Hokkaido
My trip was awesome! I'll try to describe it but as usual, words will fail compared to actually seeing it.
First Day:
Almost didn't make it, the three flights before us going to Sapporo were canceled due to heavy snow. We got really lucky since ours didn't and we were able to make it with no problems. After we arrived, we checked in at the hotel, a normal one with four beds, and went around the town. We saw a television station and went up to the top, had a wonderful view. Saw some historic house (I'm not sure why it was important since it was all written in Japanese), played around in a park, and had some great ramen to eat. My was really spicy, but I like it that way. Fuun-ko and Shin-Na tried to go to the college nearby but it was closed and dark so they didn't take any pictures. Litan and I went back to the hotel, mostly because I didn't want to go see a college (I go to Nagoya and to GSU, why do I need to see another?) and because her shoes had soaked through completely and her poor feet were red with cold. Didn't really do much this day.
Second Day:
Met up with the other members of our trip, all piled into the bus. We went to a zoo (poor animals, they really are in cages, no spacious places like our zoos, and it also smelled really bad). The peguins were cute since they had been trained to walk between two red lines and were making their way past all the people with cameras, only a few feet away. At one of the rest stops that we had I got to go down a snow covered hill, with one of the Chinese girls taking pictures of me. Passing by a lake, we got to see wild seals, just playing around in the water and on the ice. That was really cool, and Litan helped me take some really good pictures since it was on her side of the bus. Lucky us, we got to see the ice sculptures that we made during the Winter Festival. It was breath taking and amazing and I'll try to post pictures online. By the way, at the top of the ice steps, I fell and went bumpa bumpa all the way to the bottom where I was stopped by Litan. That, while funny, hurt like the blazes! Later on, at the hotel we stayed at, there was an onsen (hot spring). Now, let me tell you. In animes, when you see the character wearing a towel around their body, they're lying. You enter the onsen completely naked. Yeah, and me about twice the size of the average Japanese person. Second thing I have to say is, "I AM NOT A FREE ENGLISH LESSON WHILE I AM IN AN ONSEN!!!" This is directed to the girl who sat next to me and spoke English to me as I sat, naked, in the hot spring. On the plus side, this one could go outside, so I was soaking in an onsen while playing with snow. That was awesome! Oh yeah, and our hotel was Japanese style, so we slept on futons, not beds. It was okay, I sort of like them better then beds anyhow.
Third Day:
Made friends with some of the Japanese kids on the trip since I went outside and played around in the snow with them, hitting them with snowballs and stuff. We weren't able to take a ice flow tour, so we got to play around in the snow at a place that had snow mobiles, banana boats and rafts pulled by snow mobiles, an ice slide, and skis. Fuun-ko and Shin-na were on one mobile while Litan and I were on another. Somehow, in the middle of our racing, Fuun-ko managed to tip his mobile over, sending him and Shin-na to the ground. Litan and I laughed our heads off! Went to a History of Ice Flows Museum (it was either that or go to a prison). It was okay, but they gave us small towels to whip around while we went into the ice room and by the time we left the towels were frozen stiff! I took a picture of my weird towel. Later on we got to go to another onsen, this one dominated by swans (or some type of bird that looks like them). If you scrapped the ground and made a hole, you could see water bubbling up, hot enough to scald your hand. The hotel also had an onsen, and again the girl practically sat on my lap to talk to me in English. Nice girl, but man...not while I'm naked please! The hotel we were staying at had a late night festival, with fireworks and a red snow owl. Small, but really cute, and the fireworks were as cool as the 4th of July.
Fourth Day:
Last day in Hokkaido, we mostly drove back to the airport. Saw some great scenery on the way, but nothing really to write home about, except for when we got to the airport. That's where, when I was walking around, I saw all the crab for sale. 1, Hokkaido is known for its seafood, and 2, we were 3 hours early for our flight. Looking around, I found 5 medium sized crabs for sale, only for 4,000 yen (about $40 without exchange rate look-up). A great deal and I bought them, slinging them home the rest of the trip. Funny thing is, they didn't say anything about my crabs (yeah, laugh it up), when I got on the plane, but they had to check the soda bottle that I had with me. Sure, it's really poison and I was going to make the pilot drink it. Either that or I was going to kill myself on the plane, one or the other. Ah well, we made it home safely, getting back to the International House around 11pm, where Isaac and I re-heated the crabs and ate them. Yum-yum!
This is all I can remember since I am very tired and not looking at my pictures. If there is more to add, I will edit the entry and tell everybody. Hope all are doing well!
