TKY Dec'16 - D7 - It's Snowing!

Finally, its the last day of our Japan trip.  But I'm quite excited to write about this day!  After the rain in the previous afternoon and night, it started snowing overnight.  When I woke up on Day7, and looked out of the window, I was exhilarated to see that whole place covered in snow!  It was beautiful!

After breakfast, we packed up to check out, and took many photos outdoor.  It was still snowing, so it was fun for photo taking.  However, we learnt how difficult it was to walk in ankle deep snow with luggages.  By the time we got to the bus station, our shoes were thoroughly soaked (except for Lynn's, which were authentic snow weather boots).

We made it to Tokyo at noon, where we took a quick lunch.  We took the 4pm flight out of Tokyo.  Lynn was the first to feel the toll of the 7 days trip.  She experienced motion sickness, and without warning, vomited at her seat on the plane after dinner (about 8+pm).  After emptying her stomach, she fell asleep.  She slept for 2 full hours, thus recovering substantially.

It was a great trip, and I'm very proud that I attempted skiing.  I had never imagine myself going on a ski trip.  And finally, I am done preserving in prints, my winter memories of 2016.

Looking out of the window when I woke:


Tropical folks' idea of romantic poses and sceneries:










Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow:

The girls at their last snow fight

I took a video of the difficult track towards the bus station:

Souvenirs and gifts, useless (cup noodles included), but priceless memories..

TKY Dec'16 - D6 - Skiing (part 2)

One day 6 morning, we realised that the snow around town area had pretty much melted.  We were wondering if it was possible to ski that day, and were relieved that there's always enough snow up at the ski resort for amateurs like us.  Probably due to the higher altitude and lower temperature than town area.

That morning the girls played with carts that slide down snow slope.  There's a video below.

That afternoon, it started raining.  It was actually half snowing, as what fell from the sky were snow, but they turned quickly into water (rain) when they near the surface.  It was thus colder than the day before.  When we gathered for the girls' lesson, the instructor was not the least bothered by the wet condition.  He swiftly whisked them away, before I could alleviate any of my doubts and fears.  I watched my skinny 10 year old gal in her puffy down jacket, hefting her own gears (the skis were really heavy) toward the van, which was to take them (with 2 younger caucasian kids) to the chair lifts that would bring them up the mountain.  When they were gone, I went into the building to get out of the cold.

When they were away, I took a video of the snowing.  It was cold and wet, and I was really worried.

Anyway, 2 hours went by and WK was already done with his lesson.  The girls were late in coming back but eventually they did, sound and safe.  The funny thing was Lynn lost one of her gloves.  I really don't know how one could lose one glove when skiing...  They had a very fun time.  Best of all, Mabel even took a video.

Here are the photos and videos:



The cart/sledge ride and video

Me, staying out of and taking a video of the snow and dampness:

Finally, here's a very short clip taken by Mabel, of the skiing on the mountain.  

TKY Dec'16 - D5 - Skiing (part 1)

Finally, it's ski day!  After breakfast, we followed the map we took at the hotel, to the ski resort.

This was my first ski trip, so I didn't know what to expect at all.  When we booked this hotel, i even wondered if we should have booked "the actual ski resort hotel", i.e. the biggest hotel run by the ski mountain operator, like Disneyland hotel belonging to the Disneyland company.  Eventually, I found out that, at least for this ski location, there wasn't any "actual" ski resort hotel.  Basically, all skiers and tourists stayed at the small local hotels, which were probably 5 to 15 minutes walk to the bottom of the ski resort/mountain.

It was a pleasant 10-minutes walk from our hotel to the foot of the ski resort.  It's mainly upward slopes and stairs, with snow and occasional plants and flowers along the way.

At the foot of the ski resort, we went onto the travelator, known as "YU road" locally, that brings us up the mountain.  It takes about 5 minutes to reach the top.

At the top, there were only 2 buildings.  On the right, was the ski school, which I assume was the main operator of the ski resort.  This was where we signed up for classes.   The building on the left consisted of 2 to 3 ski equipment rental shops and food/resting places.  The rest of this place was basically open space for ski classes.  And right in front, we could see the main ski mountain range, where the real skiing took place.

We took a 2 hour skiing class.  I felt that it's harder than roller blading, cos skiing took place on constant slopes.  So while it didn't take any effort to stay stationary on roller blades, it took constant effort to stay stationary on ski slopes.  Age was a factor too.  For example, we need to push our right leg out (against the snow) in order to turn left, which I was able to do.  But I couldn't 't turn right at all, cos I wasn't able to push my left leg out (no strength).  I was much younger and more agile when I learnt blading.   And WK didn't do as well as the girls either.

I posted a video of the girls skiing below, watch it!

At the end of the class, all 3 of them were keen to do it again on the next day.  Little did I know that the instructor decided that the girls were ready for the mountain the next day.  So on day 6, the girls went skiing on the mountain, while WK took the (same) lessons again.  Here are the photos (and video) for our first skiing experience!


Views along the way from our hotel to the ski resort:
- some plants thrive in winter!


 - all wrapped up for our first mountain encounter!


- the streets were beautiful:


- up, up and away!


