part Yakebitai can be a little boring, with little trees to play around in, and the terrain park not being built this year, it wasn't going to hold our attention for long. We got to the bottom, before catching Gondola No.1 to the top. This gondola seems to take ages, so we had an impromptu snowfight, with the snow stuck to our boards. We think they might have told us off, via the radio in the carriage, but without understanding stuff usually, let alone over a muffled radio, we ddidn't worry about it (actually, we had run out of snow to throw).
At the top, I started the camera up again, before we decended down towards the ungroomed section. With all the new snow fall over the last couple of days, when I stopped at the side of the run, Dean and Conrad tried to get me with some rooster tails. We sped down the ungroomed section, but decided we'd rather play around at Terakoya, so that's were we headed.
We made a couple of runs down the different paths at Terakoya, haveing a ball playing in the powder under the lifts, as well as in the trees at the side of the runs. There's some video of this as well, including Dean doing a 4 ft jump from one bank. He actually did it twice, once successfully, which only he caught on camera, and another where he went for a grab, made the landing, but couldn't make it stick. I seemed to be doing my best attempts at becoming a snowman, but when there's lots of fresh powder to play in, it makes it fun, rather than sore.
We decided to do another Terakoya to Higashi run. I know it probably gets stale hearing us do this, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. There were plenty of bails, washouts and such, all caught on camera, but it was getting on to 2.30, so we were starting to get low. We decided to have a drink at the restaurant at the top of the Higashidate-yama gondola station. They have a terrace here, where you can look out over the area, and take photos but with the wind blowing and a lot of cloud and snow, visibility wasn't the best. After grabbing a hot cocoa, we decided to head towards Ichinose. Conrad started off first, but I soon bombed past him. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm actually decent at holding speed (being a little heavy has it's advantages), so I made it all the way through to the top of the Ichinose lifts before I stopped and waited for the other 2. And waited, and waited. The fiends had gone back through Takamagahara and Tanne no Mori, as they didn't want to push. I decided to go down the green run, but took it easy. I love playing around in the trees, but will only do it when someone is with me, so if I have a big stack/hurt myself, I've at least got someone to help me. So I made it down the bottom and waited... And waited, before I get a message from Dean saying to meet him at the top of Ichinose. I ran to the lift (I had unstrapped and took a seat), so I was up the top of the run quickish, and Met Conrad up there. Apparently he had lost Dean as well, but I told him I was going to wait. It was getting rather chilly now, with a snowy wind blowing. Conrad didn't reel like waiting anymore so he headed down. Then Dean eventually made it up, we started off down the green run. There was a lot of playing about on the sides, but it was getting laters, so we tried not crashing. After catching the lift up again, Conrad caught up with us at the top, while we strapping in. We flew down the green run again, before Conrad broke his binding. I have video of him tobogganing down on his board (fortunately he had his leash attached), and it's hilarious, but that ended his afternoon. Dean and I left him and jumped on the next lift. It was now 4.15 with the lifts closing at 4.40pm. By the time we got to the top, both of us were thinking we had only this run left in us. We were tired and starting to make mistakes. On the run with Conrad, I had decent sized bail and whacked my head, and was lacking energy, so we started down the red run. We played a little in the powder and trees, but as we got to the end of the run, Dean headed for the lift again! It was now 4.30, and we were thinking the same thing again. We the amount of snow on the ground, it being our last day, and 10 mins before the lifts closed, it was time for our last, last run of the day (Sort of like Lockyer's farewell games...).
Once at the top we decided it was the green run with a lot of playing around. Around this tree, over that bank.. it didn't matter if we had to walk back up to the hotel, we were going to have as much fun as possible. I caught all this on camera, but as we slowed down near the ticket office, we knew our snowboarding leg had come to an end. It's bittersweet. I love snowboarding, and could just keep on doing it. But I had taken quite a few hits in the last couple of days, which have taken their toll on my body. I'm also looking forward to seeing Kyoto and our adventures in Tokyo.
Dean and I made our way back to the Villa, and just sat around for a while. My snowgear was a little moist from me doing my best Frosty the snow, so we sat around with them on the heater, drinking an Asahi lager that we hadn't tried before. After just mellowing out, we packed up our boards, bindings, boots, and other gear (we borrowed some hair driers to get them dry in a hurry. Given that it was 4.45ish when we finished boarding, and 6pm before we got upstairs, we must have been down there for a while.
We were all tired and had to do packing, so we went down to the Ramen place for dinner again. I grabbed some gyoza and karaage chicken, and while nice, the quality in Tokyo is better, especialy for the karaage. We headed upstairs to continue packing, and as there was only a third of a bottle of Bombay Sapphire left, we finished that off so we didn't have to lug it around with us. I finished doing some washing, so packed as much as I could in the suitcase, as I would only need one change of clothes for the night in Kyoto. We then watched a little television, before turning the lights out at about 9.40.
Friday, January 20, 2012
What a way to spend the day.
After going to bed at 8.30, I woke early at 5.30, so after brushing my teeth, I took my laptop downstairs and waited for the others to wake up. As the sun started to rise, Mum joined me downstairs, and the view out the window looked good. There was light snow falling, and I checked out the cars in the carpark and there had been a couple of centimetres over night. This would at least fill in all the groomer tracks and make things more pleasant to ride. The others joined us close to breakfast time, and we headed down to the dining room for some food. Another fairly boring affair. I like being in Tokyo as far as food goes, because it gives you a lot more variety about what to eat, but at least you can help yourself at this place to what you want and don't. I grabbed some sausages and hashbrowns while they were still warm, as well as some potato salad, lettuce, bread rolls, rice and miso soup. After breakfast, we headed back up to the lounge area briefly, but with the snow falling heavier than before, we were rearing to to get out, especially as we taken yesterday off.
Before long we were suited up, downstairs and out the door. As our 3 day ticket ran out, we all had to head to the ticket office before starting. We quickly sorted that out, but as there were loads of ski schoolers taking the quad lift up towards the green and red runs, we decided to take the quad lift closest to Khuls, and have a "hopefully" easy run towardsd Terakoya. After a small spot of walking and skating, we were down the other side, and on the lift. The snow looked awesome. None of the hard packed bits of the last 2 days, and plenty of powder on and to the side of the runs. We took a couple of runs down Terakoya before decending on our favourite Terakoya to Higashi/Hoppo run. We were absolutely strapping it down, and both Dean and I had our cameras on the side of our head. I took a big bail with it on, but it's all good. (At least it will make for interesting watching).
We kept going on Hoppo, all the way to the cafe. It was now nearly 10.15 so I needed some energy. Unfortunately they weren't cooking anything just yet, so I had to survive on strawberry cake and beer. We then headed out to the Giant gondola. It's a little but slow, as far as lifts go, but we got to the top and readied ourselves for a run. I turned my camera on to record it, but for some reason, whenever I have it on, I seem to stack it. We shot down the run until we reached the first of the Nishidate lifts, then traversed and caught the hoody lift up to the top of Nishi. Dean and I wanted to catch the slalom run on camera, but Conrad wanted to take it easy, so we parted at the top and were going to meet back at the hoody lift. Dean and I overshot the turn off, so we continued to the end, before catching the first Nishidate lift up and then waiting at the hoodie lift for Conrad.. We ended up waiting for a while and found that Conrad had actually done the green run down to the hoodie lift, before heading up and doing the red run to the hoodie again.
By now it was approximatedly 11.00, so we headed down Nishi towards Takamagahara. After going over the bridge and jumping on the lift, we decided to do the lower green run to Higashi gondola again. As we got out of the lift, all of the sudden, the wind picked up something fierce, blowing snow straight up the olympic course and showering us in it while we were trying to strap up. I turned my camera on again and recorded the run, but after mucking around in the trees, and coming out at the olympic run cross over, my battery died. Damn, no more video. We stopped briefly at the bottom of the gondola before deciding to head back to Ichinose. A quick run down the green run, (avoiding falling ski schoolers where possible) we stopped at Rockies cafe. I decided to get a pork katsu, which came as a set with miso soup, rice, pickles, lotus root and salad. This filled me up well, but after lunch, I was going to teach Whitney again. After getting her stuff, we headed up the back of the hotel. She's getting better at braking, but as anyone who's snowboarded will tell you, the less braking you do, the less you burn up your muscles and less falling over. We did 2 runs, but with no stamina, it's a hard time. I decided to use Whitney's board as a toboggan and slide down the little path she had been learning on... I went flying into a snow bank, then when I had got back on the path, slid all the way to the carpark. We left the board outside the hotel, and I went back in to grab my board.
I met Dean and Conrad at the bottom of Ichinose, so we headed up again. By this time, a lot of the ski schoolers had gone home, and the weather wasn't as nice, with the wind blowing around. But we had the runs to ourselves, so we played around. We eventually headed back over to Terakoya and did our favourite run again. Dean was absolutely hooking it down Terakoya, so much so that I thought he'd washout... I was following close behind in his wake, but had to back off as the ground got a little sketchy. Still had plenty enough speed to get through the little flat section between the runs, and we headed down the path. To cut a long story short, there was plenty of trees and bails in powder banks, but I didn't care. It was great fun and we were having a ball. By the time we got to the Higashidate gondola, it was getting close to 4, so rather than risk getting stuck somewhere we couldn't get out of, we headed back to Ichinose. It was still fairly bare, but Dean wanted to get some footage of me and Conrad. It seems it's not just my camera... whenever theres a camera on, I seem to wash out/stack, even if I've done it multiple times before. Well we did a few runs, I went through the trees in one section and got stuck. I slowed down to much and got buried in a foot of powder, and used up all my reserves getting out. I probably should have known before hand that I was out of energy, but I definitely knew it afterwards...
