I may have overdone it with the monkeys.

Mike took the camera from me at this stage by tricking me into a portrait.  I was taking too long documenting the beautiful forests.  There is a 1.6km hike to get to the entrance of the park.
I feel like that kid, that’s had access to all the candy on halloween…and has eaten so much sugar that my body reacts in a lethargic, sickly way. Yesterday I was completely exhausted by 7:00pm.  I had a fever, and was glowing red in the face.  I decided to walk in a literal blizzard to the grocery store (which is 10 minutes from our hotel) to get some food.  The freezing temperature cooled me down, but I was feeling achey and tired even still when I returned home carrying dinner (fresh fruit and microwave pizza – which was actually a terrible choice!).

Mike joked with me the other day that I was on a “dizzy – high from the monkeys” and I actually think he might have been onto something. Over the evening I slept through the rest of the snow blizzard and woke with Mike to the discovery that quite a bit of snow had fallen while we were dreaming.

Today is the come down.  I’m resting in a collapsed heap.  I’ve eaten little, and moved even less.  I am a literal blob.

Tomorrow, is our last day in Hakuba before we travel back to Tokyo for one more night.  We’ll then rise early and fly back to the hot state of Western Australia, Saturday morning.

I feel oddly torn.   Japan is an amazing country, and yet there are familiar things in Australia that I am also looking forward to as well. Number one thing?  Without a doubt our amazing bed.

When you travel, what is it that you look forward to when you return home?  

It turns out, I’m the type that like’s to know there is a home to come home to.  To appreciate the unfamiliar, and bring those stories and memories back…that’s what I enjoy.  Mike and I will have many special memories to take home with us. Obviously also I love to photograph it all too.

Until next time… Sending Love, Holly & Mike

ps:  Mike may also be posting his set of photos… keep an eye out.  His images feature the monkeys in action, playing!

Wild Snow Monkeys – Jigokudani Yaen-koen, Japan

To make the most of our stay, we booked one night at a “Jigokudani Onsen Korakukan”.  It has been family run for over seven generations and is 200 metres from the entrance to the park.  While it was expensive, we would easily have paid double to do this again.  In the morning and evening the monkey will climb the roof and even join you in the onsen (hot spring) outside if you’re inclined.

The rooms are traditional japanese with paper walls, and a small sitting area, along with a futon bed that rests on the floor. Included in the room price ($280.00AUD) are a traditional (delicious) dinner and breakfast as well as welcome tea and sticky rice treats. We spent our dinner along side the only other guest at the hotel.

It was at this meal, that Mike and I both tried crickets for the first time!  We became painfully aware that we did not know what to do with half of the food in front of us.  There was a long moment of eyeballing each other and giving sideways glances to the man at our right.  We were hoping that we could follow his lead… luckily he noticed us struggling and showed us what to do.

Ryuji Nobuka is 78 years old and is a retired teacher.  He was travelling on his own, and generously shared some sake with us over dinner.  Mike and he polished off the sake, as I was having trouble swallowing more than a tiny sip at a time.  There was plenty to laugh and talk about.  Whenever things got tricky (and I couldn’t mime) we used out translator.  We spoke with our new friend for two hours.

Ryuji told us that his name meant “Two Dragons” which is probably the coolest name I’ve ever heard.  He thought my name initially was “Holy”, however I explained it was actually “Holly” which is a plant with a berries that is quite poisonous.  Mike, well his name just means Mike…  It’s very interesting what our names translate to.

He invited us to visit with him in Kyoto, when we return to Japan.  We took portraits of each other (as he is an avid photographer too) and have made the promise to keep in touch via email.  Mike and I were both really pleased to have met him and to have shared such a lovely dinner (and breakfast).

When we get back to Australia Mike and I are going to put together a care package for him and send it as a surprise.

This little one was upset, he had been pushed out of a group cuddle and was screaming at his friends at this point.

Jigokudani Yaen-koen, Snow Monkey Park was the highlight of our time in Japan so far.  If you have time and are in the Nagano region, it is well worth the trip. These monkeys are wild, and have been soaking in these hot springs for over 150 years.

You are encouraged to take photographs, however feeding and long eye contact are discouraged.  Understandably so, every so often one of the females would become territorial, and start to show her long front teeth to a tourist who got too close!

As I post this blog, I think back to the first time I saw images of these monkeys in National Geographic.

It feels surreal to have encountered them in real life.  They have this playful nature, and the ability to bring great joy and happiness.  I found myself grinning and laughing out loud while we were with them.

Have you seen these monkeys in Japan?  If you have, what did you think?

Thanks for reading. Holly (& Mike)

Snowboarding in Hakuba, Japan

I really admired this guys style… clothing wise anyway, I didn’t get to see his skills.  Either way, it’s a really sweet outfit.  The Japanese fashion on the mountain is really cool.   Selfie sticks are everywhere… Then again Mike and I were shooting with my massive Canon.

I had this deep fried chicken burger (which was full of actual real chicken meat, both dark and lighter) for lunch (my vegetarian diet has literally gone out the window).  It was GLORIOUSLY moist, and crisp.  The seaweed and light sauce made it rich and unique.  I couldn’t finish it, and I now have major indigestion… thank god I’ve got some medicine here to help sort out my tummy troubles, as I’ve been burping up a storm since lunch.