- Lynnette looked  very pretty in her turquoise coat, red beanie and pink gloves.


This is the travelator that goes to the ski place:


As mentioned above, there were only 2 buildings at this place, but both were not in this picture.  The flatter piece of land (slightly sloping) on the right was where we learn how to ski (the video below is of the girls learning to ski at this slope).   And there were many other ski paths as show in the picture below, that were for intermediate skiers.


As I was also taking the class, there weren't many photos.. here's one collage.

Watch the video, the girls were good!

Here's a random pic:


2 more night scene photos:

TKY Dec'16 - D4 - First encounter with Snow

Day 4 was another travel day.  We left Tokyo after breakfast, for Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort.  It's located in the Northeast of Nagano Prefecture, slightly less than 2 hours train ride from Tokyo.  When we alighted at the Iiyama trains station, we noticed immediately that it's much cooler than Tokyo.  From here we took the bus to the town area of the ski resort (20 minutes journey).  There were no big hotels at this place, only small, family style ones.  The one that we stayed at was called Shirakaba, about 5 minutes walk from where the bus station.

I will let the pictures below explained what we did for the rest of the afternoon.  The next 2 days (Day 5 and 6), we went skiing for the first times in our lives.

We took the 11pm train our of Tokyo, and were on the bus at about close to 2 pm:


We got off the bus, and along the path to our hotel, the girls already started playing with snow.


The main entrance to our stay, Shirakaba.   Right opposite our hotel, there's an open field, slightly bigger than a basketball court, that was snow filled.


We checked-in, and headed out again for the snow filled ground opposite our hotel.  Here, I built my first snow man :)


I didn't take photo of our room, so I got this from the web.  The room for 4, was only big enough for 4 mattresses, 3 big luggages, one pretty big table, with very little space left to move about.

The onsen (public bathe) in this hotel was also small size.  It didn't matter to us, because it's way too cold to use the onsen facility.  It was a huge challenge bathing in public facility in this weather.  Anyway, we managed.

The last picture in this collage was the breakfast place.


We had dinning at a restaurant next door.  It had a fire place, and we ordered beer and hot tea, to enjoy our winter vacation.

TKY Dec'16 - D3 - Disneyland

(Hello again... time to continue my blog on Tokyo trip..)

I didn't plan on going Disneyland for our day 3.  I said "I didn't", because I was really very afraid of cold, but WK kept "jio" that it's not that bad and that's where we should go.  Since day 2 was quite uneventful, so I got out of the challenge to bring 2 kids and a guy shopping, and got into the challenge of braving the cold.

This was my 2nd time to Tokyo's Disneyland, the first being in Summer more than 10 years ago.  The most memorable stuffs about this particular visit were:

Firstly, the restaurant.  Wanting to get out of the cold, we ate lunch at the main restaurant, which was called "Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall".  It operated very systematically.  A queue formed outside the restaurant, thus controlling the crowd inside.  Once in, the patrons queued for the food first.  There were pictures showing what's available for ordering, before reaching the counters.   Once at the food counters, we ordered and picked up the food, and proceeded to pay.  It's like the system at Ikeas' restaurants, just better.  Cos after payment, we were assigned to an available table.  Not only was the system fast, efficient and friendly, and the restaurant clean and cosy, the food was superb.  So the food "captured' our stomachs, and the place and system "captured" our hearts.  We had such a good meal, that we returned to this place for dinner.   My verdict - 10/10 for this restaurant.

Secondly, we did only about 4 rides/stations that day, and at least 2 to 3 were memorable for me and Lynn.  The 3 of them rode on a open air space shutter (like the flying elephant), so Lynn got blasted by cold air while up there.  Of course I opted out, my nose would not had survived that kind of cold air rushing against my face.  All four of us went for the space mountain ride, not realising that it's a bit frightening.  I hate roller coaster rides (I don't enjoy trill rides).  Lynn and Mabel took the first car, Wk and I took the second.  After that ride, I noticed that Lynn was a bit quiet, so I coaxed the feeling out of her, i.e., she cried (scared).  I was glad that she experienced her first scare of theme park ride with us.  Next time when she's out with her friends for such outings, she can decide for herself if she wants to opt out, or if not, what to expect and how to react.

Finally, that night was memorable.  We didn't plan to stay for the parade or fireworks (it was cold), but we got delayed by rides, dinner, and souvenir shopping, so we made it to the parade and firework at 8.  It was worth it.  It was magical..

Here are the pictures:

It was a cloudy day, but the cold was bearable and there's no rain.  In the 2nd picture in this collage, Lynn and Mabel were on the open air ride.  Of course I opted out, cos cold air against the face was for people who like cold, not me..

Queueing outside, and inside the Banquet Hall:

The setting of the restaurant speaks of Disney class: vibrant and happy.  And it's so cosy for the winter guests.  

The food was just great.  

Some of our stops: Its a small world; Haunted mansion, Winnie the Pooh boat ride (highly recommended). 

Nightfall.  The lights were magical.

Souvenirs for the girls.  What's the definition of "souvenirs"?  Utterly useless stuff that tourists buy, hah!  But I didn't regret, these 2 .. whatever.. were great for photos :)