Being the foolhardy person that I am, rather than calling it quits, I went out for one more run. It was the red run this time, and I stacked it quite a few times. I spotted a tree run I'd like to try.... I made the first part fine, and should have left it at that and got back to the run, but I pushed it through a section that hadn't been tracked before and I bounded over a few lumps and bumps before my board got air, and caught a tree.. Nothing too bad, but I was hurting my muscles due to my in ability to carry myself. I came down and kept going toward the end of the run, deciding to ride one last powder bank, one I'd done numerous times before and shouldn't have had any problems... Well I did... My board stuck in, I went flying and I hurt myself rolling over to get up. So I headed for the road back to the hotel with Conrad. I unstrapped outside Khuls and my muscles made it quite apparent that they didn't like the way I'd been treating them. I was still getting out of my boots by the time Dean got in (he'd gone for one more run) and limped my way up the steep flight of stairs from the locker/store/ramen level to the the annex building.
I grabbed what clothing I needed and headed for the onsen. I was the first/only one in there so I had free reign, before Dean showed up. It felt super hot, so I didn't stay in there long, despite my muscles needing to unwind a little more. Back out to the lounge to write this blog, before we headed downstairs for some ramen. I really like that this place has a ramen place downstairs, as if you want something cheap, filling and you don't feel like going out anywhere, you just have to walk downstairs. Back upstairs for a beer and blog, and that's pretty much how this night ends.
Before long we were suited up, downstairs and out the door. As our 3 day ticket ran out, we all had to head to the ticket office before starting. We quickly sorted that out, but as there were loads of ski schoolers taking the quad lift up towards the green and red runs, we decided to take the quad lift closest to Khuls, and have a "hopefully" easy run towardsd Terakoya. After a small spot of walking and skating, we were down the other side, and on the lift. The snow looked awesome. None of the hard packed bits of the last 2 days, and plenty of powder on and to the side of the runs. We took a couple of runs down Terakoya before decending on our favourite Terakoya to Higashi/Hoppo run. We were absolutely strapping it down, and both Dean and I had our cameras on the side of our head. I took a big bail with it on, but it's all good. (At least it will make for interesting watching).
We kept going on Hoppo, all the way to the cafe. It was now nearly 10.15 so I needed some energy. Unfortunately they weren't cooking anything just yet, so I had to survive on strawberry cake and beer. We then headed out to the Giant gondola. It's a little but slow, as far as lifts go, but we got to the top and readied ourselves for a run. I turned my camera on to record it, but for some reason, whenever I have it on, I seem to stack it. We shot down the run until we reached the first of the Nishidate lifts, then traversed and caught the hoody lift up to the top of Nishi. Dean and I wanted to catch the slalom run on camera, but Conrad wanted to take it easy, so we parted at the top and were going to meet back at the hoody lift. Dean and I overshot the turn off, so we continued to the end, before catching the first Nishidate lift up and then waiting at the hoodie lift for Conrad.. We ended up waiting for a while and found that Conrad had actually done the green run down to the hoodie lift, before heading up and doing the red run to the hoodie again.
By now it was approximatedly 11.00, so we headed down Nishi towards Takamagahara. After going over the bridge and jumping on the lift, we decided to do the lower green run to Higashi gondola again. As we got out of the lift, all of the sudden, the wind picked up something fierce, blowing snow straight up the olympic course and showering us in it while we were trying to strap up. I turned my camera on again and recorded the run, but after mucking around in the trees, and coming out at the olympic run cross over, my battery died. Damn, no more video. We stopped briefly at the bottom of the gondola before deciding to head back to Ichinose. A quick run down the green run, (avoiding falling ski schoolers where possible) we stopped at Rockies cafe. I decided to get a pork katsu, which came as a set with miso soup, rice, pickles, lotus root and salad. This filled me up well, but after lunch, I was going to teach Whitney again. After getting her stuff, we headed up the back of the hotel. She's getting better at braking, but as anyone who's snowboarded will tell you, the less braking you do, the less you burn up your muscles and less falling over. We did 2 runs, but with no stamina, it's a hard time. I decided to use Whitney's board as a toboggan and slide down the little path she had been learning on... I went flying into a snow bank, then when I had got back on the path, slid all the way to the carpark. We left the board outside the hotel, and I went back in to grab my board.
I met Dean and Conrad at the bottom of Ichinose, so we headed up again. By this time, a lot of the ski schoolers had gone home, and the weather wasn't as nice, with the wind blowing around. But we had the runs to ourselves, so we played around. We eventually headed back over to Terakoya and did our favourite run again. Dean was absolutely hooking it down Terakoya, so much so that I thought he'd washout... I was following close behind in his wake, but had to back off as the ground got a little sketchy. Still had plenty enough speed to get through the little flat section between the runs, and we headed down the path. To cut a long story short, there was plenty of trees and bails in powder banks, but I didn't care. It was great fun and we were having a ball. By the time we got to the Higashidate gondola, it was getting close to 4, so rather than risk getting stuck somewhere we couldn't get out of, we headed back to Ichinose. It was still fairly bare, but Dean wanted to get some footage of me and Conrad. It seems it's not just my camera... whenever theres a camera on, I seem to wash out/stack, even if I've done it multiple times before. Well we did a few runs, I went through the trees in one section and got stuck. I slowed down to much and got buried in a foot of powder, and used up all my reserves getting out. I probably should have known before hand that I was out of energy, but I definitely knew it afterwards...
Being the foolhardy person that I am, rather than calling it quits, I went out for one more run. It was the red run this time, and I stacked it quite a few times. I spotted a tree run I'd like to try.... I made the first part fine, and should have left it at that and got back to the run, but I pushed it through a section that hadn't been tracked before and I bounded over a few lumps and bumps before my board got air, and caught a tree.. Nothing too bad, but I was hurting my muscles due to my in ability to carry myself. I came down and kept going toward the end of the run, deciding to ride one last powder bank, one I'd done numerous times before and shouldn't have had any problems... Well I did... My board stuck in, I went flying and I hurt myself rolling over to get up. So I headed for the road back to the hotel with Conrad. I unstrapped outside Khuls and my muscles made it quite apparent that they didn't like the way I'd been treating them. I was still getting out of my boots by the time Dean got in (he'd gone for one more run) and limped my way up the steep flight of stairs from the locker/store/ramen level to the the annex building.
I grabbed what clothing I needed and headed for the onsen. I was the first/only one in there so I had free reign, before Dean showed up. It felt super hot, so I didn't stay in there long, despite my muscles needing to unwind a little more. Back out to the lounge to write this blog, before we headed downstairs for some ramen. I really like that this place has a ramen place downstairs, as if you want something cheap, filling and you don't feel like going out anywhere, you just have to walk downstairs. Back upstairs for a beer and blog, and that's pretty much how this night ends.
Today I did nothing
It would be funny if it wasn't so true. After getting to bed at some ungodly hour of the morning, I awoke at about 6.00, so I had nowhere near enough sleep. It mustn't have been good sleep either as I awoke with a tension headache at the back of my neck. I sat downstairs for a while, having a coffee and more water. Time went by quickly as before I knew it, it was 7.30 and time for breakfast. After the adventurous eating of the previous morning, I had a vary small breakfast with nothing flash. This didn't give me much energy to work with, so I took it easy. not even rushing to head out. I even tried to go back to sleep for a little while, but it didn't work and I figured that I better go out snowboarding.
Dean had already headed out with Conrad sitting in the lounge using his saniPad. I met Dean at the bottom of the Ichinose area, but he was complaining of lack of circulation even though his boots weren't too tight. We headed out for 2 runs, one black and one green. The green run was full of ski schoolers, so in one sections I broke off the path and went through the trees. This was fun, as it was a line I had spotted a couple of days ago, but I never had the courage to go for. This changed when I was nearly wiped out by an errant instructors, so shot through and down a cat track. I think I did pretty well considering, but I slowed down in a couple of sections where I had to go through thin tree gaps, and fell over. I made it back to the run and went around some trees toward the bottom of the run... I came out of the soft snow at the side of the run but had to wash off a lot of speed quickly, as I was about a metre from wiping out a ski schooler. I headed down and floated a powder bank at the end of the run, then unstrapped while I waited for Dean. I waited for a while, before I get a message saying that he's too sore to continue and is heading back. This was just as well, because on both of the runs, I wasn't feeling entirely sure footed and although I didn't catch an edge, I just wasn't feeling it at all. So I walked back to the hotel.
We sat around for a little while, before deciding to go find somewhere to get a massage. We walked down the road towards Ichinose Diamon, before stopping at the other Conbini in the Shiga Olympic Hotel. I grabbed a BBQ (pork?) bun, which is actually one of the best ones I've ever tasted, as well as a Kirin CC Lemon (1000mg of Vitamin C). We kept on walking down to the Sunroute (where we stayed in 2009) as we heard there was massages there. I found some powdery stuff for headaches, but were told by the leadfoot manager that they only had a massage chair. Conrad and Dean had their cameras out shooting various things that caught their eyes, so we continued walking down towards one of the Prince Hotels at Yakebitai. We checked their shop, before we found they had massage chairs as well. It was 100Y for 10 mins, so we decided to just go with it. It was actually not a bad way to spend 10 mins, and although nothing as good as proper hands on massage, was relaxing nonetheless.
We then started the trek back up the hill towards the hotel. I got some weird looks from people, as I only had a pair of shorts, some sneakers, a t-shirt and a jacket on. With the temperature only sitting at about -3deg or so, I wasn't that cold, and can survive quite easily in shorts and a shirt at this temp, provided I keep moving. We kept on walking, and shooting cameras and got back to the hotel. We had some gyoza and ramern, and this powered us up for our next little expedition. We decided to check out some of the other souvenir stores around the top of Ichinose, and spend an hour just pottering around. This is probably what we all needed, as it was relaxing and didn't require us to do a lot of strenuous activity. We headed back to the hotel where I started some washing and hopped in the onsen. I'm getting better with the whole nudity thing. As long as you don't look, you don't get as uncomfortable.
Dean and Conrad were now already in the lounge area tapping away, so I brought my computer down and joined them. Others were watching Sumo on the TV (there is a big championship at the moment, with an Estonian guy winning currently). As the afternoon progressed, the sky started to get all overcast, so that we thought there might be early snow.
