Made some wallpapers of the holiday for the peeps. Download at will… Click on image and right click, save as!

The monkeys are based at Kambayashi, about an hour away from Nozawa Onsen, in the Jigokudani Monkey Park which is about a 30 minute walk through the forest along the ridge of the mountain. The monkeys are cool and have these cute faces. They are actually quite vicious though when they get into fights showing there teeth. When they’re not fighting they are chilling in the hot spring baths preening each other.  It was however a typical tourist trap. Being an ex photographer I can see the appeal as so many great photos have been taken of these beautiful creatures – it’s just a shame though that there were so many of them all with there shiny dslr’s. Kinda ruins the authenticity and just makes it another tourist trap. First bit of western commercialisation I have seen on the trip but thankfully the monkeys were that cool it really didn’t matter.

We then stopped off at a traditional Onsen village called Shibu Onsen. A very typical, traditional japanese village that is exactly what you would imagine when you envisage Japan. Beautiful buildings with cobbled streets and small alleyways. Very pretty and nice to see. Caught bus back which was about an hour and just chilled for the evening.

Went out to a local japanese restaurant and had “horse splinter” basically raw horse meat and tastes not too dissimilar to beef. Then stayed up late having drinks with everyone and Craig, Janine and myself stayed up until 2am. great night, great day…

Decided to get a massage so Japanese lady (hotel owner) phoned someone and booked it for 3. Got to this place and was greeted at the door by an elderly japanese lady who was blind .Well you can imagine my horror….. Fortunately she wasn’t doing the massage and walked me through to the other room where there was a bloke who was actually doing the massage…..

Well he was leaning on the bed to hold himself up and I think was the 90 year old husband of the woman and was also blind. Needless to say that I did not feel comforted by that. Anyway, after they man handled me and told me to strip the massage started. to be honest I felt more fondled then massaged… Left feeling slightly traumatised by the whole experience!!!

The mountain is great and very picturesque. Ideal for skiing and not really that difficult a hill but very pretty and great snow. We found great runs today and a lot of off piste runs through the trees and under the lifts. Found this great one under the lift in a river bed and decided to tackle that all morning. Ended up wearing the camera and recorded Kieron and Matt coming down as there was a great little/big jump on it. I went first to get in position and then recorded them coming down. Kieron absolutely floored it and wiped out big time. It was absolutely hysterically. You got to check it out for yourselves….

Nagano Olympic Sign

Up early today and eager to get on the mountain as it hoofed (aussie term…) it down with snow last night and we got about 20cm of fresh stuff. All packed from yesterday, so up and showered and on the slopes by 8:15. Doing Happo again as its local. Get up the first lift only to find that the second lift has been shut. We find out its because it is too windy at the top which is weird as we cant feel a thing? We ski back down a couple of times and then traverse over to the long chair lift which is another way of getting to the top. The weather is overcast but thats quite normal for here. We have had no sun at all this holiday. Anyway we get up the first lift and then hit the second only to be stopped mid lift with Floody due to high winds which just come out of nowhere. Wouldn’t be so bad but none of the lifts have safety bars – health and safety is not that prevalent in Japan!! Lifts start again and we get off and go into the restaaurant to quickly warm up. I huddle around a gas fire with some locals trying to warm my fingers up. Definitely need to get heated gloves and boots for next trip! Go outside and hit by high winds again as putting boots on. It was amazing, in a split second it was clear and then suddenly we couldnt see inches in front of us with the wind trying to blow us off the mountain. Cant see in these conditions so we head down and literally within 30 seconds and 50 yards down the sun comes out and it is glorious. Ski with the boys for a while and then decide to head of by myself and ski the rest of the morning by myself with my tunes! Great morning skiing and a nice way top finish Hakuba. Relax at the lodge now until coach at 4.

Get picked up by two very polite and nice elderly japanese men who are going to take us to Nasawaonsen in two vans. Basically we drive up north through a valley to get to the next resort. The drive is 2 hours and was amazing. Driving through all these traditional japanese villages. It was a bit of a mixture though as some places just looked a bit like shanty towns and others were very beautiful with traditional houses and temples. All the houses though are really close to each and I remember thinking there must be a great community spirit when you live on top of each other like that? Eventually drive into Nasawaonsen and it is amazing. Very traditional just as I had hoped, Hakuba was nice but a bit more westernised and purpose built, probably because they held the olympics there. We drive up the main narrow cobbled street with is hustling with shops open late and people eating fresh hot dumplings. There seems to be steam coming from everywhere and it adds a real oriental atmosphere to the place. We pull up at a steep narrow hill which the van cannot get up to be met by the hotel owner, a japanese woman in a small van. We load our bags and she shoots up the hill so we follow. The hotel is based at the top. I got single room this time so unpack and then we head out at about 8 to see the town and grab some food. grab a dumpling and then find a restaurant to eat. Ordered sushi as i love it back home but this stuff is raw and meaty. I then have a saki to wash i down and that wasn’t too great either!!!! Not the best start foodwise

Anyway we got a big day on the slopes tomorrow so back to my lovely single room for some shuteye…

Floody tinkling the ivories

Also got my first compliment today? We have to get a new ticket each day (rubbish system) and the girl in the ticket booth said I smelt of coconut??????? Apparently she said it was a compliment????? I don’t get it but i’ll take it.

Go to the Hotel Monimoke for an Onsen with the Aussies which was nice. This is one of the hotels built for the olympics and where the posh people go!

Decide not to go out for dinner tonight as I want a good run tomorrow as we are skiing in the morning and then off to Nasawaonsen in the afternoon, our next resort which is supposed to be more traditional. Looking forward to it.

Donncha, Kieron and Daryl

Went to Iwatake today with Kieron, Donncha and Daryl. Everyone else was staying back at the lodge and relaxing today. Feeling a bit fresher today so really looking forward to getting back on my skis after having fallen over all day yesterday!

Great resort and perfect for skiers. Daryl and Donncha picked the worst black run to start with which was just moguled to sh*t… But that was the only bad run and we did only do it the once. All the other runs were nice and steep with wide runs and not too many bumps. Just before the shuttle Kieron and I found a great black run and followed a ski school of kids who were flooring it down the run. I decided to adopt there downhill technique and used a wide stance for more stability and absolutley floored it. Got to 56kph according to the gps tracker!!!!

Came down and went to “The Pub” for an apres beer. First place we have come across with a bit of a an atmosphere. Had a couple of beers and then came back as Floody and Daryl were making carbonara. Hit the sack early only to be woken by Mat and Kieron who stumbled in at 2 am, telling me step by step there wonderful evening and how fit Jess was???  Mat fell asleep in his clothes again!