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| Snow monkey |
Nora and I took the bullet train to Nagano and on the way we could see Mount Fuji out the train window. Then from Nagano we took a detour to see the snow monkeys on our way to the ski area at Hakuba. The snow monkeys were a little scary looking, but the walk in to see them was about a mile on this trail cut into a steep slope through the cedar trees. There was new snow on the trees and the steep slopes and ravines etc reminded me of the Hokusai prints I've done as puzzles recently (Hokusai is a very famous 'Edo Period' Japanese artist - his most famous images are the views of Mount Fuji and the big Wave). I felt like I was in a Hokusai print - all it lacked was little splashes of red everywhere.
On our arrival at the hotel in Hokuba, we were checking in when there was a big earthquake (see Nora's video clip at bottom of post). It went on for quite a while and I was trying to be casual about it - after all, earthquakes are supposed to be common in Japan. But then I looked at the lady who was checking us in and she was terrified. I asked her if this happened frequently and she said no. That's when I knew it was serious, but it ended shortly afterwards. We were around 50-60 miles from the epicentre of the magnitude 7.6 quake and on the coast near the epicentre there was quite a bit of damage. The aftershocks continued through the evening. At dinner there would be a tremble and all the guests would nervously look around at each other.
Now for the past 2 days Nora and I have been skiing. The area has not gotten its usual amount of snow - so no deep powder skiing - but the skiing has been good. We rented gear, and for the first time in ages I am not using tele gear - but hard core locked down heels and heavy skis. It is quite the change! The best thing about the skiing is that the restaurants on the mountain are both very good and cheap. In fact, everything is surprisingly cheep. Our ski rentals and lift tickets are about 1/3 what they would be in the United States, and a nice meal on the mountain for two with a hot chocolate and craft beer is around 20 dollars.
Anyway, more to come!
Patrick
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| Happo One ski area |
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| Walking to see the snow monkeys |
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| Entering the snow monkey park |
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| Boarding the bullet train |
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| View of Mount Fuji from the train window |
Nora's video of the earthquake - she caught just the end of it
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