By the time 5.30 rolled around, it was dark, and we were hungry. I wanted steak so we went across to Victoria to see if they had the buffet on tonight, but with the place regularly booked out with school kids, it was a students only affair. We then quickly decided to head to Jalon, a bar two hotels down from the main lift area. We've gone there before, but this is usually dependent on weather, as it is a pain to hike back up the hill when it's extemely cold and windy. Fortunately, there was nearly no wind and only light snow falling.
The Chalet Shiga (where Jalon is) is the place the Austrian Ski team stayed during 1998 winter Olympics, and usually they have a big screen projector playing various ski/snow events, and various jerseys from ski events hanging on the wall. We arrived just on 6.00, so happy hour it was. I ordered a Shiga Kogen Pale Ale (Chris, you would love this, as it's hoppy and very similar to some of yours), Dean got a DPA and we all got food. Their menu wasn't massive, (they only have a small oven/kitchen area behind the bar), but Dean and Mum got a Beef Porter Stew, I got a Chicken Salsa burger, and Conrad and Whitney both ordered a bolognese. We sat there for a while eating and slowly drinking our beers, before heading back to the hotel about 7pm.
On the way we stopped at the other Yamazaki conbini at the Shiga Olympic Hotel. I grabbed a coffee ice cream, Conrad grabbed a Haagen Dasz and Whitney chose a Crunky mint icecream. It seems strange but I like eating icecreams even when it's below zero.
We sat around watching VS Arashi (a variety/game show hosted by boy band Arashi) before turning the telly off and nodding off around 8.30. So now I'm here typing this at 5.30 in the morning, because my body tells me 9 hours is enough sleep....
Pictures for the past couple of days are up at https://picasaweb.google.com/sciclone
Dean had already headed out with Conrad sitting in the lounge using his saniPad. I met Dean at the bottom of the Ichinose area, but he was complaining of lack of circulation even though his boots weren't too tight. We headed out for 2 runs, one black and one green. The green run was full of ski schoolers, so in one sections I broke off the path and went through the trees. This was fun, as it was a line I had spotted a couple of days ago, but I never had the courage to go for. This changed when I was nearly wiped out by an errant instructors, so shot through and down a cat track. I think I did pretty well considering, but I slowed down in a couple of sections where I had to go through thin tree gaps, and fell over. I made it back to the run and went around some trees toward the bottom of the run... I came out of the soft snow at the side of the run but had to wash off a lot of speed quickly, as I was about a metre from wiping out a ski schooler. I headed down and floated a powder bank at the end of the run, then unstrapped while I waited for Dean. I waited for a while, before I get a message saying that he's too sore to continue and is heading back. This was just as well, because on both of the runs, I wasn't feeling entirely sure footed and although I didn't catch an edge, I just wasn't feeling it at all. So I walked back to the hotel.
We sat around for a little while, before deciding to go find somewhere to get a massage. We walked down the road towards Ichinose Diamon, before stopping at the other Conbini in the Shiga Olympic Hotel. I grabbed a BBQ (pork?) bun, which is actually one of the best ones I've ever tasted, as well as a Kirin CC Lemon (1000mg of Vitamin C). We kept on walking down to the Sunroute (where we stayed in 2009) as we heard there was massages there. I found some powdery stuff for headaches, but were told by the leadfoot manager that they only had a massage chair. Conrad and Dean had their cameras out shooting various things that caught their eyes, so we continued walking down towards one of the Prince Hotels at Yakebitai. We checked their shop, before we found they had massage chairs as well. It was 100Y for 10 mins, so we decided to just go with it. It was actually not a bad way to spend 10 mins, and although nothing as good as proper hands on massage, was relaxing nonetheless.
We then started the trek back up the hill towards the hotel. I got some weird looks from people, as I only had a pair of shorts, some sneakers, a t-shirt and a jacket on. With the temperature only sitting at about -3deg or so, I wasn't that cold, and can survive quite easily in shorts and a shirt at this temp, provided I keep moving. We kept on walking, and shooting cameras and got back to the hotel. We had some gyoza and ramern, and this powered us up for our next little expedition. We decided to check out some of the other souvenir stores around the top of Ichinose, and spend an hour just pottering around. This is probably what we all needed, as it was relaxing and didn't require us to do a lot of strenuous activity. We headed back to the hotel where I started some washing and hopped in the onsen. I'm getting better with the whole nudity thing. As long as you don't look, you don't get as uncomfortable.
Dean and Conrad were now already in the lounge area tapping away, so I brought my computer down and joined them. Others were watching Sumo on the TV (there is a big championship at the moment, with an Estonian guy winning currently). As the afternoon progressed, the sky started to get all overcast, so that we thought there might be early snow.
By the time 5.30 rolled around, it was dark, and we were hungry. I wanted steak so we went across to Victoria to see if they had the buffet on tonight, but with the place regularly booked out with school kids, it was a students only affair. We then quickly decided to head to Jalon, a bar two hotels down from the main lift area. We've gone there before, but this is usually dependent on weather, as it is a pain to hike back up the hill when it's extemely cold and windy. Fortunately, there was nearly no wind and only light snow falling.
The Chalet Shiga (where Jalon is) is the place the Austrian Ski team stayed during 1998 winter Olympics, and usually they have a big screen projector playing various ski/snow events, and various jerseys from ski events hanging on the wall. We arrived just on 6.00, so happy hour it was. I ordered a Shiga Kogen Pale Ale (Chris, you would love this, as it's hoppy and very similar to some of yours), Dean got a DPA and we all got food. Their menu wasn't massive, (they only have a small oven/kitchen area behind the bar), but Dean and Mum got a Beef Porter Stew, I got a Chicken Salsa burger, and Conrad and Whitney both ordered a bolognese. We sat there for a while eating and slowly drinking our beers, before heading back to the hotel about 7pm.
On the way we stopped at the other Yamazaki conbini at the Shiga Olympic Hotel. I grabbed a coffee ice cream, Conrad grabbed a Haagen Dasz and Whitney chose a Crunky mint icecream. It seems strange but I like eating icecreams even when it's below zero.
We sat around watching VS Arashi (a variety/game show hosted by boy band Arashi) before turning the telly off and nodding off around 8.30. So now I'm here typing this at 5.30 in the morning, because my body tells me 9 hours is enough sleep....
Pictures for the past couple of days are up at https://picasaweb.google.com/sciclone
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Hump day, or hump in the snow day
I awoke early again on Wednesday morning, after crashing out early the night before. I haven't really been having as much beer, whether with meals or while snowboarding, and I think it's actually causing me to have less energy. I stayed downstairs tapping away before the others came down. Breakfast was nothing special, suffice to say I'm trying, but I still can't eat cooked fish without my stomach trying to do a pyrotechnics act. That sort of set the theme for the day.
After 2.5 days of going hard out on the runs, we decided to tone it back a bit as we were all feeling the effects of hard exercise. We didn't even get suited up and out the door until after 9. By this time the ski schoolers were out in force, and while we weaved in and out of them, it made it hard avoiding a crash. We then caught the lift back up and headed over to Terakoya. This had a couple of ski schoolers, but we had a good couple of runs in the various paths with some powder before doing our favourite run. We still played around in the powder, before heading up the Gondola, but then we headed for the restaurant at the foot of Takamagahara Mammoth (the building in the webcam). We had decided to stop properly and eat morning tea as well as afternoon tea, because the last couple of days had consisted of a can of drink, which burns off really quickly. I ordered fries and beer, while Conrad went the tetotaller option of Calpis. We ended up spending about half an hour in there, before we headed out back up to Higashidate-yama for some more playing around. After a quick run with Conrad doing some shooting of Dean and me playing in the snow banks, it took us longer to get down but we still had fun. A run or two of various paths, and we found ourselves back over at Takamagahara to get some pizza and beer for lunch. (Awesome food for snowboarding)
We then headed up the quad lift at Takamagahara and over the back to another one of our favourite runs. It took us a while to do this run, as Dean went slack country too far before losing speed and getting buried under a foot of snow. This took him nearly 3 mins to get out of, because he had stacks of snow on the top of his board, and had to wade through the powder to get back to the run. Once he was out and I knew he was ok, I headed off to the Higashi gondola. From here we headed back over to Terakoya via a back run I don't think we've done before, but after we played around in the powder again, we did our run from Terakoya to the bottom of Higashi. I caught this one on camera using my goggle cam, so when I get the chance I'll upload it and stick it on youtube or something. We caught the Gondola back up, and headed towards Ichinose, but decided to do the red run, as there was still quite a lot of ski schoolers on the green run. We hammered it down, avoiding the advanced schoolers, that still don't know how to not take up the whole path, but by this time my feet stopped responding properly. We headed out the bottom, and I floated the snow bank, but I slowed down and Charlie Brown'd headfirst into the snow. It didn't hurt, but with such a silly mistake being made, I knew I was out of energy and needed to stop.
Dean and I wanted to go out for a nighta (night skiing) as our hotel does a discounted lift ticket, but after getting some ramen for an early dinner, we just didn't have the energy to get suited up and go back out. After watching some TV in the lobby for a while, we headed upstairs and started drinking brandy. Dean decided to turn in at about 8.00ish, but we didn't feel like sleeping, so we headed downstairs.
Every night the manager/owner puts out some whiskey and some Nozawana pickles, so Mum and I obliged him by joining him for a drink. We also shared some of our brandy that we brought downstairs with us, with the Russian and Dutchman joining as well. There is also a young Korean guy working at the hotel, so later on, he and the other manager joined us. What eventuated was us staying up til 1.30am with the Russian and the Dutchman singing Sam Cooke, and listening to various jazz and flamenco songs.
I don't usually stay up this late and never when I'm snowboarding, but it happened anyway. Needless to say, I was wrecked when I woke up the next morning... which was this morning.. but that's a story for another day.
