Japan 07

So here are the pics ( small sample from the 192 pics).. finally!

(Touchdown in Narita airport, Tokyo)

(Waiting at Narita the next morning for flight to Sapporo)

(Sapporo airport!!)

(On the bus ride from Haneda to Niseko-check out the snow!)

(this was basically my sleeping/ room attire)

(Adeline and I at Gyu bar, this cool place that has this little "Coke" door you have to crawl through)

(this guy sells the best choco-banana drink in the hippest campervan ever, and he happens to be one of the local Niseko riders sponsored by Arbor snowboards; )

(showing off my new Grenade gloves, which Maine calls very "chi-chi")

(great views all round)

(helmet and board off.. need a break!)

(the night skiing is awesome, and this is one of my fav spots; check out the tree!)

(a fantastic water saving idea, where the water used to flush is first used to wash your hands)

(holding groceries, with Hirafu behind me)

(I wonder which way Adeline went... hmmmm)

(I hate the noodles here, enough said)

(outside our accomodation; Lodge Korropukkuro)

(major calf burn from all the toe-side traversing)

(coming out of the trees)

(about to lose this jump bad)

(a nice little ollie coming down from the steeps)

(me stuck on a ledge in no-man's land, taking a rest before I decide how to get out of this mess)

(cool benches made of snowboards)

(great views with Mt Yotei in the background)

(Me and Emily, one of my fav sales girls from Alpen hotel, cos she actually speaks english!)

(Outside the "Yummys" restaurant, where apparently they have the best pizza in the WORLD- no joke... though it was so popular that we didnt get a chance to try the food; some of the places in teh village are booked out for 2 weeks!)

(waiting at Narita airport for our flight, home sweet home)

Back from Japan.

Just got back from Japan on Sunday after almost 1.5 days of travel; bus rides, plane rides, transit lounges- you would think I travelled to Europe or something.

Japan was absolutely awesome, I was just starstruck by almost everything i saw, and absolute sensory overload. The people, the culture, food, snow, accomodation... everything! I think I almost loved everything about Japan, maybe except for the 100 yen noodle shop in Hirafu... everything else was way beyond my expectations.

Will post pictures soon, when I actually get around to uploading all the pics. I've been raving about Japan to all my colleagues and would recommend all my friends to go there for your next skiiing/ snowboarding holiday. Definitely worth your money and so much cheaper than going to local slopes in Australia.

Its my last 2 weeks at CSIRO, its going to be sad leaving there after so many years, but life must go on. I know the farewell parties are already being planned and I forsee myself getting very wasted.

I'm really glad thta theres only a 3 hour time difference between Melbourne and Singapore. I can't believe I was whinging before bout how the 3 hour gap was hard to deal with. Maine is in Florence for work (well, more holiday i reckon) and the 10 hour time difference is a real bitch. Thankfully shes only there for a week or so, I really admire people who have long distance relationships across the globe; when one is waking up, the other is going to sleep. Hats off to you people, I know I could never do it.

Watch out for the pics, coming soon!