We chose Hakuba for a few reasons when we decided to take this trip to Japan.

• There are 5 ski hills that we can choose to go to (a shuttle leaves a few times each morning and comes back midday, and later in the afternoon).
• The snow here is insane.  Each year Hakuba is covered in about 14 metres of snow.
• The area is not flooded with Australians, which makes our experience feel more authentic.  There are a few other regions in Japan that are more touristy, but this one at the moment is mostly frequented by Japanese people.
• The area is very close to some special creatures which we’ll have the luxury of meeting on Monday/Tuesday (can you figure out who we will be meeting?)
• It’s not very hard to get to from Tokyo.

Have you been to Hakuba?  What were some of the highlights for you?

UPDATE:

I have been belching like a man for 8 hours…

 All photos of the lady in the white jacket – Credited to Michael Cresswell Copyright – 2015

Oops. Wrong number!

This is the view from our hotel room.  Ah-ma-zing.

Beside our hotel is a man made creek.  It carries the melting snow from the heavily snowed in town… we’ve seen many men fishing here.  This man had just caught two fish when we exchanged greetings for this photo.

The other day due to the slight language barrier, I found myself stranded at the local grocery store.  Not only was I completely  overwhelmed by the sheer volume of packaged goods (everything is processed and preserved – which actually answered the question Mike and I were asking one another in Tokyo – How exactly does Japan feed it’s people with very little crops growing at the moment?).  Preserve everything!

Now that I had the answer to that important question…

I’d forgotten to bring a telephone with me.  Eventually I decided I’d try the pay phone.  I looked at a few symbols and decided that the one that looked like a car must definitely be the number for a taxi.  I listened to the phone ring and suddenly a male voice was speaking to me very quickly in Japanese.  I told him in English that I was needing a taxi, and that I was at the supermarket.  There was a pause, when he repeated the word “taxi”.  Yes, here I thought we were on track… until I looked more closely at the sign.

I had dialled the police.

I think I said sorry about 6x before I hung up the phone.  Mike laughed at me later when I told him what I’d done.

Tokyo, Harajuku & Hakuba

These girls helped us figure out how to pay for our train tickets.

Tokyo has opened our eyes to the conveniences of Japanese life…  It is very easy to eat, play, sleep, and travel.  We were situated in an urban region just near the city centre (close to the snowboard/ski strip as we needed to buy some gear – if you bring your passport when buying equipment you can get 10% off).

Everything is built up in this city.  The skyline isn’t overly dramatic (architecturally) however it is consistently tall at least 100 km from the city’s heated centre.  We were expecting insane crowds and confusion… but this was not the case at all.

Conveniences:

• Heated toilet seat with bidet (hilarious and had both Mike and I laughing as we tested it out)
• The mirrors heat in a square where you might stand and apply makeup after a shower (leaving you with a fog free space to study your face from).
• You can adjust your shower height (this is brilliant).
•  Some fast food noodle bars have a machine which you kind of use like a pop machine to order your meal.  It gives you a ticket and then you give it to the matron to shout the order to the chef.  They don’t have to wait for payment… it was brilliant.
• There literally are pop machines on the street every other block.  They dispense cold and hot beverages…which is a little weird but so convenient!
• Meals order come out within minutes.  We found the Japanese eat very quickly (which was fine with me, I eat like a vacuum).
• The trains are colour coded, and numbered so you can easily figure out where you are.
• Entertainment, there was a massive baseball and roller coaster park only 1km walk from our hotel…we rode an insanely tall ferris wheel which towered over every building for miles.  I also had a mild panic attack! hahaha I’m terrified of heights.

Day 2 Mike guided us very easily from the centre of Toyko to the popular shopping destination: Harajuku.  We spotted a few men and women who were dressed in more colourful outfits, however many of the people that headed to this region were actually wearing designer clothing.  The place is literally crammed with european designer labels.  It was in Harajuku that we visited our first temple.  At the entrance there were hundreds of barrels of sake, and inside we were able to get a glimpse of a traditional wedding.

We spent a lot of our time walking around shopping and eating for 3 days.  Our meals (sorry I’ve not yet taken any photos – I’ll get some over the next few days) were portioned in huge bowls which could easily feed 2 people.  Needless to say I’ve been only able to get halfway through my food.

Yesterday we boarded an express bullet train from Tokyo to Nagano.  The train I think travels around 300km per hour.  It’s been raining, but the temperature is very pleasant and the journey was very fast!  The city sprawls and sprawls, then suddenly you see mountains.

We took an hour bus ride from Nagano to Hakuba and were then dropped off at our hotel.  We’ve got a lovely view of the mountains from our room.  The hotel features a public onsen (Hot spring pools) which we both experienced separately yesterday, as they are specifically for men on one end and women the other.  You have to get fully washed and naked before you are able to enjoy the hot thermal water…  I chose to sit outside in the snow with the hot water keeping me warm… It was so relaxing to see the snow drifting down.  If you get the chance you must try an onsen.

There is more to write but I’ll save it for later.

Thinking of you all,

Holly & Mike