After 2.5 days of going hard out on the runs, we decided to tone it back a bit as we were all feeling the effects of hard exercise. We didn't even get suited up and out the door until after 9. By this time the ski schoolers were out in force, and while we weaved in and out of them, it made it hard avoiding a crash. We then caught the lift back up and headed over to Terakoya. This had a couple of ski schoolers, but we had a good couple of runs in the various paths with some powder before doing our favourite run. We still played around in the powder, before heading up the Gondola, but then we headed for the restaurant at the foot of Takamagahara Mammoth (the building in the webcam). We had decided to stop properly and eat morning tea as well as afternoon tea, because the last couple of days had consisted of a can of drink, which burns off really quickly. I ordered fries and beer, while Conrad went the tetotaller option of Calpis. We ended up spending about half an hour in there, before we headed out back up to Higashidate-yama for some more playing around. After a quick run with Conrad doing some shooting of Dean and me playing in the snow banks, it took us longer to get down but we still had fun. A run or two of various paths, and we found ourselves back over at Takamagahara to get some pizza and beer for lunch. (Awesome food for snowboarding)
We then headed up the quad lift at Takamagahara and over the back to another one of our favourite runs. It took us a while to do this run, as Dean went slack country too far before losing speed and getting buried under a foot of snow. This took him nearly 3 mins to get out of, because he had stacks of snow on the top of his board, and had to wade through the powder to get back to the run. Once he was out and I knew he was ok, I headed off to the Higashi gondola. From here we headed back over to Terakoya via a back run I don't think we've done before, but after we played around in the powder again, we did our run from Terakoya to the bottom of Higashi. I caught this one on camera using my goggle cam, so when I get the chance I'll upload it and stick it on youtube or something. We caught the Gondola back up, and headed towards Ichinose, but decided to do the red run, as there was still quite a lot of ski schoolers on the green run. We hammered it down, avoiding the advanced schoolers, that still don't know how to not take up the whole path, but by this time my feet stopped responding properly. We headed out the bottom, and I floated the snow bank, but I slowed down and Charlie Brown'd headfirst into the snow. It didn't hurt, but with such a silly mistake being made, I knew I was out of energy and needed to stop.
Dean and I wanted to go out for a nighta (night skiing) as our hotel does a discounted lift ticket, but after getting some ramen for an early dinner, we just didn't have the energy to get suited up and go back out. After watching some TV in the lobby for a while, we headed upstairs and started drinking brandy. Dean decided to turn in at about 8.00ish, but we didn't feel like sleeping, so we headed downstairs.
Every night the manager/owner puts out some whiskey and some Nozawana pickles, so Mum and I obliged him by joining him for a drink. We also shared some of our brandy that we brought downstairs with us, with the Russian and Dutchman joining as well. There is also a young Korean guy working at the hotel, so later on, he and the other manager joined us. What eventuated was us staying up til 1.30am with the Russian and the Dutchman singing Sam Cooke, and listening to various jazz and flamenco songs.
I don't usually stay up this late and never when I'm snowboarding, but it happened anyway. Needless to say, I was wrecked when I woke up the next morning... which was this morning.. but that's a story for another day.
My body's broken, your's is bent.
I awoke early with stomach pains, so I let the others sleep and headed downstairs, writing my blog draft in the process. It was still dark, no one else was up so I had a bit of silence, before the manager awoke and turned on the kerosene heater. Just as well, because without heating, this place gets a little chilly.
I went back up stairs, as I only had a yukata and boardies on, so I need to put a shirt on. The others were mostly awake now, so we headed downstairs where we did some more blogging/uploading until 7.30 when the breakfast room opened. With only a couple of us staying, they hadn't put on a buffet, just a small japanese style breakfast. We placed bets (not literally) on what time this energy would run out, as it wasn't high on carbs or protein, so Conrad said 9, while Dean and I said 10. We wanted to get to Terakoya early, as with the busloads of school kids that arrived the night before, Conrad's training run would be packed. We did a couple of runs at Terakoya running along the left hand side (when looking from the lift). We hadn't mucked around here before, but with what looked like untracked snow along the two runs, we blasted down and up again. On the third time, we decided to do our favourite Terakoya - Higashi run, although this time, rather than going to to the gondola, we headed down ot Hoppo-Bundaira instead. The snow in the main groomed section of our tree run was a little crusty but we still found snow on the sides to play around with. As we got to Hoppo-Bundaira, we found the main run area inhabited by ski-schoolers, so some quick turns later, and Dean and I were down an untracked bit of groom, with some powder under the lifts. We took the lift back up to do the Bundaira run again, and continued flying down, before stopping at the Mont Rose cafe at the bottom of Giant, a steep black run. We had a bite to eat, as it was now 10am and we were already running low on energy (Dean and I called it :P) I grabbed some rum and raisan ice cream, and some biscuit things with chocolate inside. After fuelling up a bit, I wanted to do the Giant. Dean was hesitant, as the last time we tried doing it, it was mogulled to death and was dangerous for snowboarders. This time though, it was a lot earlier, and the snow looked a lot better, so we went down it. The lift takes you to the very top of the fun, and before you are over the edge, you can see the angle of it. I sped away, and played in some ungroomed sections on the side, but still was hooking it. I kept going, past the cafe, down the gully and had enough speed to make it up to the Nishidate lift.
I now waited for Dean and Conrad. I found out later that Conrad had a big bail coming down Giant, so that's why he was taking his time. We caught the lift up towards Nishidate, but spotted the slalom run. The last 2 times we were here, it was closed off and being used for time trials, but now, it was free. So after getting off the first lift, we went down about 200m to the hoody lift that takes you to the top of Nishidate. We absolutely belted down this run. As it is black/red, it's not used by that many people, so we had a fresh groomed run to ourselves. Dean sped away, while I bailed avoiding Conrad who had stopped about 5m in front of me. I quickly got up and dusted myself off, before hooking down to meet Dean, waiting at the bottom of the Nishi lift. We were super-psyched and decided to do it again. Another fast run down, with some powder bank floating (and stacking) we were at the bottom again. We decided to head back towards Ichinose, so we caught both the lifts again, before pounding down the slope toward Takamagahara. This requires you to cross the bridge across the road, which is ok if you are on skis, but if you are on a snowboard and don't feel like pushing, then you have to have enough speed to make it up the bridge and across the flat section. Once you're there, you're home free. I'm quite good at carrying speed, so when it came to this, I blasted down through some powder at the side of the run, and still had enough speed to get across the bridge, and most of the way to the Takamagahara quad lift gate. We took it to the top, and were about to head straight toward Ichinose, when we decided to cut through from Takamagahara to Tanne no mori into the back of our hotel. Unfortunately this meant cutting across the moguls, but after picking a line through the trees that would allow us to go through without having to go down the moguls, we made it to Tanne no mori. Conrad and I went one way, before I peeled off towards the hotel through a couple of powder traps. I made it through but not with great speed, then all of a sudden Dean comes bounding through the powder trap, and meets me on the same path. Conrad had kept going, toward the road that Khuls is at the end of, but Dean and I played around and went through the back of the hotel down the little path from the carpark inbetween the two buildings. We were supposed to meet Whitney at the ramen place downstairs, but the ramen shop was closed, so Mum and Whit were in Rockies at the Ichinose Hotel. Conrad found them first, then Dean (who left me waiting in the foyer of our hotel) before he sent me a message. We had a bowl of rice with stuff, and a beer, before Whitney and I eventually headed back to the hotel to get her board and boots. She was feeling low on energy, so rather than buy a lift ticket we just went to the path behind the hotel. We then had a couple of runs through going heelside, but Whitney landed on her bindings with her knee, and had run out of energy by that stage, so we called it quits.
I then went to find Dean and Conrad. I had sent Dean a message, but no response. Just as I'm waiting near Khuls, I see Dean flying out from the end of the green run toward the lift, I set off after him, seeing him on the lift. I called out, but with face warmers covering ears, both him and Conrad are deaf. I then jump on the lift and would only be about 6 chairs behind them, but by the time I get to the top, they've disappeared. I thought I saw Conrad's beanie heading towards Terakoya, but I thought I could be mistaken and it could just be snow. I set off down the green run, and set a cracking pace, but no Dean or Conrad. Damn it. They did go to Terakoya. So after getting the lift back up, I head to Terakoya, then down through Higashidate towards the Gondola. Usually, I'd be playing around in the trees, but I don't like snowboarding alone, as if I get stuck, or hurt myself, then there is no one around. I make it to the bottom of the gondola, and there Dean and Conrad are sitting and having a drink. I quickly down a Minute Maid, before we all head up the gondola again. By this time we have to start thinking about heading back, as it's getting closer to 4pm. So we head down the small run towards Ichinose before doing a switchback to Takamagahara. We (stupidly) head through the moguls, but at least they are soft from constantly getting cut up. We eventually make it to the path to Tanne no mori, but I took a wrong turn and had to wade through powder to get back to the path. We head up Ichinose again, having fun down the green run now that it's not full of ski schoolers, then get the last chair of the day up and down the red run. By this time I'm falling over more and my feet aren't responding, so it's time to head in.
We sit around blogging for a while before deciding to go get food. Unfortunately the ramen place downstairs wasn't open, so we set out looking for somewhere to eat. We start walking along the road towards Takamagahara, but none of the hotels look like they have a restaurant open to hte public. So we head back toward Victoria's to see if we can get into the buffet. The maitre-d tells us that tonight its hotel guests only, so we haven't really got any other choice but to go to the Nepalese place again. Not that I mind, but curry 2 nights in a row is now what I had in mind. So we sit around eating but as we're leaving the owner asks mum whether she's been here last year. So he remembers us... Well, not 1 year ago, it was 2 but it's always nice to be remembered.
We head back to the hotel where we sit in our room having some brandy, but by the time it's 9 I'm already asleep.
