The Multicoloured Sunglasses: April 2013

Day 1
7.2.13
Sapporo, Japan

Today we flew from Singapore to Narita, and then from Narita to Sapporo. There was a possibility that our flight to Sapporo would have to turn around due to weather conditions: blizzards. Luckily, despite a delay in the flight departure and a slight longer flight, we arrived around 8pm after a long day of travelling. Lack of snow definitely won't be a problem for skiing - the tarmac was covered with it!

We checked into the Sapporo International Youth Hostel around 10pm, into a very cute tatami room. Feeling in need of refreshment, mom and I headed to the Japanese style bath. It was an interesting experience showering privately and them heading naked into a communal bath - something that I'd get use to during our week long stay in Japan.

Day 2
8.2.13
Sapporo, Japan

When we woke up the next morning, most of the vast amount of snow covering the roads had been cleared. After buying bus tickets for the bus to Sapporo tomorrow, we headed to the 64th Sapporo Snow Festival.

The snow sculptures at Odori were quite a sight. The huge, towering white sculptures were intricately carved - some were so large they required over 480 trucks, over 2800 tonnes, of snow! As well as all the snow and ice sculptures of varying sizes, there was also a huge ski jump where snowboarder after snowboarder climbed up to present some amazing arial feats to the crowd at the bottom of the hill.

One of the huge snow sculptures!

And another

Living in Singapore, where it's always a rather hot 25 - 30C, it was absolutely freezing in Sapporo. Despite being bundled up in all our Canadian winter gear, the cold cut to the bone. Luckily, the Snow Festival was well prepared for the circumstance we found ourselves in. The festival was scattered with little shelters equip with warm electrical heaters. We had to frequently stop to warm ourselves up.

For lunch, we tried one of the various Japanese seafood stalls in the festival, treating ourselves to a bowl of steaming hot scallops. The scallops were huge, sweet and absolutely delicious - the only problem was we could hardly move our chopsticks with our bare hands freezing in the cold.

Scallops!

An ice castle

Following lunch, I decided to try some of the various activities around the festival. My bottom being already too cold to try one of the snow slides, I joined to queue of little kids to take a ride on a mini steam powered train. It was so cute <3

Mini train!

The Hawaiian Airlines snow sculpture and hula performance

Before dinner, we also checked out the ice sculpture side of the festival, getting quite lost on the way. My favourite sculpture had to be the one with the frozen fish inside - it looked so cool (literally). For dinner, we had some miso ramen: we had to warm our hand on the bowl before we had enough motor control to use our chopsticks!

Frozen fish tanks!

Day 3
9.2.13
Sapporo/ Niseko, Japan

After having sushi for breakfast (yum!), we took the bus to Niseko Village. We were staying at not one of the large hotels, but a small little Japanese wooden lodge on what was a potato farm during the summer months. The lodge, called Ambitious Niseko, was made completely out of logs - it literally was a log cabin.

Snow clearing

That afternoon, we walked around the Hirafu village. The one thing that really struck me was the massive size of the snow drifts. They were at least twice my height! We also got a glimpse into how they maintained the roads with all the snow when we saw a snow clearing team of several trucks and a massive snow blower cleaning up one of the drifts.
Once all the other guests were shuttled back from the hills, we had a scrumptious dinner of burgers, potato salad, soup, vegetables, rice, and a huge variety of side dishes I cannot begin to describe. It was delicious.

Our room

Massive snow drifts

Day 4 - 8
10.2.3 - 14.2.3
Niseko, Japan

For the next three and a half days, we had an amazing time skiing. Annupuri, Niseko Village, Hirafu and Hanazano, we covered them all. Even at the end if the day, the powder was still awesome - it may have helped having powder skis. Out of all the areas we skied, my favourites would have to be Annupuri and Hanazano. The snow there was the best, especially outside the gates in the back country. The powder just made everything so much more fun and easy to ski.

Snow!

The volcanic Mt Yotei from the hill

The lodge

One of the best things about skiing was not so much the actual skiing, but the après-ski. Purchasing a three use onsen pass, we headed to the onsen at the Hilton everyday to relax in their hot spring in an incredibly relaxing setting. The outdoor onsen was amazing. As your body was submerged in the 42C spring water, you could watch the snow falling onto the trees in front of the mountain backdrop. (http://www.niseko-village.com/en/accommodation/hiltonnv_spa.html)

Our lodge was amazing. Other than the delicious food every single morning and night, the shuttle service they provided was exactly like having a personal chauffeur! Despite the language barrier, our hosts were very helpful and hospitable.

Dinner!

On the last day, we had a half day of skiing before we had to go back to Sapporo to catch our flight back to Tokyo. To finish our wonderful skiing experience, we went to the Niskeko Milk Kobo. Their food was amazing! The ice-cream tasted of milk, their cheesecake was light and fluffy, and I could rave the whole day about their wonderful choux buns. The Milk Kobo is a must visit for anyone in Niseko - it's never too cold to have amazing ice cream.

Day 9-10
15.2.13 - 16.3.13
Tokyo, Japan
To finish off our holiday, we spent two days in Tokyo. From our B&B near to the Tokyo Skytree, we were in a great place to see and do a lot. We went to the Meiji Shrine, got nearly lost in Shinjuku, stared in awe at the fish in the Tsujiki Fish Market, tasted fresh sushi, and got some terrible fortunes revealed at the Asakusa temple complex. Tokyo is such a huge city - the metro line is pretty confusing! It was a great way to end an amazing holiday.