Day 4 of Holiday.
Awoke today to the brilliant sight of snow falling heavily outside. Hard to tell you how beautiful it was. It was like waking up in a dream inside a snow globe. If I had to put one word to it, that word would be magical. But I suspect that word barely does it justice. Everybody should wake up to this type of view at least once in their life.
Today we were booked in to have ski lessons, but as it turned out we both had an awful night sleep and felt like we were hit by a truck. Maybe not the same truck, but certainly 18 wheelers the pair of 'em. This bed is just not conducive to sleep. And the pillows are not made of feathers but seem to be full of beads of some kind (best guess?). Either way, the combination of the two is makes Jack (and Jill) grumpy campers.
My lower back was sore again when I woke up (it hasn’t yet recovered from flying economy!) but beyond that dull ache there was the excruciating pain in my coccyx from falling over repeatedly on it yesterday during snowboarding. And Alex was exactly the same (it is apparently a very common injury when snowboarding). So much so that neither of us could sit down on anything for more than 10 minutes without the pain flaring up. Consequently we decided to postpone the skiing lesson for a day, and to have a day off. We are after all, on holiday!
Instead of skiiing we had a leisurely breakfast and then – after popping into Japan Powder’s office to re-schedule the skiing lesson and book a snow mobile tour – we went back to the hotel and I spent an hour or so catching up the travel blog while Alex went back to bed. And OMG did I regret forcing myself to sit down in the lobby to post the blog, as I literally couldn’t get back up again due to the firestorm of pain in my coccyx afterwards!
With skiiing off for the day, we instead booked another activity. And at 12.30 pm we were picked up by Lion Adventures and driven to Hakuba 47 where we had a terrific time doing an hour’s snow mobiling. Alex sat tandem with one of the two instructors for the hour, but of course I wanted one for myself (boys and their toys and all that!). So with snow falling heavily and a winter wonderland that had to be seen to be believed, we zoomed around on either bank of a semi-frozen river (and even crossed through it) for an hour. Really great fun, and we got a bunch of cool pics for the album as well as the memories.
About 1.45 pm we went to Escal Plaza (a tiny shopping and food court area by the Hakuba 47 ski run) and bought some souvenirs and had some lunch while watching the skiers and the snowboarders do their thing. Then we went on the gondola a couple of times to the very top of the mountain. Spectacular view, but I’m still grumpy that here they don’t allow you to go up and down the chair lifts. Because, if you go up you’ve got to ski or snowboard down. Which is total bollocks because tourists with valid lift passes should be allowed to go up and down the chair lifts as well. And it’s not as if they’re putting anyone out, because the chair lifts have to come down anyway! Don’t get me wrong, being in a gondola is great, but the plastic windows are always scratched and dirty, and you’re protected from the elements and it kind of makes you feel kind of removed from the experience. At least it makes me feel that way. And I love, I mean absolutely love, going up and down chair lifts at places like this. What with the spectacular winter views all around, and the snow and cold winds pummeling my face. If ever you want to feel connected to nature, that’s how you do it.
After getting off the gondola we bought a couple of dessert crapes and went back to our room. When there we decided to veg for the rest of the day and rest our weary limbs by watching the third series of Sherlock on the laptop in bed. So ensconced were we as it turned out that we didn’t even bother to get up to go out to dinner. I had booked a private onsen at 10 pm for us, but by that stage we were both way too tired to move to the end of the bed, let alone go outside in the freezing cold and traipse through the snow to get the the onsen.
But, everyone says you can’t go to Japan without at least trying an onsen, so we’ve booked a private one for 9 pm tomorrow night (which will technically be our last night in Hakuba). It will be a nice way to end things. Plus, with our aching limbs, inflamed coccyx and a day’s skiing behind us, I suspect we shall need it!
Awoke today to the brilliant sight of snow falling heavily outside. Hard to tell you how beautiful it was. It was like waking up in a dream inside a snow globe. If I had to put one word to it, that word would be magical. But I suspect that word barely does it justice. Everybody should wake up to this type of view at least once in their life.
Today we were booked in to have ski lessons, but as it turned out we both had an awful night sleep and felt like we were hit by a truck. Maybe not the same truck, but certainly 18 wheelers the pair of 'em. This bed is just not conducive to sleep. And the pillows are not made of feathers but seem to be full of beads of some kind (best guess?). Either way, the combination of the two is makes Jack (and Jill) grumpy campers.
My lower back was sore again when I woke up (it hasn’t yet recovered from flying economy!) but beyond that dull ache there was the excruciating pain in my coccyx from falling over repeatedly on it yesterday during snowboarding. And Alex was exactly the same (it is apparently a very common injury when snowboarding). So much so that neither of us could sit down on anything for more than 10 minutes without the pain flaring up. Consequently we decided to postpone the skiing lesson for a day, and to have a day off. We are after all, on holiday!
Instead of skiiing we had a leisurely breakfast and then – after popping into Japan Powder’s office to re-schedule the skiing lesson and book a snow mobile tour – we went back to the hotel and I spent an hour or so catching up the travel blog while Alex went back to bed. And OMG did I regret forcing myself to sit down in the lobby to post the blog, as I literally couldn’t get back up again due to the firestorm of pain in my coccyx afterwards!
With skiiing off for the day, we instead booked another activity. And at 12.30 pm we were picked up by Lion Adventures and driven to Hakuba 47 where we had a terrific time doing an hour’s snow mobiling. Alex sat tandem with one of the two instructors for the hour, but of course I wanted one for myself (boys and their toys and all that!). So with snow falling heavily and a winter wonderland that had to be seen to be believed, we zoomed around on either bank of a semi-frozen river (and even crossed through it) for an hour. Really great fun, and we got a bunch of cool pics for the album as well as the memories.
About 1.45 pm we went to Escal Plaza (a tiny shopping and food court area by the Hakuba 47 ski run) and bought some souvenirs and had some lunch while watching the skiers and the snowboarders do their thing. Then we went on the gondola a couple of times to the very top of the mountain. Spectacular view, but I’m still grumpy that here they don’t allow you to go up and down the chair lifts. Because, if you go up you’ve got to ski or snowboard down. Which is total bollocks because tourists with valid lift passes should be allowed to go up and down the chair lifts as well. And it’s not as if they’re putting anyone out, because the chair lifts have to come down anyway! Don’t get me wrong, being in a gondola is great, but the plastic windows are always scratched and dirty, and you’re protected from the elements and it kind of makes you feel kind of removed from the experience. At least it makes me feel that way. And I love, I mean absolutely love, going up and down chair lifts at places like this. What with the spectacular winter views all around, and the snow and cold winds pummeling my face. If ever you want to feel connected to nature, that’s how you do it.
After getting off the gondola we bought a couple of dessert crapes and went back to our room. When there we decided to veg for the rest of the day and rest our weary limbs by watching the third series of Sherlock on the laptop in bed. So ensconced were we as it turned out that we didn’t even bother to get up to go out to dinner. I had booked a private onsen at 10 pm for us, but by that stage we were both way too tired to move to the end of the bed, let alone go outside in the freezing cold and traipse through the snow to get the the onsen.
But, everyone says you can’t go to Japan without at least trying an onsen, so we’ve booked a private one for 9 pm tomorrow night (which will technically be our last night in Hakuba). It will be a nice way to end things. Plus, with our aching limbs, inflamed coccyx and a day’s skiing behind us, I suspect we shall need it!
RSS Feed