I went back up stairs, as I only had a yukata and boardies on, so I need to put a shirt on. The others were mostly awake now, so we headed downstairs where we did some more blogging/uploading until 7.30 when the breakfast room opened. With only a couple of us staying, they hadn't put on a buffet, just a small japanese style breakfast. We placed bets (not literally) on what time this energy would run out, as it wasn't high on carbs or protein, so Conrad said 9, while Dean and I said 10. We wanted to get to Terakoya early, as with the busloads of school kids that arrived the night before, Conrad's training run would be packed. We did a couple of runs at Terakoya running along the left hand side (when looking from the lift). We hadn't mucked around here before, but with what looked like untracked snow along the two runs, we blasted down and up again. On the third time, we decided to do our favourite Terakoya - Higashi run, although this time, rather than going to to the gondola, we headed down ot Hoppo-Bundaira instead. The snow in the main groomed section of our tree run was a little crusty but we still found snow on the sides to play around with. As we got to Hoppo-Bundaira, we found the main run area inhabited by ski-schoolers, so some quick turns later, and Dean and I were down an untracked bit of groom, with some powder under the lifts. We took the lift back up to do the Bundaira run again, and continued flying down, before stopping at the Mont Rose cafe at the bottom of Giant, a steep black run. We had a bite to eat, as it was now 10am and we were already running low on energy (Dean and I called it :P) I grabbed some rum and raisan ice cream, and some biscuit things with chocolate inside. After fuelling up a bit, I wanted to do the Giant. Dean was hesitant, as the last time we tried doing it, it was mogulled to death and was dangerous for snowboarders. This time though, it was a lot earlier, and the snow looked a lot better, so we went down it. The lift takes you to the very top of the fun, and before you are over the edge, you can see the angle of it. I sped away, and played in some ungroomed sections on the side, but still was hooking it. I kept going, past the cafe, down the gully and had enough speed to make it up to the Nishidate lift.
I now waited for Dean and Conrad. I found out later that Conrad had a big bail coming down Giant, so that's why he was taking his time. We caught the lift up towards Nishidate, but spotted the slalom run. The last 2 times we were here, it was closed off and being used for time trials, but now, it was free. So after getting off the first lift, we went down about 200m to the hoody lift that takes you to the top of Nishidate. We absolutely belted down this run. As it is black/red, it's not used by that many people, so we had a fresh groomed run to ourselves. Dean sped away, while I bailed avoiding Conrad who had stopped about 5m in front of me. I quickly got up and dusted myself off, before hooking down to meet Dean, waiting at the bottom of the Nishi lift. We were super-psyched and decided to do it again. Another fast run down, with some powder bank floating (and stacking) we were at the bottom again. We decided to head back towards Ichinose, so we caught both the lifts again, before pounding down the slope toward Takamagahara. This requires you to cross the bridge across the road, which is ok if you are on skis, but if you are on a snowboard and don't feel like pushing, then you have to have enough speed to make it up the bridge and across the flat section. Once you're there, you're home free. I'm quite good at carrying speed, so when it came to this, I blasted down through some powder at the side of the run, and still had enough speed to get across the bridge, and most of the way to the Takamagahara quad lift gate. We took it to the top, and were about to head straight toward Ichinose, when we decided to cut through from Takamagahara to Tanne no mori into the back of our hotel. Unfortunately this meant cutting across the moguls, but after picking a line through the trees that would allow us to go through without having to go down the moguls, we made it to Tanne no mori. Conrad and I went one way, before I peeled off towards the hotel through a couple of powder traps. I made it through but not with great speed, then all of a sudden Dean comes bounding through the powder trap, and meets me on the same path. Conrad had kept going, toward the road that Khuls is at the end of, but Dean and I played around and went through the back of the hotel down the little path from the carpark inbetween the two buildings. We were supposed to meet Whitney at the ramen place downstairs, but the ramen shop was closed, so Mum and Whit were in Rockies at the Ichinose Hotel. Conrad found them first, then Dean (who left me waiting in the foyer of our hotel) before he sent me a message. We had a bowl of rice with stuff, and a beer, before Whitney and I eventually headed back to the hotel to get her board and boots. She was feeling low on energy, so rather than buy a lift ticket we just went to the path behind the hotel. We then had a couple of runs through going heelside, but Whitney landed on her bindings with her knee, and had run out of energy by that stage, so we called it quits.
I then went to find Dean and Conrad. I had sent Dean a message, but no response. Just as I'm waiting near Khuls, I see Dean flying out from the end of the green run toward the lift, I set off after him, seeing him on the lift. I called out, but with face warmers covering ears, both him and Conrad are deaf. I then jump on the lift and would only be about 6 chairs behind them, but by the time I get to the top, they've disappeared. I thought I saw Conrad's beanie heading towards Terakoya, but I thought I could be mistaken and it could just be snow. I set off down the green run, and set a cracking pace, but no Dean or Conrad. Damn it. They did go to Terakoya. So after getting the lift back up, I head to Terakoya, then down through Higashidate towards the Gondola. Usually, I'd be playing around in the trees, but I don't like snowboarding alone, as if I get stuck, or hurt myself, then there is no one around. I make it to the bottom of the gondola, and there Dean and Conrad are sitting and having a drink. I quickly down a Minute Maid, before we all head up the gondola again. By this time we have to start thinking about heading back, as it's getting closer to 4pm. So we head down the small run towards Ichinose before doing a switchback to Takamagahara. We (stupidly) head through the moguls, but at least they are soft from constantly getting cut up. We eventually make it to the path to Tanne no mori, but I took a wrong turn and had to wade through powder to get back to the path. We head up Ichinose again, having fun down the green run now that it's not full of ski schoolers, then get the last chair of the day up and down the red run. By this time I'm falling over more and my feet aren't responding, so it's time to head in.
We sit around blogging for a while before deciding to go get food. Unfortunately the ramen place downstairs wasn't open, so we set out looking for somewhere to eat. We start walking along the road towards Takamagahara, but none of the hotels look like they have a restaurant open to hte public. So we head back toward Victoria's to see if we can get into the buffet. The maitre-d tells us that tonight its hotel guests only, so we haven't really got any other choice but to go to the Nepalese place again. Not that I mind, but curry 2 nights in a row is now what I had in mind. So we sit around eating but as we're leaving the owner asks mum whether she's been here last year. So he remembers us... Well, not 1 year ago, it was 2 but it's always nice to be remembered.
We head back to the hotel where we sit in our room having some brandy, but by the time it's 9 I'm already asleep.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Rumble in the bronx (cheer)
I woke early on Monday morning with my belly rumbling. So I grabbed my yukata and headed downstairs.... Man I love heated toilet seats on a cold winters morning.
When I got back upstairs, I continued writing my blog, though my battery on my laptop was nearly dead, as I hadn't charged it since Sakura Hotel. At least it had enough juice to finish my Saturday blog, and I started on Sunday, but it was heading toward 7am, and we needed to pack up our stuff. This is the problem with moving hotels on a nearly daily basis. We then went for breakfast at 7.30, and had a decent spread of food. I want to break out of my usual eating habits as much as possible (still can't eat cooked fish, it makes me ill), but I had some eggs, bacon, sausages, sashimi (I had some octopus and salmon), lotus root, and various little pickles and stuff, with a little bit of salad thrown in for good measure. We ate well, because it's important when you are boarding... Less energy = more pain.
We had to finish packing, so after breakfast we headed up stairs and started bringing stuff down. I got engrossed watching children's television, (they have some cute chicks on morning tele), but we then started bringing everything to the storage room. Whitney was going to give snowboarding a try, so we set up her board and bindings as well. I was anxious to get out, but we didn't start until about 9am. What followed was 2 hours getting Whitney down a run. We were sort of prepared a little, as Conrad's first run took about 1.5hrs, but Whitney just doesn't have the physical stamina that is required. She started getting the toe-side braking by the end of the run, but she was wrecked, so she took her board off and started walking down.. Well I say walking because after getting her feet stuck in a couple of drifts, before deciding to slide down on her bum. The next bit was funny as... Whitney didn't have a leash on her board, but she started using it like a toboggan. Then she got too much speed and fell off... only problem was that she wasn't attached to the board in any way, so the board goes careening down the slope. I leave her there and set off after it at a cracking pace, but it's got a good 50m head start. Fortunately it misses the many ski schoolers, and leaves a trail to follow, before ending up in some trees toward the bottom of the run.
By this time, Dean's next to Whit, and just keeping pace with her walking... She is embarrassed, and out of energy, so she decides to head back to the hotel. That leaves Dean, Con and I free to do whatever, so we head up and over the back of Ichinose to Terakoya. The run from Terakoya to the bottom of Higashidate would have to be one of my favourite runs, as it combines speed, technical turns, cat tracks and areas where you can float through powder banks to side of the run. We make good time, with Dean and me floating along some cat tracks, while Conrad sticks to the runs. We make it to the bottom where the gondola is, but by this time, we're getting low on energy, so we head back to Ichinose where we've got a ticket for half-priced pizza at Khuls. Dean, Conrad and I fill up on Potato and bacon pizza, and while wanting to head out as soon as possible, decide to start lugging the luggage from Khuls to Villa Ichinose where we'll be spending the rest of the week in the snow.
This took a little longer than expected, as there are 2 buildings that make up the Villa Ichinose, a front building on the street, which houses a ramen restaurant, mini-convenience store and ski lockers, while the "annex" holds the main hotel area. The staff were polite, with the young guy who speaks english (actually quite decently), telling us that we couldn't go to our room yet, as they hadn't finished making it up. That was ok, as we wanted to head out again, but it still required us to drag half a ton of baggage into a little room near the front desk. Two steep flights of stairs meant that it sapped us of energy, but soon, we were back on our way out.
We decided to head across to Yakebitaiyama, crossing across the bridge at the bottom of Ichinose Family, to Ichinose Diamond, then getting a couple of lifts up and over to Yakebitai. Although it was mid afternoon, there were still some areas that hadn't been tracked through. It seems like there are less people here this time. I don't know whether it's because of the financial crisis, or because it's just after a couple of public holidays, but for whatever reason, it seems like the numbers less that last time (although we did come in mid February last time).