~Jen~
First Day:
Almost didn't make it, the three flights before us going to Sapporo were canceled due to heavy snow. We got really lucky since ours didn't and we were able to make it with no problems. After we arrived, we checked in at the hotel, a normal one with four beds, and went around the town. We saw a television station and went up to the top, had a wonderful view. Saw some historic house (I'm not sure why it was important since it was all written in Japanese), played around in a park, and had some great ramen to eat. My was really spicy, but I like it that way. Fuun-ko and Shin-Na tried to go to the college nearby but it was closed and dark so they didn't take any pictures. Litan and I went back to the hotel, mostly because I didn't want to go see a college (I go to Nagoya and to GSU, why do I need to see another?) and because her shoes had soaked through completely and her poor feet were red with cold. Didn't really do much this day.
Second Day:
Met up with the other members of our trip, all piled into the bus. We went to a zoo (poor animals, they really are in cages, no spacious places like our zoos, and it also smelled really bad). The peguins were cute since they had been trained to walk between two red lines and were making their way past all the people with cameras, only a few feet away. At one of the rest stops that we had I got to go down a snow covered hill, with one of the Chinese girls taking pictures of me. Passing by a lake, we got to see wild seals, just playing around in the water and on the ice. That was really cool, and Litan helped me take some really good pictures since it was on her side of the bus. Lucky us, we got to see the ice sculptures that we made during the Winter Festival. It was breath taking and amazing and I'll try to post pictures online. By the way, at the top of the ice steps, I fell and went bumpa bumpa all the way to the bottom where I was stopped by Litan. That, while funny, hurt like the blazes! Later on, at the hotel we stayed at, there was an onsen (hot spring). Now, let me tell you. In animes, when you see the character wearing a towel around their body, they're lying. You enter the onsen completely naked. Yeah, and me about twice the size of the average Japanese person. Second thing I have to say is, "I AM NOT A FREE ENGLISH LESSON WHILE I AM IN AN ONSEN!!!" This is directed to the girl who sat next to me and spoke English to me as I sat, naked, in the hot spring. On the plus side, this one could go outside, so I was soaking in an onsen while playing with snow. That was awesome! Oh yeah, and our hotel was Japanese style, so we slept on futons, not beds. It was okay, I sort of like them better then beds anyhow.
Third Day:
Made friends with some of the Japanese kids on the trip since I went outside and played around in the snow with them, hitting them with snowballs and stuff. We weren't able to take a ice flow tour, so we got to play around in the snow at a place that had snow mobiles, banana boats and rafts pulled by snow mobiles, an ice slide, and skis. Fuun-ko and Shin-na were on one mobile while Litan and I were on another. Somehow, in the middle of our racing, Fuun-ko managed to tip his mobile over, sending him and Shin-na to the ground. Litan and I laughed our heads off! Went to a History of Ice Flows Museum (it was either that or go to a prison). It was okay, but they gave us small towels to whip around while we went into the ice room and by the time we left the towels were frozen stiff! I took a picture of my weird towel. Later on we got to go to another onsen, this one dominated by swans (or some type of bird that looks like them). If you scrapped the ground and made a hole, you could see water bubbling up, hot enough to scald your hand. The hotel also had an onsen, and again the girl practically sat on my lap to talk to me in English. Nice girl, but man...not while I'm naked please! The hotel we were staying at had a late night festival, with fireworks and a red snow owl. Small, but really cute, and the fireworks were as cool as the 4th of July.
Fourth Day:
Last day in Hokkaido, we mostly drove back to the airport. Saw some great scenery on the way, but nothing really to write home about, except for when we got to the airport. That's where, when I was walking around, I saw all the crab for sale. 1, Hokkaido is known for its seafood, and 2, we were 3 hours early for our flight. Looking around, I found 5 medium sized crabs for sale, only for 4,000 yen (about $40 without exchange rate look-up). A great deal and I bought them, slinging them home the rest of the trip. Funny thing is, they didn't say anything about my crabs (yeah, laugh it up), when I got on the plane, but they had to check the soda bottle that I had with me. Sure, it's really poison and I was going to make the pilot drink it. Either that or I was going to kill myself on the plane, one or the other. Ah well, we made it home safely, getting back to the International House around 11pm, where Isaac and I re-heated the crabs and ate them. Yum-yum!
This is all I can remember since I am very tired and not looking at my pictures. If there is more to add, I will edit the entry and tell everybody. Hope all are doing well!
~Jen~