Hakuba

Not updates here for a while but I thought I would let people know what we are up to since we can't be there over Christmas.

We decided that it would be very depressing to stay in our apartment over the holidays, just the same as any other day! So, being determined not to fly anywhere, we thought it might be nice to go skiing. We decided this in November, but couldn't do a lot about it until December 18th as the last paycheck of the year is variable to say the leats (Japanese tax systme - don't even get me started). Luckily we have a friend who is working in the Hakuba resorts this year arranging holidays, and her boss said she could give a friend discount yay! She sent us details of hotels that would be "wham-like", since we had joked that we wanted a Christmas like the video for Last Christmas. We picked one and managed to book it just yesterday, so it was all still a bit up in the air!

We packed quickly and figured out how we were going to get there, and then one bullet train ride and a bus trip later here we are, in the Hotel Mominoki in Hakuba Happo one. It is a nice hotel and the people so far are very friendly and nice, but since we got here in the afternoon we decided it would not be worth starting to ski until tomorrow. Instead we walked down the hill to the depot and got a bus to the main town (our hotel is up near the lifts, surrounded by lots of other hotels and restaurants but not many shops). It was very strange - the place was like a ghost town! All the shops were shut, and we walked around for ages looking for somewhere to eat lunch; all we could see was a McDonalds and we really really didn't want to go there! eventually we found a little place called gravity works that was sooo lovely. Homemade pizzas and pastas, lots of homemade breads and desserts. The people were fabulous, just leaving us to sit for ages and relax, we wondered around inside (we were the only customers) and investigated all the other bits they were selling and making, oils and herbs and cheeses etc. We bought some homemade sun-dried tomatoes and the lady spent ages telling us all the ways they were different from Italian ones (although she said both were nice!). I am looking forward to cooking something nice with them when we get back.

After that we walked around a bit more but it was getting very cold and the snow was starting to freeze and get slippery, so we came back to the hotel. I went down for an Onsen. The baths here at Mominoki claim to be the most alkaline in Japan (so I took all my jewellery off first!) and it was lovely - not too hot, clear water that didn't smell at all (sometimes the minerals make it a bit pongy), and best of all I had the outside bath completely to myself> I sat in the hot water looking out at the snow until my fingers went wrinkly, then we went to the pub next door for dinner.

We have already arranged our skis for tomorrow and have an early start planned, so I will take lots of photos and do another update soon.

Missing everyone,

Jenny