Yakebitai has some fast terrain, and after making our way down a couple of different ways, we ended up at the Gondola No.2 This took us up to the top of the Olympic course, a black run with steepening gradient. The changes in the gradient usually have a lip, so as long as you remember to slow down a tad, you won't go flying. Anyhow, I went probably the fastest I've been on a board here. With the snow half untouched, it was easy to spot a good line that didn't have you criss-crossing over someone elses tracks, causing bumps. We made it down the bottom in no time, and got the same gondola up to do the mini-giant course. This one wasn't as good, as there were some moguls and other things to make it a tad harder to go really fast, but it was still fun nonetheless. By now it was getting on to about 3.30, so we decided to head back towards Ichinose, as we don't really want to get stuck without the lifts. This took us down one of the sides of Yakebitai with ungroomed runs. Lots of fun doing powder flicks, but not one where you could go barrelling down with massive amounts of speed. Still good times, and we made it back to Ichinose Family area at about 4.00. This left us time for a couple more runs before the lifts closed. We decided to do the Conrad's Training run. It's only a green, but with plenty of powder to be found at the sides and a few cat tracks as well, we had fun while hurtling toward the lift.
They had already started putting the seats up on the lift chairs, so it couldn't have been long before closing. But we grabbed our last chair of the day and decided to do the black run, as this would shoot us out opposite the entry to Tanne no mori, the area behind our hotel. We hooked it across, but Dean and Conrad spot the area I had pointed out, so they just headed down towards the road where Khuls is. I, on the otherhand, "had" to duck under a rope because I didn't have enough speed to continue on the path I had picked. What happened next was awesome. I was riding through untouched knee high powder. I didn't stack it, kept good speed and came out with about a foot of snow on my board. I still wanted to find the back entrance of the hotel, but took a wrong path and lost too much speed to make it across. I did end up going between 2 hotels, and out onto the road some 50m in front of Conrad and Dean, but I had a ball. Just as well the lifts were closed though, because I was spent.
We headed up to the hotel and found our room. It was another tatami room, but quite big. It had 2 seperate rooms for us and the girls, and a toilet and bath/wet area shower. I hadn't expected this, and considering it's nearly half the price of Khuls, I'd say it's actually better. The manager of the hotel is nice as well, and this place is run a bit more like a family hotel than Khuls. I decided to go jump in the onsen. I'm still not 100% comfortable with the whole nuding up thing, but with only about 5 rooms being taken, I figured it would be quiet. I was right, as I had the whole onsen to myself. This one had only a main "pool" area, but seemed about the same size as the two smaller ones at Khuls. I relaxed in there for about 15mins. My body needed it, as when you are teaching someone, you spend a lot of time on your knees and bum, so these were aching. After a quick shower off, I was dressed and met the others in the lounge area, where Dean and Conrad were tapping away on blogs or something. We had wanted to go to the Ramen place downstairs, but this was closed, so we decided to go to Kamoshika, the Nepalese curry/tandoori place in the hotel next door. I figured, it wasn't too far, so I just stayed in my tshirt and boardies, while the others were rugged up.
Kamoshika is good value if you want to eat cheap, as a curry (no rice) and a naan will set you back about 800Y. This was all I needed, as I was feeling a bit dehydrated and had a killer head/neck ache from stacking it a couple of times. Dean ordered a big set meal, Mum and Whitney ordered the same, while Conrad went with a curry and rice gratin covered in cheese. If you've seen pictures from our last trips here, you would remember that the naan are the size of elephant ears. We ate til we were full, thanked the owners, then headed back to the hotel. By this time we were wrecked. We watched some Japanese TV (Naruhodo High School), a gameshow where celebrities have to participate in certain challenges. It was funny, but it finished about 8.00, at which time, I passed out from exhaustion.
When I got back upstairs, I continued writing my blog, though my battery on my laptop was nearly dead, as I hadn't charged it since Sakura Hotel. At least it had enough juice to finish my Saturday blog, and I started on Sunday, but it was heading toward 7am, and we needed to pack up our stuff. This is the problem with moving hotels on a nearly daily basis. We then went for breakfast at 7.30, and had a decent spread of food. I want to break out of my usual eating habits as much as possible (still can't eat cooked fish, it makes me ill), but I had some eggs, bacon, sausages, sashimi (I had some octopus and salmon), lotus root, and various little pickles and stuff, with a little bit of salad thrown in for good measure. We ate well, because it's important when you are boarding... Less energy = more pain.
We had to finish packing, so after breakfast we headed up stairs and started bringing stuff down. I got engrossed watching children's television, (they have some cute chicks on morning tele), but we then started bringing everything to the storage room. Whitney was going to give snowboarding a try, so we set up her board and bindings as well. I was anxious to get out, but we didn't start until about 9am. What followed was 2 hours getting Whitney down a run. We were sort of prepared a little, as Conrad's first run took about 1.5hrs, but Whitney just doesn't have the physical stamina that is required. She started getting the toe-side braking by the end of the run, but she was wrecked, so she took her board off and started walking down.. Well I say walking because after getting her feet stuck in a couple of drifts, before deciding to slide down on her bum. The next bit was funny as... Whitney didn't have a leash on her board, but she started using it like a toboggan. Then she got too much speed and fell off... only problem was that she wasn't attached to the board in any way, so the board goes careening down the slope. I leave her there and set off after it at a cracking pace, but it's got a good 50m head start. Fortunately it misses the many ski schoolers, and leaves a trail to follow, before ending up in some trees toward the bottom of the run.
By this time, Dean's next to Whit, and just keeping pace with her walking... She is embarrassed, and out of energy, so she decides to head back to the hotel. That leaves Dean, Con and I free to do whatever, so we head up and over the back of Ichinose to Terakoya. The run from Terakoya to the bottom of Higashidate would have to be one of my favourite runs, as it combines speed, technical turns, cat tracks and areas where you can float through powder banks to side of the run. We make good time, with Dean and me floating along some cat tracks, while Conrad sticks to the runs. We make it to the bottom where the gondola is, but by this time, we're getting low on energy, so we head back to Ichinose where we've got a ticket for half-priced pizza at Khuls. Dean, Conrad and I fill up on Potato and bacon pizza, and while wanting to head out as soon as possible, decide to start lugging the luggage from Khuls to Villa Ichinose where we'll be spending the rest of the week in the snow.
This took a little longer than expected, as there are 2 buildings that make up the Villa Ichinose, a front building on the street, which houses a ramen restaurant, mini-convenience store and ski lockers, while the "annex" holds the main hotel area. The staff were polite, with the young guy who speaks english (actually quite decently), telling us that we couldn't go to our room yet, as they hadn't finished making it up. That was ok, as we wanted to head out again, but it still required us to drag half a ton of baggage into a little room near the front desk. Two steep flights of stairs meant that it sapped us of energy, but soon, we were back on our way out.
We decided to head across to Yakebitaiyama, crossing across the bridge at the bottom of Ichinose Family, to Ichinose Diamond, then getting a couple of lifts up and over to Yakebitai. Although it was mid afternoon, there were still some areas that hadn't been tracked through. It seems like there are less people here this time. I don't know whether it's because of the financial crisis, or because it's just after a couple of public holidays, but for whatever reason, it seems like the numbers less that last time (although we did come in mid February last time).
Yakebitai has some fast terrain, and after making our way down a couple of different ways, we ended up at the Gondola No.2 This took us up to the top of the Olympic course, a black run with steepening gradient. The changes in the gradient usually have a lip, so as long as you remember to slow down a tad, you won't go flying. Anyhow, I went probably the fastest I've been on a board here. With the snow half untouched, it was easy to spot a good line that didn't have you criss-crossing over someone elses tracks, causing bumps. We made it down the bottom in no time, and got the same gondola up to do the mini-giant course. This one wasn't as good, as there were some moguls and other things to make it a tad harder to go really fast, but it was still fun nonetheless. By now it was getting on to about 3.30, so we decided to head back towards Ichinose, as we don't really want to get stuck without the lifts. This took us down one of the sides of Yakebitai with ungroomed runs. Lots of fun doing powder flicks, but not one where you could go barrelling down with massive amounts of speed. Still good times, and we made it back to Ichinose Family area at about 4.00. This left us time for a couple more runs before the lifts closed. We decided to do the Conrad's Training run. It's only a green, but with plenty of powder to be found at the sides and a few cat tracks as well, we had fun while hurtling toward the lift.
They had already started putting the seats up on the lift chairs, so it couldn't have been long before closing. But we grabbed our last chair of the day and decided to do the black run, as this would shoot us out opposite the entry to Tanne no mori, the area behind our hotel. We hooked it across, but Dean and Conrad spot the area I had pointed out, so they just headed down towards the road where Khuls is. I, on the otherhand, "had" to duck under a rope because I didn't have enough speed to continue on the path I had picked. What happened next was awesome. I was riding through untouched knee high powder. I didn't stack it, kept good speed and came out with about a foot of snow on my board. I still wanted to find the back entrance of the hotel, but took a wrong path and lost too much speed to make it across. I did end up going between 2 hotels, and out onto the road some 50m in front of Conrad and Dean, but I had a ball. Just as well the lifts were closed though, because I was spent.
We headed up to the hotel and found our room. It was another tatami room, but quite big. It had 2 seperate rooms for us and the girls, and a toilet and bath/wet area shower. I hadn't expected this, and considering it's nearly half the price of Khuls, I'd say it's actually better. The manager of the hotel is nice as well, and this place is run a bit more like a family hotel than Khuls. I decided to go jump in the onsen. I'm still not 100% comfortable with the whole nuding up thing, but with only about 5 rooms being taken, I figured it would be quiet. I was right, as I had the whole onsen to myself. This one had only a main "pool" area, but seemed about the same size as the two smaller ones at Khuls. I relaxed in there for about 15mins. My body needed it, as when you are teaching someone, you spend a lot of time on your knees and bum, so these were aching. After a quick shower off, I was dressed and met the others in the lounge area, where Dean and Conrad were tapping away on blogs or something. We had wanted to go to the Ramen place downstairs, but this was closed, so we decided to go to Kamoshika, the Nepalese curry/tandoori place in the hotel next door. I figured, it wasn't too far, so I just stayed in my tshirt and boardies, while the others were rugged up.
Kamoshika is good value if you want to eat cheap, as a curry (no rice) and a naan will set you back about 800Y. This was all I needed, as I was feeling a bit dehydrated and had a killer head/neck ache from stacking it a couple of times. Dean ordered a big set meal, Mum and Whitney ordered the same, while Conrad went with a curry and rice gratin covered in cheese. If you've seen pictures from our last trips here, you would remember that the naan are the size of elephant ears. We ate til we were full, thanked the owners, then headed back to the hotel. By this time we were wrecked. We watched some Japanese TV (Naruhodo High School), a gameshow where celebrities have to participate in certain challenges. It was funny, but it finished about 8.00, at which time, I passed out from exhaustion.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
It was going to be another early morning.
I woke up at roughly 5.45, but after lying in bed for a few minutes, I knew it was time to get up. Only mum was awake as well, so I chucked on my shirt and jacket and went for a walk. After getting a coffee can out of the machine outside, I started down the street. It was about 2 degrees in Tokyo, so I walked briskly to get up some warmth. With everything closed at 6am on a Sunday morning, there was one place I knew would be. So after boarding the subway, I headed for Donki. During our previous excursion the day before, I had briefly looked in the basement at the alcohol section. With our not making it back to Liquors Hasegawa, I wanted to grab something for drinking in the snow.
I made a quick trip down there, and eventually decided on a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, some Suntory brandy, some tonic water, and I also picked up a neck warmer. It was the princely some 4200Y (1680 for BS, 990Y for the neck warmer, 1080Y for the brandy and the remainder in tonic water). I then hot footed it back to the subway, as our plan was to make the 8.36 shinkansen to Nagano. It was about 7am by the time I got back to the hotel, with Dean messaging me just as I was coming up in the lift.
After a quick pack-up and a cheerio to the staff, we were on our way. The subway got us to Tokyo central in quick time (thank heavens we came across the quick line change), so we headed for the ticket office. After a very helpful girl got us the tickets, we still had about 45mins to kill. We walked around the north end of the station, but it was still early so none of the restaurants had really opened. A trip to the loo was in order, then find some food. I had suggested getting bento boxes to eat on the train, but everyone wanted something more substantial. As we walked towards the east gate, we found a little cafe that was open, and with a breakfast set for 700Y we went for that. The breakfast included bacon, egg, a thick piece of toast, some salad and some onion soup as well as a drink. Definitely not bad for 700Y. They did take a little time to get them ready though, so I'm staring at the clock. Damn... we had 20mins to eat and get to the right platform. I had to give the order to Conrad to eat fast (He's a notoriously slow eater), so while everyone was finishing theirs, I fixed the bill up and we were ready to go. Put the ticket into the gate, take it out... Go up the stairs to the shinkansen under level, then find our correct platform. Up some more stairs (well, escalators, but we still walked up them) we were ready to hop on... Except that they were still cleaning them. It's pretty nice when you can hop onto a train and you know its been cleaned 2 mins before hand. The train left right on time (I've actually had a late subway train this time! The driver will have to commit sepukku out of shame!) and we were on our way. So glad we takkyubin'd the board bags.
Shinkansen are something that the whole world should enjoy. It's quite relaxing sitting on a train, watching the scenery pass by at 250km/h, while having a beer. It was only 9.30 in the morning, but there were guys having a breakfast beer in the cafe, so we figured a beer on the train can't be taboo, especially if they're selling it.
We arrived at Nagano, and rather than rushing to make the next bus up to Shiga Kogen, we had decided to have an hour stopover. This worked better for mum and Whitney, as we could go to the toilet, get another bite to eat, go across to the 7-11 and get some money out without having to rush around like headless chickens. It was getting close to the next bus leaving so we left Becks Cafe (no, not the beer) and headed downstairs to the bus stop. Soon we were watching as the semi-familiar scenery of Central Nagano gave way to outer areas, farms, then onto the expressway, before we start the journey up the mountain. I was a little worried coming in on the shinkansen as we hadn't seen that much snow, but my fears were allayed once we got near Nagano. The bus allayed them even more, as while we were heading through Nakano and Yamanouchi the powder puffs got bigger and bigger. We had seen it during a bad year, then a standard year, but the snow this year seemed to be better than when we had last been. As we weaved our way up through Sun Valley, Maruike and Hasuike, the snow got more plentiful. We seem to have got the express bus, because it didn't stop at Hasuike, and went straight passed the turn off for Hoppo Onsen. We headed into the tunnel, and coming out a kilometer later closer to Takamagahara, the snow had started falling!! We were getting amped, but for some reason, the bus driver head around Ichinose, then dropped us off down the hill near the lifts. We had to walk up the hill in the snow (which had some uncompacted bits under foot), towards Khuls, our accomodation for the night. My jacket was catching teh snow, so it was refreshing, considering I probably burnt 3 meals worth of energy..
We checked in without much ado, took our bags up to our room, then headed downstairs to collect our bags that we had sent up before us. They were waiting for us in a little storage room, so I quickly unpacked our luggage bag and grabbed my snow pants and jacket. I suited up, and we all headed downstairs to grab some pizza. Having already had a BLT and a Mont Blanc cake, I didn't really feel like a pizza (there'd be plenty of time for that during the week) so after a quick snack I was ready to go. I was already suited up, so I headed downstairs to get my board prepped. The other 2 eventually made it down, so we were out and snowboarding at 2. That only gave us about 2.5hrs to board, but we made the most of it, covering a few different areas to re-familiarise Conrad. After boarding in Australia, the soft powder was so nice to board on. The snow was falling heavier than when we stepped off the bus, and was making it really enjoyable. I forgot to bring my neck warmer from the room though, so it felt I was getting frost bite on my lips and chin. I floated a few snow banks and got stuck and fell over (I was quickly burning up my remaining energy), but was having a ball doing it... if it snowed like this the whole week, I'd be ecstatic.
We started off at Ichinose, doing Conrad's training run a few times, just to get our feet back. There was snow banks to glide, and down towards the bottom, where there's a couple of tracks around trees and stuff, we did our best to stay moving, as the powder was deep in some areas. We then headed across via the other quad lift (closest to Khuls) to Takamagahara. The top section in between Ichinose and Takamagahara is a bit flat to start off with, but once you get the first little slope, you can keep your speed. We did that and upon getting to the to of Mammoth (the name for Takamagahara's main slope) we found a lot of fresh, fluffy snow to the right of the run. It was awesome as because of the clouds and the snow falling, visibility and depth perception was not as good, but it taught me to be a bit less rigid in my legs. The rest of the run was a little more "sketchy" as it had been criss-crossed by skiiers all day, so with the low light, again, you had to roll with it. We made it to the top and it was getting around 3.45, so we decided to do a quick run through one of our favourite runs at Higashidate. This run isn't super steep, but you can pick up a bit of speed, it goes through a tree section with a lot of twists and turns in it, which makes it quite a bit of fun at speed. We kept going, crossing over the olympic course, through towards the Higashidate gondola. It was closer to 4 now, so we decided to start heading back as we didn't want to miss the last lift. Over the top of Higashi towards Ichinose, but I didn't keep my speed and didn't really feel like skating, so I just strapped in and went down the black run at the top. This is one place I'm thankful for going to Hotham, because Hotham taught me how to ride mogulled up, steep black sections. And there wasn't the whole hitting a death cookie or rock danger with this one. We made it down the bottom, just as the little pair lift next to the main quad was shutting down, we went through the gates and jumped on the quad before heading up for our last run of the day.
There is quite visibly more snow here this time. On the last run, I went to shortcut an area I had done a few times when we last here, but this time, I got stuck about a 2m from the run. As I was dragging myself out, ski patrol came up the hill on their snow mobile, and just kept going... (I obviously didn't need help, just covered head to tail in snow).
We kept on going, but it was clear that I had run out of energy, I was making more mistakes, not taking the lines that I should have, and falling over more (though it was when I was doing stupid stuff) but we shot out the end of the red run that connects with the green run and straight across to our hotel for the night.
Originally, we had planned on staying at the Ichinoseso Hotel, one of the two hotels closest to the Ichinose family area. This is sort of by the wayside thing, as there are hotels across the road and to the lower side of the lift that are virtually as close to the lift, but they aren't Ski-in-ski-out technically speaking. However, after repeated emails to the Ichinoseso with no reply, then checking availability, we found they were all booked out. Because of this, we then had to scout around for other hotels within our price range. What eventually came together, due to availibility and pricing was 2 hotels. We'd stay in one for one night, then the other for 6 nights. The first night hotel is Hotel Khuls, which is the other ski in/out hotel, directly opposite the Ichinoseso. Other than coming here for a pizza, we really didn't know what to expect. We had checked in before boarding, so our bags and stuff were already at the room. It was to be a tatame and futon affair. Before dinner, the room just had the table in the middle with tea available as well as some crazy Japanese TV to watch. So we just had to wait before dinner was served at 5.30pm. This is probably where the extra money to stay there went. There was a buffet with a mixture of Japanese and Western food, and plenty of meat, just what your muscles need after being broken down from exercise. We were one of the first groups in, so we got our first plate, then our second before most were even there. They had strawberries, mango and pineapple as well, with some little tiramisu for afters.
After we had ate our fill, we thought we'd get the jump on people, by going to the onsen (public hot spring bath), while they were eating. As I mentioned last time, I'm not so good with the whole nuding up thing, so I kept a bath towel around me, before I sat down to wash. The procedure with these things is, you wash and shampoo first before getting in, then wash and shower the minerals off after you get out. Fortunately, there was only one guy in there and he left while I was washing, so I could turn away and not see anything. Dean had come in as well, so he sat and washed where we couldn't see each other, before I got in. The extra hot water was soothing. My back was killing after carrying my backpack, and bum was sore after landing on it down the bottom of a slope. Conrad eventually came in (everything with Conrad is eventually), so the three of us were in there looking at the face only. Then the dinner rush must have been over, because people started coming in. This made Dean and I uncomfortable, so we washed up and got changed. Only problem now was that the girls had the room key, so even if the door was unlocked, we didn't have the tag thing to put the power on. So we sat around watching the slope, where a few people were out doing night skiing. I don't know how they do it, as after I stop at the end of a day, I'm wrecked. But it looked like the snow was still falling, although not as heavy as it had been while we were out. The wind had also picked up a tad, and you could see it pushing the snow across the corduroy the groomers had made, as well as little whirly winds.
When the girls eventually got out, we headed back to the room. Time to crack open the Bombay Sapphire, so Mum mixed up a couple of G+T's, then sent me downstairs to get grapefruit juice which she couldn't find. We had a couple of drinks, but we were so tired after travelling and snowboarding, that it was only 8.30 when we turned the lights off.
I must add that my video camera ran out of batteries on the bus up, so no videos in the snow as yet.
I made a quick trip down there, and eventually decided on a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, some Suntory brandy, some tonic water, and I also picked up a neck warmer. It was the princely some 4200Y (1680 for BS, 990Y for the neck warmer, 1080Y for the brandy and the remainder in tonic water). I then hot footed it back to the subway, as our plan was to make the 8.36 shinkansen to Nagano. It was about 7am by the time I got back to the hotel, with Dean messaging me just as I was coming up in the lift.
After a quick pack-up and a cheerio to the staff, we were on our way. The subway got us to Tokyo central in quick time (thank heavens we came across the quick line change), so we headed for the ticket office. After a very helpful girl got us the tickets, we still had about 45mins to kill. We walked around the north end of the station, but it was still early so none of the restaurants had really opened. A trip to the loo was in order, then find some food. I had suggested getting bento boxes to eat on the train, but everyone wanted something more substantial. As we walked towards the east gate, we found a little cafe that was open, and with a breakfast set for 700Y we went for that. The breakfast included bacon, egg, a thick piece of toast, some salad and some onion soup as well as a drink. Definitely not bad for 700Y. They did take a little time to get them ready though, so I'm staring at the clock. Damn... we had 20mins to eat and get to the right platform. I had to give the order to Conrad to eat fast (He's a notoriously slow eater), so while everyone was finishing theirs, I fixed the bill up and we were ready to go. Put the ticket into the gate, take it out... Go up the stairs to the shinkansen under level, then find our correct platform. Up some more stairs (well, escalators, but we still walked up them) we were ready to hop on... Except that they were still cleaning them. It's pretty nice when you can hop onto a train and you know its been cleaned 2 mins before hand. The train left right on time (I've actually had a late subway train this time! The driver will have to commit sepukku out of shame!) and we were on our way. So glad we takkyubin'd the board bags.
Shinkansen are something that the whole world should enjoy. It's quite relaxing sitting on a train, watching the scenery pass by at 250km/h, while having a beer. It was only 9.30 in the morning, but there were guys having a breakfast beer in the cafe, so we figured a beer on the train can't be taboo, especially if they're selling it.
We arrived at Nagano, and rather than rushing to make the next bus up to Shiga Kogen, we had decided to have an hour stopover. This worked better for mum and Whitney, as we could go to the toilet, get another bite to eat, go across to the 7-11 and get some money out without having to rush around like headless chickens. It was getting close to the next bus leaving so we left Becks Cafe (no, not the beer) and headed downstairs to the bus stop. Soon we were watching as the semi-familiar scenery of Central Nagano gave way to outer areas, farms, then onto the expressway, before we start the journey up the mountain. I was a little worried coming in on the shinkansen as we hadn't seen that much snow, but my fears were allayed once we got near Nagano. The bus allayed them even more, as while we were heading through Nakano and Yamanouchi the powder puffs got bigger and bigger. We had seen it during a bad year, then a standard year, but the snow this year seemed to be better than when we had last been. As we weaved our way up through Sun Valley, Maruike and Hasuike, the snow got more plentiful. We seem to have got the express bus, because it didn't stop at Hasuike, and went straight passed the turn off for Hoppo Onsen. We headed into the tunnel, and coming out a kilometer later closer to Takamagahara, the snow had started falling!! We were getting amped, but for some reason, the bus driver head around Ichinose, then dropped us off down the hill near the lifts. We had to walk up the hill in the snow (which had some uncompacted bits under foot), towards Khuls, our accomodation for the night. My jacket was catching teh snow, so it was refreshing, considering I probably burnt 3 meals worth of energy..
We checked in without much ado, took our bags up to our room, then headed downstairs to collect our bags that we had sent up before us. They were waiting for us in a little storage room, so I quickly unpacked our luggage bag and grabbed my snow pants and jacket. I suited up, and we all headed downstairs to grab some pizza. Having already had a BLT and a Mont Blanc cake, I didn't really feel like a pizza (there'd be plenty of time for that during the week) so after a quick snack I was ready to go. I was already suited up, so I headed downstairs to get my board prepped. The other 2 eventually made it down, so we were out and snowboarding at 2. That only gave us about 2.5hrs to board, but we made the most of it, covering a few different areas to re-familiarise Conrad. After boarding in Australia, the soft powder was so nice to board on. The snow was falling heavier than when we stepped off the bus, and was making it really enjoyable. I forgot to bring my neck warmer from the room though, so it felt I was getting frost bite on my lips and chin. I floated a few snow banks and got stuck and fell over (I was quickly burning up my remaining energy), but was having a ball doing it... if it snowed like this the whole week, I'd be ecstatic.
We started off at Ichinose, doing Conrad's training run a few times, just to get our feet back. There was snow banks to glide, and down towards the bottom, where there's a couple of tracks around trees and stuff, we did our best to stay moving, as the powder was deep in some areas. We then headed across via the other quad lift (closest to Khuls) to Takamagahara. The top section in between Ichinose and Takamagahara is a bit flat to start off with, but once you get the first little slope, you can keep your speed. We did that and upon getting to the to of Mammoth (the name for Takamagahara's main slope) we found a lot of fresh, fluffy snow to the right of the run. It was awesome as because of the clouds and the snow falling, visibility and depth perception was not as good, but it taught me to be a bit less rigid in my legs. The rest of the run was a little more "sketchy" as it had been criss-crossed by skiiers all day, so with the low light, again, you had to roll with it. We made it to the top and it was getting around 3.45, so we decided to do a quick run through one of our favourite runs at Higashidate. This run isn't super steep, but you can pick up a bit of speed, it goes through a tree section with a lot of twists and turns in it, which makes it quite a bit of fun at speed. We kept going, crossing over the olympic course, through towards the Higashidate gondola. It was closer to 4 now, so we decided to start heading back as we didn't want to miss the last lift. Over the top of Higashi towards Ichinose, but I didn't keep my speed and didn't really feel like skating, so I just strapped in and went down the black run at the top. This is one place I'm thankful for going to Hotham, because Hotham taught me how to ride mogulled up, steep black sections. And there wasn't the whole hitting a death cookie or rock danger with this one. We made it down the bottom, just as the little pair lift next to the main quad was shutting down, we went through the gates and jumped on the quad before heading up for our last run of the day.
There is quite visibly more snow here this time. On the last run, I went to shortcut an area I had done a few times when we last here, but this time, I got stuck about a 2m from the run. As I was dragging myself out, ski patrol came up the hill on their snow mobile, and just kept going... (I obviously didn't need help, just covered head to tail in snow).
We kept on going, but it was clear that I had run out of energy, I was making more mistakes, not taking the lines that I should have, and falling over more (though it was when I was doing stupid stuff) but we shot out the end of the red run that connects with the green run and straight across to our hotel for the night.
Originally, we had planned on staying at the Ichinoseso Hotel, one of the two hotels closest to the Ichinose family area. This is sort of by the wayside thing, as there are hotels across the road and to the lower side of the lift that are virtually as close to the lift, but they aren't Ski-in-ski-out technically speaking. However, after repeated emails to the Ichinoseso with no reply, then checking availability, we found they were all booked out. Because of this, we then had to scout around for other hotels within our price range. What eventually came together, due to availibility and pricing was 2 hotels. We'd stay in one for one night, then the other for 6 nights. The first night hotel is Hotel Khuls, which is the other ski in/out hotel, directly opposite the Ichinoseso. Other than coming here for a pizza, we really didn't know what to expect. We had checked in before boarding, so our bags and stuff were already at the room. It was to be a tatame and futon affair. Before dinner, the room just had the table in the middle with tea available as well as some crazy Japanese TV to watch. So we just had to wait before dinner was served at 5.30pm. This is probably where the extra money to stay there went. There was a buffet with a mixture of Japanese and Western food, and plenty of meat, just what your muscles need after being broken down from exercise. We were one of the first groups in, so we got our first plate, then our second before most were even there. They had strawberries, mango and pineapple as well, with some little tiramisu for afters.
After we had ate our fill, we thought we'd get the jump on people, by going to the onsen (public hot spring bath), while they were eating. As I mentioned last time, I'm not so good with the whole nuding up thing, so I kept a bath towel around me, before I sat down to wash. The procedure with these things is, you wash and shampoo first before getting in, then wash and shower the minerals off after you get out. Fortunately, there was only one guy in there and he left while I was washing, so I could turn away and not see anything. Dean had come in as well, so he sat and washed where we couldn't see each other, before I got in. The extra hot water was soothing. My back was killing after carrying my backpack, and bum was sore after landing on it down the bottom of a slope. Conrad eventually came in (everything with Conrad is eventually), so the three of us were in there looking at the face only. Then the dinner rush must have been over, because people started coming in. This made Dean and I uncomfortable, so we washed up and got changed. Only problem now was that the girls had the room key, so even if the door was unlocked, we didn't have the tag thing to put the power on. So we sat around watching the slope, where a few people were out doing night skiing. I don't know how they do it, as after I stop at the end of a day, I'm wrecked. But it looked like the snow was still falling, although not as heavy as it had been while we were out. The wind had also picked up a tad, and you could see it pushing the snow across the corduroy the groomers had made, as well as little whirly winds.
When the girls eventually got out, we headed back to the room. Time to crack open the Bombay Sapphire, so Mum mixed up a couple of G+T's, then sent me downstairs to get grapefruit juice which she couldn't find. We had a couple of drinks, but we were so tired after travelling and snowboarding, that it was only 8.30 when we turned the lights off.
I must add that my video camera ran out of batteries on the bus up, so no videos in the snow as yet.
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